Reflections on Week 10

Having come to the terminal stage of the Web Skill Course, I would like to share with you my own evaluation and remarks of the course. At the outset, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to my Instructor, Mr. Sean McClelland. Though, I have never  met him, I have always felt that he was always ready to help. I approached him several times with my questions and enquirers and found complete cooperation and support. Thank you Mr McClelland for every thing you did for us during the course and congratulations on successfully leading our group towards achieving the goals of the course. Splendid job!   May God bless you! I would also like to extend my deep thanks and appreciation to the authorities of the U.S. Department of State and the University of Oregon for having made it possible for me to pursue the online Web Skills course at the American English Institute by awarding me a scholarship under the E-Teacher Scholarship Program.

During the Web Skill course, all the topics were very useful and successful. I really benefited from all of them. However, I have felt that more topics should have been included in the course. A true dream of mine would be to have learned how to create small animated objects. I have wanted to make the “free” morpheme walks with two legs, while the “bound” morpheme depends on the “root”.  In what follows, I am going to give you a brief account of what we learned during the 10 weeks of the Web Skill course.

The first week was an orientation to the course. It was really a good idea to have an orientation week to make the participants familiarize themselves with the new tools such as Nicenet and Blackboard. In the second week, we learned how to search for relevant information using different search portals. We learned how to personalize the search portal. We also learned how to write down the learning objectives of a lesson using Pennsylvania State University's ABCD Style. In the third week, we were introduced to the development of aural/oral skills and creating an account using Delicious. Similarly, the fourth week focused on the development of reading and writing skills and vocabulary. We were exposed to many websites that provide us with excellent materials, games, quizzes and activities for teaching the four language skills as well as grammar and vocabulary. In week 5, we were introduced to rubrics, PBL and WebQuest. I created my own rubric and I started creating my amazing WebQuest for teaching the Structure of Words. I am really proud of this WebQuest and I will use it with my students. In Week 6, we learned how to engage students in large classes using technology and we learned how to create our own interactive Power Points. I created a game similar to Jeopardy. I tried it in my class and my students liked it very much. Since then, I have created 3 Jeopardy-like activities. In week 7, the main focus of the assignments is on three related topics: namely, learner autonomy, the one computer classroom, and the use of mobile phones in language learning. In week 8, we went through several websites that provide teachers with all kinds of teaching resources such as creating flash cards, puzzles, various activities and tests. I used Hot Potatoes and other tools to create my own quizzes, activities and Mid Term Test. They are very nice activities that I have been using in my classes. In week 9, the theme of the week is learning styles and technology tools for multiple intelligences. I used an online scale to know my own learning styles. I came to know that I am Naturalistic. Then comes week 10 which is a recap week whose focus is on how we can best utilize technology to help our students reach course goals and objectives. One of the merits of this course is that it introduced me to friends from all corners of the globe!

To sum up, this experience will help me play a key role in the effective delivery of e-learning initiatives in my department. Frankly speaking, I felt that all the topics that we were exposed to in the ten weeks were beneficial, interesting and of great importance to teachers. I really enjoyed each and every minute of the course. Had I been given another chance to continue the Web Skill course, I would have done so without any hesitation. In fact, I will be very happy to do so.

Reflections on Week 9

This is week 9 and we are approaching the terminal stage of the 10 week Web Skill course. The theme of this week is learning styles and technology tools for multiple intelligences. I started by visiting the following website http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-learning-styles-quiz to learn about my own learning styles. I responded to some online tasks and I printed my learning styles results which is shown below. My highest score was on the Naturalistic style 100% and my least score was on the Linguistic one 67%.

A quick look at this result will show that I am Naturalistic. I do agree with this, but I was surprised to discover that my Linguistic intelligence was the least one. I do not really know, but I am skeptical so I will try the quiz again after a week or so to see what results I will get. Do you think that I will get the same results? I am not sure, but it is worth trying, isn't it? When I redo the quiz, I will compare and contrast the two sets of data just to have fun.

Learning Styles and Technology Tools

Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard Graduate School, devised the theory of multiple intelligences with eight intelligences. The intelligences listed by Gardner include; linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, spatial intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence.

The main idea of the different learning styles and multiple intelligences is that our students possess different kinds of minds. Therefore, they learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways.

In what follows, I am going to share my own understanding and practices of using technology to address a variety of learning styles and multiple intelligences. When incorporating technology into our classes, we must remember that one type of technology does not fit all students. During the first sessions of my courses at the university, I will try to find out what learning styles the majority of my students in class possess in order to meet the needs of most of them, if not all.

Combining the multiple intelligences with the thoughtful and purposeful use of technology can have a great impact on students’ achievement. For example, the student blog can be a great tool for the intrapersonal learner while the interpersonal learner will work better in the class blog than in the student blog because the interpersonal learners will enjoy working in groups. I will assign the interpersonal learners as group leaders, but not the intrapersonal ones. I will engage my kinesthetic learners by making them my technology helpers. I will engage the visual learners by making them research famous quotes and pictures or images and then give a short presentation using a Power Point. This activity will also include the linguistic learners in the classroom. Students can perform an internet search to locate hundreds of quotes and pictures. Once their research is complete, they can share their work with the use of Power Point or Prezi. This activity allows the spatial students to express their creativity while still covering necessary content. Methods for mixing technology and the learning style linguistic intelligence can be recording each lecture and giving the students the ability to listen to each lecture by downloading the lecture onto the class webpage or onto YouTube.

Web searches for a linguistic learner would come easy because of the innate ability to use words effectively in the search bar. Creativity is the key for the visual learners. They enjoy video-camera projects. The linguistic learners have the ability to manipulate the syntax or structure of language, the phonology or sounds of language, the semantics or meanings of language, and the pragmatic dimensions or practical uses of language. Manipulating syntax can be made easy with a computer. Giving the students permission to bring their personal laptops into the classroom can give them more than the ability to take notes.

To sum up, a piece of technology can be used to meet the needs of more than one learning style, and one learning style can be reached by more than one piece of technology.