Here is his first post on the Pilgrims technology bog where he shares his approach to using technology in the classroom. Thank you, Daniel.
ON USING TECHNOLOGY
DANIEL
MARTIN
"About a week before I
was due to start teaching the course “Using Interactive Whiteboards” for
Pilgrims, I joined a MOOC on Songwriting. (I am very passionate about music and singing, as some of you
know.) In the introductory video for this course Professor Pat Pattison made
reference to Aristotle, who claimed that –and now I’m quoting Professor
Pattison- “every work of art displays the same quality and he (Aristotle)
called the same quality unity, that everything fits together, that everything
works together to communicate the main point, the main idea that you are going
to express”. He goes on to add that “that’s the only possible rule in
songwriting”.
I believe that the
same principle applies to many other crafts, as the craft of teaching or the
craft of teaching English or the craft of integrating technology in English
language teaching for that matter. As language teachers we – and our students -
have been using old, well trusted technologies like pen and paper, for instance,
for many years. Should we be replacing them with digital platforms altogether? (emails,
word processing programmes, online mind mapping tools, blog posts or digital
textbooks to name a few...)
My answer is that, first and foremost, we need to
have a clear idea of what our goal is and what might be the most efficient
medium to achieve that goal.
We might be asking our students to write something
in a class blog or wiki and, therefore, use a digital medium to express
themselves. However, it is perhaps a good habit to draft some ideas first with pen
and paper.
Let me give you another example.
You have reviewed with your
students useful expressions and then you want them to drill them in writing by
generating a few sentences that are true of themselves. They write them on
paper. Then – if you have a beamer and a computer in the classroom - you collect
the samples of writing, open the camera tool of your computer and place them,
one at a time, in front of the camera for the students to see and read
projected up front. This is much more efficient than having to ask them to walk
to the front and rewrite the sentences again. This integration of technology
and tradition is a prime example of unity, of things fitting together.
Everything must fit together
Image derived from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/horiavarlan/4273913228/
Using technology for
technology’s sake, because it’s there or because it – supposedly - provides fun
or because that’s what our students want or even demand is not the answer. The
novelty inevitably wears off. New technologies replace existing ones and human
beings do not handle change well, scientists say. We do not want to be
overwhelmed by this. We have to teach. And we have lives. Or we should.
My approach and advice
is this: think about what you want to teach first, then how you are going to
teach it and finally how it can possibly be enhanced with the technology at
your disposal. You may have an interactive whiteboard or a computer, a beamer
and an Internet connection. You may have enough tablets or laptops in your
school to bring to class. Your students may be allowed to use their smartphones
in the classroom. Or, if that is not the case, you can still plan activities
for your students to use technology outside the confines of the classroom. Take
a look at your situation in particular and devise activities that fit together
and make sense together like the pieces of a puzzle. That includes continuing
doing what works well for you in the class, trying out new technologies,
integrating the four skills, making room for different learning styles and,
last but not least, looking for a sense of purpose. Technology, after all, is
just another piece of the puzzle."
We'd love to hear your views about this blog post and your approach to integrating technology in education. Looking forward to reading your comments...
No comments:
Post a Comment