TECHNOLOGY AND THE CLASSROOM

LESSON 23

LESSON 25/ MY DREAM LESSON

Reasons for Integrating Technology
When effectively carried out, technology has a very positive impact on student learning and a long-lasting impronta on their learning mental maps. It can:

1. Increase student motivation for learning
2. Improve communication of learning goals
3. Facilitate higher-order thinking skills
4. Build valuable skills that students will use in their lives

Technology Changes the Way Students Learn
Students still learn by comparing new information with previously acquired knowledge and by contrasting newly-acquired skills with existent ones. Nevertheless, students today have different preferences to process information: because today there is an enormous amount of tools available to the learner.

Activities for All Classrooms
There are literally thousands of ideas for using technology in the classroom. Online tools can be used for collaboration; the Internet provides information; and multimedia tools allow teaching to be both educational and entertaining.

Find below some suggestions on how to integrate technology so as to upgrade your classes to a 2.0. level

• Create a Class Blog_ A blog is an excellent way to communicate with your students. You can include course information, assignments, lecture notes and presentations, links to interesting sites, challenges, study tools, links to textbook Web sites, and many other features.
• Take Part in a Web Event— Using chat room technology or streaming video is exciting to both students and educators. Students can often ask questions and can read (or hear) what other students ask.
• Create a webquest— Engage students in Internet-based tasks that require higher-order thinking skills. You can apply one of the many teacher-created WebQuests ready for your use.
• Visit Your Textbook Web Site— Many publishers offer companion Web sites to go with textbook study. They offer websites with extensive resources as a supplement to the textbook program, including tools for self-study, chapter summaries and links, video clips, and interactive activities.
• Participate in an Online Research Project—The Internet is filled with ongoing projects that allow students to contribute by collecting, submitting, and analyzing data, submitting ideas, or contributing work online.
• Have Students Create a Multimedia Presentation—Ask students to use various digital media, such as digital video clips, audio clips, and digital photographs to assemble a multimedia presentation. 

But before you get started, don’t forget to:

• Align lessons with the class contents.
• Familiarize yourself with the technology before using it in the classroom.
• Be prepared with a back-up lesson in case technology malfunctions!!!!!!

LESSON 24

LESSON 22

TRY IT OUT: LESSON 21/ INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY

When Technology is the topic, I think it is useless if you do not use it as stimuli to instantiate a response from our students. So, from that perspective. I like to use technology as a means to arise debate over a controversial topic. This is one ficticious example of how I do to engage students in online activities.

http://mvvaldivia.glogster.com/accident-glog/

However, last week we had a problem with the university chatroom, so we decided it to do it through skype with a maximum of 9 participants each time. To be honest, the idea was not mine, but one of my students’. He told me that when I ask them to write a dialogue, they use this tool not to alter family weekend. They agree on a certain time and comply with the homework.

It made me think that to be a XXI century teacher, you have to go with the times not behind.