#AreWeReadyForBlendedLearning?

#AREWEREADYFORBLENDEDLEARNING?

Blended learning is an approach to learning that combines traditional classroom methods and e-learning, being the latter a fully virtualized distance education through a wide range of technologies and techniques all relating to the digital transfer of information. It represents a much greater change than simply adding computers or tablets to classrooms; it means a substantial change in the teaching and learning approach.

Blended learning can be made up of two or three equally important parts depending on what is best for the group of learners or the course of studies. The first part consists of online learning materials, also given by the same facilitator; the second one is face-to-face classroom work, with teachers as facilitators; and finally, a structured self-study time guided by the material in the lectures and skills developed during the classroom experience. Blended learning is really only one of the mediums that helps to facilitate the learning experience and that is what makes it different from online courses or working only with e-learning. In the following picture we can easy spot the three elements:

Blended Learning 

It is of vital importance that the initiative of educational institutions and teachers to implement blended learning in classrooms would be in search of a major improvement in the educational system or in the students’ academic performance with the support of technology, and not the other way around. Another critical feature to be taken into account is teachers’ motivation as regards the use of this approach; they must be willing to make changes that may be radical in their previous practices, and different in comparison to what they have already experienced as learners. If teachers lack motivation, a very important component would be missing to make this model efficient.

In an attempt to incorporate blended learning in classrooms, teachers need to receive instructions from the scratch and attend ongoing capacitation about learning how to use new devices and educational applications in order to provide them with tools to find the best way to adapt the approach to their lessons. If teaching and learning would change with this programme, so need teachers, and that may sound scary.

This method of learning in combination with different resources is an excellent way to create and provide students with information that would be available for them to work at home, support while doing their homework and when studying and getting prepared for an exam. In EFL lessons, we think this approach would be great to carry out the idea we proposed in the previous post about SAMR model (Click here to read the post: http://bit.ly/2N3bBAg). Creating a live chat for education which would provide real-time engagement with subscripted students from other virtual classrooms so they can have a guided conversation supported with content as questions or expressions provided by the teacher in an educational context. We are aware of the existence of virtual platforms already set out by the coursebooks editorials or institutions can choose a digital platform as Moodle or Edmodo which are the ones that teachers have selected to work in Instituto Nº8 Guillermo Almirante Brown.

In Monique Markoff presentation at TEDx Ithaca College, she exposed four elements that we need in order to go blending. The first is flexibility, if teachers are prepared to change so as to find a better way of teaching and if institutions are flexible enough to let teachers innovate. The second one is commitment, which is intertwined with institutions and teachers engagement with all the training and arrangements required to carry out this programme. The third feature needed is a change in the student's mindset, showing them that their work will be profitable to their improvement. Last but not least, is a question about the teacher's role in this new model of teaching, some people think teachers would be put aside but actually, they still have an active role since face-to-face meetings are still the most important. (Markoff, M. [TEDx Talks]. (May 6th, 2014), 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb2d8E1dZjY)

In brief, teachers’ role would be crucial in the introduction of this mixture of digital and traditional teaching and learning, we will work as orchestrators, putting into practice our critical thinking and creativity. As we always like to highlight, everything that is destined to innovate or change the educational system should be implemented in the teaching training courses. That is the key to end with the gap between teachers and the new generations because if trainees have experience with new educational tools in advance, they will be capable of applying it in their future plannings and adapt it to their classrooms.

In the following video you can hear Monique Markoff in her presentation at TEDx Ithaca College, the one mention above:

REFERENCES

Markoff, M. [TEDx Talks]. (May 6th, 2014). Blended learning and the future of education: Monique Markoff at TEDxIthacaCollege. Retrieved, June 21st, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb2d8E1dZjY

Blended Learning Model. (n.d.). Retrieved June 21, 2019, from https://www.lmpi-erasmus.net/en/blended-learning-model.aspx

#ExploringSAMRModel

#EXPLORINGSAMRMODEL

As we have previously talked about, the presence of technology in classrooms is paramount, but it must be used correctly so as for the results of activities to be meaningful for students’ learning. This means, that it is not just a question of choosing a technology gadget or app and then planning the lessons based on it. Many other factors should be taken into account as they are the content and pedagogy knowledge, as well as bearing in mind the purpose of tasks and lessons plans. In the previous post, we have mentioned the TPACK model, but now we would like to present another useful framework which is known as SAMR.

While SAMR is often compared to the TPACK model, they are very different in scope. The SAMR framework was designed to provide a high-level of technology use, but some consider it to be overly simple and rather confusing. As future teachers, we consider that both models could be of great help, and we can not choose only one, we rather have to try to use both and make the best of them. The SAMR framework was created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura and its name stands for Substitution (technology as a substitute, with no functional change) Augmentation (technology as a substitute, with functional improvements) Modification (technology to transform the learning activity) Redefinition (technology to create a learning activity). As it is represented in the image below, the first two stages represent the enhancement of the students’ learning, and the last two represent a transformation of it. In simple words, this model offers a method for teachers as they go through the process of teaching and learning with the aid of technology, helping them to assess the richness of the technological gadgets or apps to be used in their classrooms.

This image represents SAMR Framework. It was taken from

https://www.schoology.com/blog/samr-model-practical-guide-edtech-integration.

Back to when we were young students, we remember teachers taking us to the computer room to play some games about the vocabulary. Now, analysing our experience with our knowledge about the SAMR model, we realized that those games were just substitution of the paper and that, instead of playing in groups or with the rest of the class, we played in the computers, what was not meaningful at all. Nowadays, technology and Internet have opened new gates to the entire world, so why not creating and engaging students in authentic communication with real people to practice not only their vocabulary but also they grammar, fluency and comprehension? A great idea to achieve this could be for instance communication with people of other countries through the computers, not necessarily being a native speaker of English. We are aware of the existence of educational web sites or forums where we can login and make video calls in a totally education contextualized environment.

Situating ourselves in the positions of teachers, as we are teachers to be, we consider SAMR as the clearest way to find the right or more efficient manner of implementing technologies in classrooms. Through this framework we could get to know and differentiate the four alternatives of use of technologies in the learning activities, some more useful than the others, and that day after day would be implemented with more and more frequency, as it is for instance the replacement of handwriting for the digital version. Besides that, there are more complex uses of technology with which more time is required to plan a lessons or tasks and make everything fix.

In the main, as students and future teachers, we consider SAMR as a tool of excellence inasmuch it offers a simple and practical way to address the question of deciding on the technology to be included in our plannings. It is something to be taken into special consideration if we want to show our students that they can use technology in an academic context, with educational purposes and with an entertaining nature. And even though it may sound intimidating, we should not be afraid and try new things with technology in educational frameworks.


REFERENCES
Fastiggi, W. (2014). The SAMR model. Retrieved June 16^th, 2019, from https://technologyforlearners.com/the-samr-model/.
Rodgers, D. Y. L. A. N. (2019, April 18). The TPACK Framework Explained (With Classroom Examples). Retrieved June 16^th, 2019, from https://www.schoology.com/blog/tpack-framework-explained.

#DescoveringTPACKModel

#DESCOVERINGTPACKMODEL

It is a well-known fact that employing technology in classrooms is of substantial importance. Students need to find a connection between their everyday living and the educational environment since they are digital natives and technology is part and parcel of their lives. Otherwise, classrooms will not be updated with the current changes in society in terms of technology, so students may lack enthusiasm or willingness to attend their lessons.  Lots of theories and information are now available about applying technology in education and how to cope with it.

One of the theories that deal with this issue is Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge (TPACK) introduced by Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler of Michigan State University in 2006. It is a framework that attempts to identify the nature of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching while addressing the complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge. Within this model, we can recognize three primary forms of knowledge: Content Knowledge (CK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), and Technological Knowledge (TK). (Koehler Matt, 2012)

TPACK presents a dynamic of the three concepts - as you can see in the image below- so as to redesign learning experiences considering that this is not the same as having knowledge of each of the primary concepts individually. Instead, equal importance should be given to the three elements for teachers to understand how tools can enhance their teaching and support students learning more deeply and effectively.

This image represents TPACK Framework. It was taken from http://bit.ly/2Fe78Er,

and it was based in the original from http://bit.ly/2XRMam6.

One of the main mistakes many teachers tend to make is that when trying to include technology in their plannings, they select a new technology they like or a new app they found and then, they try to design a lesson around that particular tool, relying in the first place in Technology Knowledge and only then, they try to adapt the Content and Pedagogy Knowledge at last. As the framework presents, the intersections of the three concepts are critical because they represent deeper levels of understanding. As regards this, teachers should start planning to take into account the Content and Pedagogy Knowledge in a first place, and then layer in Technology bearing in mind the context.
Here is a short video that shows you how the process of vetting websites, it is very usefull to learn to dismiss those webs which are not valuable or scholarly enough as a credible source for an academic work :

Another thing to bear in mind when employing technology in classrooms is helping students to analyze web sources when searching for specific information or, in case of EFL classrooms, finding a reliable online dictionary. This is also part of the teachers' work since she/he has to come up with the tools for the students to find reliable sources at the time they have to do some task. A good example could be the production of learning journals if students want to retrieve information from some article they found interesting from the Internet, previously they have to pay attention to a number of factors as the author, the background information, the year of publication; all these features will determine if the source is trustworthy.

On the whole, TPACK model in teaching and learning highlights the power technology has to transform student’s learning through different forms of integrating technology in the classrooms. A great number of factors should be considered when trying to innovate teaching, but applying the map for understanding that this model provides, would help teachers when organizing their planning, making it easier and with a significant outcome.

For a further and detailed explanation of the TPACK model, we offer the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjQN8zUvf0w.

REFERENCES

Beru, T. H. A. I. C. Y. (2017, March 10). TPACK Model [Video file]. Retrieved June 16^th, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjQN8zUvf0w.

Koehler, M. A. T. T. (2017b, June 9). TPACK Explained. Retrieved June 16^th, 2019, from http://matt-koehler.com/tpack2/tpack-explained/.

Rodgers, D. Y. L. A. N. (2019, April 18). The TPACK Framework Explained (With Classroom Examples). Retrieved June 16^th, 2019, from https://www.schoology.com/blog/tpack-framework-explained.

#LearningJournals

#LEARNINGJOURNALS

Sourced from http://bit.ly/2L4Qbjz

When dealing with the annual lesson plan, as regards the written production, we consider learning journals as a fruitful and challenging option to be included. In the first place, teachers have to set the purpose and goals of working with learning journals, since they can be used to facilitate as well as to assess the learning process. Secondly, to make most of writing such journals, teachers have to decide on what they are going to focus on the grounds that students can learn either from the process of doing it and from the results of it.

In light of the process of writing journals in EFL classrooms, we emphasize the fact that students will work shaping their language in terms of grammar and vocabulary but, more importantly, they will discover their own voices. According to Moon, J. (2010) learning journals are usually “a vehicle for reflection”; that means that students will have to find their inner voice and learn how to express that in a foreign language. For this reason, teachers should be capable of selecting a topic that would encourage students to relate their narratives with their life experiences.

Teachers’ scaffolding is essential as students must have guidance while looking up for new words, expressions or checking the spelling. Their first source of information is the teacher in the classroom but, nowadays, most of the young EFL learners tend to use google translator which is neither an educational source nor reliable, this is why developing new media literacy skills is crucial to supplement their writing process. Teaching how to find the information needed in the media and how to evaluate the reliability of it, requires the provision of the necessary tools such as online dictionaries, applications, and trustworthy sites.

What about the outcome? It is a suitable opportunity to assess the students’ improvement, giving feedback about language use and encouraging self-assessment. Moreover, students can share among their partners in order to get some feedback from a different point of view, which can result in a very valuable exchange. In respect of the inclusion of the digital literacies once more, focusing on connections, an innovative idea would be to encourage the student to upload their writing productions in their social networks such as Instagram or Facebook. Another considerable option is that the teacher creates a blog where they post their compositions so they can share the link and be part of the mass media in an educational context.

If we decide to include Learning Journals in our lessons, it has to be in a progressive and periodical way to give students time to get used to the system of writing, and we must not lose sight of the fact that the topic should be relevant for the students but within the boundaries of the curriculum. This is an excellent opportunity to present students with something new and beneficiary for them as well as supported with new technologies.

REFERENCES

Dudeney, G. & Pegrum, M. (2013). Digital literacies: What are they and why should we care. Harlow: Pearson.

Moon, J. (2010). Assessment - Learning Journals and Logs.UCD: Dublin.

#AddressingStudents'NeedsEmployingICT

#ADDRESSINGSTUDENTS’NEEDS

EMPLOYINGICT

Sourced from http://bit.ly/2Y5gXvN

            It is a well-known fact that teachers’ role has gone through several changes in the last century. Nowadays, teachers are no longer the only source of knowledge for students, as Éva Ujlakyné Szucs (2009) says: “Although they are still considered to be a kind of leader in the class, they can be thought of as facilitators in the learning process.”. Teachers are still in charge of delivering the information but they also support students showing them how to approach it so as to put it into practice. This goes hand in hand with Students’ Centred Approach where teachers should pay close attention to students’ needs.

            To start with, teachers have to bear in mind that students are, as Marc Prensky (2001) defines, “Digital Natives” since they were born in the Digital Era. This means that it is a generation that wants immediacy, and teachers have to deal with their anxiety and the complexity of multi-tasking. Resorting to new innovative ways of teaching including technology in ELT classrooms will certainly surprise and motivate students to engage in their learning avoiding the traditional kinds of activities they reject.

It is paramount to find a balance between more enjoyable activities and other traditional ones of serious nature as Howard and Major (2004) suggest in Guidelines for designing Effective English LanguageTeaching. Teachers can draw on existing materials from books and digital platforms in order to work with technologies, and in case this is not accurate enough for their syllabus, designing his/her own material is a good option. This involves adapting borrowed materials or creating something from scratch to directly address the students needs in an intricate process where many other factors should be considered; such as contextualization, authenticity, appropriacy, the attractiveness of the material.

As future teachers, we are aware that designing our own material is time-consuming but it is a relevant option to fulfill students’ needs and expectations accordingly. Taking into account that our students will be Digital Natives as we are, we consider it crucial to implement new ways of teaching and learning applying technologies that can be useful not only inside but also outside the classrooms. But, how will we implement ICT in an institution where there is no internet, no facilities? Do we really have to bring them more of what they are used to or showing them that `boardgames` are as fancy as video games? There are tons of controversies surrounding this issue, but teachers do not have to hesitate that it is surely an improvement in education.

REFERENCES

Howard, J. and Major, J. (2004). Guidelines for designing effective English language teaching materials.

Prensky, M (2001). Digital natives, Digital immigrants. UniversityPress, Vol. 9. 

UjlakynéSzucs, E (2009). The role of teachers in the 21st century.