The levels or stages of learner autonomy and how they are assessed.

 The levels or stages of learner autonomy and how they are assessed.

 

        There are levels or stages of learner autonomy. I think that this type of learning suits all levels and stages according to the case of being intended or not intended. If it is not intended, it is suitable for students of earlier ages such as cycle 1 and cycle 2. The student can learn from the posters on the walls, the English corner, and the language center prepared by the teacher inside the class room. Doing manual projects helps much increase the experiences of the students so as to be recalled in similar situations. Many teachers realize that the students can learn indirectly, so some teachers prepare word walls for them in the class. Others ask the students to prepare a file for their flash cards and activities. In this stage the learner autonomy is limited. It lacks some of the strategies. The students in earlier ages can imitate, repeat, deduce, guess, and ask questions for clarifications. But they lack the ability take notes and have resources. But these can be provided by the teacher in an indirect way without telling the students that these resources have been put to help them work and learn autonomously. I myself put some games in the school yard for the students to learn from them.

        For higher levels and stages, this type of learning should be intended. The student himself wants to learn. He prepares his resources, references, books and websites that will be a start point to his learning process. The student assign his references according to his level and specialized learning. The students of prep and secondary schools can be active with this type of learning especially with the usage of technology as the students in this age are familiar with technology, internet and computer. The best one who can assign what suits his study life is the student of the university as he chooses materials that are suitable for his career of the future. Those who really work in specific jobs also can assign materials that are suitable for their jobs. Higher level students find it easy to find resources and the search engine play the best role here. They can imitate or even watch similar experiences in videos and websites. They can ask who know more about the topic. They have the ability to guess and deduce what's beyond what they really see. They can move through the metacognitive strategies. They can concentrate on general aspects of a task, pay attention to specific aspects of a task, check one's performance and reward oneself for success.


         The teacher can assess this type of learning according to many aspects: the traditional assessment, the alternative assessment and the continuous development evaluations. For the traditional assessment the teacher can provide the student with worksheets, questionnaires and report forms in which they have to express what they have learned and the teacher has to assess their development in accordance with the targeted development of the age, level and stage. For the alternative assessment, the teacher should help students build their rubrics which will be their guide through their autonomous learning process. These rubrics can help the students change their actions when they find that they are not on the right way. For the continuous development evaluations, the students can put notes, marks and points when they achieve a stage of their learning. The total of these marks and points can form the final assessment and the notes can provide a feedback for what was done during the learning process.


Mustafa

Learner autonomy

Learner autonomy

Hello David Bentz, Robert and everyone
First of all I would like to welcome David. I wish to learn from him.

I have read the article entitled what is Learner Autonomy and How Can It Be Fostered? (Dimitrios Thanasoulas) . I liked the idea of learner autonomy. I felt that it's a completion to the previously discussed topic about PBL. The learner is still in the center but this time, he is not only responsible for his learning process but also he goes through it autonomously. He learns a set of skills in his self-directed learning. It is the situation in which learners study on their own. The learner here controls the direction of his learning process.


To be an autonomous learner, the students should enough courage and will to communicate in the target language at all costs. The learner should guess what's coming and this will help him to have a full knowledge of the form and the content of his learning items. The learner should also have choices which will allow him to feel that he has a control or ownership over his own learning. As a result of this control and ownership, the students develop a sense of responsibility and self-motivation. The role of the teachers in this task is to provide the students of those suitable choices to help them to be responsible and autonomous.

The autonomous learning process has many strategies to be achieved. We are going to deal with them according to the priority of each. The learner should prepared his resources, materials and references such as books, dictionaries, websites, CDs and any suitable materials for his task. Then he watches others, imitate them and at last do the same. In the language learning process, he imitates and then repeats what he noticed. If he finds anything significant, he should take notes. As a good guesser, he can deduce facts according to the available noted information. At last he has to apply all what he gained using the knowledge he acquired. According to the metacognitive Strategies, first the learner decides to concentrate on general aspects of a task. Then he/she pays attention to specific aspects of a task. After that, one checks one's performance. Hence, the learner evaluates his performance. At last he rewards himself for success.

To know how the students are going on their learning process, the teacher should know what strategies they are using and asks them to report what they are thinking while they are performing it.

When we try to apply technology in this type of education, we have much to say. Search engines are great providers of information of all types. The learner can download as much books and learning programs as he can. He can check, watch, imitate and do the same as others all over then world. His usage to technology will be enhanced with the passage of time.


At last we can say that this type of learning is a value that the teacher can plant inside his students. The students upgrade this value with their development in age and experiences. At that time, the learner will decide what to learn, how, where, what tools needed, who will help, what obstacle will face him and how he will plan to over come. So, it is a complete educational and learning process that affects both the student behaviour and his learning attitudes.

One Computer in the Classroom

One Computer in the Classroom

         First the teacher should decide where to put his computer. All students should see the computer. It is advisable that the computer can be moved and secured. Then the teacher should be sure that the computer contains the software needed for his work. The teacher may need all office software such as word, excel, access, PowerPoint and publisher. The teacher should install the clipart, the fonts and the templates which will be used later. He may need internet connection, web access to access search engines and email. To work offline the teacher may use software that helps him download pages on the computer to be run without the need of internet connection.


         Then the teacher comes to the management stage. The teacher should divide the class into small groups. He should also divide the project into small modules or small parts so students can work on different sections. To help groups work fast, they should work according to templates. For safety, each group should have a portfolio folder that contains their clipart, templates and folder to save works in.


         Now we can speak about what can be done on one classroom computer. The teacher can use the computer to assign the students attendance. He should have database of the students and their data. The teacher can make the worksheets, activities and tests on it. They can use the internet to send and receive messages to and from each other. They can also access useful websites and search engines. The search engines help the class provide the materials such as pictures, articles, sound and video files to be used in projects. The students can make projects such as PowerPoint presentations. The presentations, videos and projects of the class can be shown on the projector or even published on the class blog or website. The teacher's cam or mobile cam can play a role to record and document the projects and the learning process while going on.


         Many schools have materials in a form of CD or DVD. These autorun materials are very useful. The teacher himself can make such CDs using his one computer. The software of making autorun CDs has become available on the download sites. He can introduce the materials in interactive way. He can use software such as notebook to make interactive presentations that run from the HD.


         To publish what is going inside the classroom the teacher can make his publications go in two ways: one inside the school and the other in the World Wide Web. He can make a class magazine, weekly news letter and letters of involvement for the parents. He can inform the other teachers and colleagues in the school of what is going in his class through a brochure or through e mail. Then he can publish all the class actions on the class blog.

Thank you

Classes of one computer

Classes of one computer

          To speak about classes of one computer, it's important to compare between what was at the beginning of applying computer technologies in school and what is going on these days. In the past, there were no computers in classes. There were only computer labs. The teachers who were in charge weren't well qualified. They hardly knew anything about how to use computers. They were afraid lest these computers should have any problems. There were no internet connections, no LAN and no wifi. Students may visit these labs as they visit museums. They didn't have to touch anything. They had to look, watch and listen and nothing more.

          But the students nowadays are very fortunate. Labs are everywhere. Teachers are well qualified. For the class of one computer, there is much to be done on it. The computers are connected to the school internet connection. Some computers have wireless cards for wireless connection. There are also a data show and smart boards. The computers are connected to speakers and printers. Teachers use them to do the following:
1-   Using database of the students names for evaluations, development and personal information.
2-   Some teachers prepare presentations on PowerPoint or Notebook which is more useful for presentations of all types than PowerPoint.
3-   Teachers can make searches on the internet for pictures, clipart or topics related to their subject matter.
4-   Some teachers use videos, pictures and other materials for discussion.
5-   Previously prepared CDs or DVDs of the subjects can also be used.
6-   Songs and listening materials can also be applied using the one computer.
7-   All the language skills can be dealt with through smart boards when connected with computers in classes.
8-   Preparing worksheets can also be achieved through the one computer in the class.

Teach large classes techniques

Before this week I had the idea that teaching in large classes is a problem with no solution. After going through the sites available and the suggested ones, I found that the teacher can overcome these troubles and reach the top of his class working. For me, I don't teach large classes. Anyhow, through reading and discussion, I knew the challenges and the ways to exceed them. In my article now, I am going to speak about the challenges with the technology ot the techniques that can be used with them.


The large number of the class may make the teacher embarrassed. So, individual and face to face instruction may be useless in this case. The teacher has to minimize the number of his audience. Instead of speaking to 60 students, he can speak to 6 groups of 10 students. He speaks to them as a one unit. In the group, there should be a group name, logo and roles. Students who learn in collaborative settings both learn and retain 1.5 times as much as students who learn individually. The teacher may have the problem of not knowing the names of the students. This can be solved easily. He can ask each on in the group to write his name and put it in front of him in the group or on the wall beside him.


There are many techniques that should be used to benefit from the group work. The size of the group is an important factor in this process. The increase in group size leads to an increase in complexity. This is because larger groups have more non-participants than smaller groups, group size affects levels of cooperation and Group members tend to be less satisfied with groups of ten
or more. To achieve that, the teacher should assign students to groups rather than allowing them to self-select. He/should teach students how to work in groups. For more details, you can access this link http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/blackboard/docs/groups.pdf .There are many activities that can be used with the small groups: think-pair-share, think-pair-square, conceptest, quick-thinks re-order the steps, paraphrase the idea and support a statement .



Collaborative learning of small groups that work together is a fruitful way. In such a way, each group member's success is dependent on the group's success. Students who engage in cooperative learning learn more, and develop better critical-thinking skills than students in traditional lecture classes. By the passing of the time the students may get bored. But they enjoy cooperative learning more than traditional lecture classes. The Collaborative learning can be used either in small exercise or even a big project according to the students' levels or grades and in online classes.


The number of the student is a great challenge in the field of classroom management. I remember a saying which I can say that it's the best solution to any classroom management problems in small or large classes: "keep them always busy." The teacher should lecture the class. By the passing of the time the students may get bored and other students feel afraid to participate. Techniques like lecturing won't be fruitful if it isn't enhanced. The use of technology such as computer projections, PowerPoint presentations laptops and projections are a great enhancement to the teachers' lecture.


Therefore, now I am going to speak about PowerPoint presentations and how they can be used interactively. I read many articles about making interactive PowerPoint. Most of them are listed here: http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/powerpoint/powerpoint.html I also viewed Roberts's presentation. I learned much from them. I learned that many techniques can be used to make interactive such as the following: the blank slide, the think-pair-share techniques and the think-pair-square technique. The presentation should be varied in materials to match all the types of the students. They should contain pictures, videos, flash items and hyperlinks. The text font, the text size, the colour , the background. To engage the class, the lecturer should provide printed handouts for those who don't write notes while lecturing. The teacher should comment and do not just read the presentation. There should good use of time. Giving the class a rest through the blank slide, using many types of media, and hiding the pointer are helpful techniques to make the presentation more interactive.

Mustafa

The Interactive lessons

Interactive lessons

Interactive classes lead the teachers to ask about the best ways to make interactive lessons or lectures. After viewing http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/interactive/howto.html , I found an answer to the question : How to give Interactive Lectures. There are many Steps for creating an interactive lecture.
Interactive activities begin with planning the objectives, content and classroom atmosphere. Then the instructor should care about capturing the students' attention. He start some engagement triggers thought-provoking question or things that have visual appeal or are of common interest to students. Instructors might try cartoons, photographs, evocative textual passages, news clips and clips from movies or television shows. To create an interactive lecture segment that meets the desired learning goals, instructors must select an appropriate activity from the many possible techniques available. Several possibilities are shown here and categorized as basic, intermediate and advanced based on preparation and class time required. The basic are as follows: think-pair-share, one-minute write and the question of the day? The intermediate ones are demonstrations, concepTest , role playing and skeleton notes. Simulation and experiments are the advanced.


The fourth step to providing an interactive lecture is to determine how to structure and manage the interactive class period. There are as many ways to structure an interactive class session as there are interactive techniques. The instructor create a classroom atmosphere conducive to interactive learning. He should be be an effective classroom manager. Finally, instructors must determine how to end an interactive activity, gather student responses and provide, when appropriate, a synthesizing discussion or follow-up assignment. The student responses also provide useful feedback about what students have learned.

Courses can pose a unique set of challenges and the instructor will want to consider additional managerial strategies to meet these challenges. With careful planning, even classes with hundreds of students can have interactive lecture segments with significant student engagement. Additional energy must be devoted to strategies to encourage student participation as well. Fortunately, for large enrollment teachers, advances in pedagogical technologies have offered the potential for more engaging large enrollment class periods.

The teacher in the video involved here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQra4baNwP8 , tries to introduce solution to problems and to develop some thinking skills. The teacher stated the lecture by asking a question. Then she decided that everyone has to ash the person beside him. The teacher poses the question to the class and asks everybody to have some type of discussion with the person beside him. Some of the students decided that one of the answers (from a,b,c, or d) is the right answer. The lecturer decided that the students should be highly engaged in the learning process. She decides that in physics students should be asked continually, so that the teacher could consider what they have understood. The students learn much when they talk to each other. It is significant to know what the students know and try to enrich their knowledge.

Teaching Large Classes

Teaching Large Classes

        Large classes are wide apread because of the lack of money, teachers, materials, classes in many countries. They are taught in the lecture mode where there are fewer discussions, lack of interaction, lack of structure, lack of testing or graded assignments, and there is a distance between the professors and students where professors do not know their students and the students feel little sense of responsibility. Moreover, lecture mode classes are ineffective in higher-level thinking, attitude change, and motivation for further learning.

        I liked the Chinese proverb; "Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand". To engage students in learning, a teacher requires not only knowledge of subject matter but also knowledge of how students learn. The aim of teaching is not only to transmit information but also to transform students from passive recipients into active constructors of their own and other's knowledge.

         Enhancing lecture classes can be achieved many aspects. Professors enhance Lecture-style classes to promote student engagement. Professors can show pictures, photos, slides or other visual aids, changing topics to attain variety. Professors can also include stories, examples, and current events from the news to make the lecture more interesting. To increase the students' motivation, Professors can make their classes feel more personal by coming to class early enough to talk personally to students, and staying after class to answer questions. Setting up routines, speaking style, eye contact with one's audience and variation of voice and tone can be used to promote student engagement. Adding cooperative and collaborative learning experiences is essential to students' ability to learn new concepts, skills, and understandings. Collaboration helps with student motivation, and student engagement.

There are some small-group informal learning activities:

- Think-Pair-Share: Teacher lectures, poses a question or issue for students to consider. The student shares their responses with another person.
- Think-Pair-Square: Pairs of students share information within teams of 4 rather than withthe class.
- Concept Test : Teacher poses a multiple-choice question that requires conceptual understanding. Students write their answers on a sheet. Then they work in pairs, attempting to convince others of their answers.
Quick-thinks Re-order the steps : Students must correctly order a set of randomly sequenced steps.
Minute paper : students answer two questions in one to three minutes.

Teaching Large Classes is not a challenge as there are many alternatives to solve it. While reading many technological solutions came to my mind. Not all of them can be available in all classes, but some can be found. They are as follows:1-   Facebook , Google + and twitter can be used to sent commands, comments , questions and discussion topics
2-   Conferences inside labs using network can also help.
3-   Webinars through the web helps to deal with online conferences.
4-   Software like paltalk in which students can speak and give opinions.
The large classes force the teacher to use different activities, and methodologies that to engage everyone in the learning process. He has to be active all the time. Sitting class rules is a must. The classification of the group according to the hobbies, skills and the intelligences is a great enhancement to promote student engagement.

With best wishes

Mustafa