BY: YENI S ESMERAL DA MARTI NEZ CUEVA

July 5th, 2014

MODULE
#
4
TECHNOLOGY
IN
EDUCATION
UNIVERSIDAD CAPITAN
GENERAL GERARDO
BARRIOS SCHOOL OF ARTS
AND SCIENCES FOREIGN
LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

THE EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL
TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
FINAL PAPER
1- In a chart, describe the advantages and disadvantages of using technology in your
professional development taking into account Blended Learning, Education 2.0, Web 2.0
and IT.
BLENDING LEARNING


ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Blended learning allows schools
alike to make maximum use of the
technologies and other resources
that they have available to them.
This means that it allows schools to
take a look at all the technologies
and tools that they have and see
how it can best be used to bring the
greatest benefit to students.

Blended learning captures the best
of both worlds by allowing learners
to pick and choose how they want
to learn and affords them greater
flexibility and convenience about
when they want to learn. (Woodall,
2012, p. 3)


For sessions held online, the
communication between teacher
and student is open and everyone
can benefit from it because
everyone can view the responses
sent by the teacher.

In a blended environment students
will engage in a blend of learning
behaviors and activities that have
personal efficacy and relevance for
them. (Lynn M Jeffrey, 2012, p. 6)



There can be limited contact
between the teacher and students
and so some of the dynamism that
comes with face-to-face interaction
can be lost.

Based on what students are used to,
they often prefer the paper versions
of the materials than to see them
online.

The materials developed by
teachers cannot simply be the same
set that they had developed for
handouts. They have to be
reformatted so that they guide the
students through a process of
independent study when they are
not in a face-to-face session. (article)

Everyone must be online at the
same time. In most cases, the
participants need advanced
workstations and a high-speed
connection (Woodall, 2012, p. 6).

Before a blended learning scenario
can be considered ready for use, the
teacher has to do long, detailed and
extensive work. So, they need to
spend a lot time for preparing the
activities.

ADVANTAGES


The use of technology allows
professors to diversify their
lectures, display more information,
and enhance student learning.

It helps teacher to be more active
and also helps to diversified
teaching methods and have better
student attention.

Offer educators a set of tools to
support forms of learning that can
be more strongly collaborative and
more oriented to the building of
classroom communities. (Neil
Selwyn, 2008)

There is not limit for learning
students can study even if they
dont have classes they can study
online.




DISADVENTAGES


Teachers must be aware of
equipment failures.

It will need to spend a lot of time
for learning new technologies.

If students dont have a computer
or internet at home it will be a big
barrier and they will be reluctant to
use it.

It will have a negative impact in
students who cannot use it.

Some teachers will feel frustrated
because they dont know how to
use it.

If teachers follow a program they
will not finish because with the use
of this tool they will have other
activities to imply in their lesson
plans.

If the head master of the school
dont allow teachers to use tech in
the classroom this will be a barrier
because sometimes they have a
negative conception of technology.
EDUCATION 2.0
ADVANTAGES



Social media tools and networking
sites encourage students to interact
with each other, share ideas and to
express their creativity.


Social media helps to establish
enduring relationships with real
people.

Due to the big amount of
information available on social
media sites, students learn to
discern easily between what is
useful for them and what is not.

Is easy to use and accessible from
virtually everywhere and at any
time, social media improves
communication among students
and teachers.


Social media helps preparing
students for successful
employment. Students entering the
workforce can use social
networking sites like LinkedIn to
network and find employment.

It encourages and facilitates the
natural desire to share what you
know and to learn from your
colleagues.

Educators have their own personal
learning transformed by the new
tools of Web participation
(Hargadon, p. 2)
ADVANTAGES



Students can develop scanning
and skimming skills, but they
could also get used to not paying
enough attention to what is
important.

If students used internet for long
time they will have problems
because they are going to be
addicted to it.

Some student will not make an
effort to learn with these new tools
they will become lazier.

Computing Resources Must Be
Available: Not every student has
access to computing resources that
are connected to the Internet when
off campus. This could be a major
disadvantage for students who
cannot afford or does not have
access to a computer or an Internet
connection. (Albert, 2009)

Web Resources Can Be Vandalized
or Sabotaged: Online access is
wonderful, but it can be like leaving
your valuables on a table in your
front yard. Anyone can see your
work. If non class members have
access to the wiki or virtual world,
they can disrupt the class or cause
damage to the environment.
(Albert, 2009)

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is very easy
in the online world; just copy the
paragraph or sentence from the
WEB 2.0

IT


Web 2.0 provides tools to solve
technical problems and presents
issues that raise questions.
(Anderson, 2007)







source and paste it to the blog or
wiki. This can be a quick response
to a question or assignment that
results in plagiarism (Albert, 2009)

Depreciation of books and libraries.
Students will try to look for
information just in internet.

It has limited security. So,
information can be lost, and other
people can have access to it.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES


Equipped with technology tools
allows students to be intellectually
challenged.

Through projects, students acquire
and refine their analysis and
problem-solving skills as they work
individually and in teams to find,
process, and synthesize information
they've found online.

The Web connects students to
experts in the real world and
provides numerous opportunities
for expressing understanding
through images, sound, and text.






If students are immigrants learners
at the beginning they will feel that
is boring to use tech in the
classroom.

Some students will come lazier
because they are not going to use
critical thinking in their
assignments just copy and paste.

Many professors will require re-
training in how to apply
technology. So, time must be
spending in re doing again.

There will be a lot of problems if
computers are broken during a
class because this would cause the
class to be ineffective in a classroom
where time is limited.












Technology changes the way
teachers teach, offering educators
effective ways to reach different
types of learners and assess student
understanding through multiple
means. It also enhances the
relationship between teacher and
student.

The web can help people stay
engaged outside the course hours.
For example, posting a "quote of the
week. (Harvard University, 2008)


Using multimedia on the course
website can be very engaging,
allowing students to explore
secondary material at their leisure.
Picture, news articles, research
articles, youtube, links to secondary
text materials. All of these are great
ways to engage the student online.
(Harvard University, 2008)


Computers and their sites can have
invalid information and students
can also get attracted to the side
ads, which can take away learning
time.

It causes some students to be
distracted and unmotivated to learn
at school because they believe that
learning by themselves using the
computer is a much better and
faster way.
2. Explain how you are going to design a lesson plan online by using Web Quest and
what are the real propose using this kind of technology in your professional
development.








Taking into account that Web Quest allows me as a teacher to create and motivate in a
new way of teaching in a different manner to my students first, I will choose the topic
about what I am going to teach in order to have clear ideas on which I have be focus
also, I will take in consideration the level of my students and their needs. Once I have
my topic I will start with the organization of my lesson plan and this process will be the
following.
Topic: Leisure activities
Level: B1
Age: Teenagers
I will introduce the topic by presenting a video of different leisure activities that people
do in their daily life as well as explaining the importance of having a hobby of other
activity in order to feel more relax in their life.
Then, my students are going to study vocabulary related to leisure activities and at the
same time they will watch a video in which they will listen to the correct pronunciation
of this words after that, they must study this video in order to learn the correct way of
pronounce them.
One of the tasks that they are going to develop is that they have to design or create their
own map in which they are going to show through pictures or other things their
personal leisure activities that they do in their daily life. They will have to explain and
choose one specific activity and give reasons about it.
On the other hand, after watching another video as a provided example, they must
create an interview with a set of questions that are going to be asked to two of their
classmates taking into account the topic talking about their last vacation
At the end they will have to make a brief presentation but in this time they will talk
about their last vacation individually. Students must be prepared for this oral
presentation in which they will be evaluated by using a rubric that they will know
before time in which aspects they have to pay more attention. It will be according to
their creativity on the way that they will present it. Also, they must be prepared for
giving answer to questions that will be asked at the end of their presentation.
The real propose of using web quest in my professional development is that it helps me
to be more motivated at the moment of preparing my lesson plans also, they prompt
higher-level of thinking for this reason I must think carefully how am I going to
develop with my students.
On the other hand, in the process of teaching to my students with the used of this tool
they have a lot of advantages for example; they must evaluate a variety of information
sources that contain multiple opinions that is provided by the teacher. So, at the end I t
helps both the motivation of the teacher and the motivation of students and as a result
they learn in a better way by using tech in their learning process.
3. Explain how you are going to deal if you want to use technology in a school or
place of work but there is not Tech in the classroom. What are you going to do?
How are you going to solve the problem? Provide resources that you will use and
the procedures.














It is challenging for a teacher when we dont have this important tool in the place
where we worked. The first thing that I will do is to make a short diagnostic with
my students in order to find out how they are dealing with technology and also I
will know how many of them have a computer or internet at home. By having an
idea of these I will know what I have to do with them.

If some of them have a computer I will take advantage of them for example: If I have
30 students in my class and 18 of them have a computer I will make a deal with
them if they bring their computer to class I will give them an extra point and I will
put them to work in pairs to share with the ones that doesnt have a computer and I
will bring videos in my USB and share with them and with that they will have to
watch it and develop some activities that are going to be evaluated it. Also, I will use
sometimes my speakers and I will download short history audios and I will tell my
students to listen in the classroom and fill out some worksheet according to what
their heard. Also, sometimes I will assign short activities that they have to do at
home with the use of internet. If we are willing to use tech in the classroom it is not
impossible it is impossible if we dont want to change the traditional way of
teaching.

4. Choose digital resources you will include and describe how those digital
resources you are going to improve you PLE and PLN.
The following tools are going to be part of my PLE and PLN.
Personal Learning Environment (PLE)






I create my own personal learning environment in which I describe the tools that I used
when I am learning something new in order to improve my knowledge in my learning
process.

This site helps me in my teaching process because it provides me interesting worksheet
for my students.


In this site a upload documents that I create and I share with other people at the same
time I download files that other people published.
Facebook

This is one of the largest Social Network around the world used by many people. It is
my favorite because I use for different reasons professionally to interact with my
students and colleagues. Twitter

It is a wonderful tool that has similarities with Facebook. I use this tool for sending and
receiving messages from friends and family in different places and to be inform about
what is happening around the world through reading news
Youtube

I used this for upload my own videos and share it in the web at the same time I used for
improving my English I study some important lessons that are relevant for my teaching.
Blogger

I use this to share the documents that I create and in that way my classmates and other
people can see and give comments on them.
Zunal

This is a useful tool that helps me to create my lessons in a different and more
professional way. Also, I can share with my students and colleagues what I do there.
Gmail

This helps me to have my documents saved and share them in my blog.
PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORK










A Personal Learning Network is a powerful professional development tool that allows
teachers to connect with others teachers across the country. These connections are
typically made through social media such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.






















With Facebook, Twitter, IN and Skype I can keep in contact with different kind of
people especially with my co-workers and others professionals around the world. These
tools for me are really important because I learn a lot from them to grow professionally.
For example: In Facebook I learn quotes in English and tip for teaching with pages that I
follow, in Twitter I read the news, IN help me to find a job and Skype I used for being
tested in my job by using video call.








MY SOCIAL NETWORK














This tools help me to share information with my students, with friends, co-workers and
at the same time I use for sending important information to other places. With this new
technology I can have my documents saved. For example: Gmail in this I can have my
documents saved and share it in my blog. Blogger this is one of the most useful because
there I have my documents that I have created during this course also, I can share with
my classmates in that way they can see what I have learnt and they can learn something
from my articles, Slideshare help to upload and download files that are important for
my learning, Scribd I can embed my document to my blog, Outlook/Hotmail I have
used this tool for years and it is important and helpful for every student and for a
teacher most of the time I used for sending documents to my job, for sending
homeworks and others finally, Youtube I can upload videos that I create and share it in
the web.














These tools allow me to create new things in order to teach and evaluate in a different
way to my students. If we use these tools our students will see the different that we are
new teachers that are innovated using this new technology that is helpful to use in the
classroom.

















The technology tools mention above are the ones that I used to gather information from
the wed, they are important for my learning process and in my teaching because every
time that I want to look for something new or interesting I look at some of these pages.
The dictionaries online are the one of the most interesting because as a teacher I used
every time that I dont know a work or if I dont know the pronunciation of a word I
can look for the phonetics transcription in order to improve my English.



CONCLUSION









In brief, the use of technology in the classroom has excellent benefits in todays society.
When teachers used computers or other kind of tech for teaching students are more
motivated than those that have never used it. However, the important fact is that it
needs to be used appropriately to be effective. If as teachers we are willing to use it we
will see better result in our students because if we use tech in the classroom this will
help students to see things about real life and they will reflect more. They will learn in a
different way. At the beginning it will be difficult but it is not late to start with this
innovation that can be applied in our teaching lessons.









REFERENCES



https://www.facebook.com/yenis.o.m
http://techforeduyenis.blogspot.com/
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?ts=1404443254
https://twitter.com/settings/account?change_email=true
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=249254
http://es.scribd.com/doc/229051402/IT
http://www.slideshare.net/YenisMartinez/newsfeed