28 maio

Posted at 17:58h in Educational Technology, Technology by

The discussion revolving around the use of mobile devices in the classroom is still strong. Some teachers have embraced the gadgets, feeling that they are powerful learning tools. Others, due to insecurity or strong beliefs argue that cell phones and tablets are a poor replacement for traditional teaching, just substituting what is already done well without them. For those teachers, the place of mobile devices in the classroom is in silent mode in the backpacks. There are others who say that students will be browsing through their social...

22 maio

Posted at 08:00h in Educational Technology, Reflections about Education, Technology by

In a previous post, I discussed about the importance of technology invisibility in the classroom. According to Lehman (2010), technology should be : Ubiquitous = available all the time. Necessary = used when necessary. Invisible = a natural procedure. Another author who thinks likewise is Bax (2011). The author coined the term "normalisation" to address the issue of technology in language education. He states that technology should be normalised to serve its real purpose in education. But, what is normalisation? I'll give an example: have you ever heard technophobes saying "No,...

28 abr

Posted at 13:03h in Educational Technology, Teacher Development by

[caption id="attachment_1010" align="aligncenter" width="640"] https://mkhmarketing.wordpress.com[/caption] I still haven´t convinced you to try out Twitter even with Twitter for Professional Development and Try Twitter Before Ignoring It? Here are two additional reasons for you to join the educational crowd on Twitter. This week, the international education conference, Transformar, A Educação Está em Evolução, is happening in São Paulo, and you can follow along where?! You know where. TWITTER. Many of the participants are backchanneling, which means they are broadcasting via Twitter the interesting things they hear and pointing to resources, as...

22 abr

Posted at 07:49h in Educational Technology, Reflections about Education, Technology by

Should we adopt a BYOD model where students bring their own devices to class or a 1:1 program where the school provides each student with one tablet? Before making the investment in technology, I believe there are some important points to consider. I start our reflection with a quote by Chris Lehman (2010), where he says: "Technology should be like oxygen: ubiquitous, necessary and invisible." And what does he mean by that? We can't see oxygen, but it's everywhere. We breathe in and out and don't even notice it....

15 abr

Posted at 09:28h in Educational Technology, Teacher Development, Technology by

  In my last post, I focused on giving Twitter a chance. Before saying No, try a resounding YES! And if I haven´t convinced you last time, how about considering Twitter as your daily professional development hub? For most ELT conferences, there are great tweets coming from the backchannel. Educators who share the resources of the presentations they are attending, ideas, thoughts, quotes. If nothing appeals to you, PD in microdoses might convince you. Here´s a list of the conference hashtags I´ve been following lately and also sharing. If you couldn´t be...

31 mar

Posted at 03:25h in Educational Technology by

This month I’ll be continuing the theme of technology in education and thinking about the impact of technology on young people – our learners and future learners! In 2010 there was an article in the New York Times Magazine called Growing up Digital, Wired for Distraction.  The title of the article gives you a clue as to the content – in it the writer contends (with the help of a teacher called Ms Blondel and a young student called Vishal) that “… computers and cellphones, and the constant stream...

17 mar

Posted at 10:43h in Educational Technology by

I have been running my own website (www.linguaestrangeira.com.br) for several years, which has been both incredibly rewarding and very time-consuming. So many people have asked me what is in it for those who go through the trouble of building and maintaining a website, that I decided to do my Master`s research on this topic.  In order to write my dissertation paper Dot com teachers: what they seek and what they find on the Web, I interviewed ten outstanding teachers who are webmasters of educational websites, including Dave Sperling,...

15 mar

Posted at 08:00h in Educational Technology, Games, Technology, Vocabulary by

Já ouvi muitas pessoas torcerem a cara para jogos de video game: são violentos, viciantes… Nada de bom parece vir desses brinquedos “malditos”. Entretanto, há mais benefícios do que se pode perceber e que eu, como um gamer de longa data (e estudioso dos efeitos do lúdico na aprendizagem), poderia elencar aqui. Mas como este é um blog para professores de inglês, acho que cabe alguns comentários acerca de como o jogos de video game podem ser uma ferramenta a mais para nossos alunos aperfeiçoarem seus conhecimentos linguísticos. Os...

01 mar

Posted at 20:16h in Educational Technology, Resources, Technology by

Besides being an English teacher, I’ve been an e-moderator for a while now. And one of the first things I learned when I started studying to become one were the concepts of weaving and summarizing. As an e-moderator, I have to populate forums – I have to create several different forum threads where the course participants will have a discussion about a specific topic. Also, I have to moderate the discussion – I have to make sure all course participants are able to learn together and make the most...

28 fev

Posted at 16:29h in Educational Technology, Teacher Development, Technology by

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500"] @rosaurochoa in Flickr[/caption]   So many times I´ve heard teachers saying that Twitter is not for them,  they don´t get it,  it is a waste of time. Before you make up your mind, just give it a try. Start using it in very simple ways. My first suggestion is searching for resources educators are already sharing in their timelines. In my case, for example, I´m interested in the use of mobile devices in the classroom, so I´ll look up "mlearning", using the Twitter search feature. Give it a try....