1.What are some things that you have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology?
I have learned that there are many possiblities for teachers to embed technology into daily teaching. One of the biggest benefit is to intrigue students interests and foster their creativity. In this sememters, I have been using Edmodo as sharing and communicating forum with my students and parents. Students love it because it brings their learning outside of the classroom and I can give more timely feedback. I love to see my students posting their thoughts on the Edmodo page as well!
How did integrating web-based technologies help you think about and evaluate uses of technology? Assessing students performance can be time-consuming. Also, sometimes it is not as fair. For example, for oral speaking assessment, I use to give oral test in class. It is not fair for the students who have low selfesteem or who is just having a bad day. With the technology, I can ask my students to assessment during their afterschool time, and they can do it as many times as they want until they get a satisfied task done. After all, I think grade is the least important thing, and what I care the most is if students are learning this language. So I like using technologies in language assessment, especially speaking.
How have you met your own personal goals for learning about technology integration? This year, I only had one goal regarding integrating technology in my teaching, which is using technology in a more authentic way in order to improve students language skills. I have been looking for technology that helps students in speaking, listening and independent learning. Then I found some really neat websites and tools. Also the biggest benefit that I had was learning how to make a WebQuest. My students love using it and I found that when I gave students responsibility to learn, they can do something that awed me extremely.
Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new goals and your long-term goals after this course is over? My next goal is to bring more students in adopting technology in Chinese learning. Right now, when we do presentation or projects, I have got a handful of students who chose using technology rather than poster board. The work that they completed have very high quality. So my next step is to invite these students to help the ones who use less technology, and I hope that I can work with my students to bring more possibility of learning by utilizing technology. I really enjoyed making the projects in this course and learned abundantly!
