Week 8: Podcast as a didactic Tool

(21/12/15)

This last week we have learnt how to create podcast recording our voices in Audacity, and how to upload them to Podomatic.

Audacity is a free audio editor, that allows us to record audio files with a microcphone. With this program we can edit eassily what we´ve recorded, and add some effects to the audio. However, we just recorded one small extract to learn how it works, and we didn´t go deeply in learning all the features that the program has.

Here it is my podcast, in which I present myself, and say why do I think podcasts are useful.

Podcasting can be a very interesting tool for using in the classroom, as children can use it to improve their pronunciation and speaking.

Podcasts can be used in the classroom: 

• To develop reading, speaking, writing, and listening skills
• To acquire information
• To develop technology skills and applications
• To learn interactive ways to communicate knowledge to real audiences
• To develop positive academic self-concept
• To develop sense of audience and purpose when reading, writing, and speaking
• To develop a student ownership of language
• To encourage active participation and learner-centered focus
• To develop multicultural awareness

Some ideas for using podcasts in the classroom could be: 

• READING: Students read aloud a poem or another piece of text (stories, fairy tales, etc) and they record themselves and listen to it afterwards

• LISTENING: They record a piece of text including some questions. They listen to it and answer the  questions.

• SONGS: They record themselves a songwriting the lyrics in the description of the podcast. It could be a fill-in the blank activities.

• RECIPES: One student records one cooking recipe but some stages or ingredients are missing. 

• RECORDING: One student records one part of a text and another student continues recording the second part. Collaborative tasks. 

• ORAL SURVEY: Students record themselves asking some questions, then podcasts are swapped and students answer the recorded questions. They can record the answers as well.

• DESCRIPTION: some images are uploaded to the description of the podcast and they describe them to create a story.

Week 7: Quizlet and Excell

 (14/12/15- 18/12/15)

In the theory class of this week  we have learnt how to use Quizlet. 

Quizlet is a free website that provides learning tools for teachers, including flashcards, study and game modes. It allows us to create our own study sets with terms and definitions we want to teach our studients, so it is really useful to teach vocabulary. In addition, we have free access to millions of study sets that have been already created by other teachers around the world. It is really easy to use, and very motivating for the students.

We can use this website to work vocabulary, creating flashcards. We can use this flashcards in two ways:

1.Traditionally: Printing them and using them in the classroom

 We can print the exercise we have created, and we have different options:

• Table 
• Glossary
• Small
• Large 
• Index cards

2. Online: Using them in the web. We have different options: 

• Flashcard: They can see the images and in the other side the words.
• Learn: The image is presented and students have to type the word.
• Speller: They have to type what they hear, so they work litsening comprenhension of the words.
• Test: this section is to create an exam
• Scatter: This is a game where students have to match the written language and the image. Once they have done it correctly the word and the image will disappear. 
• Gravity: This is a game in which there are some asteroids having the images, that are going to fall into the earth. Before asteroids go down the students have to type the vocabulary to make them desapear. If the asteroid crashes, the game stops and the website teaches them how they have to write the word.

In conclusion, Quizlet is a very useful platform for teachers that can give them lots of ideas on how to work vocabulary with their students. In addition, teachers around the world can upload their lessons so other teacher can use them whenever they want. Is really easy to use, and its completely free.

In this theoretical lesson we have also learnt how to use microsoft excell for assessment purposes. I find excell a very useful tool to evaluate student, as with this program you are able to create tables where you can put all the evaluation criteria. It is possible to insert the mathematical operations you need to evaluate, so it can make the process of assessment much easier and faster. 

It might be quite tricky to use at first, but as long as you understand how it works it is very easy.

In the practice class, we have learnt how to use Survey Monkey, Podomatic and Audacity. 

Survey Monkey is a free tool for making easy Surveys, that can be really helpful in order to get information and have it classified and make stadistics. It provides us free customizable surveys, where we can create online exams for our students including different types of questions. The most useful thing is that we can recieve inmediate feedback, allowing us to evaluate student´s knowledge. 

 Podomatic is a virtual platform where you can upload Podcasts and have them classified. This website allows users to create, share and search podcasts about many different topics. 

I already knew some platforms that offer similar possibilities as survey monkey, and I had basic knowledge about how to use excell. For that reason, the thing that I´ve found the most interesting and that I´ve liked the most between all the things done this week is Quizlet. I think I will use it a lot in the future with my students.

Weeks 5,6: Interactive whiteboard

(7/10/15)(10/12/15)

This is the first week after the intership period. As there has been three days of holiday due to the festivities of December, we have only had one practical class of New Technologies. 

This class we have been talking about interactive Whiteboards. The corresponding group that presented the reading "Interactive whiteboards: boon or bandwagon? Critical review of the literature" informed us about the main advantages and disadvantages of the use of this ICT resource in the classroom.

An interactive whiteboard is an instructional tool that allows computer images to be displayed onto a board using a digital projector. The instructor can then manipulate the elements on the board by using his finger as a mouse, directly on the screen. Items can be transformed into text and saved. 

They are a powerful tool in the classroom adding interactivity and collaboration, allowing the integration of media content into the lecture and supporting collaborative learning. 

Some advantages: 

• Increases motivation in students
• They give flexibility and versatility to the teacher´s practice 
• They model ICT skills on students
• They give students the chance to interact and participate in lessons
• They are multimedia and multisensory presentations, increasing learning.

Some drawbacks: 

• They require a lot of teacher training and support
• There can be technical problems when using them. 

In addition, I´ve learnt some programs to use with interactive whiteboards, such as Notebook and Ebeam. 

 I find interactive whiteboards a really interesting resource that all classrooms should have, because it is very helpful for teachers and motivating for students. However, not every school have them in all the classrooms yet, because of a lack of economical resources. 

I´ve found this classes about interactive whiteboards really useful, because as future teachers we are going to use them in our everyday´s practice. It is important for us to keep on learning the new technological resources that being introduced in the classroom, in order to take profit of them. I really ejoyed learning about interactive whiteboards. 

ICT use: My experience as a student

As I have not done my internship period this year, I am going to base this report on my experience as a student, and how ICT has being used in the different centers I´ve studied in. 

ICT (information and communications technology) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, including: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing. Regarding to education, worldwide research has shown that ICT can lead to improved student learning and better teaching methods. It has different advantages: through ICT, images can easily be used in teaching and improving the retentive memory of students; teachers can easily explain complex instructions and ensure student´s comprehension; and teachers are able to create interactive classes and make the lessons more enjoyable, which could improve student attendance and concentration.

In my personal experience, the use os ICT was nearly inexistent in my Primary Education period (2001- 2007). During the firsts years of primary,  I remember that the lessons and the methodology of the teachers followed a very traditional approach of education. They based all their teaching practice on text books and in general,  students had a very passive role in their learning. Classrooms had no computers, neither projectors, and we just went once a month to the computer´s room, where we had to share computers in pairs and we use to do some exercises and games. 

When I reached the third cycle of primary, I remember the use of ICT having more presence than before, although it was very poor yet. We used to go more often to the computer´s room, and we even did some projects in which we recorded us with video cameras. 

Some reasons for this lack of use of ICT on my primary period were that, as a public school, it may not had the economic resources for including more technologies in the classrooms. In addition, we have to take into account that it was more than a decade ago, and technologies for education were not as developed and generalized as they are nowadays. 

When I changed to high school for my secondary education period, I could notice more presence of ICT: most of the classrooms had a projector and there was an audiovisual room and two computer´s room that we used very often. However, the methodology was still very traditional and the teachers didn´t had a high level of digital competence, so they didn´t know how to include the ICTs on their teaching practice on an efficient way.

I remember one english teacher that was very aware of the importance of teaching us on the use of new technologies. Thanks to him, we learnt how to use a Virtual Learning Platform (moodle). We also learned the basic aspects of video edition creation programs, and we used one blog. However, this teacher was the exception, and during all my secondary education period the only new technologies that I used were really basic, such as the use of Power Point presentations, or Microsoft word. 

It has not been until i´ve started the university that i have felt the necessity to incorporate new technologies on my every-day student practice. Here in university, and specially in my degree, the presence of ICT is notorious, and students need to know how to use technologies to pass the different subjects. For me it supposed a big change on my way of studying, but a very interesting and motivating approach to learning. 

Now i´ve realized the importance of ICTs in education. I feel that as a future teacher, I have the necessity to develop my digital competence, learning and exploring about the infinite possibilities that ICTs and the internet provide us for improving the teaching practices and ensuring a good education for our students, so they develop the necessary skills to face the technological world they are going to live in.