Week 8 - Technology Tools/Online Exercises

Week 8 was really challenging, but was a great fun! First of all, we had to prepare our draft project about which technology tools we had applied for our classes, what happened, how it worked, etc. Despite the health problems I had this week, I could complete my project successfully and also added reviews on my partner's project.

The most exciting moment during this week was that we were introduced many useful tools and online exercises that are very easy and practical to implement. I don't know which one to begin with  - ANVIL, Nicenet, Blogs, Crossword Puzzles, Bingo Games, Quizlet .......  I added all the URL to my delicious page and will create my own exercises for the next academic year, because we have no classes at present. But I have created a class on nicenet.org and invited my students to join the discussions on the topics I added. It worked well. They liked this idea and posted their messages on class board. And the students also created their own blogs on blogger.com and I added their URL to our class wiki which I made on sites.google.com. I added some pages - Blog Roll, Delicious pages and will improve it during summer vacation. Due to the lack of Internet connection and the end of the classes this term in our university, we will continue our activities next academic year.

What about online exercises they really contribute to several purposes as improving all the language learning skills of the students and promoting learner's autonomy. By using these tools and exercises I hope we will manage to achieve better results in teaching process!

I wish all my colleagues all the best!

Take care!

Gulnar

Week 7 - One-Computer Classroom and Padlet

Greetings to my dear instructor and colleagues!

I feel sorry that just 3 weeks is left for the end of this course, I will miss everybody! :-(

Week 7 was also full of activities, discussions and tasks! There were again 2 topics to discuss. I joined the 2nd one - the use of one-computer classroom! As I mentioned in class discussion, I am also teaching with one computer and overhead projector but no Internet access. We don't always have lessons there. Using one computer is really useful for making the students much more attentive and motivated for the given tasks. We use computer for watching videos, listening to CDs, etc. After watching a video we make discussions as a class or in groups/pairs and do some activities. Listening to the songs the students fill the empty spaces with the relevant words and even we sing them ourselves for having a fun. I sometimes divide into groups and play games (i.e. riddles). These activities enhance the students' collaborative work. Computers are also useful for powerpoint presentations. Teachers can explain and discuss new topics by using presentations. Last week I learned how to create interactive power point quiz and I 'll make several ones in the next future.

This week I chose my partners in order to prepare final project. My partners are Margarita and Maria. We share the same problem. They will also use blogs to improve the writing skills of the students. I am so glad to work together with them!

The last task was Padlet. It was quite new for me, but very interesting! Everybody posted articles, videos, documents about learner autonomy. So did I! I posted an article titled 'Self assessment for autonomous language learners' by David Gardner.

This week we had a guest - Jodi Weber. I thank her for joining the discussions and offering useful ideas to us!

I am so grateful to the staff of Oregon University for their patience, care and attention!!!

Sincerely

Gulnar

Week 6 - Reflections

Hello everybody!

This week was full of several activities to do. I'll briefly describe what I did, what I learned and what I managed during the week.

Week 6 offered us two discussions  - 1. Interactive Power Point Presentations and 2. Teaching Larger Classes. I am not teaching larger classes. So I chose Discussion #1, because I always find Power Point Presentations very interesting and educative though  I have never created PPP for my classes due to technical problems in our University. The articles that our instructor suggested provided us with a lot of valuable information about the efficiency and productivity of PPP for both teachers and students. I got aware of important tips and key elements of creating interactive PPP. I learned that by adding few texts, but more videos, images, sounds and other useful elements they really help us get rid of monotony of the lectures and workshops, the students get much more attentive and motivated for the issues presented in the class. 

One of this week's tasks was to create an Interactive Power Point Presentation. Following the instructions I could make one interactive PPP. As it was my first presentation, I met some difficulties and it took me several hours to complete this task. But I really enjoyed doing it. I created a mini quiz consisting of 10 questions making 30 slides. I used hyperlinks and added comments on the answers whether they were right or wrong. I wanted to add sounds, but it didn't work. Nevertheless, I think it doesn't look bad! :-) Now I can prepare a number of interactive PPP for next year!

As I mentioned above, our university had some problems with the access to the Internet. So I couldn't begin to apply the technology tool in my class. I hope I will do it next week and take notes about what I have done.

This week our dear colleague Hasina faced difficulties with her family! I wish God will help her and her husband and we look forward to hearing good news from her next week!!! :-)

I wish all my colleagues and my dear instructor Mrs. Donna Shaw all the best!

Take care!

Gulnar!

WEEK 5 - NEW DISCOVERIES

Week 5 is nearly over, it is unbelievable!!! I feel sorry that we have only 5 weeks left, because I have discovered so many things, useful techniques and most of all, I have witnessed warm atmosphere here.

This week was full of various tasks. First, we discussed the topic 'Alternative assessment, Project-based learning and Webquests'. All these techniques were quite new for me. I got loads of information about each of them. Especially, I was greatly impressed by the projects implemented by Susan Gaer, such as making newspapers, cookbooks and folktales. These projects motivate and encourage the students, discover their hidden abilities and personal traits and promote the sense of community, self-esteem and confidence in themselves. I have also prepared some projects for my senior students for the next year and I am sure I will succeed it.

The Alternative assessment is a great tool for both teachers and students, it makes the students get more motivated and responsible for performing the given tasks. I read the article about the rubrics and found them useful. The rubistar is an amazing website.I created a rubric for assessing the students' performances for final oral presentations.

What about Webquests, they are also interesting, involve collaborative work, develops the students' critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills. I have created my own webquest but not completed, because it is also quite new for me.I'll do it in a few days.

The last task was to choose technology tool for solving the problem we mentioned last week. In order to deal with the problem of improving the writing skills of the students and enhance their motivation I decided to use a blog and Rubrics for a class, The students will share their opinions on my posts, join discussions and comment on each other's posts. With the rubrics they will feel more responsible and self-confident. And if I succeed I will also apply Webquest. 

I wish this course didn't end! I am accustomed to the staff, my colleagues and especially our dear instructor Mrs Donna Shaw.

Thank you so much!!!!!

Sincerely

Gulnar