2. Today’s experience in education
• Digital age students surrounded by
gadgets and addicted to internet
technology: They seem to
communicate mostly visually using
images and symbols and are not keen
on reading any more.
3.
4. • Teachers become more and more
skilled at using computers and they
are enthusiastic about using
technology in their teaching
practice.
5. • Society and work environments
require computer literacy and
enhanced multi-tasking ability.
• The internet has opened new horizons
for professional development.
• Schools must be up-to-date and cannot
fall behind technological
developments.
6.
7. The profile of a modern teacher
Teachers today are quite skilled at using
computers and the internet. They have
very good knowledge of computer
software such as Microsoft Office and
the different browsers, they are
members of social networks and have
personal emails.
8. Therefore, teachers are faced with the
challenge to use technology in their
teaching but they must also develop
some criteria which will help them
select those tools which will be more
effective in their learning context
(learner characteristics, pedagogy,
learning outcomes) and at the same
time in congruence with their computer
literacy level.
9. In my opinion just because our
generation of students has grown up
with the technology and the
accompanying tools of the digital age
that doesn’t mean that just throwing
technology at them in the classroom is
adequate and effective.
10.
11.
12. In this framework, finding the best ways
of using new technology in the
classroom and coming to terms with the
changing needs and aspirations of
learners in today’s digital world
constitutes the challenge of the modern
teacher who can overcome their
insecurity and fear towards this
ongoing change by looking for
opportunities for professional
development.
13. Any teacher is a prospective distant
learner since the only requirements for
entering a distance learning course is
usually basic knowledge of computers,
registration and the required time to
spend on the internet to attend the
course and prepare the necessary
material to complete the course (if this
is required).
15. Online Education and Training
• With the development of new information
and communication technologies (ICT), online
education and training is being used widely.
• Online education is defined as an
innovative form of distance education that
delivers instruction to a remote audience,
using computer networks as the main medium.
16. • Online in service teacher training is a
form of online education that uses
computer network technologies to
organize, develop, manage, and
administer in-service teacher training.
17. • If online teacher training programs are
well designed, they can broaden the
range of teacher training opportunities
and reduce the costs by adopting
information technology, and sharing
educational resources.
18.
19. In this context, teacher training
nowadays has acquired new forms.
Educators worldwide are offered
numerous chances to advance
professionally even from the comfort of
their home. Many training courses on
different subjects start every day by
various organisations and universities
which anyone can register and follow
online in order to complete a training
course.
20. Online teacher training has been seen to have
several benefits. In addition to making
teacher training more cost-effective and
efficient (Harasim, Hiltz, Teles, and Turoff,
1995; Hiltz, 1994; Khan, 1997), the major
goals of online teacher training are to help
teachers:
21. • access training opportunities without
leaving their classrooms/ homes.
• remove barriers of time and space.
• improve their computer literacy, and
interact online with their trainers
and other teachers, and,
• once a 'bank' of online courses is
developed, to access those courses
that meet their individual needs.
22. • Research and case studies show that
online training via the Internet provides
an opportunity to develop new learning
experiences by managing self-directed
learning, and sharing information and
ideas in a cooperative and collaborative
manner (Harasim, et al., 1995;
Hillman, 1999; Moller, 1998; Thompson
and Chute, 1998; Trentin and
Scimeca, 1999).
23.
24. Using the internet to support our
continuing professional development
Steps to consider:
• finding out how you can best improve your
teaching skills.
• Finding out who you are as a teacher.
• Asking yourself the right questions & setting
yourself goals.
• Identifying the people, tools and technology
that will help you reach your goals.
25. • Learning from your teaching experience
by sharing it with others and reflecting
on it (using social networks, groups,
blogs, in the staffroom)
• Identifying what you want to
investigate: focus, goals, rationale,
action/ tools, estimated time required.
• Taking an online training course or a
distance learning course (Being
teachers of English gives us plenty of
such opportunities)
26. What a Webinar is and How it Works
• A webinar is an online event hosted by
an organization and broadcasted to a
selected group of individuals through
their computers via the Internet. (A
webinar is sometimes also referred to
as a “webcast”, “online event” or “web
seminar”.)
27. • A webinar allows a speaker from the
hosting organization to share
PowerPoint presentations, videos, web
pages or other multimedia content with
audiences that can be located
anywhere.
28. • Webinars typically have audio and
visual components. The visual
component of a webinar is shared
through a web conferencing tool or
Internet browser. The audio part of a
webinar is usually broadcast through
the audience’s computers (through
speakers and media players).
29. • A webinar also allows the hosting
organization to interact with an
audience. The audience can ask the
speaker or moderator (who is leading
the webinar) questions in real-time
through an instant messaging tool or e-
mail.
30. A useful YouTube video explaining what
a webinar is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWz8
ppM9DzM
31. Free Webinars on the internet
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/webinars
• A useful webpage run by the British Council
and the BBC providing free webinars for
teachers of English on different subjects.
• Recorded webinars are also available for
everyone to watch on many interesting topics
designed by experienced educators.
• Some titles that might attract your attention:
– Finding the plot - Early story writing for Yls
– Making connections - classroom management with
young learners
– Computer games and language aims
– What makes a lesson GREAT?
32. – A box of tricks: warmers, coolers and fillers
– Using literature for language learning
– Using social networks and media to support
our continuing professional development
– The learner-centred classroom
– Ten ideas for mobile learning
– CLIL for secondary schools
– Dealing with challenging learners
– Thinking skills
– Spoken grammar/lexical approach
33.
34. The Distance Learning Courses and their
practical use
When our school advisor designed and
offered the distance learning courses last
year, I took the opportunity and
registered for each one of them because
their content seemed very attractive to
me. Actually, these courses were very
interesting and helped me to develop my
knowledge in useful internet tools which
could be utilised in the classroom.
35. • Creating a wiki for project work (blended learning
course)
• Creating online books and photo albums
• Creating online videos: A 6 hour distance learning
course that focuses on the use of ICT in the EFL classroom.
Trainees will learn how to create videos..
• Creating online games : A 6 hour distance learning
course that focuses on the use of ICT in the EFL classroom.
The courses I have attended
36. The very detailed wiki course which had
as requirement the creation of a wiki for
developing a project, helped me use this
knowledge in order to create a wiki I
could use as a website for my
classrooms. This wiki can be found on
the address:
http://3ymittoshighschool.wikispaces.com
37. I also used my knowledge on wikis to
develop and present the e- twinning
project I co-ordinated this year:
http://myseaproject.wikispaces.com
38. • I learnt how to use certain internet
tools (web 2.0 tools) which are offered
for free on the internet to create:
– digital albums
– scrapbooks
– animations
– comic strips
– digital stories
– glitter graphics
– word clouds
– digital posters
39.
40. • In addition, from those courses I
learnt how to create online
games, quizzes, puzzles which
could be inserted in a blog or wiki
or simply played by students
online.
• Online questionnaires and polls
also proved useful.
41. The e-twinning platform and
Learning Events
• Another source of distance learning
experiences is the e-twinning platform
itself.
• Once you register yourself and your
school and create your profile on the
platform, there are many opportunities
available for learning and training esp.
as regards project work, group work,
classroom management, computers and
internet tools.
42. • Webinars and learning events are also
regularly conducted on the e-twinning
platform.
http://learninglab.etwinning.net/web/guest/home
43.
44. • And as soon as you start a project,
just keep an open mind and get ready
to interact and learn from colleagues
from other European countries.
www.glogster.com
48. Online Talks
• http://www.ted.com/talks/tags/education
A website where you can watch
interesting and very popular talks
about education by different
academics such as Ken Robinson
or teachers who have important
things to say.
50. Online distance learning courses
eliminate the time and space
constraints of more conventional
teacher training methods,
removing the need for the learner
to be present at a training site at a
designated time.
51. If designed and used properly,
information and communications
technology has the potential to
make teacher training more
effective, affordable, and flexible.
52. On the whole the distant courses I
attended as well as my participation in
the e-Twinning community enabled
me to make my wikis attractive and
also showed different possibilities to
present my work or my students’ work
in digital form or online.
53. The only person who is educated is the one
who has learned how to learn and change.
Carl Rogers
(an influential American psycologist and among the
founders of the Humanistic Approach to psychology.)
Formal education will make you a living;
self-education will make you a fortune.
Jim Rohn
(an American enterpreneur, author and motivational speaker).
54.
55. I am entirely certain that twenty years from
now we will look back at education as it is
practiced in most schools today and wonder
that we could have tolerated anything so
primitive.
John W. Gardner
56. The Distance Learning
Courses in my Teaching
Practice
by Vrettou Nicoleta
Online distance learning courses eliminate
the time and space constraints of more
conventional teacher training methods,
removing the need for the learner to be
present at a training site at a designated
time. If designed and used properly,
information and communications
technology has the potential to make
teacher training more effective, affordable,
and flexible.
A website offering free online and
recorded webinars and courses:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/webinars
The only person who is
educated is the one
who has learned how
to learn and change.
Carl Rogers
Formal education will
make you a living;
self-education will
make you a fortune.
Jim Rohn
57. A useful YouTube video explaining
what a webinar is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWz8ppM
9DzM
Other useful sites:
http://www.ted.com/talks/tags/education
http://learninglab.etwinning.net/web/guest/home
www.etwinning.net
Sites for useful online tools:
www.wikispaces.com
www.wordle.comwww.glogster.com
www.glitterfy.com
www.voki.com
www.vimeo.com
www.tubechop.com
www.discoveryeducation.com
Sites with useful online tools
to make online presentations
to share or embed:
www.issuu.com
www.smilebox.com
www.animoto.com
www.pixton.com
www.slideshare.com
www.picturetrail.com
Online tools to create games,
quizzes, puzzles, polls:
www.jigsawplanet.com
www.quizlet.com
www.proprofs.com
www.classtools.net
www.tricider.com
