WEEK 10: Final Reflection

This course has been very enriching and challenging. Unfortunately, due to my professional and personal circumstances, the last two weeks were particularly overwhelming and it’s been harder for me to catch up with tasks and meet deadlines.

However, I have learned that time has some sort of special, “magical” quality. It seems to be flexible or malleable. Even if you are really busy and think there’s no more place for undertaking a new responsibility, you can always manage time in such a way so as to spare some to do something new.

As a word of advice I would suggest that a new student do his or her best from the very beginning. Reading the suggested articles, exploring the sites, keeping an active participation in the discussions and trying out the new techniques being learned throughout the course is really important. In short, a new student should be willing to commit himself or herself to make the most of the course.

Margarita

WEEK 9: Learning Styles/Multiple Intelligences

After skimming some of the suggested sites for this week, I focused on “Do Technology Based Lessons Meet the Needs of Student Learning Styles?”
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596r/students/Rosen/Rosen.html
Undoubtedly, keeping in mind that all people learn in different ways is crucial for lesson planning. Although the article points out that there is still not a lot of research done on how technology meets the needs of our learners’ learning styles, I completely agree that "computers can be a valuable and vital tool when combined with Gardner's Seven Multiple Intelligences to enable educators to reach students with a variety of learning styles." (Davis, 1991)

One of the most interesting points I learned in the article has to do with the distinction between “multimedia and hypermedia”. Although I was pretty much aware of the benefits that multimedia-based lessons have on learning, quoted from Frank and Catherine Townsend in the article, I did not have the concept of what hypermedia was that clear. In this way, it was really interesting to see how hypermedia allows learners to work at their own pace in a nonsequential matter and to self-manage their “search”, which includes links with different forms of media. The example mentioned of a student being able to choose whether to listen to a story or to read it on the screen shows how they can use the sensory stimuli that best suits their learning style. In addition, according to their learning preferences, they can also choose from following a linear progression or from leaping from one site to another one. This requires synthesizing concepts and information throughout the task.

Last but not least, regarding the internet and distance learning, the Alianza has been offering online blended courses for adults for the last few years. In addition, our 100% online Teacher Training Course gives people in the provinces of our country the chance to get an English Teaching Certificate or Diploma.

Margarita

WEEK 8: ANVILL

I wish I’d had more time that week to interact with Jeff Magoto. I read his article on ANVILL, though. I was amazed by all the applications this portable modern web-based software can have. I think it’s fantastic how voiceboards, forums (T-casts), and livechat, can add multimedia (audio and video-based messages) to text discussions. Aside from being a lot more motivating to our students, they allow teachers to cater to their learners’ different learning styles much better. Besides, pronunciation, which is usually neglected or limited to the activities the course textbook includes, can be practiced as well.

I was also impressed by the fact ANVILL makes it possible for teachers to assess students through media-rich and personalized quizzes and surveys.

Margarita