Week 2: Digital Competence and Symbaloo

(14/9/15-18/9/15)

We have started this week with the presentations on the digital competence dimensions. (The video is included in the previous post). The presentations were interesting because they made us realize our level on this competence. None of us has an advanced level, what means that we must go on improving it for our future practice. 

To asess the presentations, we used a peer-evaluation survey: 

This week we´ve also been learning different webpages and resources to use in our classrooms. We´ve analyzed them in order to see the advantages and disadvantages of each one in two ways: pedagogical, and technological. Thanks to this task, I have realized the importance of having a critical view on the websites we use in the cassrooms: not every website is useful, and the teacher need to analyze and select the sites carefuly before using them with his/her students.

Each group analyzed some pages, and then we created a collaborative document putting all the pros and cons we´ve get from them. In that way, now we have a very useful document that we can check whenever we need. 

I´ve used my symbaloo to add all the resources in a new webmix, so I have all of them organized in one place. 

In addition, this week we´ve been also taught  the basic aspects of Microsoft Word, and how to use the program with different proposes.

With the reading "Digital residents: Practices and perceptions of non-native speakers" by Huw Jarvis, i´ve learned the difference among the concepts digital resident and digital visitor. A "digital resident" can be defined as someone who spends a significant amount of time online, usually using a range of programs or apps not only on devices such as computer desktops and laptops, but also with mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. We are living in a society in which almost everybody is now a digital resident. We have to be aware of that, and know how this fact has an influence in our lifes. 

I already knew some of the things that we´ve done this week, such as the use of Microsoft Word. However, I didn´t knew some of the functions of this program, and I´ve learnt them this week. With the digital competences presentation, I´ve also improved my knowledge of this concept, discovering the different dimensions that it has and the importance of reaching a good level as teachers. 

The analysis of the webpages is the thing we´ve done this week that is going to be the most useful for me. With the collaborative document we have created, I can have all the resources organized and analyzed for whenever I need them.