A Reflection on Blended Learning

As we have seen during this year, technology has so many advantages that the non-inclusion of it in the classroom may be considered inconceivable. The use of it helps students to learn in an engaging context that goes hand in hand with the outside world. That is to say that the classroom becomes a more real context.

Another important advantage is the fact that it is environmentally friendly. In a world in which pollution is a topic that worries almost everyone, having resources that allow us to avoid wasting paper, for example, is really useful.

Moreover, it goes without saying that innumerable resources can be found on the web - texts,videos, activities, etc.- which help not only teachers, but also students to have whatever they need at hand.

After reading and watching different resources that emphasize the important role that technology has in the classroom, teachers may wonder whether their role is still important.

As it was said before, technology provides all the resources you need. However, students need someone who guides them, someone to help them in their learning process: the teacher.’Teachers are concerned with more than just the knowledge their students acquire – they’re often called on to act as guidance counsellors or provide emotional support’ (Partarrieu, 2015). The teacher and the students face-to-face interaction is something that technology cannot provide. 

That is why we consider that blended learning is so important since it is a balance between the use technology and face-to-face interaction. The students have the chance to use technology at their home with educational purposes.

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In the following video, you can get a clear explanation of what blended learning is:

Sources:

Partarrieu, S, 2015. Why we still need face-to-face teaching in the digital age. Retrieved from https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/why-we-still-need-face-face-teaching-digital-age on 25-10-2016

A talk about education: “Educación y cultura digital” by Hugo Pardo Kuklinski.

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to attend a talk about digitial culture and education. It was delivered by Hugo Pardo Kuklinski at UNL. Before sharing ideas we agree with and others we do not, let’s learn more about the speaker. Hugo Pardo is a PhD in communication and the director of a project called “Outliers School”. He has also written a number of books and numerous articles in relation to digital education.

One of the ideas he shared in the talk we attended is that teachers, in order to integrate technology in the classroom and improve their teaching practices, should be “intraemprendedores”. That is, according to him, they should reflect on how they positioned themselves as regards content, methods and technology itself.

However, Hugo’s position as regards education was too business-oriented. He referred to the red as if it was the most intelligent way of transmitting knowledge inside the classroom. He puts the teacher on a in a passive role. We do not agree with his point of view in this case. We cannot deny that the web is more intelligent than any teacher in the world (you can find anything you need on the internet), but there is something that it cannot offered you: the experience teachers gained by being in front of the classroom, and the benefits this offers to students. 

Even thoguh we did not agree much with him, there are certain points which, in our opinion, are good and important to take into consideration. For example:

- The fact that we need to adapt to the changes that take place in society and technology. If we do it with others, much better.

- We need to help students to move from where they actually are to the place they want to get.

- We have to take advantage of the opportunities offered to us.

What do you think of these ideas? Do you agree with them?

Word Clouds and Voki: two interesting tools

Sometimes, teachers do not have the necessary time to think of different tools that can make the lesson more attractive. Trying to do so, we end up including things that may not work so well, or students do not understand how they work or how to use them. But that is not the case of word clouds and voki. Not only are they engaging, but they can also be easily created and included in the lesson.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English define a word cloud as “a drawing of the words used in a speech, on a website etc, with the more frequent words shown larger and the less frequent words shown smaller”.

There are plenty of websites where you can create your own word cloud. The ways this tool can be included in the lesson are innumerable. For example, we used it for a game: someone designed a word cloud with a definition of a word, and the rest had to guess which word was. Since the only thing you have to do for creating a word cloud is to write a text, teachers (or even students) can use it for summarizing a text, a short story, among other things. 

The other tool that is mentioned in this post is Voki. This personalised tool allows you to create a speaking character or avatar. The voki will say the text you type with the voice you choose, or you can record your own voice! An easy way of integrating this tool in the lesson is to use it as a key to solve an activity. For example, we used it to solve the guessing game with the word cloud.

Although these tools may have some disadvantages - as all tools do -, we think that the most important thing to take into consideration is the fact that sometimes the voice the Voki has is not clear enough. The solution to this is to record our voice and to speak in the speed that students are used to.

All in all, these two tools are really interesting and should be taken into account when planning our lessons. Moreover, it is important to highlight that both are free and easy to create: either by teachers or by students.

The SAMR Model: What is it and why should we take it into account

We were asked to design a lesson plan in which the students should make a Power Point presentation to show their likes and dislikes in relation to food.

In this lesson plan, the students revise vocabulary and grammar through games and activities such as a memory game and a survey. You can have a look at the lesson plan here.

We also show them a Power Point presentation similar to the one they should make, but talking about Homer Simpson.

After presenting this lesson plan, our teacher talked about something new for us: the SAMR model proposed by Puentedura. The SAMR model is a way for teachers to evaluate how they integrate technology in their classroom. It consist of four levels:

S: Substitution. This is the most basic level in which technology acts as substitution for other resources.

A: Augmentation. Technology still acts as substitution but with some improvement.

M: Modification. The use of technology transforms the task design in a significant way.

R: Redefinition. At this point, the higher level, technology is so essential that the activity or task could not be carried out without it.

The following video explains briefly the SAMR model from the students’ point of view:

Taking all this into account, we could say that our Power Point presentation and the final task are at the Substitution level, since they could also be done with flashcards.

In order to move from enhancement to transformation (from Substitution to Redefinition), we would change both the vocabulary and the final task proposed. Instead of using the vocabulary items presented, we would focus on typically Argentinian food. As regards the final task, students will have to make a video talking about the food they like and they do not from Argentina. This video will be published in the school’s Youtube channel for everyone to see it. In this case, the final task would be inconceivable without the use of technology.

Sources:

- Puentedura, R (2009), As We May Teach: Educational Technology, From Theory Into Practice. 

Digital Literacies

  The first thing we asked ourselves (and you may ask too) when we fjrst read the concept of digital literacies was its meaning. According to an article written by Nicky Hockly, digital literacies “refer to our ability to effectively make use of the technologies at our disposal. We are not just talking about a checklist of technical skills, but also about the social practices that surround the use of new media.”
  For three years we have studied different theories that explain why communication should be our teaching goal. Now, if we really want our students to communicate, we cannot avoid including digital literacies in the classroom. In such a globalized world, where you can communicate so easily with whoever you want, wherever they are, technology becomes a device of everyday life. We cannot imagine our lives without technology – and yet we do not consider ourselves purely digital natives.
  We should be aware that when students finish school, when they go out to the real world, they will need tools that nowadays, we are ignoring. “By integrating digital literacy work into our English classes, we can make them a little more relevant to who learners are once they are outside the school environment.” (Hockly, N. 2013)

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Information Literacies

  Information literacies, according to Hockly, is “the ability not only to find information amongst the mass of sites and sources afforded by technologies, but also to evaluate that information” (Hockly, N. 2013).
  If we are to include digital literacies in the classroom, we have to bear in mind that you can find endless webpages on Internet, and not all of them are good sources, or provide correct information. That is why, we should learn, first ourselves and then teach our students how to distinguish a serious webpage from one that is not.
  A website page we have analyzed was Discovery Education. It is an educational website which aims to be a tool for English teachers designing materials to use with their students.
  On this website teachers can choose the content and topics according to their students’ age, developmental level and needs. What the page provides are different kinds of games/activities for teachers to use with the specific content chosen.
  We have created a word search in which the students, after listening to a story about an animal band, will have to find animals and their instruments.



Find the animals and their instruments
T J W D S N M G K F H J H E Z
U N Q N N Y A G T O E E E A B
U W A O W L R Y E P F C A P Z
B K S H Z T A H N U R T U S U
E A N G P H C M I M O N K E Y
H L J U E E A U R R Z U W A O
H T I Z I F L R A A E U S T V
L I H S T O M E L V S E E N K
F Z G W G A I Y C R L P Y X U
I Q V G M U T C Z A M L L U E
N W U J H S I B L U U D F E I
Q S A A A R C T R E N X R P U
O N A I P B A T A Q O X N A M
I I O G C J R E H R I W K R B
Q H S J V P K O B N L V Y N E


BEAR
CLARINET
ELEPHANT
GUITAR
LION
MARACA
MONKEY
PIANO
SNAKE
TRUMPET


  Another positive aspect of the website is that the information is clearly presented. The text is neat, legible and formatted for easy reading. The steps to follow to create the different activities are clearly stated and well-organized. However, teachers cannot download the activities directly in PDF. They have to print them directly from the page or, in the case they can't do that, they have to copy and paste it in a word document.


Sources:
- Hockly, N. (n.d.). Digital literacies: What are they and why should we care? Retrieved July 05, 2016, from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/digital-literacies-what-are-they-why-should-we-care

Digital Natives or Digital Immigrants?

On many occasions when we enter the classroom - especially in primary school or the first years in secondary school - we face a totally different generation. We call it different in the sense that young students are considered Digital Natives by some authors since they were born surrounded by new technology, while older people are described as Digital Immigrants. We do not think we completely belong to either extreme. On the one hand, we are not Digital Immigrants because technology is not odd to us since we were born at a time where it was already present in society. On the other hand we are not Digital Natives because technology did not exist in the amount it does now and we did not have easy access to it.

We have read the article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” written by Prensky. It is interesting to see the different points of view that this author presents here. One of the ideas we agree with is the fact that, according to the author, “Digital Immigrants don’t believe their students can learn successfully while watching TV or listening to music, because they (the Immigrants) can’t.” Actually, Digital Immigrants see learning or studying as a separate thing from relaxing. They watch TV, a movie, listen to music, etc. when they have finished their work. For instance, some of them think young people do not read because they are not seen with a book, when actually digital natives are constantly reading. They can read in the social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or e-books.

On the other hand we do not think it is impossible that the Digital Natives will go backwards to learn the old ways We are aware of the fact that bringing something odd to Digital Natives can be a risk, but it could be a good opportunity for them to leave technology aside for a while. We should try to take the risk and see what happens. For example, we could ask them to design a poster rather than a Power Point presentation. If the activity or task succeeds, they will be working in a way that they may not be accustomed to and it may call their interest. If it doesn’t work, well, at least we have tried! 

All in all, the best we can do is to strike a balance. We have to bear in mind that we will not always find the facilities needed to use technology in all the classrooms/lessons and that is why it is important not only that we adapt ourselves to the way of learning of the Digital Natives, but also that they respect and try to deal with other kind of activities presented to them. 

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Sources:
- Prensky, M (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon

To design or not to design our own material?

When reflecting about teaching, we can assert that teachers play many different roles in the classroom, such as:

But apart from them, we want to make emphasis on the role of the teacher as a material designer. Teaching materials are an essential resource to assist and support students’ learning. Among those materials we can find the coursebook, which may have some disadvantages, for example that:

-          - They are not contextualized since they are produced for the worldwide EFL market. That is to say, they are not addressed to a specific group of learners.

-           - They do not take into account the individual needs of the students.

Those disadvantages can be a point of departure for us (teachers) to design our own material, since it can act as a complement for addressing the needs of a specific group of  students and their particular learning styles in a particular context.

We can design activities and materials that interest the students and encourage them to be involved in the lesson and to use the language meaningfully. If we design our own material, we will also take into account the age and level of our students.

In designing our own materials, we are autonomous and creative .

However, designing material is not as easy as it sounds. We  need to be careful with the activities designed are neither too easy nor too difficult. Moreover we need to spend a lot of time preparing all the material needed, which can be really demanding if it is the first time  we do it. It is important that teachers have the ability to re-use certain material, taking into account that certain things can be adapted to a specific group.

A useful alternative if we do not have the necessary time to create our own material is adapting the coursebook, using it as a starting point and then using extra material or activities to guide the students or to contextualize things that are not.

To sum up, we could say that designing our own material has both advantages and disadvantages: it can be appropriate for a particular group of students and include interesting and motivating topics, but it takes a lot of time to prepare it and the quality is not the same as the one of a coursebook.

Resources:
- Howard, J and Major, (n.d) - Guidelines for Designing Effective English Language Teaching Materials