Week 14: Essay

Here we are, at the end of this course.

Now, you have come across the main issues and concepts related to autonomous learning and to technologies being used for academic purposes. 

Then, you should be able to write an essay about a topic of your own or about any aspect which you would like to explore in further detail. You can select whatever you wish, gather bibliography on that topic and start thinking of how you want to structure it. The more you narrow it down, the more concise and illuminating it will be for the subject you have chosen.

Soon, we will post our own essays as we are still finishing them. 

We hope you have liked our course and have bothered to do it yourselves, because we are sure that you have learnt a lot!

Thank you for your visits,

Marta & Jose

Week 13: Create your own blog

Nearing the end of the course, we were encouraged to create a blog. The result is the one you are in now.

Even if you are not very used to handling computers, just enter this site, register and start making it up.

It is easy, plain and offers you lots of possibilities in terms of design, content, gadgets...

Think of an aim or topic and build your own blog. You are allowed to include files and texts of various types and share them with your friends or with anyone in the web!

Week 12: Hot Potatoes

In this section, we want to present you a series of Internet devices which are very useful for teachers who wish to make use of technologies. Hot Potatoes is a site where you can download the setup file. 

 

Once you have installed it in your computer, you can create the sort of activity you prefer for your students to put their knowledge of a certain area or exercise into practice.

There are five possibilities: crosswords, fill-in the gaps (or cloze test), matching, a multiple choice (quiz) or a mix. Each user can customise his activities and ask the students to do them either in the class or at home. The fact that physical materials are not needed makes this kind of exercises quicker and more straightforward than conventional homework.

Try it yourselves and check how it works!

You can create a new activity or redo one of those you have already designed to apply these resources.

Look at ours!

Jose-Hotpotatoes

(this is a remaking of the listening activity in week 11 adapted to the Hot Potatoes exercises. You can compare them and determine how much it has been improved)

Marta-Hotpotatoes 
 

Week 11: Design a listening activity

Having looked into the issues concerning listening teaching, you should feel prepared to create your own listening activity.

We advise you either to make use of one of the many podcasts (i.e. audio files) that you can find in the Internet or to create your own file (it depends on how adventurous you are!).

We have done two for you to see.

Marta (audio file included)

Jose-activity

Jose-audio

Jose-script

Week 10: Teaching listening: an introduction

At this point, you should start being conscious of the relevance of listening comprehension.

This is why the first activity we did was to ask ourselves what would be the main points a teacher must take into consideration in this area of language teaching.

After reflecting on this, read the article posted below. In it, you will find the tips given by a number of teachers as to what their priorities for teaching are.

Then, reconsider the points which you had previously established and write a new, larger list including those you think are most useful. 

Article

Comments & Review

Week 9: Comments on wikis

In order to improve and remake anything in your own wiki, look around at the wikis of other authors and try to find their strong and their weak points.

We did so in class and wrote down some aspects which we thought were positive and negative about them.

See the kind of general comments you can make.

Comments on wikis

Week 8: Read and comment on an article

It is important to be acquainted with texts which expand on new trends in language learning methodologies.

This kind of professional reading will enable you to have a comprehensive view of the whole range of methods that are becoming fashionable in today's educational systems.

We propose you to read one of the following articles and discuss its main aspects.

New Trends in Using Technology in the Language Curriculum

Technology and Second Language Acquisition

 Have a look at our reviews.

Week 7: Create a wiki

Wikis have become a very useful device in the Internet to develop nets of collaborative work, especially for educational purposes. Wikis are fairly easy to create, edit and use. Moreover, they allow people who cannot meet to put all their work in common in one single site and upload materials periodically to keep it up-to-date.

Log in http://pbworks.com/, register and start designing it either individually or in groups.

First, think of the topic you want your wiki to be about. Then, decide the contents you want to include.

Organise them into pages to make a coherent, straightforward structure. Select the pictures, videos or material according to whom the wiki is addressed to.

Use the making of ours as a guidance:

Week 6: Evaluating websites

Now that you have already visited some websites and created your own activity out of online materials, you are prepared enough to examine them in detail and to judge them from a critical perspective.

Create a document with the following information:

• Name
• Address
• Author
• Level
• Layout
• Content
• Positive points
• Negative points

These are general tips to arrange your reviews. Depending on each site, you can modify them (add a relevant aspect, suppress those you cannot find...).

We have already assessed the following sites:

Audio stories and fairy tales for children

Starfall

Learn English through Listening Files

Week 5: Create an activity based on a site

In order to make you aware of the importance of the Internet as a source of didactic materials, we suggest you to create an activity (as in activity 3) which, instead of focusing on learning strategies, must be based on one of the following websites (of course, if you find another one which you like, choose it!):

• www.mysterynet.com
• http://printables.kaboose.com/
• http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/press_corps/

Look at the structure and contents of the one you like best and choose the exercises about the topic you prefer and which will suit the needs of the learner you have in mind.

The activity you design should contain a warming-up, the activity itself and a follow-on.

Also, you must include information about the aim, the focus, the level, the time and the procedure which the activity entails.

To have a general idea of what your activity could look like, see the ones we did.

Activity: The Water Cycle  

Share what you're reading

Week 4: Video on education paradigms

Watch this video about education paradigms currently in force. These are explained and called into question by the lecturer. In turn, he puts forth other teaching models which, in his opinion, should take over from old ones.

Having watched it, try to answer the following questions:

How do you feel about the arguments made in the video? Do you agree or disagree? What strong claims are made that you think are right? Wrong? Write about your experience as a student (primary, secondary and tertiary education)

Here are the reviews we wrote

Week 3: Design an activity

Now, hands to work!

Create a little activity of your own using the knowledge which you have already acquired (on later sessions you will be asked to construct a more complex activity based on a site). You have to concentrate on any of the learning strategies you have read about in the second reading of activity 2.

Make sure that your activity is well structured and devised to fulfill the objectives you have in mind.

To have an example, you can go over this one.

Week 2: Analysis of a Website

The second activity consists of a comparison between the article which you have already analysed in Activity 1 and a website where plenty of learning tips are provided.

Try to find the differences and similarities between the content and the structure of both texts.

Once you have done it, you can read the ones we have done.

Week 1: Analysis of a Virtual Course

The first activity of our course is aimed at making students familiar with the new trends in education paradigms.

Specifically, it is meant to acquaint you with virtual courses as opposed to face-to-face courses, the latter forcing people to attend classroom on a regular basis.

Here you will find a pdf file with a module containing a list of activities for an English virtual course.

Read this course program and comment on the aspects that call your attention most.

You can look at the one we have done.

WELCOME!

Welcome you all to our blog!

By navigating through our blog, you will be able to see all the activities which we have been doing during a university course in the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona called "Autoaprenentage de l'anglès com a segona llengua i les seves aplicaciones tecnològiques".

And, more importantly, you can follow and do them yourselves if you want to work autonomously on innovative teaching methods and the use of new technologies in application to classroom environments.

In the summer, or as a complementary support to your studies, you can carry out the same activities that we have been doing. You will learn a lot about how to implement lessons using these still underdeveloped teaching methodologies.

Do not be afraid of employing computers for academic purposes. They are an allies, not enemies. When you get used to them, you realise that things are much easier. Also, working with computers is preferred by a large number of students today and thus they will feel much more at ease if interactive devices start taking over.

On the right, you have a calendar with all the sessions scheduled for you in case you wish to perform the activities proposed. Each activity corresponds to one week. In each entry, you have an explanation of what the exercise consists of, the materials you need and one or two examples you can have a peep at to have a model or to correct your own work.

We hope you fancy it and do it yourselves. Publish any comments, problem or suggestion you would like to share with us and with all our visitors.

Good luck!

Marta & Jose