New Technologies for New Generation

In my opinion  New Technologies course is one of the most informative courses that I have  taken so far.  As a previous English language teacher in one of Armenian small towns, Etchmiadzin school, I used to teach  based on the curriculum offered by our school methodologists.  That was  fine for me at that time. But now when I look back after getting familiar with so many technological innovations and tools I am  deeply disappointed.  Now it is really unacceptable for me to teach English language without integrating technology. As technology  and its applications in the language classroom has been a "hot topic" in the language teaching world for a number of years (Levy & Stockwell,2006). If I compare my perception of the technological innovations at the beginning of this course and at the end for sure it has changed a lot. Based on readings and class discussions in my previous post I was sharing ideas and experience connected with several technologies such as:

•   Digital children, which surprised me a lot as I was not expected to see such technologically developed kids.
•   Wikis where we created story collaboratively, for sure I will use that during my teaching experience.
•  Podcasts were not so unknown as we used that last year, but it was very interesting to cover that topic once again.
•  Storytelling and video making  was one of the best experiences. Even now I  watched the video created by our group.
• Then we talked about Google Apps and Cloud technology which is completely unknown for me.
• We also talked about video games which in many cases can be harmful for kids, so parents and we as future teachers should be very attentive choosing proper games. Even educational games should be chosen  very carefully.
• The hardest topic was about VLEs /ELMs and PLEs  as it was difficult or me to differentiate those two environments at the beginning. 
• Distance education was also interesting comparing with face to face. So we discussed some other technologies which I have discussed in my previous posts. I strongly believe that I will use all those technologies during my classes. By all means these technologies support teachers and empowers them to be better educators  and walk along with the 21 st century students.It is really impossible to teach  English language without integrating technology .Many Armenian universities do so and I am deeply  disappointed about that. I hope that one that many Armenian teachers  will use technology during classes and do not be frustrated as many times lack of technological knowledge is a problem. 

Link for the 1^st image: http://www.google.com/imgres?start=185&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=5WkDXYAzW2M8ZM:&imgrefurl=http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/05/the_new_professional.html&docid=eiLNsE7Z4GgYIM&imgurl=http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/assets_c/2012/05/OldProfessionalNewProfessional2-thumb-580x287-1713.jpg&w=580&h=287&ei=dYa_UL2vHKTLmgXyqIGQBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=178&vpy=311&dur=606&hovh=150&hovw=303&tx=217&ty=77&sig=109605187291664981752&page=8&tbnh=145&tbnw=292&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:99,s:100,i:301

Link for the 2^nd image; A&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=727&sig=109605187291664981752&page=1&tbnh=143&tbnw=143&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:16,s:0,i:132&tx=61&ty=71

Google Apps for Education and Cloud technologies

 To my mind nowadays teachers should do their best in order to integrate Blogging, Wikis, Google docs or digital storytelling  during classes, as in the 21 st century children become the creators  not just receivers of knowledge (Kuang-wu Lee, 2000). 
 In previous posts I talked about academic and learning  analytics which was also very informative  and new topic for me. Today`s post will be reflected on Google Apps for Education and Cloud technologies again unknown for me before this course. Firstly let`s define Google Apps. According to the Technology Dictionary Google Apps is a relatively new “online computing environment” with applications that can be used in the home or office. Google Apps  operates differently than most of the traditional systems many of us have been taught for decades, and is somehow free to use. So  “Google Apps is an online suite of communication and collaboration tools”. So I will talk  Ggoogle apps like: Google Book Search, Google Maps and Google image.

• Google Book Search allows people  to search the full texts and growing index of books, from popular titles to old, out-of-print and public domain volumes. Most of I like this google apps as  I was able to  find a needed  book, which was  Great Expectations: By Charles Dickens and I wrote a review on that book it was interesting. I am sure the EFL learners  will be very happy using this apps. The advantages of Google Book search also is that it enhances students’ research by allowing them to access information from thousands of books with one quick search.
• Google Image Search is really very useful apps. Here by simply typing the name of needed  image you will find many related pictures and use them. I like this app as by typing you can only see the images related to your search, no other  pictures will appear on the screen.   
• Google Maps  is an intuitive service for navigating global maps information. The main advantage of this apps is that geographical destination is not a problem here. Students from the USA or other countries can study through it. Also Google Maps is an online application, so there's no downloading required. In conclusion I would say that all those apps I a going to use in my future teaching and integrate  them during classes.

Now I will reflect on Cloud computing.

According to Pelletier (2009), Cloud computing is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network (typically the Internet). The main advantage of cloud computing is that it is more reliable, more scalable and more secure. It`s one app that everyone shares. Here you do not but hard wares and soft wares you only need to subscribe monthly and pay for what you use. No one system is perfect for every association, so there  are pros and cons to every technology, and the potential cost savings of working in the cloud don't come without their own costs. 

The main benefits of cloud computing are:

•   Flexibility
•  The improvement of  accessibility 
•        Reduce spending on technology infrastructure
•      Minimize licensing new software  and so on.

In conclusion I would say that the usage of different Google apps is really a great idea and I will do that for sure. I really want my students to be multilitarte. 

       

Link for the 1 st image : http://www.flickr.com/photos/adriarichards/3285777403/

Link for the 2 nd image http://www.google.com/imgres?start=107&num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=KFGudmCO1-EwSM:&imgrefurl=http://cloudtp.com/thought-leadership/white-papers&docid=0tZOB4i5XSdITM&imgurl=http://cloudtp.com/system/images/BAhbB1sHOgZmIjQyMDExLzA2LzAyLzEwLzQ2LzI2LzUxNC9DbG91ZEJ1aWxkaW5nQmxvY2tzLmpwZ1sIOgZwOgp0aHVtYiINNDUweDQ1MD4/CloudBuildingBlocks.jpg&w=450&h=353&ei=m9O8ULfsJ43mmAWw4YC4Bw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=4&vpy=248&dur=3101&hovh=199&hovw=254&tx=140&ty=83&sig=109605187291664981752&page=5&tbnh=129&tbnw=192&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:20,s:100,i:64

Learning and Academic Analytics

Today`s post is closely connected with learning and academic analytics. As we know educational system  is changing and developing rapidly and we as future teachers should be able to reach all those changes. According to Long and Siemens (2011),  data and analysis are factors in education which we cannot  touch or see. Effective data analysis can be very useful  and effective. There two types of analytics which are used by educational institutions:

•   Learning analytics is more specific than academic analytics: According to the 1st International Conference  Learning Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their context. Learning analytics mainly centers on the learning process.
•    Academic  analytics, in contrast, is the application of business intelligence in education and emphasizes analytics at institutional, regional, and international levels. Academic analytics reflects the role of data analysis at an institutional level. The academic analytics is  the story  of people, technology  and decision  making( Goldstein &Katz,  2005).

Nowadays many institutions created such kind of analytics in order not only to enhance the processing of  students but as well as to improve the quality of  information. Many responders were agree that academic analytics help them to improve results in the student area a lot. In conclusion I would add that unlike learning analytics academic analytics is more used in high education, as in learning analytics there are still some unclear points. 

For image http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=KCLM5u8-SMFCOM:&imgrefurl=http://www.learninganalytics.net/%3Fp%3D143&docid=j7Xp9xWEx3S1sM&imgurl=http://www.learninganalytics.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/big_data_the_moving_parts_large.png&w=1079&h=617&ei=Ksa3UPvkD6vnmAWUvYHIAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=864&vpy=372&dur=89&hovh=170&hovw=297&tx=126&ty=87&sig=109605187291664981752&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=241&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0,i:117

Distance Education/Distance Learning

My current post is connected with Distance education or distance learning. Distance learning is not just a way through which people get knowledge it is need in the 21 st century. One of the best advantages which distance education courses require on-site presence.

According to Greenberg, (1998)  contemporary distance learning is  “a planned teaching/learning experience that uses a wide spectrum of technologies to reach learners at a distance and is designed to encourage learner interaction and certification of learning however, its primary distinction is that the teacher and the learner are separate in space and possibly time “.Online learning is the contemporary version of distance education, also called “distance learning” or “open learning.” If we compare distance education with face to face traditional way of teaching there are some similarities and differences. Face to face learning is more collaborative while distance learning considers to be more isolated for learners and individual. Here learners are more  autonomous and have opportunity to develop awareness. (White, J.C.2004).If we talk about distance learning teachers they should  give appropriate support to their students, tutors should be also patient and sympathetic. In distance education there is more  freedom from input and interactions which are not immediately relevant to individual (White 1997b.)
        Distance learning  suggests different courses with the help of which people can get  education, those are :

•     fully online courses 
•    educational partnership
•    hybrid /blended courses- face to face and online 

 Nowadays many people  have opportunity to get their qualification through distance learning and find better jobs. As Daphne Koller (2012), mentions in her video in the countries like South Africa many people have not opportunity to get high quality education, so here distance learning can be very good solution. According to the American Council on Education, the number of students in distance learning doubled from 1995 to 1998 totaling 1.6 million (Devarics, 2001).

Image link: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=QdF5-Lo_WIvbnM:&imgrefurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/correspondence_course.asp&docid=CEYse4Qijy8uMM&imgurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/ksm/lowres/ksmn2707l.jpg&w=300&h=400&ei=50iyUJ7UE8vImAXbpIGIDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=12&vpy=12&dur=524&hovh=194&hovw=146&tx=77&ty=88&sig=109605187291664981752&page=1&tbnh=134&tbnw=101&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:87

Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) and Personal Learning Environment(PLE)

In my previous post I was sharing my experience connected with Open Educational Resources (OER), and today`s post is connected with LMS or VLE vs.PLE. So the VLE  is Virtual Learning Environment and PLE is Personal Learning Environment. These two types of environments again were new for me and I think for my peers, which we explored during our New Technologies lass. 

Now I will try to define these two environments:

•   VLE/LMS   is more centralized , here institutional corporation or the government provides repository of content and services. Individually learners can access to LMS/VLE   and obtain the content, also the users or individuals  can have conferences with themselves, as well as interactive conferences.
•    PLE  is individual  and decentralized . Here each user can  access all over the web  iBook, you tube,  face book, Google docs etc. In PLE you manage your own data .You choose your security as well as you manage your own connection.

 Both of environments have negative and positive sides:

In LMSs two people log on to the management system after  through that management system they access. If the person does not have an account he cannot access to the LMSs collaborative environment. In PLE network  each individual directly connect with each other comparing with LMS/VLE . Here I should also mention that in PLE each user can access to unlimited courses but the quality is not always good.  

In conclusion I would say that it is always difficult to implement something new in Armenia. There are many institutions who like traditional way of teaching and do not bother themselves integrating new technologies during their classes. I hope step by step in the Armenian universities or separate individuals will be more willing to use  them.

Link for the 1 st image: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=FubvEZqVbKAOwM:&imgrefurl=http://data.bolton.ac.uk/staff/mwj1/PLE/pmwiki.php%3Fn%3DMain.PLEReferenceModels&docid=76FZSDFHmQQfqM&imgurl=http://data.bolton.ac.uk/staff/mwj1/PLE/uploads/Main/derek.png&w=909&h=612&ei=APKbUJOQFIrMmgWsz4CIBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=4&vpy=121&


Link for the 2 nd image: http://www.google.com/imgres?start=397&hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=EoUBZsaHz0QbIM:&imgrefurl=http://mohamedaminechatti.blogspot.com/2007/01/towards-personal-learning-environment.html&docid=e6lUJy5-EuMSEM&imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfiBZ3EgBJAAxu258w3KFKkHFYmEJgJBUlKqUdb7osvs6SRgXcgXd2l1JtMB-Av6yiPBchlo8dhrGGY6SXrmLzLcNAAf86w2NvzEmmNqoRVoLx_lORKooNSAAOIGgyhkz4MBrg2XiY0Av5/s400/PLEF.jpg&w=400&h=300&ei=T_ObUKLSDs_omAXL0oC4CA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=652&sig=109605187291664981752&page=15&tbnh=148&tbnw=217&n

Open Educational Resources

Today`s my post is closely connected with Open Educational Resources (OER) about which I have no idea before our technology class. According to  Brown and Adler  (2008)   in today`s world people should not have one fixed career, instead people should try to have multiple careers and learn more. So Open Educational Resources can be one of the supporting resources for that. Here people can freely find different kind of courses, which I saw exploring them in terms of class .Open educational resources include also , modules , textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge (Smith,2011).  OER offer  useful resources both for teaching and learning. As  Smith (2011) claims OER help many people to increase the education and  get access to many useful resources. 

The main positive thing also is that people can get all those things freely. They also mention that no one wants to use garbage no matter the resources are close or open. Of course, lots of people work hard in order to create these kind of licensed resources which  people can use for educational purposes.  

The main disadvantage  about these resources is that many times people think open resources have default low quality and what  is selling has better quality. I myself sometimes think so. That is really fantastic when  you have such resources under your hand and can use them anytime anywhere, but many people have no idea about the existence of such resources. If we talk about the Armenian learners the implementation of OER will so challenging. I am sure that many people will not be willing to share their materials. I should say that we learned to work together and share information here at AUA. In the Armenian universities or schools students do most of the homework individually. It`s our culture sometimes we do not want to share what we have or know, as we think that belongs only to ME. That is to say we do accept or like collaborative learning. Many people may be surprised by this BUT this is true. Many learners also will not bother them to search or learn something without teacher. We like to be under pressure, we like to be checked. It is a pity but this is true for sure. 

Link for the image : http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=gKpSCWq4bCrVMM:&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources&docid=g6iNiRBZCX4WBM&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Global_Open_Educational_Resources_Logo.svg/300px-Global_Open_Educational_Resources_Logo.svg.png&w=300&h=200&ei=gcGTUNSJF6qLm

Mobile Language Learning

Nowadays generation does not use mobile phones for only exchanging information but for the educational purposes. I think that is fine to go far from the traditional way of teaching. When I was a pupil or a student I had no idea that education can be based on not only paper pencil way of teaching. I think that nowadays generation is more lucky. Teachers can use computers, mobile phones , iPods …… for the  teaching  purposes and that is GREAT!!!

From the Hayo Reinders article we have learned that that there are twenty ideas for using mobile phones in the language classrooms. According to Chinnery ( 2006), and  Kukulska-Hulme (2005) mobile learning is popular as they are relatively cheap and increasingly powerful. From this article I mostly liked the idea 5 taking interviews, then idea 17playing educational games, also  idea 2 taking pictures and share them in class. By all means this kind of learning creates collaborative listening and speaking activities for students. I think those ideas can be successfully implemented with  Armenian kids for L2 learning purposes.  Other thing that I liked most is that By all means age is very important here. There certain types of ideas which can be used for adults and separate for kids. I liked a lot the research done by Revelle et al. (2007). According to Revelle  the mobile phones can be successfully used for alphabet  teaching. The research  shows that kids were able to learn  loaded Sesame Street videos on mobile. In her study, she reported  that mobile-phone delivery made it extremely easy to incorporate literacy activities.

But the m-learning has also disadvantages  can be a problem for the Armenian students for various reasons.  I think the lack of necessary knowledge can be a problem , also many students might not have phones in order to use for classes. Any case I would like to try and use m-learning within my classes. At first it might be challenging but after some time kids can get used to that. The classes might be noise or many students might not understand what they should do. So here the teacher will monitor and help them.  

Link for the image http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=A2_nqF2ZkyArfM:&imgrefurl=http://www.mobl21.com/blog/2010/09/&docid=8QbVUm17cKQ4iM&imgurl=http://www.mobl21.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/mobile_learning_report_card.jpg&w=500&h=313&ei=pEqJULz1I6mjiAe0noGAAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=703&vpy=146&dur=845&h