Hi everybody,
One of the other topics we will be discussing tomorrow is the use of technology in ELT. Here are the link to two videos I'd like you to watch. Once you have watch them post your comments to the following question: Is the use of Educational technology taking us away from the real nature of teaching?
Keep the great work!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA1Aqp0sPQo
http://www.ted.com/talks/ramsey_musallam_3_rules_to_spark_learning#t-381128
I think technology is the best creation humans could ever invent. However I'm aware of the fact that it depends on the use you give it. Now days teaching has become part of it as well as other aspects of daily life but it doesn't mean that has lost its own meaning, I think teaching is appropriate to the age where it is and as everything it evolves to the next age. Anyone can get the best from technology since they're in the same stage and at the same point, progressive learning and new tools for teaching.
ReplyDeleteWell I think that the use of technologies for teaching is taking us for a different way; people can learn from everywhere and from everybody, our questions are being usually answered, the topics are widely explained in different ways, etc. Day by day there are more tools for an autonomous learning, however, I think that even with all these useful options, people feel more comfortable with the interaction, finding somebody who guide them, that can give a feedback and even motive them.
ReplyDeletetotally agree with you. students even with all this new resources and materials on the web prefers that us as a teachers stay(? on their side to guide and help or maybe explain something in a better or comfortable way for them.
Deletecertainly it all depends on the culture and personality of individuals. Actually, I met many people who would rather be homeschooled and virtual school than going to a physical school. Some mentioned the inflexibility of time schedule, not being able to work at their own pace (classes too fast or in that matter, too slow.) others just preferred as little interaction as possible. to me, having the option to choose is the most important aspect in the learning process.
DeleteTo begin with, It should be clarified what the nature of teaching is. In my humble opinion, the teacher’s job is either create, arise, or develop into the students the desire to learn. Depending on the culture, some students are more o less likely to be autonomous, so the teacher’s performance needs to be adapted to the situation.
ReplyDeleteTaking this into consideration, technology can be spectacularly helpful to motivate students to learn inside or outside the classroom; it mainly depends on how teachers and students manage the use of technology. So if we use technology in order to enhance our students’ skills, autonomy and motivation, it seems to me that this could be good materials in a class.
I agree with you Alejandro technology should be like a tool that will help us as teachers to motivate and guide students to give it the right use, technology nowadays is part of our daily routine and we as teachers have to take advantage from it, but don't rely so much on it. We can use it as our helper because technology brings innovation in the learning process for everyone.
DeleteI totally agree, it all depends on the using of the tool. However, thet itself is the problem. Some teachers do not differenciate from what is a tool. Some teachers just leave all the work to technology and students only. Students need a guide as minimun as it can be, somebady has to show them the right way of using this tool.
Deletetechnology can be helpful to the students autonomy learning, people nowadays can be learn anything form everywhere, day by day there are more tools and resources that we as a teachers can use for a better or more interactive learning, it depends on the use that we give it, or the relevance that technology have in our lives, I think that is important too motivated students to think by themselves without depending of a technological resource… if we use as a complement resource and for motivate our students it will be to me a nice tool
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that technology improves autonomy because it can be use out of the class, the thing is .. to have clear objectives and make the students know the importance of giving it a good use.
DeleteI would have to agree with you, by using technology students can become autonomous and grow in the learning process, it can also make our classes more interactive and fun.
DeleteEducational technology has had a big impact to the way we learn, also it has a contribution to the learning process so taking the teachers apart from the nature of teaching, it depends on the way we use it. for that reason we need to be focused on the purpose of that tool in our class and how it will help the students to achieve the objective because by using technology is easy to get distracted and finally any achievement gotten.
ReplyDeleteanyway technology is a tool and it is part of the teaching field and we can have different uses from it and it has to be considered into our lesson to provide better learning. it doesn't mean loosing the nature of teaching, it's just an extra resource!
To me, the real nature of teaching is learning. If someone can find a method or a resource that can be applied to improve learning, by all means it should be used. I think Educational technology is facilitating the teaching process and therefore, the learning process. Agreeing with the second video, teaching should be done in a way that incentives individual´s curiosity. I think the internet is creating bridges not only for communicating but also for those who wish to access education and don´t have the flexibility to assist to traditional classes. The more alternatives when choosing the learning tools, the best.
ReplyDeleteThe use of Educational Technology is not taking us away from the real nature of teaching which is to guide and help the learners in their process. But Educational Technology is not evolving/growing as fast as technology is, and this can become an issue in the classroom. Because of that I consider that as a teacher I need to learn continuously about the technology that the students can acquire or reach, and not just focus in learning about the technology that is designed o used exclusively in a classroom.
ReplyDeleteyeah, it's very important to have this kind of awareness when dealing with this controversial dilemma because there are many teachers that still reject the idea of including computers or even dealing with a projector in class, so how are the students of this type of teacher going to survive in nowadays world? With no skills developed for learning on their own and with a narrow view about the world, these students may lose the last piece of curiosity and interest they have.
DeleteI agree with you. Technology is just a tool for the teaching process. Is not taking away anything because students will always need a guide to get started even if we talking about using a new program to develop our learning skills we need to know how to use it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think technology is hindering the way we teach, I think it has open a door to many new opportunities for the students to develop new integrated skills to learning a foreign language. We have now access to many authentic resources coming from English speaking countries, we can use real media to offer students a closer experience with the language than any forced scenario proposed in an old textbook. They can see it, comment on it, share it and even add more info to it after researching on their own a content that is related and close to their lives. In the past we couldn't reach real life events as fast as we do today. We belong to the same planet so we are supposed to be able to participate on it actively and as much as possible by engaging with contents and people from different cultures and backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you point of view, it's about that, give students as many interaction and learning opportunities as we can, and what technology is doing is allowing us to take our teaching outside of the walls of a classroom.
DeleteI believe that somehow, it is. Technology makes a teacher live easier in the way they have more material to teach and more resources to improve their teaching. However there are some situation in which teachers take this too far and stop teaching to star leaving their students on their own with a techno device. This might be good for some people but other need some assesment from actual teachers and different learning ways. This also affects the level of education an institution since sometimes devices bring information that is not totally truth and gives acces to many other things that are not related to the educational topic. So, technology has some disadvantages speaking abput the teaching skills of teachers.
ReplyDeleteI consider that the use of technology for teaching must be monitored by the teacher, it is not a good idea to leave students roaming the web on their own. When a teacher uses technology in class he/ she must be preparedd to lead their students in a sequence where they will make the most of the use of any technological tool.
DeleteI agree with you and Marco, and this cannot be taken as autonomous learning. the teacher has to be part of the class as well.
DeleteI believe that somehow, it is. Technology makes a teacher live easier in the way they have more material to teach and more resources to improve their teaching. However there are some situation in which teachers take this too far and stop teaching to star leaving their students on their own with a techno device. This might be good for some people but other need some assesment from actual teachers and different learning ways. This also affects the level of education an institution since sometimes devices bring information that is not totally truth and gives acces to many other things that are not related to the educational topic. So, technology has some disadvantages speaking abput the teaching skills of teachers.
ReplyDeleteIs the use of Educational technology taking us away from the real nature of teaching?
ReplyDeleteYes it is, but in a real positive way, in which we can allow our students to be more autonomous and self-directed. In a way, we will end up teaching them how to be their on teachers, self-aware of their skills and learning processes, to motivate themselves and manage the time properly. Imagine yourself having the chance to "re-assist" the times you want to a class you missed, and for us as teachers it also represent great benefits, in the way we manage students information, in the way we asses them, and in many other ways it helps us to have more control of the contents and resources we hand to our students, and in some years we will see that technology will allow us to have more times to lives our lives with our own schedule.
Technology is a great tool that teachers can use to maximize and extend the real nature of teaching. Nowadays students are submerged in a world full of resources easy to be found through internet. Students are connected most of the day, just fooling around or sometimes reading interesting things. We can use these tools in our classroom just by telling them to research something for the class or to use their cellphones to complete an activity and share the results with their classmates. As teachers we should also get involved with technology, get educated on how to use it and learn as much as we can get from it. We as teachers should take advantage of that tool and use it to encourage students to learn through something they use every day. By using technology we will not be rejecting the real nature of teaching, we will be awakening it, adding something new to it and keep growing in our knowledge to share it with our students without any hesitations.
ReplyDeleteI think that the best way of learning is by experience. Technology can give people a lot of different ideas and 'experiences' about nearly anything. But as the video of the chimesrty teacher shows, real experiences should come first as a trigger of the student's curiosity and interest. Technology is only a tool not the end of learning, teacher and students should be aware of that, we need to learn how to teach for the real life, and then let technology as it is a ubiquitous thing in students life have a secondary role of fostering autonomy outside the classroom and after the teacher's directions have ceased.
ReplyDeleteI believe in using technology in class, however Educational technology will work if we as teachers are monitoring students process all the time so the topics will not be misunderstood or just not interesting for some, the teachers´ performance will always be the key for students to follow and the teacher can not get rid off the responsibility of teaching in an Educational technology class. The teacher must always be aware of technology as a tool not as a nature teacher replacement.
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