Now we are at the end of the 10 week long
online/e-teacher training course on webskills. Nowadays, most of the students have access to some kind of
technology, i.e. cell phone/ smart phones or computers, i-pad, etc. They spend
some of their prime time playing with it. Now it is time to integrate it with
teaching and learning. This course (webskills) has given us some useful vision
to utilize technology to help our students reach course goals and objectives. I
found some useful technology tools in this course, which can be used in our
classes as well. They are:
(a) Power point
presentation: to present the content in the classroom using multimedia
projector.
(b) Different websites:
for more educational information.
(c) delicious.com: a
common forum to share important websites or links where the learners can get
genuine knowledge for the content they learn
(d) padlet.com: a common
forum/wall to share important websites or links where the learners can get
genuine knowledge for the content they learn; and send or upload their
assignments or links of their assignments.
(e) zunal.com: for
providing the guideline of project work.
(f)
rubistar.4teachers.org: to provide proper guideline for them to do their
assignment and for teacher a guideline for assessment of the learners' tasks.
(g) blogger.com: to
create a blog to share the information to receive the assignment from the
learners.
The
other important things we learn in the course are:
(a) ABCD Objective
models and preparation of lesson plan using technology tools and ABCD
Objectives.
(b) Learning styles and
variety of learners on the basis of their multiple intelligences and different
technology tools to address these learning styles.
(c) CALL, Computer
Assisted Language Learning.
(d) Teaching a large
class and using student centered methods with the help of technology tools.
(e) Some useful websites
and tools for enhancing the skills of teaching listening, speaking,
pronunciation, reading and writing in the classroom.
(g) Some ways to make
the learners independent/ autonomous with the help of technology.
(h) Project work on the
topic to solve our specific problem using technology tools.
The
way of presenting the topics one after another in a sequence with clear
instruction was really amazing experience. The course was really well organized
and planned in every aspects. When I looked back at myself before 10 weeks and
I now found some changes in my knowledge and skills which I didn't have
previously. Perhaps this change is call real learning. I would like to thank
the course instructor, Ms. Courtney Cunningham, other guest tutors and
University of Oregon for providing us such nice contents during the online
course. The classmates who have worked hard for their assignments and provided
precious information on different topics and shared their experiences really
deserve to receive a huge applause and my sincere thanks. I am grateful to
American Embassy Nepal who provided me a scholarship and this great opportunity
in my professional career.