Week 15: Using Technology to Give Feedback.

The article for this week is called “Assessing Language Using Computer Technology”. The article is about the use of computer in the field of language assessment which is referred as Computer-Assisted Language Testing.

The article talks about that online quizzes can have some advantages as well as disadvantages.  For students and teachers immediate test results and feedback are an important advantage of using computer technology in the field of assessment. Teachers have fewer tests to evaluate and students don’t have to wait for having their results. However, that depends on the kind of questions they have to answer.  There are some questions that need that the teachers read carefully what students wrote to evaluate if it is correct or not. Also, the scoring system may fail, we have to remember that technology is not perfect and sometimes it can commit mistakes.

Furthermore, when teachers need to give feedback to students. Using technlogy and a computer is easier because using this tool teacher can just send feedback to each student quickly and the feedback is personal for everyone. In this way teacher do not have to be face to face with students in order to check feedback.

Week 14: Benefits of Participation in classroom.

The article for this week is called "10 Benefits of Getting Students to Participate in Classroom Discussions" by  Maryellen Weimer, and the second article is "Increase Student Interaction with 'Think­Pair­Shares' and 'Circle Chats'" by Kristina Robertson, I read about how to boost participation among language learners and the positive outcomes of doing it. Besides this, we had the opportunity of experiencing how technology can help us to promote participation with students.

The first article article was very helpful; the author exposes the benefits of making students participate in classroom discussions. Something that I learned from this article is how participation can provide feedback to teachers. When listening to the way students express their ideas, teacher can identify what areas of the language they need to emphasize to improve, for example. Moreover, a wrong answer from a student can help teachers know what is not clear enough for students, in this way they can try to focus more in that áreas.

In the second article Robertson's provides examples of two different activities that can be performed in the classroom in order to boost students' participation. These activities are "Think­Pair­Shares" and "Circle Chats". What I liked from this article is that the author explained the steps of each activity in a very clear and detailed way. Also, using this methodology students have the opportunity to increase interaction, and the teacher has an opportunity to hear and monitor many students including those who don’t usually speak in class

Week 12: Project Work Benefits in Language Learning.

The articles for this week are called “Maximizing the Benefits of Project Work in Foreign Language Classrooms” and “Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning” both share and  interesting information about benefits of project work.

 “Maximizing the Benefits of Project Work in Foreign Language Classrooms” is a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges through activities that allows them to study, do research and act by themselves using their abilities and interests. This article mention recommendations for English as a Foreing language teachers and materials writers who want to integrate project based learning into their curriculum. Also, it is focused on how English language teachers can improve the benefits of project works.

The second article called “Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning” explains the essential elements of meaningful projects that make PBL different from “doing projects.” These competencies make the project to be a meaningful because they help students to be prepared for the future. In the article show us an element that was from the 21st Century Skills, such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and the use of technology. These competencies will permit students to be confident people who are able to work effectively in teams and will enable students to take advantage of the opportunities of the new digital age.

In conclusion, both articles are very similar, they describe the steps that students must follow to create a project, and they provide examples of how project based learning has helped students to get very good results while learning a language.