I believe that using technology in education has not become an option; instead it is a necessity in this information age whose technological pace is constant and rapid. There are a lot of challenges associated with integrating technology into education; it is not anymore the mere argument of using technology for either pure entertainment or for unadulterated education. As for this point, we can view both concepts of entertainment and education as two overlapping continua along which education and entertainment exist with different proportions. In other words, education is fun and entertainment could be educational or didactic.

Questions and Answers About Teaching for Meaningful Learning Using Technology

What is Meaningful Learning?

Meaningful learning is the organized , regular and planned creating of opportunities to accomplish profound and permanent comprehension of sophisticated ideas and to acquire or develop and sustain the skills needed to deal with problems and content relevant to both the subject matter being studies sand learners’ lives.

What are the attributes of Teaching for  Meaningful Learning? Provide examples.

According to the research done by Peck and Wilson (1999) and Jonassen et al. (1999), meaningful learning has six interdependent attributes that are all supported by technology. In the paragraphs below, I will try to describe each characteristic relating it to my experiences as a learner and educator whenever possible.

Intentionality

The first characteristic is intentionality, which is for meaningful learning to take place there must be clear and measurable learning targets, objectives or outcomes.  In modern second and foreign language teaching, these learning outcomes are expressed in what is known as can-do statements because they refer to what the learners can do with the language once certain tasks are done. These tasks and the content they represent are all oriented by the learning outcomes or the can do statements. 

Understanding this characteristic or attribute of meaningful learning is crucial for me as a language instructor because all the learning experiences I attempt to bring about in the class should help the learners toward achieving these outcomes and the tasks I use for both formative and summative assessment have to accurately assess the learners’ progress so that well-informed decisions of steering the instructional process can be taken.

For example, in case some learners display little comprehension or mastery of certain learning outcomes, remedial and consolidating revisions are due, and carrying on with the next content items could be a risk because the curriculum components usually build on each other.

As an instructor and educational administrator, I observed this attribute in several of the programs and deliverables we offer to our learners at the English Studies Division, School of Continuing Education, American University in Cairo. For example, one of the programs we offer is called conversational English in which teachers use web-based practice resource called Q Skills. Each unit in this program starts with a mind-provoking question and a set of learning outcomes that guide the learners throughout each unit. This reflects intentionality using technology and developing learners’ self-assessment, responsibility for learning and learner autonomy which ultimately leads to meaningful learning.

Content Centrality

The second attribute is content centrality, which is the natural and logical continuation to reach the learning targets discussed in the previous attribute of intentionality. The content to be learned using technology must be both central to the discipline and the students’ lives to attribute meaningfulness to it. For instance, in the scenario of conversational English, a lot of stress should be laid on both listening and speaking skills. In addition, the listening and speaking skills should be relevant to the learners’ lives and needs. Motivation is doomed to disappear in the absence of content centrality.

Authentic work

The third feature or attribute of meaningful learning is authentic work: meaningful learning definitely goes beyond the classroom boundaries and has to be related to the learners’ extramural lived experiences.  In conversational English classes for instance, teachers craft activities and performance assessments that make learning real for the learners. Teachers must have the necessary skills to link the content they teach to the learners’ lives to achieve authenticity which is core to meaningful learning.

Suppose in a language class, learners are supposed to grasp and practice linguistic structures to talk about hypothetical situations and wishes. Unless they personalize the structure and talk about their lives, the whole thing is meaningless. Technology could help indeed in this context; learners can use their laptops and log on the internet to help them relate to the outside world and make learning authentic and meaningful.

Active Inquiry

The fourth characteristic is active inquiry  which is essential for achieving authentic work because when students form or take active part in their inquiry, they enjoy the ownership of questions and learning as well.  Active enquiry is a good guarantee that the learners are involved and motivated and can practice higher-order thinking skills while learning. Technology can be of great benefit here because learners could be motivated to access online materials, investigate, ask, analyze, synthesize and even evaluate what they learn.

I remember as an MA student while doing a course called CALL or computer-assisted language learning, my colleagues and I got involved in participating humungously and effectively in research-oriented blogs. We also did almost the same thing via professor-monitored email writing and it was quite efficient because we all learnt well and were very motivated.

Construction of mental models

The fifth attribute of meaningful learning known as mental model construction is the counterpart term for what is known as inter-language in second or foreign language learning.  As learners proceed with learning, they form mental models or representations of the content they are learning; such models and representations which are dynamic and systematic reflect inaccuracy and incompleteness, but it shows that learning is ongoing.

Teaching meaningfully using technology while dealing with the mental images and models created by the learners require a lot of professionalism particularly in teaching languages since linguistic knowledge is tacit learning, not a simple bunch of memorized facts. There are several interactive online and offline software that take this into consideration but teachers have to use them cautiously. Interactive applications point out to the learners their strengths and weaknesses individually and help them maximize both practice of and exposure to language items they have not mastered yet or of which they have formed incomplete and inaccurate models and representations.

It is important for instructors here how they perceive errors and mistakes made by the learners; mistakes are mostly signs and symptoms of ongoing learning. In fact in some cases, using correct structures in language learning after little practice or exposure could be the result of memorization of language chunks. With proper use of technology and sufficient practice and exposure, language items could be integrated and internalized and learners can use them with a high level of automaticity and spontaneity.

Collaborative work

The sixth and last attribute of meaningful learning is collaborative learning which I indirectly referred to while discussing the fourth attribute of active inquiry. As mentioned earlier, in one of the MA courses my colleagues and I took part in active discussions via blogs and emails. Co-constructivism and collaborative synergic learning using technology as a medium were evident in that scenario of actual meaningful learning during which we shared information, explained our ideas to each other, argued, negotiated for meaning, thought together, analyzed content and ideas from different perspectives, solved problems and took pride in the product we all made: we enjoyed the ownership of our learning.  

The more learners participated, the clearer concepts became and the more ideas started to arise in addition to viewing content from multiple perspectives. We rarely sidetracked because of clear criteria and instructions plus the professors’ monitoring and participation. Shy and reticent classmates were given the opportunity to participate and maximize their learning through scaffolding and collaborative learning, and their confidence was boosted as a result. All learners felt that it was the process of learning, not the product that received a lot of focus and therefore critiquing one another did not do any harm, on the contrary we all felt we were on the same boat and it is better to get everything tuned up as we learn so that we all do well in any summative assessment and use what we learn in our personal lives. Initially, some of us had slanted views but as the discussion went on and more input from different participants and resources was introduced, consensus was reached.

Please describe your own philosophy regarding the line between using technology to entertain students and using technology to educate students.

I believe that using technology in education has not become an option; instead it is a necessity in this information age whose technological pace is constant and rapid. There are a lot of challenges associated with integrating technology into education; it is not anymore the mere argument of using technology for either pure entertainment or for unadulterated education. As for this point, we can view both concepts of entertainment and education as two overlapping continuums along which education and entertainment exist with different proportions. In other words, education is fun and entertainment could be educational or didactic.

When well-trained educators use technology with clear instructions and criteria pointed out to their learners, the threat of troublesome learners manipulating technology and using it merely for social networking for instance will be minimized.

When educators continually update themselves on using whatever is available and popular with the learners, the learners will enjoy what they learn. The multimedia and facilities that come with technology make learning even what is not available possible; it is how teacher use technology meaningfully that matters. Even social networking can be adopted to serve education; a lot of educational online platforms such as MOODLE and BlackBoard include internalized chatting, emailing and social networking components that effectively serve the learning process.

The biggest challenge I believe does not lie in the dichotomy f education-entertainment use of technology, but it is the necessity of continual professional development of educators and updating the software used in the school to catch up with the tremendously rapid pace of technology. Some schools for instance might carefully plan to study a certain application and pilot it before using it for the whole school and this could take some time. Unfortunately by the time the school may decide to use this application, another or possibly more than one updated application with more advantages eclipse the former one. 

What are the pros and cons of having an entirely online high school?

Learning, whether in a real physical setting or in a distance learning context , takes a place as a result of interaction among three components : the learner , the instructor and the curriculum . In online learning, whether synchronous or asynchronous, a number of factors determine its continuity and success. The main advantage of pure online schooling is convenience, but the main disadvantage of an entire high school online program is that learners drop out. Below while discussing either advantages or disadvantages, what teachers should do will be tackled as well.

In many instances, learners drop out because they lose interest. The question is whose responsibility it is that this sort of learning is often discontinued. While it is assumed that the course providers and the instructors’ handling of invisible learners are to blame for this problem, there are several valid reasons to put a big part of the blame on the learners themselves. The factors that belong to learners and /or instructors are either external such as   family, money, time, society value of PL and age or internal including aptitude, motivation, feedback, locus of control , learning styles and learning beliefs .

It is argued that online instructors cannot diversify their teaching and feedback strategies because they cannot see the learners and identify their individual differences , their learning styles , their strong and weak points . For example, a teacher could provide detailed feedback to a learner whose learning style is holistic and field-dependent. The result is demotivation, mystification, and repeated errors on the side of the learner because the instructor provides similar feedback to her/his online class members. However, this argument is invalid because the majority of online learners know that autonomy is essential for their learning. Autonomy is basic for successful learning in general (Brown, 2001), and it is even more important in a context where the teacher and the learner are apart.  Besides, it is not fair to blame the teacher for his or her pedagogical decisions as long as instructions are clear and the chance for interactive communication is available. It is not fair to assume that when the feedback does not match the learner’s learning beliefs and styles, the consequence is discontinuing this kind of learning. Isn’t it possible that the student asks the teacher through emails, for example, for clarifications and modifications in the way her or his instructional procedures are channeled? It is totally illogical to blame the teacher for not physically interacting with the students since online learning is an option and a decision that the learner makes. It is assumed that online learners understand the distance learning context, its advantages and limitations well before they choose to start it.

It is also argued that online teachers should be more caring and understanding because online learners are supposedly busy people who are overwhelmed and swamped with family, money and work problems. In the high school scenario, learners might be living with their families overseas where the instructional language is not English or the learners might be living in a remote area. Teachers should bear in mind that they are dealing with people whose interest could be affected by these factors. In other words, online instructors should be like therapists who deal with fragile and delicate cases. However, this argument does not hold water. It is all about motivation and locus of control. Motivation can be both extrinsic or intrinsic; it can be integrative or instrumental (Gardner , 1985) . When learners learn something online, it is assumed that they do so because they value learning in itself. It is their own choice, so they are supposed to be intrinsically and integratively motivated . They are also supposed to be outgoing and risk taking; therefore external factors such as family, location and work should be viewed not as obstacles that deter them but as challenges that fuel their interest. It is not clear here why instructors should be blamed for these factors unless the learners have a problem known as locus of control , which refers to the learners’ attributing their failure to events that could affect them ( Skehan 1989) .

      There is strong evidence that research provides regarding the learners’ role in maintaining or losing interest. It all starts with aptitude, which is the propensity learn quickly even if learning is online. This factor belongs totally to the learners. Saying so does not mean that the online instructor has no role to play at all. On the contrary, his role is essential but not without the learner’s willingness to initiate, maintain and successfully conclude his/her learning. The English proverb You can take the horse to the water but you cannot make it drink  is applicable in this situation . 

Sometimes online learning is discontinued because the learner gets influenced by the way some societies value distance learning in general. Some communities resist change, and as a consequence they want to stick to traditional learning only. The online instructor cannot definitely be blamed for the mindset cherished by the learner’s community. It is the learners themselves here who must seek the change as long as they believe in its benefits and persist. Their interest could be stifled by the discouraging way online learning is viewed in some places, but again if learners are internally motivated, they should not be influenced by any external powers. 

Online learners are unique people whose autonomy and independence should not only help them to carry on but should also inspire their teachers modify if necessary their  teaching methods and feedback techniques .

One of the courses I did during my MA program at the American University in Cairo was CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) which was a hybrid course: almost more than half of it was conducted online . There were 17 MA students taking their course including myself. During the online part, we participated in blogs and online discussions with our professor and colleagues. We exchanged peer feedback emails regarding our performance and got engaged in a variety of other interesting   activities. We were so interested that we asked the whole course should be online if offered again. Most of us aced this course. It was really enjoyable because we were self –motivated and responsible for our learning. It also succeeded because it was student centered and the professor interference was really minimized. This shows a big number of advantages associated with online learning including, interest, collaboration, autonomy, ownership of learning, motivation, …etc.

Research finding provides evidence for the success of student-centered learning .As a result, in online learning the learners are more responsible than the instructor for maintaining their interest until they earn the degree they have planned to get. Instructors just assist them in carrying their learning effectively and it is logical to assume that if instructors for any reason do a bad job, students are mature enough to deal with this problem instead of losing interest and dropping out. 

While the possibility of dropping out and discontinuing online education is a major disadvantage, there are several advantages for this method or platform of channeling and conducting education. Convenience of place and time, using several online and offline resources concurrently, cost effectiveness, avoiding traffic and weather problems are all among the numerous advantages of online-learning.

Discuss what teachers need in order to promote meaningful learning with technology.

       Adopting a meaningful learning approach while integrating technology into instruction could be a really challenging and daunting task for teachers since this necessitates re-evaluating and reconsidering a number of practices in their profession; these practices are essentially related to curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, culture of learning in addition to the need to develop technical skills and expertise.

       The curriculum for example is a very important consideration that teachers intending to promote meaningful learning with technology must think of; teachers need to develop in-depth thorough and flexible understanding of the subject matter they teach. Before integrating technology meaningfully into their teaching, teachers’ knowledge , methodology and understanding of what they teach should go beyond what the learners see or read in their textbook.

       As for pedagogy, teachers who want their learners to be actively involved into meaningful learning via technology and to construct their own understanding must go beyond mastering the knowledge of the content they teach. They should be able to design  clear presentations, get their students to do the same, understand their learners’ needs and interests, investigate the learners’ prior knowledge and their misconceptions,  be able to design engaging and relevant activities, promote constructive learning via applying tasks that get the learners to learn collaboratively, and the list goes on and on. Teachers basically should develop a balance of teacher-guided instruction and learner autonomy in everything they do with or without technology inside the classroom.

       Teachers’ traditional assessment of learning should be transformed to assessment for learning, assessment in form of summative quizzes and tests to ongoing assessment throughout learning and finally from assessment done solely by teachers to assessment done by the learners themselves evaluating both their own learning and that if their peers. Assessment of both oral and written performances should be included using technology to facilitate and add interest to this falsely hated component called assessment or testing.  Such performances could include multimedia, blogs, debates and other formats that require the use of technology. Teachers here should involve the learners in designing and critiquing rubrics or other assessment scales; this way assessment via technology becomes supportive of and complementary to the learning process.

       One more challenge for teachers who want to promote meaningful learning with technology is the culture of learning; learners themselves should change their traditional beliefs about the nature of knowledge, the learning process and the concept of constructive and collaborative learning. Learning should be viewed as an incremental process constantly in progress rather than an entity or body of facts. One more thing which is obsolete is that teachers and textbooks are the single source of learning; this is not true anymore because learners in this context of meaningful learning are responsible for their own learning.

       Finally, teachers need sufficient training and support to know to effectively use technology applications in the classroom to engender meaningful learning. They need not simply learn about menus and commands of different software; instead they need to master how to use technology effectively in their own context or subject matter. Consequently, technology learning that is tailored for the teachers’ domain is essential indeed. 

Discuss how school leaders can promote meaningful learning with technology.

If we assume that teachers can develop new ways of understanding their subject matter , acquire relevant technology skills and expertise, integrate technology into their teaching , change the culture of learning, develop assessment for learning and orchestrate collaborative learning via technology on their own without any school support even if they were very motivated, we will not expand the opportunity of effecting meaningful learning via technology because only few instances of these highly motivated teacher will persist. Leaders in the educational organization must coordinate with teachers to create an environment that promotes meaningful learning via technology and these very leaders should help in providing all the necessary opportunities to support creative and motivated teachers. School leaders who intend to scale up meaningful learning via technology and want it to ramp up should address five basic dimensions: technical issues, human resources, structural dimensions, cultural-symbolic dimensions and political dimensions.

Technical issues refer to providing both hardware and software that make the use of technology in the school available. It is not mere provision, but well-maintained and effectively functioning hardware is essential. As for the software, it is not sufficient to have wide spectrum broadly used application such as Word and Internet, but subject-specific programs are important too. It is important here to identify the role played by technology; it does not replace textbooks and other traditional instructional materials and methods, but it supports and complements these resources.

As for human resources, schools can provide technology specialists who help novice and technophobic teachers design curriculum, plan lesson, and work in the class using technology. These specialists can help teachers in choosing their resources and making sure these resources are optimally used. Gradually teachers who might have been skeptical about using technology would change their beliefs and get used to adopting technology in their instructional process.

Structural dimensions refer to altering or modifying schedules, roles and relationships in the school to promote the use of technology to boost meaningful learning. A technophobic school leader who gives traditional presentations using a flipchart for instance and does not have an email account will send a negative message and will not tackle the cultural-symbolic dimension effectively. Learners need to adopt a new culture in which technology as an integrated component and school leaders have to play a positive role in this respect; learners need to get out of their false comfort zone ant try new entertaining, interesting, interactive, collaborative and multilayered meaningful channels of accessing information using technology.

The last and fifth dimension is the political one; collaborative open leadership and management are basic for meaningful learning to succeed. Bureaucratic hierarchical factory-like autocratic management that promotes isolation and division of labor is the last demanded mode of leadership needed here. Integrated and networked relationships among the school leaders, administrators and teachers are key to meaningful learning via technology. 

In your own words, describe some of the typical challenges in urban schools, regarding using technology for learning.

 At the time a good number of educators are effectively and meaningfully using technology in rich educational institutions, several teachers confront disheartening and off-putting challenges while trying to meaningfully integrate technology into their classroom instruction in poorly equipped schools lacking facilities and resources.

       One of these demoralizing challenges is the infrequent internet inaccessibility and its unreliably constant connection in several school buildings and classrooms. To face such a challenge, experts could have the web-based learning tools all on CDs or DVDs to enable using them offline. Another challenge is that some teachers are not sufficiently trained and others are technophobic and resistant to using technology in the classroom; this can be handled by providing training and professional development during summer, at weekends and after some school days.

       Some challenges are not related directly to technology but they have something to do with logistics such as space and equipment in the disadvantaged school itself. Some schools have classrooms cramped with learners, teachers isolated from and not supported by the administration and even teachers with little or weak command of the content they are supposed to teach. In contexts such as these, integrating technology meaningfully is a real challenge.

       As for space and little equipment, borrowing from and sharing with other institutions could be a good solution;  professional development workshops could be conducted to make it up for administrators not supporting their teachers and teachers whose content knowledge needs some retooling.

       The focus of successful MLT in these challenging situations and contexts should not be on what but how. Even though facilities, equipment and technology itself have to be available, it is how to use them that actually matters. This is the real challenge: the role that technology plays in the classroom. Is it being used to do repetitive tasks or does it promote enquiry and higher order thinking skills? It is not enough to have computers in the school, but sufficient professional development and training to teachers should be provided to let the students use technology meaningfully in their learning to develop their thinking skills and cognitive abilities.

How is technology being used in a poor, developing country to teach children?  Discuss some of the challenges faced in the country, resources used, and benefits to the children and their families.

Incorporating or integrating technology into education regardless of where education is taking place has become a sine qua non. Even in poor and developing countries, attempts to use technology are made and funding from international organization supports these attempts. The internet has allowed individual and group learners to conquer obstacles of space, location and access to learning. Accessing online learning resources could achieve social equality and preclude the exclusion of anyone from the right to learn and get quality education. Organizations that fund online learning found that the internet can even make it up for large numbers who missed out on early education; thus reaching everybody in disadvantaged and underprivileged communities. However there are challenges that meet individuals and groups that attempt to access online learning in these communities and the question now is whether investing in this respect and the efforts made by local and international governmental and non-governmental organizations should continue while these challenges persist. Another question is whether this type of education has improved life quality in these communities and helped the online-educated citizens there to solve their social, economic and political problems.

It is theoretically and technically true that the internet technology can overcome place and financial barriers and make learning available (Sutaria, 1990) but there are cultural, infrastructural, digital divide and security or political instability issues that restrict progress in this respect. It is also important that education in developing countries is affected by its heterogeneity in the social fabric, religious considerations, gender issues, political regimes, population density, demographic issues and a variety of other problems that affect introducing e-learning (Lewins & Stuart, 1991); it is also noteworthy that when these communities identified technology and the history of internet access there are other factors at play. Each of the developing and underdeveloped countries has its own mode or pattern of distance learning that meets- from their own perspective- their needs, and the challenge here is how to access masses of learners in all these communities with all these discrepancies.

It might be important here to know that developing countries acquired this label according to the UN human development index, but some of these countries have great civilizations and histories; Egypt for example is a pioneer in education and its earlier ancient civilization educational distinction is undeniable (Saheb, 2005). However developing countries currently lack educational infrastructural, quantity and quality of teaching experts, finance and technology that meet educational needs at all levels. For example, in Asia there are more than half a million of illiterate adults, and almost two thirds of them are females (66%) (Malik, Belawati & Baggaley, 2005).

When efforts to improve education in these countries were made and funding these efforts started, money and economy were the main concern, so technical high school and tertiary education were the target while youngsters and learners in rural areas remained forgotten (Lewins 1991, p. 16). The governments in developing countries have used technology in form of television, radio, audio, video, print materials and computers to deliver distant education to their densely populated societies and they made some success and faced a number of challenges.

An example of success is Telesecundaria in Mexico where schooling was provided to learners in distant and rural areas through televised lessons; this distance learning mode was more cost efficient and fruitful than conventional schooling (Klees & Mayo, 1974). Not every opportunity of distance education in developing countries has been doing well like that of Mexico. Some failed due to having untrained teachers as in Kenya and Batswana (Kamau, 2001); others still underestimate distance learning and suspect its credibility hold only face-to-face campus-based education in high esteem.

In heavily populated countries such as China and India where distance and open education have been delivered via radio and TV and where some success was achieved, some challenges are still there. These challenges include severe shortages in technology infrastructure, in education facilities, the number of well-trained instructors and administrators, negative and unjustified derogatory views of distance education, cultural restrictions imposed on female learners, mediocre administration and budget control, in addition to clear dichotomy between urban and rural areas, between the rich and the poor and of course between male and female learners.

A lot of developing countries face major challenges when they try to facilitate the accessibility of learning by using the internet educational applications to meet the learning needs of poor communities. There is some sort of unanimity and consensus concerning the convenience,  ease of use and accessibility of both e-learning and distance learning, but in poor countries the availability and constant reliability of basic requirements such as computers, classrooms, teachers, books, money and even electricity pose a lot of challenge. Technological progress has expedited access, facilitated and improved learning methods, increased learning materials in both quality and quantity, addressed all possible learning style, but it still has not made possible to poorer deprived populations to access all or even some of these benefits and advantages. There are still marginalized sectors in poorer societies such as females, minorities and rural citizens who all are deprived of accessing technology and its amazing instructional potential. Even when basic internet technology is available, the trained teachers to make use of are not available and there is preference to using traditional technology such as TV, radio, and printed materials. Efforts to continue trying using internet and make it really accessible to all poor communities should not stop because no one can predict the scope of achievement that learners in deprived areas can make and how much they can contribute to the whole world once learning opportunities using internet technology are easily accessible. 

What should teachers learn about the advantages technology can offer to them in their work?”

McCrory, R. (2006) answers the question of “What should teachers learn about the advantages technology can offer to them in their work?”by discussing what technology offers for student learning listing what he labeled as four affordances and what technology offers for teaching suggesting five affordances. An affordance is something made possible by technology and the four affordances that technology makes available for learning are representation, information and collaboration. To start with, representation  refers to representing or demonstrating ideas using technology and these ideas cannot be demonstrated otherwise. For instance if a science teacher would like his or her students observe the growth and life cycle of a plant or flower, a computer media and recording application can speed up this plant life span and growth to be displayed in minutes or seconds. To do the same thing in a conventional manner, learners will sit observing the plant or flower literally for weeks. This is not possible indeed, at least for physical reasons such as fatigue.  Software applications such as ModelIt help learners to create models learning the steps of any process experientially. By doing this, they learn the content effectively. It is also useful for my content area, which is teaching English as a second language. One mode of language learning is content-based or sheltered language learning, and using representation technologies such as ModelIt to get the learners to do a hands-on process step by step can make it easy and natural for the learners to use descriptive language and verb tenses describing the progress and continuity of a process. In some content areas, processes such as anatomy and dissection could be shocking particularly for animal rights activists; technology representation applications can be very effective here.

            Before the advent of technology, for a learner in the Scandinavian regions to follow closely animal behavior in tropical forests near the equator is almost impossible. Accessing data traditionally through textbooks would not make it possible to know about the weather updates everywhere in the world; technology made it possible through the affordance of information. In my discipline of teaching English as a foreign language, learners can find an abundance of information about English online and they can even select the source and talk to it. Learners can chat with teachers and native speakers and get the information they want; that was not possible before technology.

 Another affordance is transformation; it was explained above under representation how technology could be used to display changes that were not possibly demonstrated before technology and without any risks as mentioned in the example of dissection. The fourth and last affordance is collaboration or collaborative learning and scaffolding. There are numerous sites and blogs where learners can virtually meet and exchange experiences of learning scaffolding each other while being monitored and assisted by their teacher. Using blogs is very useful teaching writing to learners of English as a second language and it could be very useful in providing immediate and effective feedback through direst responses from the teacher or providing links to multimedia entertaining materials online that could help the learners gradually and effectively overcome their error via learning in different interesting ways and doing a lot of practice online.

Discuss the initial concerns and reservations you have any time you have to learn a new technology.

McCrory, R. (2006) points out that science teachers have been pioneers, leaders and innovators in using technology in their instruction; teachers of other disciplines followed science teachers in using technology in the teacher different content areas. However, the question remains: how effective has the use of technology in teaching been? In some cases, there is neither support nor equipment to allow the use of technology in education, but even when resources are available, lack of training on how to effectively use technology generally and in content- specific areas leads to ineffective use of technology.

The consequent question now is what teachers need to know to effectively use technology for meaningful learning; they first need to be capable of identifying and even adapting technologies that could be tools for meaningful learning in their disciplines and then they need to create portfolios of useful tools and applications that engage their learners. Initially when educators thought of incorporating or integrating technologies into their school instruction, they thought that having labs full of computers and getting the learners and teachers to learn about hardware and software would do the job and bring the new generation to the twenty-first century. However it is really time-consuming and even useless for learners and teachers to study menus, commands and applications that might have nothing to do with the discipline they are learning unless their study is computer science. Teachers need not study computers extensively to use them in their teaching; they need to know curriculum-based technologies that can help them teach more meaningfully and help their learners learn more effectively and meaningfully.

McCrory, R. (2006) listed five significant lessons that he learned about using technology in the classroom. The first lesson is knowledge of using technology is different from knowledge of using technology to teach. A teacher fascinated by technology can become a techie and get so carried over by it that the content he or she teaches becomes secondary in importance to the use of technological applications in his or her class. In this case, this teacher is aware of the technological tools facilitating his job but he/she is not aware of the cognitive tools for teaching with the help of technology. In other cases, a teacher may read about a particular software application, finds it so relevant to his teaching, gets sufficient training and practice on using it meaningfully and effectively but this software might not be available in the school where he or she works.

The second lesson is the specificity and content-relevance use of technology; a teacher of science should know how to use technology specifically for science and in case he has good general knowledge of technology, he or she should be able to transform this general knowledge to be of specific use in his or her content. Suppose a history teacher has perfect command of using Microsoft Access and Excel applications; how would this knowledge help in learning history meaningfully?

The third lesson is that teachers are not to know everything about technology; in fact no one can. They need to select the applications that can make meaning in their teaching and those that are available in their school. The fourth lesson is that teaching using technology meaningfully is a process that takes a lot of time because it is not simply using a computer in the classroom. The teacher should prepare, observe and monitor what the learners do with each other and with technology to make sure that technology is used optimally in all the steps of learning. Teachers should rehearse and be well prepared before using technology in their teaching and they should think of expected problems and challenges and be prepared to respond.

The last and fifth lesson is teachers should not exceed what can be done normally and possibly with technology trying to constantly be updated; they simply cannot because technology changes fast and constantly. Teachers should do their best to optimally and effectively use the technology available in their school at the present time to help their learners learn the content they teach meaningfully.

Describe in detail a time in the past when you had to show a fellow teacher how to use a new technology tool.

Almost a year ago, the English Studies Division at the School of Continuing Education (American University in Cairo) where I work a program manager started applying a new curriculum of conversational English after entirely revamping it to be aligned with the CEFR or the Common European Framework of Referencing in order to follow standardization procedures required for accreditation purposed.

When the curriculum was changed, it stressed two important components: learner autonomy and self-assessment both of which have been achieved with the help of technology. Part of the curriculum included a book called “Q Skills for Success” and this book has an accompanying website; this website is like an interactive activity book. To access the online practice materials, both teachers and learners have to use an access code and create an account.

To show my fellow teachers how to use the technological tools found on this website, I called for a meeting in which I explained to my fellow teachers how to access the online-materials for this conversational program as teachers and how to explain to their learners the accessibility and use of such materials. It was sort of a workshop after explaining each step, I would get my fellow teachers to practice this particular step. I used a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and a Microsoft Word document to help my fellow teachers remember what I explained. I even recorded the presentation and uploaded it on YouTube in four parts. I attach both the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and the Microsoft Word document here. At the beginning of each term as a reminder, I send my fellow teachers the following email:

Dear Highly Esteemed Conversation Teachers,

   Kindly find the first attached file including a detailed orientation of what you should do to access the QSkills online practice related to the book you are using. This orientation will make it easy for you monitor your learners’ progress. Please read it carefully and do not hesitate to contact me in case you have any questions.

As for your class details, you will find a table in the second attachment including 4 essential items which are  Email Address, Password for this term,  Class Name, and Class ID Code.

As for the third attachment, It is a PowerPoint presentation that I hope will help you to explain to your learners how to access and use the Q Skills Online Practice. Inside their books (when they buy them), they are going to find an access code card which they will use only once. They need it to register. Once a learner is registered, all she or he needs to do after logging on the Q Skills website is entering her/his email address and a password that she or he creates. Please explain to the learners that their accesscodes allow them to use the Online Practice Website for ONE YEAR ONLY. 

Unlike learners, the user name and password I emailed to each conversation instructor allow you touse the website for an unlimited period of time. 

In case you would like to review how to use and access Q Skills Online Practice, the following YouTube links are useful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vptBULdgqI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA9G1l9jJmM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZJaJp6o1RM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74tCOaE9PuY

    In subsequent emails, I am going to send you as many relevant resources as possible and I am sure our stage mentors can add to these resources too.

Best regards,

 Raafat

Describe in detail a time in the past when you taught a new technology tool to students. How was your approach different when teaching another teacher versus teaching younger students

The answer to this question is related to the previous one because in addition to working as a program manager, I also work as an ESL teacher and teacher trainer. I did teach the conversation program referred to in the previous question and I had to explain to my learners how to use the QSkills online practice tools. I used the PowerPoint presentation (attached here as I mentioned earlier) and below is a description of how I introduced this tool.

I created a sort of dialogue between a conversation learner and a teacher; during this conversation the learner usually asked questions and the teacher answered them. Here is part of the dialogue with some comments:

Learner: I am glad I joined the SCE to study the new English Conversation courses.

Teacher: Welcome to studying conversation at AUC ! Do you have any questions?

Learner: I have some questions about the Conversation book.

Teacher: Before answering any questions, did you get the book and do you know what it is called?

Learner: Yes I did. The book is called Q: Skills for Success, but there is no activity book accompanying it. I mean no workbook for me to do more practice on my own.

Teacher: Did you find an access card inside the book?

Yes, you mean this card? (Here I showed the learners a sample access card with the code.)

Teacher: Yes. Just scratch the grey area to identify the access code.  Log on http://www.qonlinepractice.com/auth/index and click on the word “Register”. (Of course, I displayed the website to illustrate this point.)

Teacher: Next you read the “Terms of Use”, check the small square box and the word “I Agree” at the bottom as shown in the next slide. (Of course, I displayed the website to illustrate this point.)

Teacher: Enter the access code you scratched on the access card ,click on “Enter “ , enter your personal information and then click on “Next” . (Of course, I displayed the website to illustrate this point.) Remember and record the important information you  entered here.

Teacher: Wait for the “select the right book” demo until you see a smiley and then click on the red “X” button.

Teacher: Select the book you are using. You can add more books later on.

(Here, the learners can see pictures of all the books in the Q Skills series.)

Learner: I want to browse all these books.

Teacher: I will tell you later about how you can do  this, but now let’s select the book you are using. OK. Remember you can add more books later on. When you select the right book, the following message appears. (A picture with buttons confirming the selection appears here.)

Teacher: Click on the word “Yes” and then enter the “Class ID Code” that your teacher gave you. Click on the word “Next”. Select the book you are using. As mentioned earlier, you can add more books.

(Once this step is done, the Q Skills online practice page appears with its menus and clickable items; I gave these menus and clickable items numbers to explain what could be done when using each.)

Teacher:

1.      You can edit your personal information when you click here.

2.      You log out when you click here.

3.      You get a brief pdf file explanation when you click here.

4.      This is the most important part. When clicked, it takes you to the practice area, which I will elaborate on later on.

5.      When you click here, you can view your progress, which also appears on your teacher’s website.

6.      You can click here later on when you change your class.

7.      When you click here you can listen to the book audio materials which you can listen to while you are preparing for your class.  See next slide for more info.

Learner:  What about the practice part?

(I numbered the sections that appear in the practice part.)

Teacher: As the circled numbers indicate, there are mainly three things here:

1.      The activity menus.

2.      The drop-down list of units from which you can select the unit you want to view.

3.      The activity itself.

Learner: OK , how can I browse all these Q:Skills  books?

Teacher: You can visit the “Unit Sampler” website where you can see a sample unit + its audio materials  from each of the 12 student books in this series, 6 sample units from teacher’s handbooks and a lot more. The link to all this is : http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/e553d6ab#/e553d6ab/3 .

Learner: Thank you very much. What a wonderful book!

Of course, introducing it to my learners and giving a brief tutorial about it was different from how I introduced to my learners. In both sessions, I explained that there are learning outcomes that I want them both to reach by the end of the presentation. First, I was impressed that the learners took little time to get used to this technological tool mainly because most of them are familiar with technology and use it frequently in their lives. My fellow teachers, particular older ones, took some time to master using the applications on the website and some teachers decided not to join this program until they have sufficient training practice. It was partly technophobia and partly age. Therefore, the main differences were response and acceptance of novelty, the time and duration it took to be familiarized with the application and enthusiasm or motivation to use it.

Using Skpye in Language Learning

Skype is a voice-activated chatting and communication service and software online application that lets users make audio and video phone calls online. A phone call from a Skype user to another Skype user is free of charge; all you need to have is a Skype account. It takes a few minutes to have an account after joining Skype filling in some few basic personal data. You will have a username and password to enable you to use the software as long as you are online connected to the internet. You then need to download the setup file for this software and install it on your computer. In addition to the computer set, you need a microphone, speakers and webcam to use the application to the maximum making both audio and/or video calls.

Skype is not used merely for making personal calls through voice and video chatting, but it can be used for business and education purposes as well. A laptop, notebook or computer could be connected to a data show projector or a very large screen where presentations, videos and other displayed educational tasks and segments could be seen by a large group of learners sitting in big classes. By the way, Skype can be educationally used to connect individual to individual, individual to group and the other way round. In this way, it can be used for teaching, discussion, assessment, providing feedback and a lot of other educational tasks that can be efficiently delivered, assesses, evaluated and substantiated effectively and meaningfully regardless of where the learners are. Location or distance does not pose any challenges here; perhaps time could be a challenge in case the two connecting parties using Skype are from two different time zones. For instance in case the teacher is from California , USA and the learners are from Cairo Egypt, there is a 10-hour difference in time. It is important to remember here that education delivered using Skype is synchronous.

A lot of people are using Skype. According to some reports, almost 125 million internet users had Skype accounts before June 2010, and they made almost a 100 billion calls, 40 billion of which are video calls. Teachers have recently started integrating Skype into their teaching. Educators who started using Skype in classrooms quickly realized its great potential in connecting individuals and classes from different parts across the globe. For instance, classes from different parts of the world adhering to different cultures can have cross-cultural exchanges using Skype. This is really meaningful and effective to talk to the people belonging to a certain culture to acquire accurate unbiased information about this or that culture instead of reading dryly about it. Skype can be used in the same way in online debating provided that debates have a well-organized and timed framework. Both these activities of cultural exchanges and debating using Skype are relevant to the EFL/ESL disciplines because they can substantially develop oral skills via a channel that the learners like to use.

            Skype has added sophisticated features that make running such activities easy and enjoyable. For instance, making conference calls make it possible for up to six parties to communicate efficiently, classes from six different cultures can exchange and debate and learn extensively and for free in case all of them have Skype accounts on their computers.

            In addition to conference calls, learners can use the text-chatting or the SMS service. This way writing is integrated into speaking and reading as well. it is useful to communicate using text at least in case the connection gets slower making audio and video communication a bit hard for a while plus it is useful for writing comments and providing feedback. These features have positive effects on second and foreign language learning because Skype here promotes interaction, collaboration, self and peer correction, scaffolding and motivation.

Another sophisticated feature that Skype has added is synchronous or instant file-sharing, which makes it possible for several students to work together on projects online; they can do peer reviewing and editing to longer written products and even orally discuss their comments using audio and video chatting. In this way, it is not only writing and reading that are developed, other skills are enhanced too. One last feature is screen sharing allowing giving presentations by both teachers and learners.
            Despite all these sophisticated feature, Skype still can compete with other synchronous learning technology such as Elluminate because it does not include features such as polls and whiteboards. Its simplicity , however, makes using it possible for intimidated technophobic ESL  teachers who have little novice knowledge about technology. Little by little, these teachers can be encouraged to integrate such a simple technology into their classes overcoming their fears, building up confidence and improving their instructional abilities.   

As for business and ESL learning combined, Skype can be easily used for marketing ESL programs because Skype in addition to its cousins Facebook and Twitter are basically social networking tools that create a lot of relationships easily. Skype can be used for giving orientations to market different ESL/EFL deliverables and programs; it also can be used to conduct pre-arrival interviews and orientations before a learner joins a certain program making it possible to place the learner in the appropriate class, group , course, proficiency level, …etc.

            In short, Skype is an interesting , motivating and cost effective technological tool that can be used efficiently in foreign language learning and marketing EFL programs. It can be used to provide authentic learning environments such chatting with learners from different cultures, debating among them, exchanging experiences and peer-correcting , interviewing an author to discuss his views, in addition to several other interactive tasks promoting collaborative learning meaningfully via technology.

List 5 beliefs or complaints teachers have that prevent them from learning new technologies

Teachers decide to use technology or ignore and simply teach the basic skills in a conventional manner due to some beliefs they adhere to or complaints they have. The first thing that makes teachers raise complaints is their knowledge of technology. It is obvious that teachers must have basic technology skills to use technology for teaching, but some teacher’s knowledge is still at the mechanical level. it is some sort of fragmented knowledge focusing on form rather than function. These teachers have stereotypical opinions of what technology can do and they simply go by the book reading the help manuals and tutorials of the software they are using and perhaps memorize the steps to use it. Since they are uncomfortable and reluctant to use a particular technology or software, they will not use it effectively. The teachers’ main complaint here is the lack of professional development opportunities to develop their knowledge of technology and how to use it for teaching meaningfully.

Another belief or complaint is that teachers might not be allowed to sufficiently experiment and even play with the software they are expected to use before actually using in their teaching. Therefore if professional development orientation and presentation sessions are given, teachers could still complain that they were not given enough time to experiment with the technology or software, and a third complaint is that even when allowed the time to try the new technology, there could be no support personnel or IT technicians to help the teachers as they are experimenting with the new technology.

A fourth complaint is that during and after the professional development sessions, teachers dealing with literally dozens of knowledge areas( such as biology, chemistry, physics, botany, zoology, entomology, history, geography, geophysics, morphology, grammar, phonology, statistics, algebra, …etc) may ask questions like: how is technology related to student learning? Will it help in achieving particular learning outcomes and increase student achievement? Is it directly linked to the curriculum being taught? In case the answer to these questions is vague, teachers will lose faith in any of these professional development and again cease to use technology.

Teachers might still complain that they face glitches and errors while using technology in the classroom and sometimes found no support from colleagues. If teachers get no help and compare themselves to other expert teacher who know and do not help, they will feel jeopardized and disappointed. One last complaint is that teachers having to attend professional development programs outside their school might not be motivated to do so and see no immediate benefit of applying technology to their environment.

Explain how you could address each of these 5 beliefs/complaints if you were charged with motivating the teachers or changing their beliefs.

To address these problems, these problems are presented again together with their suggested solutions. Teachers decide to use technology or ignore and simply teach the basic skills in a conventional manner due to some beliefs they adhere to or complaints they have. The first thing that makes teachers raise complaints is their knowledge of technology. It is obvious that teachers must have basic technology skills to use technology for teaching, but some teacher’s knowledge is still at the mechanical level. it is some sort of fragmented knowledge focusing on form rather than function. These teachers have stereotypical opinions of what technology can do and they simply go by the book reading the help manuals and tutorials of the software they are using and perhaps memorize the steps to use it. Since they are uncomfortable and reluctant to use a particular technology or software, they will not use it effectively. The teachers’ main complaint here is the lack of professional development opportunities to develop their knowledge of technology and how to use it for teaching meaningfully.

As a solution to this problem, professional development should be provided to help these teachers develop from the mechanical level to the meaningful and even generative level of  knowledge of technology. They should be helped and supported by experts to develop deep understanding of technology and how to contextualize creatively and innovatively to help in teaching different disciplines meaningfully and effectively.

Another belief or complaint is that teachers might not be allowed to sufficiently experiment and even play with the software they are expected to use before actually using in their teaching. Therefore if professional development orientation and presentation sessions are given, teachers could still complain that they were not given enough time to experiment with the technology or software, and a third complaint is that even when allowed the time to try the new technology, there could be no support personnel or IT technicians to help the teachers as they are experimenting with the new technology.

The solution to these two complaints is to have sort of a technology play room and sufficient time for teachers to use the technology at their knowledge level and apply what they’ve learned in the professional development session. They can make mistakes without feeling embarrassed and they can adapt the software to suit the discipline they are teaching. It is through practice and free experimentation that teachers can develop their knowledge from the mechanical to the meaningful and generative level. The second concern is that while freely experiment with little knowledge, things can go wrong and teachers may take a long time fixing any error or glitch resulting in frustration and technology avoidance. The solution is to have a technology support team who develop good social relationships with the teachers and continually provide help and support until teacher can use the technology on their own. Social and technical support are needed to enable the teachers use the technology effectively. It is not simply having teachers who have mastered the content they teach plus some technology in the class; other enabling conditions must be taken into consideration.

A fourth complaint is that during and after the professional development sessions, teachers dealing with literally dozens of knowledge areas( such as biology, chemistry, physics, botany, zoology, entomology, history, geography, geophysics, morphology, grammar, phonology, statistics, algebra, …etc) may ask questions like: how is technology related to student learning? Will it help in achieving particular learning outcomes and increase student achievement? Is it directly linked to the curriculum being taught? In case the answer to these questions is vague, teachers will lose faith in any of these professional development and again cease to use technology.

The solution here is to align the professional development to the students’ learning and to the content being taught by discussing methods of application by different teachers and stressing that technology can help in planning lessons, creating tasks and activities, evaluating curricula and improving it , substantiate students’ achievement via collaboration interaction and autonomy, help the teacher in assessment, improve grade calculation and report preparing in addition to improving communication with learners and their parents.

Teachers might still complain that they face glitches and errors while using technology in the classroom and sometimes found no support from colleagues. If teachers get no help and compare themselves to other expert teacher who know and do not help, they will feel jeopardized and disappointed. The solution again is helping teacher troubleshoot problems in the professional development sessions and establishing rapport and cooperation among colleagues through mentoring programs in which expert teachers using technology assist novice ones. Improved interaction and communication among all teachers is important in this context.

One last complaint is that teachers having to attend professional development programs outside their school might not be motivated to do so and see no immediate benefit of applying technology to their environment. The solution is offer professional development locally and about the technology available in the school.

Describe a technology tool that you personally would like to learn how to use in your personal life or in your professional life (e.g. digital storytelling, MP3 player, etc.). Why do you want to learn this and what does the technology offer? Then find a seminar, tutorial, or workshop that offers to teach people how to use this technology tool. Describe the seminar/tutorial, what learning approach does it use, how is it marketed, how could it be improved?

I would like to learn about Weebly.com; it is a website making website. I remember a few years ago, I read tutorial and watched videos for two website-creating software applications : FrontPage and Dreamweaver. They are very sophisticated and unless I revise what I learned then, I do not find it easy to remember using them. Creating a website, is very important for ESL teachers who can control the content to be displayed according to the target audience. The website can include different lessons and tips that I can ask my learners to refer to at any time. It can be used to enhance task-based language learning as in the case of using Web Quests. The advantages of creating a website for language learning purposes are a lot, but are it easy to create a website.

     Weebly.com says clearly it is the easiest way to create a website stressing that it is free, powerful and professional. The website includes a short 2-minute tutorial video explaining simply its main features such as drag and drop builder that allows users to drag and drop text, audio and video files into a website template. It simply makes that clear that no technical skills are required; there are other videos and tips written in easy English. What a teacher of English can do with a website includes creating a class website and blog, managing learners’ accounts, posting and grading online assignments and keeping the administration and parents updated.

The videos and tutorials are clear but more of other videos explaining how this technology could be used for teaching different disciplines are needed too.

References

Ashburn, E. A. & Floden, R. E. (Eds.) (2006). Meaningful Learning Using Technology: What  

     Educators Need to Know and Do. New York: Teacher’s College Press.

Davis, V. A. (2006, August 6). Using Skype in the Classroom (or just learning how to use

     it!). http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/10/using-skype-in-classroom-or-just.html

Drysdale, L. (n.d.). Getting the most out of marketing for schools.   Retrieved July 13, 2006,

     from http://www.marketingschools.net/viewpoints/viewpoints_drysdale.htm

Eaton, S. E. (2005). Marketing Matters for Language Schools: Tips and tricks for generating

     interest in your language courses: A webinar presented by Horizon Wimba.

Eaton, S E. (2010). How to Use Skype in the ESL/EFL Classroom. The Internet TESL

     Journal, 16(11).