No new tools for me to discover this week… I would have
thought that it would be a stress-free week that I would greatly enjoy…
However, I realized that I got kind of used to discovering more tools and I am
not that nervous anymore. This course has definitely helped me overcome some of
my original distress when my own personal use of technology is in question.
As for the learning styles, it has always been interesting
for me to read about psychology and how it affects learning. I had a
two-semester course in psychology at my bachelor studies. I was surprised to
discover that many universities which prepare teachers do not have that course.
I believe that developmental psychology has the answers to many questions a
novice teacher might have. Learning styles and strategies, zone of cognitive
development, scaffolding… all these are elements of learning in general, not
only language learning. I take great interest in psychology and pedagogy and it
informs my teaching context to a great extent.
Learning styles were interesting to be discovered and
thought about even without technology. There were many seminars and wonderful
books which provided us with ideas how to implement tasks and activities which
would be suitable for different learning types (professor Herbert Puchta had
some excellent ideas which he shared with us at conferences and seminars). What
I discovered now is that technology can help even more. It would not help much
without a clear plan and instructions. I always fear that students using the
internet for language learning, or any type of learning for that matter, could
easily become distracted and start doing something else… So I believe, projects
with clear instructions and objectives, as well as a role assigned to each
group member would be things that I would have to pay more attention to when
doing the plan that I prepared as a final project for this course.
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