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      TeachingEnglish
      Tweeting is for teachers.
      Submitted by bsanja on 29 January, 2012 - 21:10

      I participated yesterday in a very interesting informal professional development session – TwitterMeet, where 21 teachers from different countries and continents, teaching different age and language levels of students,  discussed the reasons for using web tools in language learning.

       

      I loved the discussion. It lasted only one hour but a lot was said in that short period of time and in short 140 characters of each message. I found equally fascinating the possibility to express my opinion and hear about other people's teaching environments, and the fact that regardless of age or level of students, all teachers found technology a must ingredient of their lessons.

       

      Here are some of the advantages of the use of web tools in the classroom that were mentioned:

       

      • Our students are “digital natives“, so they learn better with 2.0 tools; it nicely combines their loved activities with learning
      • Motivation  – students, especially younger ones, get hooked on what they are learning
      • Shy students can participate more freely, they find their voice
      • All students can work at their own pace
      • Web tools give students more control over their learning, especially using online material for reading or listening
      • Web tools include multimedia features, which makes learning more effective
      • Online is more personal than f2f
      • Students are more visible than in f2f learning, which makes them try harder

       

      Do you agree with these reasons for using web tools in teaching? Can't they be applied to teachers and professional development, too?

       

      No votes yet

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      lemanulas's picture
      lemanulas
      Hi bsanja,what a nice session
      Submitted on 29 January, 2012 - 22:35

      Hi bsanja,what a nice session you had;) Great! I like to read it...You touch very good points....

       ''all teachers found technology a must ingredient of their lessons'' I like the sentence...

      merveoflaz's picture
      merveoflaz
      nice feeling
      Submitted on 30 January, 2012 - 11:38

      Dear sanja,

      Your post reminded me the first Tweetchat I had. I was so excited and happy.

      I totally agree with the advantages of webtools, but I think teachers should care for their professional development and update themselves to reach these "digital kids".

      Thank you for sharing it.

      P.S: I checked out your nice personal blog and share your post about the Blogathon in my recent post. Will be glad if you stop by:))

      http://www.merveoflaz.org/run-merve-run.html

      Cheers

      CoffeeAddict's picture
      CoffeeAddict
      Hi!I use Moodle and an array
      Submitted on 30 January, 2012 - 11:47

      Hi!

      I use Moodle and an array of web2.0 tools in my teaching and I am very lucky to have access to an excellent computer lab with each of my grade 8 classes twice weekly. So, obviously I agree with most of what you state above. However, there were two points on your list that ı just didn't get. they are:

    • Online is more personal than f2f
    • Students are more visible than in f2f learning, which makes them try harder

      •  

      What in the world did you mean by that? What could be more personal than face to face learning? How are the students more visible online? Visible to who?

      bsanja's picture
      bsanja
      Re: Reasons for using web tools
      Submitted on 30 January, 2012 - 12:27

      Hi CoffeeAddict,

       

      Thanks for the comment. I'll try to clarify why I included two of the points that don't seem to make much sense, although they do:

      • If you teach a big class, you always notice there are some shy students who try not to express their opinion, speak in public, avoid letting you know them. They find their way online, create their space, you get to know them better. This reason wasn't originally my contribution in the chat , one of the colleagues mentioned it, but I immediately thought of a few of my students and agreed. Am I making any sense?
      • When students leave their work online (on a blog, on a wiki) where they get comments from peers and teachers, when they take part in international projects, they try hard because they feel the responsibility and pride in letting the world see how much they have learned. At least that is true about my young students.

      I hope you can see now what I meant by the resons I included.

       

      merveoflaz's picture
      merveoflaz
      sore merve:(
      Submitted on 31 January, 2012 - 00:57

      CoffeeAddict wrote:

      What in the world did you mean by that? What could be more personal than face to face learning? How are the students more visible online? Visible to who?

      I'm so sorry, but I must confess that I felt a bit sore (like a sore loser:( or a loser student) when I read the questions (especially the first one)

      Now I'm much better and relieved after I read sanja's soft reply.

      Thank you 

      bsanja's picture
      bsanja
      That's what comments are for
      Submitted on 31 January, 2012 - 09:08

      When we write a post, we sometimes forget to try to read it as we would read other people's post. We take it for granted everybody knows what we mean. That's what I did: I didn't explain my points. 

      That's why it is a nice thing to be able to clarify some points in the comments area. Plus, comments get  more interesting, they are not all "Thanks for sharing" type, which we get when we write the post well.

      Anyway, I always appreciate a sincere comment and a good discussion :) 

      merveoflaz's picture
      merveoflaz
      Dear Sanja,As you say
      Submitted on 31 January, 2012 - 23:55

      Dear Sanja,

      As you say comments are really helpful in many ways. Sometimes each are like post. Besides there is no word limit in them:))

      Thank you for the discussion so far.

       

      AnnaConway's picture
      AnnaConway
      Twitter
      Submitted on 3 February, 2012 - 13:52

      Hi Sanja! 

      I agree with the reasons mentioned. I only have one question related to Twitter.

      At the moment I am using it to follow some teaching professionals to find out if there is anything new in the world of EFL/ESL. The thing is that if I am not online, I miss lots of tweets. In order to read them, I have to go to every person's page and look at them. I must confess, I don't feel that I am good at using Twitter. 

      Could you tell me what you use it for? 

      Thank you.

      bsanja's picture
      bsanja
      Twitter
      Submitted on 4 February, 2012 - 21:37

      Hi Anna,

      I use Twitter to follow people, sometimes I share a link, an idea, retweet if I find something important. 

      I think you should use the Search button to check the information on the topic you are interested in. If you know the hashtag, it helps a lot, e.g. to check what's new in EVO, try checking #EVO2012, or #digitools for our Digital Tools group.

      I'm not an expert, but I think Twitter has a lot to offer to teachers. That's why I'm trying to learn more about it.

      I hope this helps.

      Looking forward to your tweets,

      Sanja

      AnnaConway's picture
      AnnaConway
      Thank you!
      Submitted on 4 February, 2012 - 22:10

      Thanks Sanja! :) I didn't even remember that we should also follow Digital Tools on Twitter. :(

      Thanks for reminding me. 

      The only problem is the hashtags. Sometimes you are searching for people because you don't know their hashtag and cannot find them. So upsetting.