Feb
2016
Be inspired. Be inspiring.
Ok, I’ll be honest – this is the module I’ve been looking forward the most, and its first session didn’t disappoint me. So, why materials? Well, because I believe this is the future of ELT. From what I can see most of the research and development seem to focus on this area. It is unlikely that someone will come up with a completely new methodology – it is all about being eclectic and picking and choosing from the best practices. Second language acquisition approaches seem to be going round in circles. Yet, materials and technology for ELT keep advancing and developing.
What is the future of ELT? While trying to find the answer to this question I came across so many new areas: mobile learning, adaptive learning, online learning, gamification, virtual reality, advanced machine translation, automated marking to name a few. And it is all about technology and materials.
I won’t hide it, I’m very interested in Ed Tech and I am sure it will come across a lot in my posts. However, while there are a lot of people who actively support the use of technology in education ( Nicky Hockly, Nick Peachey, Jamie Keddie, Russell Stannard , Philip Kerr, Pete Sharma, ELTjam team are some of the people I follow ), I came across a lot of negativity and resistance towards technology from many teachers. There are a lot of reasons for this and I agree that we need to have a discussion about its disadvantages and dangers. However, as Laurie Harrison mentioned in his talk about the Ed Tech revolution, we have three choices: resist, surrender or engage. And while others will continue to resist, I chose to engage. Because, I believe only by engaging with technology we can steer it away from the direction we don’t want it to go.
Now, let me just say it here, I’m not a techie person. I don’t own the latest Mac, I don’t have a tablet and I only started blogging during this course. However, this is a common misconception that only tech-savvy people get interested in technology. A lot of things to do with technology are easier than they seem (setting up this blog is a good example). I am, however, curious and not afraid to experiment and this is what allowed my interest in Ed Tech to develop.
I have also decided to keep this blog open as I believe in global collaboration. I remember a couple of years ago having a chat with a British Council inspector during an inspection at the school where I work. She was impressed with my innovative, at the time, use of flip-classroom and the technology to facilitate it. As a newly qualified teacher I was flatted with the comments and ask for some professional advice. I was told to protect and copyright whatever I do. I was shocked. It really made me think. Until that point I was sharing all my materials and ideas with my colleagues and they did the same. I enjoyed and valued that collaboration. And suddenly I was advised against it. I didn’t take that advice on board, however I can see why someone would want to protect a creation which they’ve worked hard on. But what I am talking about is sharing the knowledge. One of the things I love about technology is that it has provided fabulous opportunities for continuing professional development through networking, sharing and daring. I believe in an open source model and think this is one of the factors that will determine the future of ELT.
Although this is my second blog, the whole experience is totally new and slightly terrifying to me. Personally, I am not a very wordy person and I don’t think I have a particularly good writing style (it is not a consequence of being a non-native speaker, I’m the same in my mother tongue). But if with the help of this blog I can persuade some of my readers to engage with technology instead of resisting it, my mission would be complete. Be inspired. Be inspiring. That’s the motto I go by.
Alexandra Collins
February 29, 2016 at 11:21 am (9 years ago)Hello Anna,
Finally got round to having a look at your blog! I really like your first post. I had a feeling you’d be be kind of person/teacher I’d be interested in getting to know more closely and reading about your overall philosophy I wasnt’ wrong.
Especially your ideas re EdTEch are just up my street! I’m not a techie person either (even less so than you!) but I believe that only by joining the conversation can we help EdTech/Technolgoy-use in general develop in ways that work for us. As a mum of children who have grown up never knowing a time without computers/internet/mobiles etc. I also think it is essential to immerse myself in the kind of things they take for granted to understand them (and their comtemporaries, i.e. many of my students) better so that we can have meaningful conversations and get a better feel for each others perspectives (by me taking the first step to approach their reality they might be more open to explore potential differences in mine).
I also very much agree with you re ‘sharing’. For me sharing via social media is basically the same as in ‘real life’ – just as I share experiences, stories about my life as well as more substantial things like food and clothes etc. with friends, family but also just generally people I encounter along the way, I am happy to share teaching experiences, ideas that worked with my students and interesting materials with other people from the profession. And like in real life you sometimes have to think about what to share with whom not just to protect you (your ‘copyright’) but rather the people you share with. It’s about common-sense and sensitivity towards people and situations. And if you decide to officially publish materials for teaching then I think it’s not so much about the materials themselves but about the ‘packaging’, i.e. what you’re ‘selling’ is not really the initial idea but some kind of a userguide that makes the use of the materials easier and clearer for others.
Hope this makes sense?! I’ll be keeping an eye on your blog as I’m sure there’ll be more interesting posts to come…
Anna Nizametdinova
March 2, 2016 at 9:47 pm (9 years ago)Thank you for your comment Alex. It is great to find some similar-minded people. I believe we can learn so much from each other. Also thank you for sharing lots of interesting links and article on our Facebook page. That is exactly the ‘sharing’ I was talking about. I’m glad you agree with me. Let’s keep sharing because SHARING IS CARING.
Aleksandra Li Fat Chuen
April 9, 2016 at 12:49 pm (9 years ago)Hi Anna,
After months of typing away in hiding and your kind encouragement on all fronts during our chats after Thursday sessions, I have finally decided to go public and and also embrace the wealth of knowledge of those who had been braver from the start.
I really enjoyed your first post and can very much relate to couple of issues you mention here. First of all I share your attitude towards writing ( same as you in both my L1 and English). This may be why I have been holding back for so long. I guess I always feared of being judged as a non-native teacher? Not sure if this is how you feel but your comment about writing really rang a bell. Some people have very strong opinions about NNT and knowing your weknesses can feel quite overwhelming at times. Though as you say, it is the message which is important here and I think getting out there will most definitely help me feel at ease with both my strengths and weaknesses unique to me due to my background which I should embrace rather than feel awkward about.
Another thing you mentioned and Alex commented on as well was the sort of hostility towards technology. Though I do try to use it as much as I can in class , maybe wouldn’t call any of it innovative, but find my colleagues often frown at the sheer idea and can only think of what could possibly go wrong. I do understand where they coming from as I am too sometimes resilient to change. The issue here is that people simply don’t know how to use tech in class. Most of us qualified some years ago and had no guidance on using tech in class. Some of my colleagues have been teaching for over 30 years! And just like I would want to rip my hair out at the thought of using a cassette player, they find it hugely frustrating that you can’t ‘cue’ a CD! But it’s just what we are both used to and feel comfortable with. The only way to, in my opinion, to get people embracing Ed Tech is to show them HOW! I remember one of your Sussex DOSa workshops I went to years ago and how it got me using elements of it afterwards. Reading about Ed Tech or even webinars about how great it is are not as important as practical workshops where teachers can exchange ideas and share good practice- hands on 🙂
Anna Nizametdinova
May 21, 2016 at 2:38 pm (8 years ago)I’d like to comment on what you called ‘hostility towards technology’. I feel that there are several reasons for that. One, as you mentioned, is lack of training. Take, for instance, notorious IWB. In my school, for example, 90% of the budget went towards the board and 10% towards teacher training. And the training involved the rep from the manufacturer giving a twenty-minute talk full of technical words, scaring everyone to death and disapering. The IWB was left to gather dust.
The second reason problem is that many teacher don’t believe in effectiveness of technology in ELT classroom. This, in my opinion, is due to the common belief that technology will work its magic and solve all language learners’ problems. And when it doesn’t, technology is blamed for being ineffective. I agree with Nicky Hockly who says ‘…there is great potential for tech to support learning, but there is a difference between using it to support learning and thinking that technology by itself causes learning’. At the end of the day, we, teachers, are the designers of learning experiences and good educational design is about knowing how to use the technology as a tool within the learning experience, instead of getting hung up on the technology itself.
Finally, I totally agree that the best approach is to SHOW how to use tech in the classroom. I’m giving a talk (well it’s rather a workshop actually) about Ed Tech on 20th July at LSI as part of Sussex Dosa summer series of talks so it would be great if you can attend.
Christopher Kelly
May 21, 2016 at 5:33 pm (8 years ago)Hi Anna! I like your philosophy about sharing materials and actually I’d like to add to what you said about global collaboration. I think if a teacher is serious about creating their own materials and spends lots of time on them, then it’s actually important to share their materials with other teachers in order to improve on them. I remember one of the things we spoke about in the seminar on evaluating materials was that you need more than one evaluation from different teachers to really evaluate it properly. The more subjective opinions you get, perhaps the more objective it becomes.
But another thing, I’m of the opinion that its not the materials themselves that make us unique as individual teachers – there’s loads of great materials out there for everyone to use. I think what makes us all individual is our delivery of the materials, and that’s not something we need to copyright.
I understand if you’re trying to sell specific materials that a copyright may be important to protect your product, but on the other hand, by sharing your materials you’re showing people that you’re able to re-create good quality materials again and again, and that’s a good selling point. By not sharing your materials it’s almost implying that they are a one-off and you wouldn’t be able to create something like that again.
All in all, I agree with you that sharing materials is a good thing.
Anna Nizametdinova
May 21, 2016 at 6:58 pm (8 years ago)Thank you Chris!
You summarised very nicely what I felt was very important from the very beginning. When I wrote that post I was only expressing my beliefs about the benefits of sharing. But having completed this module, I have some concrete examples of how useful it is.
I liked your idea of giving the worksheet you designed to another teacher to test it. This is an excellent example of sharing not just ideas but materials and experiences.
Reading and commenting on my peers’ blogs is another example of sharing. I must admit for me reading the thoughts of others has been a more beneficial means of professional development than writing my own posts. Your blogs have so many great ideas and tools that it actually started to underpin my practice. I would read a post and think ’ I might give Cuisenaire rods a go in class tomorrow’.
It’s a pity not everyone got involved in this process but I am grateful to the ones who did as I believe it’s been beneficial for us all. Let’s continue this practice. Sharing is caring!
PS A special thank you for your comment on exPLAYn app. I love your ideas. If I ever get round to materialising them, I promise you’ll get a free version of it.