Reflection 3


In week 3 of the course, we are given an opportunity to learn about tools for oral/aural lessons and social bookmarking, both of which will be discussed in this reflective essay.


The first part, tools for oral/aural lessons, is what I find particularly interesting. In recent years, there has been a shift towards Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) (Chinnery, 2005), which I think is a positive change. Computer has helped teachers a great deal in making lessons more captivating and find authentic learning materials. Likewise, students have been able to use the Internet to improve their speaking, listening, and pronunciation skills in a foreign language (Chinnery, 2005). For this, I would really like to know which tool can best suit my students in oral/aural lessons. In the module, a good number of tools are introduced, including but not limited to Vocaroo, PechaKucha, Flipgrid, and Podomatic. Among these tools, I think the most suitable one for my teaching context is Podomatic. Most of my students do not come from the IT department, so some are not tech-savvy. Despite their low level of computer literacy, they have achieved quite high levels in English - B1 and higher. Given these factors, they need a user-friendly website that can assist them in completing quite challenging tasks. This prompts me to choose Podomatic, a podcast creation tool, as I think podcast making is a relatively interesting undertaking. Specifically, I would like my students to make a speaking portfolio of their own, which requires them to make a topic-related podcast after each and every week. This portfolio can come in handy when they want to revise the course's units, and it also guarantees their active role in the learning process. Added to this is the fact that Podomatic's interface is very easy to use, and it allows users to record and add sound effects directly on the website.


In the second part, the concept of social bookmarking is introduced. Social bookmarking is the process of tagging a web page with a browser-based tool for the purpose of easy revisiting. Before the course, I used Google to mark my favorite pages, but with Google, I cannot annotate any links I have saved. Diigo, a website recommended by my lecturer, can easily solve this problem. Diigo is a versatile bookmarking website that goes beyond simple bookmarking. It allows users to save, organize, and most importantly, annotate files and sites. Additionally, it enables users to share their collections, making it a valuable tool for both personal and collaborative information management. However, Diigo is not without weaknesses. Some of my classmates and I have complained about how difficult it is to annotate the web pages they save, but after being carefully instructed, we find it less complicated and can eventually use the function. I believe Diigo is useful not only for teachers but also for my students - university students with a plethora of documents to read and save.


Overall, module 3 has broadened my knowledge about integrating technology into language learning and efficient information management. After the module, I have learned a great deal, and I am positive about the positive impact Podomatic and Diigo has on fostering students' engagement and collaboration.


References

Chinnery, G. M. (2005). Speaking and listening online: A survey of Internet resources. English teaching forum, 43(3). https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/05-43-3-c.pdf

Nhận xét

  1. Cao Thành Cônglúc 06:51 4 tháng 3, 2024

    Thank you for sharing. I agree with you that Podomatic can be useful and engaging. With regards to bookmarking, I also mostly use the bookmark feature embedded in the browser. I recommend that you migrate to the Microsoft Edge browser and try its 'Collections' feature. It has all the features of Diigo, minus the lagging.

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  2. Đình Hoànlúc 20:00 4 tháng 3, 2024

    I'm glad that you learned a lot of interesting things in this module. I think beside Podomatic, Flip is also a great tool for learner's speaking tasks. Regarding Diigo, I was one of the classmates who had a bad experience using Diigo. I think it is great that you found a way to take advantage of it and use it in your English teaching.

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