Saturday, July 23, 2011

WEEK 5: PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE.

I learned about three important topics this week: Project-based learning, WebQuests, and alternative assessment. These three approaches are worth using in the EFL classroom because they are student-centered and they allow students to become more autonomous learners. They help students to learn to work in a collaborative way, and they also develop their research skills.

In PBL students take a more active role and they learn to learn, becoming more autonomous learners. So the teacher's role changes and he/she acts as afacilitator who provides clear guidance in order to develop the project. By designing and implementing project based learning, students' motivation to learn increases since they perceive learning in a more realistic way when they complete their projects.
  I recommend checking the link below. There you will find free and updated materials which you can download in order to design, assess, and manage projects. It is a really useful website, it has lots of resources including rubrics to evaluate projects.
http://www.bie.org/tools/freebies

I also learned about WebQuest. According to  Bernie Dodge, a WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented online tool for learning. This means that in order to complete a task students will have to search the web to find the information need to complete a required task or project. WebQuests help students develop high-thinking skills. WebQuest have six key elements: 1.introduction, 2. task, 3. process, 4. resources, 5. evaluation and 6. conclusion. For more information, please check this link.
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub3.html


The last reading topic was about alternative assessment. As I mentioned in the Nicenet discussion, the most interesting part is the one related to formative assessment which can be used as a tool for learning. Formative assessment should be designed to provide effective feedback which can help teachers and students identify weaknesses and strengths,  so everybody can improve by reflective practice.  In addition to the readings provided for this topic, I found this information that I want to share with you.

http://www.yorku.ca/univsec/senate/committees/scotl/tevguide.pdf 


Finally, during this week, I did part 4 of my project task which was about technology related change that I would like to implement in my teaching based on my students' needs which are related to the lack of opportunities they have to use English for real communication and the little exposure they have to authentic materials. I am thinking about creating a wiki with extra class tasks based on the use of the web. Another idea I have, is to ask my students to keep a learning log, by using a blog.

Well, this what I have learned this week!!!

4 comments:

  1. Dear Wilma! Thank you for your excellent summary of what we have learned for this week! Thank you for sites that you mention, the first one is wonderful for resource using! I love your idea to use a blog and wiki for the project With the best, Natalia

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  2. Hi Wilma,

    I agree with Natalya, you did an excellent summary of this week's assignments and you gave us your own opinion. Great!
    As I mentioned in the discussion thread, I loved the first site you suggest. It's awesome!
    Now I checked the pdf file on teacher assessment and evaluation and I think it is really important. I have already downloaded it. Thanks for sharing it.

    Celeste

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  3. Hi Wilma,
    I really appreciate the fact that you reinforced what you said by adding those useful links. They really give us the chance to study more in more detail.Using a blog with your students will be a very rewarding thing, I can assure you of this.
    All the best, Laura- Cristiana

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  4. Dear Wilma:
    Finally I can comment about someone else blog statements. I agree with you that the new technlogy is useful for us and for our students.
    Best wishes, Jose

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