Throughout the period of this
subject, we have had the opportunity of learning how New Technologies
facilitate the real world into the English classroom. These allow students to
have direct access to real experiences which contributes to the development of
their communication competence in English. New Technologies unwrap a world full
of experiences in English, which was difficultly accessible to many up to now.
As we have learnt, New Technologies
approach real voices to students; voices which allow children to listen to
native and competent speakers from a wide range of accents and pronunciations,
thus, contributing to develop their listening and speaking skills. Language
learning New Technological resources can stimulate and inspire both teaching
and learning English process, although we need to bear in mind that this would
strongly depend on the methodology used in the process.
In spite of New Technologies
offering new opportunities in the learning process, in my opinion there are two
main problems which can be encountered. On the one hand, many teachers require
refreshing their methodology, as no matter how new the used tools are, if they
do not adapt them to new ways of teaching, this tools would become dull and
lose all sort of motivating aspect. On the other hand, a particular New
Technological tool or device may have many options attached to it, yet, not
having enough expertise or training in this, would fail in successfully taking
all the advantages that this may offer.
Personally I have encountered these
two situations while carrying out this subject. First, I have noticed how a
useful tool, as Surveymonkey is,
could be badly utilized not having the appropriate training required. Thus,
being acquainted with this application does not guarantee a well performance in
the final objective, which is, creating a successful questionnaire. Second, being aware of Edmodo has made me reflect about the fact of knowing other
platforms with similar characteristics, such as Moodle or Google Drive but
still not being an expert in any. I believe any of these tools enrich both
teaching and learning process, but real benefit appears when they are used to
their best potential. Consequently, I believe I need to select one of them only
and explore its possibilities in depth.
Following what it has been presented
up to this point, I firmly believe that generally, there is a need for further training,
both in methodology and in New Technology tools.
In relation to what should be
teachers´ role in regards to New Technologies and lesson preparation, I doubt
whether these should constantly create new material or, whether they should
focus their work on searching and selecting material in order to accomplish
their duty of preparing their classes. Taking into consideration the lack of
coordination and non-teaching hours teachers suffer, I find difficult to
believe that they would have much time to dedicate to create new material
instead of using the available material. Among the tools used during this
subject few may leave the impression of being a waste of time for the result
given or the time that can be applied in the classroom. Nonetheless, I believe
the focus requires a change in order to create a new pedagogical approach where
the teacher does not need to prepare or search for material to provide a
traditional type of lesson but, on the contrary, systematic innovative learning
activities emerged from children interests and needs. Moreover, many of the
tools learnt in this subject, have an organizational purpose which will
accompany teachers in their daily routine; Excel, PLE or Rubistar are some of
these examples.
During my work placement, reflected
on different social background attached to each school and how this would
determine children educational outcome. Thinking in terms of New Technology,
there is no doubt that the different in social background is also visible in
children opportunity to access, or even possess, different devices and tools
and, therefore, their ability in their use them. Most probably the introduction
of New Technology in schools widens the gap between rich and poor, as the
opportunity each have to fully equip their children with New Technology are an
equal.
In a nutshell, this subject has
pervaded me by curiosity and motivation to continue my own research in this
matter and practice the acquired knowledge during my next work placement
experience, before I face my own class in my future teaching profession.
I would like to conclude
highlighting the importance of developing my own safety and solving problem skills as well as a contingency plan to prevent and give a fast solution, when problems
are encountered with New Technologies. In the last few days before I come to an
end with this blog my PC crashed with all ready material on it and unable to
access it. Although the experience has been highly stressful and frustrating, I
have accepted as a true the importance of using New Technology in a different
manner, taking advantages of its potential as well as having a contingency plan
ready in case the device itself is not available.
