I learned so much during the past 9 weeks! When I was starting this course, I was sure of my abilities as far as using technology in class is concerned. I was convinced that I did not have a lot to learn and maybe Robert noticed it when he read my needs before the beginning of the course. At the end, I have discovered that I had a lot to learn and indeed I learned a lot!

Week 1: Blogging. I knew quite a lot about blogging, but using a blog as a teaching tool was a discovery. I was not very regular on my own blogs but the course corrected this state of things.

Week 2: stating teaching/learning objectives. this is something that I am used to doing as a professional, but Idiscovered the Pennsylvania State University's way of stating objectives and I liked it very much.

Week 3: social bookmarking and teaching aural/oral skills. I am a member of facebook which is a social network but this course gave me the opportunity to discover that there could be social bookmarking and I am using delicious.com a lot since week 3. This week also provided me with the opportunity to discover useful websites for dealing with aural/oral skills. I am also very grateful to my coursemates who permitted me to discover very interesting websites.

Week 4: Planning a lesson to be taught with technology. Wonderful experience! It is true that I had already done that a couple of times, but reading about classmates' experiences and Robert's  comments provided me with more confidence on how to deal with these.

Week 5: Rubrics, alternative assessments and PBL. In my humble opinion, this was the turning point of this course. Before the beginning of this course, I did not look at rubrics as important evaluating tools in the process of language learning and with my adoption of the PBL as the basis of my teaching, rubrics have become unavoidable. Week 5 also made me understand how independant learning could be an advantage to a student, but also how it was important to frame it with a lot of guidance.

Week 6: Interactive powerpoint. As a logical continuation of what PBL entailed, using interactive powerpoint presentations in class has proven to be very efficient as my students were trained on how make up their own. I also read a lot of interesting new ideas about using technology to teach large classes.

Week 7: One-computer classroom. This appeared to be very enriching although this is something I have been used to for more than 8 eight years now. Each of our classrooms is equiped with a wall-mount large screen connected to a central unit. However, apart from the usual stuff that I handle on a daily basis thanks to this computer I discovered a number of other things which could be done with a computer in class.

Week 8: Using Exercisers. I used to know Hot Potatoes very well but this week made me discover other tools which proved to be very efficient in creating tests.

Week 9: Learning Styles/Multiple Intelligences. One of the major problems that we have in our classes and that I have had the opportunity to discuss with others. I became familiar with the nine intelligences:

Verbal-Linguistic
Logical/Mathematical
Visual/Spatial
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Musical/Rhythmic
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Naturalist
Existentialist                                                                                                                    

And I also read quite a lot about Howard Gardner.

A lot of things worked well. Class discussions were very instructive and learning about various nationalities' experiences was extremely interesting. Pair work with Natali on our project reports was also very fruitful and working on the project ended up being very challenging.

However, a number of of websites we were assigned to visit did not open. I also think that with our various occupations, one week for all the activities included could be too much. Which brings me to the conclusion that maybe the course could be extended to 15-20 weeks for instance.

To new participants, I will ask them to prepare themselves very well. They should be open-minded and ready to learn new things. Practically, they should be surfing the internet ready to read more than the reading assignments given to them. Above all they should make sure they have a goo room of time to do what they are supposed especcially all the reading that it involves.

End of week 9 and my project report is probably being scrutinized by the instructor Robert T. Elliott. I keep my fingers crossed for the result to be positive. Even at my age waiting for the grading of my work is stressful.

This week, we have discussed multiple intelligences in a language class. One of the overall remark that I can make is that learners are the same all over the world: it is difficult to find a homogeneous class. As Howard Gardner says ''we all have all the intelligences, but no two people are exactly alike''. This principle should govern our teaching methods and flexibility and eclecticism should govern our work.

As far as the project is concerned, I am very grateful to my partner Natali who read my work and made very useful and encouraging remarks. I hope I also helped her improve her work and that she did not take some of my remarks badly. I did not intend to hurt her in any way I just wanted to assist her in making her work look better.

I am now waiting for Robert's sanction and I can say in advance that his remarks too will be welcome as I am always looking forward to the amelioration of the way I do my job. The implementation of the project was not very easy and I could have done more if we had not faced the same difficulties relating to power failure last week and the week before last. But all in all, it was very exciting.

This is the end of week 8 of our training and I can really feel that we are moving towards the wrapping up of our training. Boy, How enriching has it been since the beginning! Whatever disciples of the classical way of teaching think, I am convinced that the future of teaching is on the internet. It might take a lot of time but it will happen.

Basically, in the next few years, teachers, especially those who work in urban areas, who are computer-illiterate will have very tough times. This because their students who are younger than them and more exposed to technology will be able to predict the content of their course and carry out research on the content of the class and come to the classroom well-prepared to give the teacher a lot of trouble with questions.

Even our teaching methods must be adapted to the pedagogic "new deal". It is true that for some time now, almost everywhere in the world, teaching is student-centered and the communicative approach has been mostly valued. These two notions must also adapt to the new developments in the technology surrounding teaching. Students, at least those who are good users of the internet, can build their own learning objectives and even look for resources which can be of value to them. Tools like "Hot Potatoes" and others of the like are available to them, which means that they can even set their own tests and try them with one another. I think teachers who have technology at their fingertips must go deeper into thinking about how to make learners more responsible in their learning by encouraging them to start thinking like teachers. This is another way of enhancing their autonomy in their learning process. The obvious question is: are we not moving towards a no-teacher society? The obvious answer is "NO". There will always be teachers around!

Either we like it or not, as I previously said, it may take the time that it needs, we are moving towards cyber-teaching because we will be teaching very talented cyber-students. The technology they use in their pastime must be fully integrated. I was part of a seminar organized by the US State Department on a new program called "The Trace Effects" in which the teaching of English takes the form of a video game. I have not yet had the opportunity to try it with my students, but I think it is a big step forward in combining what our students like doing in their free time and school. To learn more about "The Trace Effects" go to:

http://americanenglish.state.gov/trace-effects

I will start dealing with my course mate Natali's draft project today and I am hoping to send back my feedback latest tomorrow.

I am really grateful to the American Embassy for having given me the opportunity to be part of this course and I still feel so much indebted to Robert Elliott and all his colleagues for the pedagogic strength they have provided us with.

Hi 
It is true that publishers are worried about the internet putting some "mess" in their business, but I think that in a certain way, the world must go on turning and indeed it is! When Gutenberg or whosoever started the printing business, I am not sure many people could predict that a number of centuries later it would take the turn that it took. 

I think, publishers should not worry but look for ways to adapt to the "technological new deal". We teachers have started, thanks to courses like this one, to use lesser and lesser paper materials for our courses and the way forward for teaching is with the plain integration of technology. This change has taken place in many fields and is welcome, so why not in teaching?

And I keep on saying that a book is but a pile of sheets bound to each other in one way or another. If what is on this paper could be made available online and users be given an opportunity to download it, even after paying for it, would it not make life easier for those who cannot always have access to the books they want/need?

This week there were two discussion topics which appeared to be very interesting, and I was very keen on the topic on "one-computer classroom". 

About three years ago, each classroom on our language center was equipped with a large flat wall-mount screen connected to a computer. The purpose of this was to help teachers have quick access to the listening and video resources which were saved in a central server and which could be accessed from each classroom. The computers also helped with administrative tasks such as roll-calling. At that time, I did not know anything about teaching with a computer in a classroom, but I thought that it could help a lot. 

Apart from the purposes these computers were installed for, there was the possibility of using the screen as a board, which I started doing. I would open a microsoft word/Ooo writer new file and enlarge the cases and what I wrote could be seen from the back of a 30-participant classroom.

Eventually, I also discovered that as they were connected to the internet, I could also make profit of the possibilities offered by websites like google, wikipedia and many others to explain concepts, realities and facts which could be difficult to explain in a classical teaching situation. The internet also gave me the opportunity to find extra-curricular materials which could help make my teaching more lively and dynamic.

With the reading materials of this week, especially 

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech092.shtml, 

I have learnt so many other strategies which can help me in my work. However, I felt the tips displayed here were mostly meant for schools/centers where it is difficult to find more computers apart from the one in class which is likely to be the teacher's own.

We in our center have a 16-computer internet-connected lab where some of our participants can exercise themselves, which makes one-computer sessions in class give less headaches. 

I also came across this website which provided me with more resources which could be very useful in teaching with a single computer:

http://www.lttechno.com/links/onecomputerclassroom.html

I also fell in love with wallwishers which I discovered this week:

http://padlet.com/

Now, I am struggling to put together my ideas about my project for Natali to have something to read by 8th April which is the deadline if I am not mistaken.

To give more precison about the solution to the problem that I raised about my students, I think the best way of tackling it is to define a curriculum of the term (since we function according to terms (and each term = 11 weeks = 55 hours).

If we know what we are supposed to do each week, we can use the internet through its interactive tools and the PBL (Project-Based Learning) to provide the students with working materials. Interactive tools like interactive powerpoint presentations, webquests, interactive websites, etc could be used.

The only problem which could arise here is that we will probably be obliged to change the general lay-out (2 hours with a coursebook, 2 hours with a video and 1 hour of CALL) of our course. So, instead of 1 hour of CALL, there will be 3 since the lesson with the coursebook will be replaced by the CALL.

There will be a structural problem, i.e. the one of computers, but this can be solved by delocalizing the session from a normal classroom to the computer room.

All in all, with all the possibilities offered by the internet, I am convinced that we can depend less - and can even become totally independant - of textbooks.

I am overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of web tools teachers have at their disposal to make teaching and learning a pleasant moment.

This week, we have learnt more about rubrics, especially how to create a rubric with the help of Rubistar and Zunal as well as I have discovered webquest and have made one on Questgarden.

It is just unfortunate that for the past two days we have suffered electrical power cuts which have not eased my participation in the course this week and I do not know if Robert will be understanding to take this into account in the grading process. Electricity supply is so unreliable in our country and working with the internet can appear as a real challenge. That is why I think distance learning is still to take off.

Hi there,

Week 4 has also come to an end and we're starting a new one. As I wrote last Sunday, the level of difficulty is smoothly increasing as we are moving towards the end of the course. The proof that the level of difficulty increased can be seen first of all through the length of the reading material made available to us.

The first article that we had to read was very resourceful.

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Krajka-WritingUsingNet.html

It went from reviewing the previous research as far as possibilities offered by the internet to learn languages are concerned to suggesting ways of using this internet efficiently in a motivating way for students to practice what they learn in class. A number of things in this article are not new to me as I use many of the suggested teaching way-outs with my own students, but I learnt a lot from it, especially its point 9 on how newspaper reports can help increase their reading and writing skills and I was very happy to learn that this website

http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/

is a central index of newspapers around the world.

The second reading text

http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Liang-ExtensiveReading.html

deals with a crucial problem in our environment. Our students do not read as they are supposed to. What they do read is especially their school books when their parents buy them. Even adults are not very much attracted by reading and they usually complain, even though this is not actually evidenced, against the cost of books. The possibility of reading e-books eases the access to original books and the story map

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tsl/TM/WS_storymapws.shtml

can be very helpful to teachers as they do not need to catch headaches for building story maps on their own. The advanced story map suggested in that article did not open.

It is however worth mentioning that there are downsides to these activities:

1. Electricity supply is not satisfactory in our country and some parts, including some neighborhoods in the capital city, can stay several days without electricity.
2. The internet itself cannot be accessed from everywhere in Cameroon and even in places where it is, participants, namely young secondary school students, may not have enough means to have access to it.
3. The teacher, before starting a series of lessons based on internet resources must first make sure that his students are computer literate. If that is not the case, he must, if possible, provide his students with this computing know-how, which is not always very easy to teachers themselves.

Thanks for reading my blog and commenting on it.