Week 10. Keep climbing the ladder!

I can’t believe we are at the end of the course and I would have to start “taking steps” autonomously in exploring more web tools. We’ve talked a lot about developing students’ autonomy in learning now I feel in their shoes. This course and community of teachers has been a ladder on which I was encouraged to climb to get to the heights I haven’t been before in using the web tools in language teaching. Now it is important to continue climbing this ladder alone, feel confident and not to climb it down for the fear of falling.

I have greatly enjoyed all the topics of the Course Weeks. Every week I would learn something new. Starting with the first week’s creating a blog,  every week there was something we had not only to learn but to apply as well. Of course for me some of the weeks were easier than the others. I felt at times that some of the tasks were overwhelming and I tried and tried and nothing went right and then it would work and it was the most rewarding thing one could experience. My favourite week was Week 6 when we learnt about interactive tools for large classrooms. I found that very useful for my classroom even though I teach small groups. Interactive ppts, games work well with small groups. I also liked the Alternative Assessment tools. I have found out about some automated assessment tools like Turnitin but I have also learned how to create a rubric. I think this is a very useful skill that simplifies the work of a teacher and in the same time makes the task and what is required more comprehensible for the student.

In a way every week was insightful. Every week I would feel like Archimedes who shouted “Eureka” only I would discover things that were new for me alone with no novelty for the humanity. 

Everything we learnt is relevant to a classroom that is going to be shortly a reality in Moldova. Just because we do not have computers in the English classrooms yet that does not mean that we should not use what technology has to offer in providing efficient tools for language learning outside the classroom for the time being. Many of the things that are common nowadays used to be new and unconceivable for a classroom only some time ago yet they have slowly came into use and have become something we cannot do without. The same with webtools: I can start using them outside the classroom as a home assignment and then they will slowly come along with the computers in a Moldovan classroom as well.

The other day I was preparing the activities for the class site and I needed a comprehension quiz for a listening activity. I remembered that we covered this topic in one of the weeks and I found it. I created a quiz using http://www.easytestmaker.com. I knew where to look for the tool I needed. Although I had to struggle a little bit with the final step of printing/publishing the fact made me realize for the first time what a great enriching experience this course brought in my teaching practice.

There are a lot of new things that I have learnt in this course. However I have heard Sam from Japan speak about Moodle as an alternative to WebQuest. He said that it has more options included than some separate tools that we got familiar with. Maybe the future participants could learn how to use Moodle along with the WebQuest.  I found the idea of Moodle interesting although I still need to explore and learn about it a lot.

 And lastly I have heard my colleagues talk about finding a way to keep this discussion group "alive". I would be more than pleased to do so as I still have so many questions and sometimes I need a hand to climb a shaky step.