On the whole, I'm very enthusiastic about the PBL as it provides a very nice getaway from the routine of the classroom and boredom. Another obvious advantage is that it is always authentic, - students search through authentic pages used by the native speakers of their target language, and also often interdisciplinary. Besides, projects can be appealing to different types of learners and serve various learning styles.
I also liked Sonia's comment when she said: "webquest is truly a quest for learning a lot of things. It is like a maze, it baffles, dazzles and puzzles, most of all it makes you think."
One
would have thought it would be possible to solve all the problems in the classroom just with one
technology tool but unfortunately it is not as easy as this in practice. Having
said that, I give serious consideration to trying to use as many technology tools as I can to solve the problems and
issues related to motivation and the students’ participation in class
discussions or group work. I would
like to see that their performance in the classroom and during the self-study
time was more of this: “ We are committed, we’re motivated and we believe in
what we do.” I very much hope this change
is achievable.
Apparently,
the best solution might be to get them all involved in regular tasks done in
pairs or groups in which their particular performance will be evaluated and for
which they will have to force themselves to work harder and perform better.
What I have in mind now is setting a number of web-search related activities
that would be evaluated with the help of rubrics. What this will allow them to achieve
is gain more confidence in autonomous
type of learning and I do hope they will slowly be able to do much more work
without the teacher's guidance. I believe that in the longer term the benefits
are clear - this type of education is bound to prepare them for their future lives of constant learning.
ReplyDeleteHi AiAn,
I completely agree on your view about PBL, in essence that it promotes learning as it engages students practically work for some thing and learn simultaneously.It is also true that there is no single technological tool to solve all arising class room problems. This is due to the fact that the learning topics vary greatly in the type of technology they require. For instance, In my class room I happen to suffer from diminished motivation during oral presentation which I think can be solved with power point presentation. Another set back is as you have indicated it to put each technological tool practically on the ground. It might create some inconveniences with some of our learners.Nevertheless, if we take some instructional time at teaching how the tool can be manipulated, the students can grow their confidence towards the gadget. Don't you think so? I also appreciate you on your bold step to implement what you are learning in this course in your class room. Indeed such learning is bound to prepare the students for their future lives of constant learning.
All the Best,
Daniel
Hi,
ReplyDeleteHere I want to ask a question
Is Technology going to replace the teacher in the class-room?
what do you think??
vinay
Dear Daniel and Vinay,
ReplyDeleteyes, we all agree that this new technology is a new must in the classroom and that we all have to incorporate it into our teaching somehow. Vinay, to answer your question I'd say no, it won't replace the teacher because the students will always look for the guidance, especially in the early stages of learning, but it will certainly change the role of the teacher in the classroom. It already has! Wouldn't you agree?
Best,
Alicja