Week 10 Reflection

   It has been the best 10 weeks of my academic life and I would eternally be thankful to Donna Shaw and to all my colleagues around the world. I cannot believe this turning point course has come to an end. It seemed like yesterday when my classmates and I started to be part of this wonderful, insightful, and unique experience. I will never forget this Webskills course. From the bottom of my heart, I can say that I was born, technologically, speaking again.

   As for the different things I did and learned, I can mention an endless list of technology tools and websites. However, the knowledge I acquired cannot be measured under any circumstance. Blog Rolls, Lesson Plans, Rubrics, Interactive Power Points, Padlet,  and the Project itself were some of the things I put my hands on. I am really proud what my online friends all over the world and I accomplished while taking this tremendous course.

   I have, nowadays, the certainty that all of us are going to make the change, where students from Mauritania to Norway, from Sri Lanka to Kuwait, from Spain to  Taiwan are the ones that are really going to receive the academic instruction and the blessing of being agents of change as well. It is now in our hands to pass the torch for others to light up.

   One more time, thanks to the U.S. Embassy in Paraguay, thanks to the State Department, thanks to the American English Institute of Linguistics Department at University of Oregon, thanks to all of my colleagues whose wisdom, generosity and patience lead the way, and a very special thank to my editor in chief Esala Malawithanthri. A big hug to Juan Pacheco and Husni Mahmud, and my warmest regards to Albana and Brahim and to all my colleagues around the world. Guys, I am going to miss you a lot!

   

Week 9 Reflection

   As I sit down to write my second to last blog for this course, I realize that nothing gold can stay forever. The countdown has already started. I will have to be born again to express all the great and amazing things I have been learning in this online course. It is hard to say good bye to all the colleagues that have inspired me throughtout these nine weeks. It feels like as a piece of me began to miss everyone. I will be eternally thankful to each and everyone of my classmates, and above all to our professor Donna Shaw. Here are the highlights of this week.

   Learning Styles, tech tools ANVILL: It is well-known that students learn in a variaty of ways.There are some who are reflective learners who like to stop and reflect about what they are learning. There are even others who are sensor learners that love learning by relating their instruction to what is out there in the world. Others prefer to learn visually like the visual learners, where pictures, time lines, and color coding are very important for their academic growth.The sequential learners, on his part, like order and organization. The good thing about each and every learning style is that teachers can also provide them with the right technology tool to foster their strenghts. In other words, for the reflective learner, the teacher might use blogs, Nicenet, e- mails, and peer-editing. As for the sensor learners, he may use WebQuests and Problem-Based-Learning activities. The visual learners can best learn by Interactive Power Point, Stupeflix videos, and Padlet. Finally, the sequential learner intake more instruction if google sites with calendars are provided.

   Final Project Report: Last Friday, we had to turn in our final project reports. As I turned it in, I felt like a great weight had vanished from my shoulder. The last time I read, and re read and re read a piece of report was when I finished my dissertation for my undergraduate degree for college. I will be eternally thankful to Esala, whose wisdom and patience made me see my final report from another angle. Congratulations to her!. What else can I say? Well, I feel tired mentally speaking, but at the same time I feel like everyone in this course is a champion due to the endless hours we spent working on the different tasks and above all on the final project report. Again, I can honestly say that my academic life has changed tremendously.

   All in all, It is hard to say good bye. It is even harder to say thank you to the U.S. Embassy in Paraguay for the support, to the Department of State for having granted me this scholarship, to the University of Oregon for having provided us with the best professor, to all my colleagues from all over the world for their insight, commitment, and wisdom...to our dear Professor Donna Shaw, whose humble and so down to earth comments and guidelines made us be agents of change for generations to come. Guys, I will miss you a lot. God bless you all!

Week 8 Reflection

   I cannot believe week 8 is gone and that we have only 2 more weeks to go . Every time I think about it, I appreciate even more the effort everyone has put into making this course a turning point to our academic life. Again, this week was very demanding and above all very insightful. Below these lines, the most important highlights are going to be discussed.

   Final Project: I had to write my report in three days and I did not want to leave any thing behind. I checked what I had done before in Nicenet and added more information as requested. What is more, I pushed myself to my limits so that I could just write the final touches to my rough draft for next week´s final report. I have to admit that working with Esala was a big help as she made me look my final report draft from another viewpoint. I learned a lot from her comments; and I would really love to work with her again. She is the best!

   Task: For this week´s assignment, we had to either create a handout,  an exercise or a class site. I decided to do the most difficult task because I chose to do the latter one. The process was extremely diffucult, and time-consuming. At the end, I was kind of proud with what I have accomplished. However, I am very far away from creating a perfect website like Donna did. 

   Discussion on Nicenet:  We were given a discussion topic about how to improve the lerner autonomy and how the use of technology can make  our instruction much better. The benefits of all this is endless as our students, at least most of them, are already good at the use of technology. Needless to say, as teachers, we have to give them more effective and interactive technology tools for our classrooms to be more indepedent, and thus forge well-rounded citizens; who are going to be ready to solve the problems of the 21st Century.

   We have only 5 days left! I do not want this course to end. I feel like I will always be in need of Donna and my wonderful classmates from all over the world. I cannot believe we are almost done with this turning point course. Guys, I will always be thankful to you. You all guys rock!