I am going to copy Musti's ideas for future reference first of all:
Using technology in a classroom environment
a. isn't something to be afraid of
b. makes your lesson more effective and fruitful
c. inspires the students
d. provokes students’ creativity
e. promotes collaborative learning
f. helps students to aware what happens around the world by involving a project
g. helps you to create your own online audio materials
h. is not just showing a film for an hour
When using technology we should
a. never forget that the aim is teaching not using the technology just to sake of using it
b. pay attention to netiquette not to offend people
c. be careful about copyright of the materials
d. make our students aware of cyber bullying
The two comments that I like most are:
'not to allow technology to lead the pedagogy. Pedagogy must come first'--Naomi from the Phillipines.
'I now always ask myself 'will this be engaging?'. We mustn't allow ourselves to be blinded by technology'-- Clare from the Czech Republic.
I particularly like the ideas of all my fellow course participants and my colleagues, who talked about the importance of 'purpose', 'netiquette', and 'beng a lifelong learner'.
My comment would be: I learned an awful lot from this course, and from my colleagues. What I will take away with me is: Technology is a wonderful opportunity for us, language teachers, to make use of the wonderful resources provided to enhance our students' learning experience. However, we should not forget that still the most important resource in the classroom is the teacher and the empathy he/she has for the students' learning. And this teacher will continue to be a wonderful resource by being a lifelong learner him/herself and by being open to all innovations, and challenges around him/her.
The future: Mobile learning
The possibilities for learning in general and language learning in particular are huge. Imagine your students being able to do grammar exercises on their phone on the way home from school. Or getting background information from the internet via their phone while on an organised school trip.
Virtual Wolds: Second Life....
I wish I was a teenager learning English so that I could become a resident in Second Life :)))))
There are csme communities to keep up-to-date with innovations in education:
Classroom 2.0 (http://www.classroom20.com/): An online community that looks at using new technologies in the classroom.
IATEFL Learning Technologies Special Interest Group (LTSIG) (http://ltsig.org.uk/):
The British Council's TeachingEnglish - Talk (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk) section also has lots of discussions, blogs, forum posts and polls on the use of technology in the classroom.
Below are some publications that look at emerging technologies - the technologies that are likely to have an impact on education in the future.
Handbook of Emerging Technologies: http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/wikis/etl/index.php/Handbook_of_Emerging_Technologies_for_Learning
This is a resource for educators planning to incorporate technologies in their teaching and learning activities.
Horizon report; a report looking into emerging technologies in education, published yearly. The 2010 edition is at http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2010-Horizon-Report.pdf. New editions will appear at http://wp.nmc.org/.
Each year six technologies are chosen that are predicted to have a major impact on education and practical examples are given on how these technologies are already being used.
A final word: In spite of my hectic lifestyle and multiple responsibilities, I am glad that I took this course. I would like to thank British Council, all the people who contributed to the development of the course, and our great moderators, Ayse and Nevin, for their great support.
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