tlt09.act

 REFLEXIONS ABOUT WEB TOOLS

The tool that I selected to do this activity was Script-O. It is a nice page where you can create all the necessary elements for the class in the same place. I created a class page a worksheet and the quiz in the same place. I think this very practical either for teacher or students. I liked the way it is presented and that it is very easy to handle. One disadvantage could be that it is a little limited to pages with a lot of written information and written activities, that is why I decided to put the instructions in a voice thread so that the presentation was not so monotonous. I think that if you have young learners you wil have to use another web tool to make things more creative and fun.

[|Las tecnologias de la información y la metodologia de la enseñanza]   1. Teaching methodology is the group of strategies used to teach. The methodolgy is always part of a didactic model that facilitates th eunderstanding of the practice from the theory. All the resources the teacher use to teach are part of the methodology, and all the changes the teacher can make to way he teaches are going to increase the efficacy and acceptance of that methodology. 2. Yes, theres is a new methodology to teach languages using technology, but more than having changed the methodology itself what has changed is the concept of what a methodology is. With the new concept it is understood that what the teacher does in the classroom makes any sense just if he makes the students to achieve their goals; a product. According to Sales, Gonzalez y Peirats (2002), the teaching is now seen as an art which arising problems are practical problems which solution requieres a reflexion and a deliberation among the educational process participants. In the new concept of methodology the relationship between the means and the purposes are the components and every educative action is the goal by itself. It means that all what is done in the classroom has to be carefully thought and it must be defined by the purpose of helping students to reach the goals. I t is also important to say that the goal is important but by goal we do not mean the result, the goal is just the final stage of a process that must be carefully studied and keep record of it. The problems nowadays technologies face is that teachers are still using the same old model and the same evaluation methods, that do not contribute with the process lead by the new technologies. 3. Just the fact of using technology does not guarantee the quality in education. It has to be agood use of technology, with a supporting methodology that allows take advantage of all the benefits technology provides. As I had mentioned before, it is aprocess that implies awareness and risponsability from the teachers and learner's part, and when the job is well done we get high quality results   [|Benefits, obstacles and the future of e-learning in Venezuela]  The major benefits teachers face with the use of technology in language teaching are: the opportunity to increase the learner´s motivation and interest for the language being learned, the possibility to create a new kind of activities that can help students in their learning process and give a twist to the daily teaching "routine"by adding new componenets and strategies to the methodology. Teachers can also select and organize the topics attending the student´s individual needs. When using technology in language teaching the teacher also faces the challenge of creating and keeping in mind new teaching and learning goals different from others used in the past, or with other methodologies. It is also important for the teacher to incorporate new strategies and action plans that asure getting the goals. But, not everything is easy as it sounds, language teachers might face some obstacles as the student´s low interest for using the new tools, what usually happens when the students do not feel the pression of having the teacher in front. As a consecuence, the students may not use the tools and the program appropiately and things are not going to work. Teachers can also face the problem of feeling that, at the beginning it looks as too much work to do, but with the time, it will eventually be an advantage for class and lesson planning. Another possible obstacle could be the absence of computers or internet tools in the school or the student´s difficulty to have access to them( althogh it might happen only in a very disadvanteged society,) because in most of the student´s contexts there are "cafe internet" around the corner. So, this anlysis now leads us to locate the situation in our country and ask, which is the future of e-learning in Venezuela? In my opinion we are in the process of understand and believe on e-learning and there is a lot of job to do about it. Teachers need to get concious of their role in e-learning and the importance of knowing what they are doing and students also have to get concious of their new role and the advantages of doing things right. It is also necessary to make technology accesible to most of schools, specially public schools, and for those who already have the technology it is important to teach them how to use it appropiately. As a conclusion I would say that everything works when it is done correctly, with the natural and logical steps and when the people invloved work with interest and motivation. [|THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF CALL] Warschauer nos presenta una breve reseña de las fases o etapas por las que ha pasado el modelo de enseñanaza conocido como CALL. Al igual que la mayoria de los modelos de enseñanza de lenguas, CALL se ha modificado de acuerdo a las tendencias y corrientes de la época. En su fase inicial se trataba de un modelo conductivista en el que el computador cumplia con la función de tutor, permitiendo que hubiese una repetida exposición a la información y permitiendo al estudiante planear sus momentos y espacios de aprendizaje. Pero, a medida que los resultados fueron analizados se determinó que el modelo necesitaba ajustes porque los enfoques conductistas habian sido ya rechazados en el nivel teorico y pedagógico. De esta forma se dió paso al enfoque comunicativo de CALL el cual cambia la visión del computador como tutor y lo convierte en un aliado y un modelo para el aprendizaje. Con este enfoque se pretende llevar al estudiante hacia el uso de la lengua, la practica en situaciones cotidianas y el aprendizaje bajo un ambiente de flexibilidad y motivación. El computador pasa a ser entonces, un modelo, un estimulo y una herramienta con la que se puede tener acceso a información y practica sobre la lengua. Este método aunque con buenos resultados, fué también criticado por considerar se le daba prioridad a elementos aislados del aprendizaje más que a aquellos centrales. Por último se dió paso a un modelo integrativo de CALL llamado multimedia, en el que todos los recursos tecnologicos existentes son integrados para el servicio del aprendiz. Es asi como hoy en día se utiliza el internet como el medio de comunicación esencial para un aprendizaje asistido por computador. Los e-mails, blogs, y páginas WEB en general son las herramientas más usadas para establecer comunicación con el aprendiz y crear un ambiente de aprendizaje novedoso y muy practico para establecer interacción y más practica entre el tutor y el prendiz. La tendencia general del CALL en este momento es presentar al estudiante un mundo de posibilidades de aprendizaje e intercambio con otros estudiantes en el mundo y un sin fin de herramientas que bien utilizadas dan paso a un proceso exitoso. Mediante la interacción en blogs y MOOs los estudiantes evaluan su propio aprendizaje y comparten reflexiones, temores y logros comunes para cualquier aprendiz de lengua, este proceso es definitivo en el logro de la meta propuesta Por último yo pienso que aunque el aula y el ambiente educativo tradicional ofrece muchas oportunidades unicas de aprendizaje, el aula virtual es necesaria en aquella etapa en que el estudiante ya puede trabajar por si solo y guiar su aprendizaje de acuerdo a sus propios intereses, bajo su propio ritmo y sobre todo disfrutando cada una de las actividades que se propone a realizar.