:: Final Blog post ::
1. What were your expectations of technology before starting the class?
I expected that I would produce and edit a video file for teaching a lesson by myself and learn about how to incorporate and apply technology into making lessons. I also expected that I would find, modify and create teaching resources by using technology.
2. What did you get most out of the class?
I have learned very informative and valuable sites for teaching and learning English from vocabulary to writing. Each useful resource from the sites will be very helpful for me to teach and learn English and I think that I may improve my teaching skills through application of them.
3. Out of all of the the technologies/programs we learned about, which ones did you find the most useful?
I think all of them are useful, but if I choose the most useful things from the technologies/programs i learned about, there would be as follows.
- Quizlet (http://quizlet.com) for vocabulary learning,
- University of IOWA's phonetics pages for teaching pronunciation,
- http://breakingnewsenglish.com for lesson plans,
- http://www.manythings.org/e/listening.html for ESL listening activities,
- http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories for kids' storytelling,
- http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters for developing a story,
- http://socrative.com for assessment,
- http://screencast-o-matic.com for recording a video
4. How will you implement technology into your language learning/teaching?
When I plan and make lessons, I will use and apply them. For example, I will make activities by using resources from the above site. When I teach pronunciation, I will show university of IOWA's phonetics pages to make students understand how to make sounds of target pronunciations. When I have storytelling time for young children, I will use the site of learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org. When I teach writing for beginner, I will use the site of scholastic.com. I will use the site of socrative.com to check students' comprehension. If I practice a flipped classroom or provide them a video file for pre or after lesson at home, I will use screencast-o-matic.com to make my lesson to be a video file.
5. Were the assignments/projects beneficial to you?
Yes, They are very helpful and beneficial to me. I can learn how to apply them in my class and have deep understanding through creating a projects or assignments. If I didn't have opportunities for assignments/projects, I would seem unable to internalize them. They were very valuable experiences for me.
6. How was learning about the flipped classroom?
I think it was a new experience which enlighten me. I had known only a traditional way as a educational method before learning about the flipped classroom. When I saw the flipped classroom of Busan schools, I had a positive perspective, but less confidence in implementing it. However, during making the lesson plan and the video file for it, I could extend knowledge and skills for teaching and learning. I could also be more closer to the flipped classroom through practice of it. But, this way too demands that teachers should prepare lots of works for their lessons. Therefore, during learning about it, I think that teachers who would like to practice the flipped classroom should be supported and compensated by government or education organization. Anyway, learning about the flipped classroom was both a difficult and an interesting experience for me.
7. What are your hopes for the future in relation to educational technology?
