The end of this course is not a destination, but the beginning of a new journey!

Ten weeks of contact with technology practices to benefit EFL teaching practices, this was an experience a bet no participant will forget in this class. We exchanged ideas, we discovered practices, and we discovered new ways of doing old things. And colleagues of mines, I can assure you that we have a challenge right now, revisiting all the resources of this class to deepen our understanding. Taking time to swallow all the resources we shared here, and more over revisiting on a weekly basis so that our teaching could benefit lifelong of our learning. Considering thus things that way, I believe the end of the tenth and final week of the training is not the end of the course but the beginning  of the practical side of the practices and strategies we touched during those ten weeks. As a famous quote put it, ‘’Technology will not replace teachers, but teachers who will not use technology will be replaced’’. I’m sure you will not fight to be replaced, but fight not to be replaced by technology, let’s keep in touch for ever dear brothers of this winter course.

Time management, a real challenge for teacher ready to bring technology to classes!

When I look back and see the amount of tools that we have touched since the beginning, I can see that there are plenty of tools we use to better our teaching, to modernize it. I must confess that I don’t master all those tools perfectly, but I rely on practice to do it. So when considering implementing technology in my classes, without changing the weekly time I need to use to work with my students who are not so techy, I really see a challenge. But one solution I could consider is to find some extra time to work exclusively on tech with them so that using it to communicate my lessons would be more easy for me as they could be more familiar to the tool. This is how we can use more efficiently our lesson times and face that challenge of lack of technology mastery with students and use of technology to learn language with some education administrators who will no be happy with us if we don’t finish our program.

With increased autonomy and technology, I wonder what future learners will be!

This week I can feel what teaching or learning would be with the coming generations. With the trend of autonomy we are experiencing in every sector, from education, to media and other sectors I feel a free generation coming. Even today, we are no more in a time where the only news available is what aired by official radios and televisions. Today, we select what we want to read, listen or watch. In other words we build our opinion with resources of our choice. In the future, students will build their careers according to what they want as resources. The time when the teacher is the only master is old now and must help students and learners to acquire autonomy. That’s what I call preparing students for tomorrow’s challenges.

Teaching technology and teaching language!

week 6

As  I move in this Winter Course, I can notice that to implement a technology based lesson in a class, in a country where access to technology is not deeply rooted in the habits, we will need to teach first the tool, and teach the content afterward. I thus see that as a double responsibility. And It will not be easy when you have a large class. But when students learn how to use technology  and master it well, it could be a very interactive, fun and an unforgettable experience. Because of the plurality of the reactions there could be.

Project Based Learning can pave the way for good managers in developing countries!

In countries where there are some serious social and economic problems, and where experts are hired from every part of the world for some development projects, students trained with PBL will be very useful in the future. I believe this because when in their youth they are soon trained to focus on problem or question that has meaning to them and get involved in problem or question that are actually tackled by adults at work or in the community, and requiring students to produce something that has personal and/or social value beyond the classroom. This inspired PBL behaviors can make students soon useful for the implementation of development project that can bring real change to communities and nations. Apart from that the ability to learn decision making and collaborative attitudes are some vital keys for managers and learning them early can help students awake their genius. They will look differently at social problems. Not as we did when we teachers were children, I mean passively. They will acquire as habit that when something is wrong, you take action to correct it whatever your age or field. This is very important and we must try to popularize this Project based Learning, in order to change the mind of the current youth for a better world tomorrow.

Only Technology can enhance professional development in the third world!

Building a school is still a tough row to hoe in many countries in the world. Providing relevant equipment  for schools is not a reality in every country. And designing an accurate curriculum for students is not easy everywhere.  So, if it is so difficult for some countries to satisfy those basic needs for a modern education, what about settling a training center everywhere so that every teacher can have access to the relevant training for the fulfillment of their duties? It will be difficult for states of the third world to provide for that need and those living in those places where poverty is real can notice that it’s not every teacher who is well trained and more it’s not every teacher who has the chance to have access to the relevant professional development. I believe in such a situation that technologies, that enable teachers to have access to professional development  without  stopping daily activities is to save the students from unqualified teachers. Gathering teachers for training is expensive. Building an institute for the same purpose is more  expensive and difficult to realize. I thus believe that  we must  find ways and means to organize programs such as this Winter Course in every remote areas of our African or Asian countries so that teaching will stop being  a game but have a content that can help the students better themselves  for a better world tomorrow. It is possible and diplomatic and governmental authorities must set this as a priority program of education in some poor countries.