6th WEEK REFLECTION AND PROJECT

After reading the assigned articles for this week, I could conclude that technology is very important and useful when teaching large classes. Based on the information from the reading, I could see how important it is to keep students engaged in lecture. I think this is one of the most difficult tasks for teachers because the student sometimes comes to class sleepy and without enthusiasm.

I agree with the fact that by using technology and having a group work could help the students from large classes learn a lot more than just lecturing. I liked the idea of using multiple choice questions after each class assignment to test the student knowledge after being exposed to the material covered in class.
As I mention last week, I will implement a blog in my class designed specifically for my students needs. I will be adding youtube videos along with multiple choice questions which will help me asses how the student Is doing in the class. Last week, I mention a little bit about my project, but I would like to take this time to expand on that. One important addition to the solution of my student's problems using technology will be by using my blog , adding videos, and diving students in groups. Students will be divided in groups of four.
First, students will have access to a video which is related to the assigned topic. The video will be posted in the blog. Second, students in each group will have to comment on a discussion board. Each discussion board will be open only for the members of the same group, so students from the other group will not have access to the other student's comments. Third, students will be given different links to search for information on the topic. An example of the links will be:

Webmaster's dictionary.
Encarta online.
Google.com
http://www.ericdigests.org/
Fourth, after collecting all the information, students will have to create a power point presentation using images and some supporting sentences to describe the designed project. Each group will be asked to talk for about 5 minutes. The presentations will consist of : introduction, supporting information and a conclusion. Students will be evaluated using a rubric which will be posted in the blog with the aspects I will be expecting from them, so they can work on that and improve their presentations. They will be also evaluated on the comments they post in the discussion board, and finally I will also ask my students to do peer evaluation to see if all the members of the group worked and contributed equally.

By doing this project I will be accomplished a lot of aspects that are suggested in the readings such as cooperative and active learning, team work, using the internet to promote learning, and classroom communication system.

I am open to hear any comments because they will help me to improve my project.

Santiago