Week 10 Reflection

Dear all,

The last blog. It is always hard to do something for the last time. Week 10 seemed to be so long away, and it turned out to be so close =)
This week we read about levels of Technology Integration in the classroom. The Technology Integration Matrix by University of Southern Florida (http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/matrix.php) seemed a bit more comprehensive to me and I would like to use it in the near future to make technology integration in my classes go smooth and step by step.
We also had to give some advice to the future participants, and it was very pleasant as it gives so much confidence to you in being able to use many tools that you haven't even heard just a few months ago.
I have learnt to use Blogger, NiceNet, Google Sites, Padlet, Delicious, WebQuest, Jeopardy, Tests online, Rubrics, interactive Powerpoint, to write ABCD objectives, to deal with large classes, to motivate learners' autonomy and many other useful tools and skills that have  great potential for usage in my classes. Not all and not at once, but step by step.
So, I do feel thankful to Donna, and the course, and the participants! When I handed in my application for the course, I had no idea what it would look like and what it is going to be about. Still, I got much more than I expected, I got marvelous experience working on a distance course, I got to know tools and information that became a part of my everyday life, and got to know wonderful people from different corners of the world!!! I would definitely recommend applying to this course! And as I mentioned earlier, I would love to take part in some more courses of this kind.

Warm thanks to everyone and good luck in everything you find yourself doing!
Great job!


Yours,

Marina, Moldova 

Week 9 Reflection

Hi everyone,

Week 9. The last but one. I just look back and it is hard to believe that it is nearly over.
This week marked the final line and our final projects. As Donna mentioned, having your draft helped in making your final plan somehow better and easier. Still it took time and I have made ceratin changes to improve it having in mind my partner Ernesto's recommendations and looking through other participant's works. I had in mind my class and my students when I thought about the plan and what could work best for them for the new semester and blogging was the things that in my view resolved a few their problems and could definitely enhance their learning. In fact, I am getting excited about how I am going to implement it, in some way, I am pretty sure it would be effective.
Another thing I did this week is looking though all he links and articles we learned or read about, and I enriched my Delicious page with loads of links. I have been thinking that it has been great to learn so much.
I also received course evaluation and completed it. It is my first online course with Oregon University and if I had a chance, I would definitely take some more courses. It is somehow thought over and even being demanding at times, still it gives way to creativity, responsibility for your studying, respect and wonderful respectful and professional atmosphere and attitude. Another thing to mention is international environment where you could learn so much from just reading other's people posts, and reflect over the issues that are similar or different in different parts of the world, and how people resolve them, or merely deal with.
I want to say huge thanks to Donna who has been with us all this time and helped with everything what was needed.
Huge thanks to all the participants - I did have great time taking part in discussion, commenting, or just reading you. Hope you all have enjoyed the course as much as I have!

Marina,
Moldova   

Week 8 Reflection

Hi everyone,

This week has been rather challenging for me since I had little time to accomplish the tasks. Nevertheless, I have to say I did my best though it is not my best in general.
We had to explore the technology tools, Nicenet, Blogger, Wiki, Padlet, Wikispaces etc. All of them have great potential for the students, though not all of them can be used with all kinds of students. We have to be quite careful when we use tools so that students and teacher could benefit from them and feel comfortable. Another task was to explore various kinds of tools for teachers to use at the class, such as Tools for educators (http://www.toolsforeducators.com/), Easy Test Maker (http://www.easytestmaker.com/default.aspx) etc.
I have been working on my plan for a while though I do feel I need to work more on it. The templates we have are very helpful and the projects and plans from participants of previous years give a much better understanding of what a plan or project is supposed to look like. Thanks to my partner Ernesto who is very optimistic and a motivated person and I get enthusiastic about I am doing even if I feel a bit down about it =). Good prompt from Donna to save all necessary articles and links - I will definitely enrich my Delicious page. Surely, I am going to work over my plan. Hopefully, it will be an appropriate one.
Time flies so fast! It is quite unbelievable that we are almost there )

Have a lovely Sunday!

Marina,
Moldova

Week 7 Reflection

Hi guys,

Week 7 is about to come to an end and here we go with our blogging. I have to mention that I do feel more confident when it comes to usage of various kinds of technology.
This week I have read about learner autonomy and how important it is in the learning process. Learner autonomy awakens responsibility, stimuli and motivation. On the other hand, that does not mean that the role of the teacher is anyhow less significant or redundant. It just takes another form.
I also found topic of strategies and applications for the one-computer classroom (http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic84.htm) very useful since I basically have one computer in the classroom.
What a nice thing Padlet is! It seems to be very simple to use and to organize, still there are so many ways we can work with it with any level of students. We posted various types of information on this week topic and it has been fun to read other posts.
Since I have decided to make a plan at the end of the course, I have been thinking and putting up ideas together. I have to say it takes time and I have to make sure the technology fits the learning process. Less than a week is left to present a draft to a partner and I need to find time for that. I will be looking at the samples of plans given to us earlier to get more inspiration. Besides, I am looking forward to seeing my partner's draft as well. Good luck to us all!

Wish everyone a productive end of the week and weekend!

Marina,
Moldova

Week 6 Reflection

Hi there,
This week has been marked by a lot of readings and exploring sites, new technology to use at the classroom. I have learned how to handle large classes. I found the article "Teaching Large Classes II-Enhancing Learning by Engaging Students" by Rick Finnman and Donna Shaw (http://oregonstate.edu/dept/eli/osu-hedp/large_classes_engaging_students.html) instructive and with practical ideas to implement.
I read about PPT and the ways it can be made better and more interactive. I try to make PPT interactive to me and then I would be able to make a more confident speech or lesson. I have to read some of the articles again to refresh some new (for me) options.
About Jeopardy. I have seen some of my colleagues making and using it for some workshops and some fun-events, and I wanted to make it myself, but then I either had no time, or people had no time to explain, so it was in the air. Now, I can do it) It turned out that it is not that hard, it is fun though time-consuming.
Since I am not teaching in August, I will be creating plan that would flesh out the technology. I have decided to create a google site for my group that will begin classes in September, and include all necesary informaton of the course on the site. I have begun exploting google sites, and I need more time to feel confident working with it. I am thinking of including interactive assignments for students on the site and expect them do it on time and with much more pleasure and enthusiasm than before. I also have to think how the students are going to be introduced to the site and how many would be actually using it. I do hope it would have appeal to the students since they are supposed to take an online final test after each semester. It is still very raw, I do need time to make it more real in my head and read more samples of other participants of previous courses.
 Getting excited anyway )

Marina,
Moldova

Week 5 Reflection

Hi everyone,

Week 5 is over and I hardly believe half of the way is behind. For now I have shared the information on  the e-teacher scholarship to a couple of other friends and colleagues who got inspired by my impressions of the course! I hope more people could have such an opportunity to take!
This week I have read a couple of articles on alternative assessment, practical ideas and guides how to use it. I have learnt that alternative assessment directly evaluates students' language skills and gives them a role in their own evaluation process. Project-based learning is a good way of implementing alternative assessment. I usually have hard times when I need to grade someone and then explain why I put that particular grade. So, alternative assessment seems really attractive to me.
Creating rubrics was new for me, and I think that the site we used this week (http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php) is very useful and now I feel more comfortable and can use on very well explained criteria of assessment in various areas.
I have heard about WebQuest for rather a long time and even someone showed me how to use it but for some reason, I wasn't much interested mostly because earlier I didn't see the way it could be implemented at my classes, and basically didn't really understand the way it works. Now I got some new fresh look and I definitely see it differently and I am thinking of how I can use it with the students.
Thinking and writing about a technology-related solution to problem described a week before was a good exercise as it makes you think about absolutely practical things to make your teaching easier and more enjoyable. I do think I will be introducing the things I have learnt so far at the class.
I really like that we are blogging our reflections. It makes me remember what I have done and learnt and make a summary before we move on. I feel more confident for now.
Take care,

Marina,
Moldova 

Week 4 Reflection

Hi everyone,

Week 4 is finishing and here we go with the reflection on it.
This time we had to read more articles on vocabulary, reading and writing and more sites to explore. One of the reading tasks was Jarek Krajka's article "Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction" (http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Krajka-WritingUsingNet.html), which seems to be interesting with curious ideas to think of and I am also planning to use his ideas for teaching writing genres with my students.
As for the sites, I would certainly use Breaking News English (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/) as it fits very well with my teaching environment and the kind of students I can use it with. Besides, I also found Activities for Students (http://a4esl.org/) for grammar and vocabulary practice great. In fact, I have already given some tasks from it to my Pre-Intermediate students as they are getting ready to take a test in a week, and they seem to like it.
A new thing we did this week was creating a technology-enhanced lesson plan. A very good side of it was to have a template and a model when making it, which I found very helpful. It took me a bit time to think over it and fit into the scheme, and I hope I did it appropriately.
Project Task made me think over the group I described two weeks ago and what problems they (and me) encounter at the lesson and outside the classroom. I have thought about changes that would benefit both the students and me. It would be a nice idea to have access to technology in the classrooms to have things done faster and spend more time on learning more than on checking homework, for example.
I have used Delicious quite often this week and even shared the link with a few people who loved it!
Weekly checklist is of such great help. It clearly sets you the tasks for the week and you are sure you don't miss anything.
I am excited to know what Week 5 brings.
Hope you are all having great time!

Marina,
Moldova

Week 3 Reflection

Hi everyone,

Week 3 is coming to its end and I am sharing my impressions of it.
The way of working is becoming clearer. At the beginning of the week we have to read a couple of articles, then we should explore some website(s) and share our opinions on it on Nicenet, learn a new technological tool, then work on a project and finish with a reflection on what you have been doing all the week.
Readings are quite good. At the start they might seem scientific, but then you realize they are well-coordinated with what you are going to do next. The discussions at Nicenet about what you have read and explored clarify the issues, and you feel you are in the flow.
This week I have learnt about Delicious. com, which allows to save links to my favourite websites, see them from any computer, and share with anyone. The hangout done by Donna helped to make my own Delicious page fast enough and then enjoy the bookmarking. I found the site very useful! We also had to add our Delicious page to the list of other participants and see, explore, share each others' interesting links, which I found to be a great idea!
Besides, we have also read through sample final projects from the participants of earlier courses. It gave an overall idea what we are supposed to do at the end of the course and already think how to make it, what to include and how to describe it.
So, my third blog post is ready. It is a good time for me to "stop and smell the roses" as they say and reflect on what I have already done and how I can use that what I have learnt in my own job.
Wishing everyone a nice and lovely end weekend!

Best,

Marina,
Moldova

Week 2 Reflection

Hi everyone,

Week 2 is about to finish and I am here to share my reflections on it. I have to say that things have become much clearer and I like we way we work taking part in discussions, sharing ideas and comment each others posts. You learn many things from the other participants, and what is important at your own pace and your own time when you are available. Since we have people from all over the world and such various backgrounds, it is a really curious to get to know their opinions as well as read their reflections.
This week I have learnt a lot about websearching, and that there alternatives to Google as a search engine. Besides, I remembered technology tips for successful websearching which I I used to omit, but now I see that they make websearching much easier.
I have learnt what ABCD means (audience, behaviour, condition,degree), and how to write clear objectives from the readings provided. I trained writing a few ones to make sure I understand the way it is written in the right way.
Describing my own class and reading about other classes was a good exercise. It gave an overview of classes around the world and the way other professionals deal with problems that appear from time to time.
Blogging at the end of the week makes you remember what you have been doing all week, revise the basic moment of that wek and, in fact, gives you a feeling of accomplisment.

Looking forward to week 3!

Marina,
Moldova

Week 1 Reflection

Hi everyone, 

I am pleased I am taking part in this Webskills online course. It is my first experience participating in such an intensive course and I am looking forward to learning loads of things as well as getting to know nice people from around the world and learning from each other and from cultural backgrounds. 

This beginning of the week was a bit confusing, which made me a bit late with the but now step by step is getting more clear and understandable. In this regard, the example of your peers makes you very motivated and excited. ) 

So, during this week I had great pleasure to get to know other participants from different countries, had discussions about ground rules and guidelines for discussions which I found very useful and which gave more or less a clear picture of what we are supposed and expected to do. Besides, I have created my own blog where I blogging now. 

Well, looking forward to the next week and new tasks! 

Best, 

Marina, Moldova