Skip to main content

Reflections of an ICT coordinator

As I announced in this blog, last year I was appointed as ICT coordinator at two schools of languages. The experience was really enriching and with great satisfaction I can say that authorities  and teachers are much more interested in digital technology than they used to.  One school opened a  full equipped computing lab and the other changed all the computers for new ones!
  • The beginning

    Things were not easy. I found a bit of resistance on the teachers' part. They used to think they would have more work for the same money. In a way, it is true that teachers should devote some extra time to update their professional skills or get familiar with any  new teaching material. I insisted on the importance of applying digital technology to language classes, but what was more important , I demonstrated it to them. 
    • From simple tools to more complex ones
    I started showing them the advantages of the three portals : Google, Yahoo and Hotmail. How teachers can use a mailing list to be in contact with their students, how to use the calendar and google docs, how to open an e-group and how to chat. Another thing I showed them was how to use word processors, online dictionaries and mailing for writing activities.  

    • Blogs and Wikis

    According to the age and level of language, I developed blogs as extra material resource or students worked in a wiki as a collaborative writing space. In these cases, students found it difficult to be so active using Internet tools. Students are  sometimes lazy and prefer to depend on their teachers to solve language problems , e.g.  to spell a word.
    • Projects
    The ICT area is developing at both schools, we have some projects for 2010. Training courses for teachers to make them feel confident in the use of digital technology, a blog project involving different courses at a pre-intermediate adult level, go on blogging ( See examples HERE)  and chat sesssions with sister classes at teenager level. 

    If you read this post and would like to start a sister class project, contact me to : nelbaq@gmail.com 

    Labels:

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Alexa Thompson discusses the ways that learning English in an online or offline setting can benefit non-native speakers

    The Internet platform has become an essential tool for learning and teaching online , as noted by English Virtual Community. In this post, Alexa Thompson discusses the ways that learning English in an online or offline setting can benefit non-native speakers. For instance, learning English can lead to outsourced jobs that big businesses make available overseas. To read more about online English school from Alexa, visit the website she maintains about English education. English as a second language teachers, English Language Learners Did you know you can get a foreign job based on your ability to speak English? Many work opportunities are available to English speakers from almost any country in the world. Thanks to the Internet and impact outsourcing, more foreign speakers of English are coming into contact with businesses from North America and Europe, making English as a Second Language courses extremely valuable for both students and native English speakers. The last three decades h
    4 comments
    read more

    ARCALL first Online Congress

    After nearly two months of work , ARCALL is proud to announce the opening of its first online Congress together with AVEALMEC. The organizing team has worked very hard: preparing the material, website, MOODLE platform content, WiziQ sessions. Today the forums have been opened. I will be moderating the forum about Commuties of Practice together with my dearest friend and colleague Evelyn Izquierdo. Follow us at: http://avealmec.org.ve/moodle  or in twitter http://twitter.com/avealmec I hope you will enjoy the experience.
    Post a Comment
    read more

    My first Meme (pingback and trackback)

    When did I start using Internet? I think it coincides with the economic change in Argentina ( 1 peso = 1 dollar) in the late 90's. I started using e-mailing. I have friedns and family living abroad or in other cities, and they usually complain about the fact that I am pretty lazy for writing letters and going to the post office. So, e-mailing was a solution for me. A really turning point took place in 2001 when I was invited to an on line course on " How to evalute websites" carried out by another Argentinean - Prof. Norma Scagnoli- working at the University of Illinois. She introduced me into the virtual world and there I met one of my dearest cyberfriends: Prof. Dafne Gonzalez. From that moment my virtual life started. I bagan exploring the net and that same year I opened my firs e-group: English Virtual Community. My first steps on the Internet were really awful. I used to have dial up connection, so my experience was a bit poor. I could not spend much time on line and
    7 comments
    read more