Is Google making us stupid?

You might think “How come?” because we definitely learn from the net. But does it not happen to you? Can you still really enjoy reading a good book; immerse yourself totally into the reading, creating your own “movie” in your head?

I have never really thought about it, but apparently Google is making me stupid, too! It is rarely now that I can concentrate on a good book, and actually enjoy reading it, forgetting about time and everything that surrounds me.

It is because I have been trained and have trained myself to look for and find information as quickly as possible, and I only scan everything- deep reading becomes more and more difficult because my brain is programmed not to actually understand information, but to have it available.

Do you not find it scary that are brain is actually changing? And that it seems that we are losing our capability of contemplating?

List of links for Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking or Pronunciation activities and games.

The following is a list of links for Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking or Pronunciation activities and games.

GRAMMAR
1. This is a good site for Grammar reference and exercises.
2. The following site can be helpful to teach children basic English like the Alphabet, numbers etc. in a fun way!
3. This site offers a great variety of interactive grammar games, and is suitable for teenagers.
4. For everyone who likes word games this is the right site! Suitable for adults.
5.This is an overview of different online games, just chose the one you are looking for!

WRITING

1.    10 interesting creative writing activities for kids. 
2.     Some general tips on writing assignments.
3.    Creative Writing activities for Elementary Students, Middle School Students, High School Students, and Adults. 
4.     Simple creative writing and oral storytelling activities with printable handouts for: Poetry, Fiction, Bag of Tricks.
5.  Writing activities and games for children from easy writing activities to more advanced.
6. Helpful site to create short stories.

LISTENING

1.   English Listening Skills and Activities-Effective Listening Practice for adults for Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced learners. 
2.     Activities to develop and improve listening skills and attention of children.
3.     General tips on Listening activities.

4.    Active listening activities aid in improving communication skills for adults and youngsters.

5.     Funny site that I recommend. Listen to a conversation and mark the right answer. 

SPEAKING

1.    Speaking and icebreaker activities for ESL teachers (multi-level). 
2.     Discussion Lessons.

3.     Guides to constructing questionnaires & surveys for ESL teachers.

4.     These speaking activities include ESL role-plays (roleplays), Find someone who... speaking activities, information gap activities, examination rubrics for ESL oral tests, and discussion questions.

5.     Card Game for the classroom with general questions at a level that resembles normal speech.

6.     Communicative Classroom Games & Ideas.

7.     The Expert Game - A fun, fast-paced conversation activity for high-beginner through advanced students.

How people learn and what technology might have to do with it

Comments and on the videos “3 Phases of Educational Technology” and “Why we need to teach technology in school”, and personal insights:

I agree that students first have to become familiar with the technology they are expected to use, and then they can start using it to gather needed information. And not until they are capable of doing this, they can create and become publishers themselves. This will definitely engage students in the learning process because they enjoy having a wider audience, and peer feedback on their publications can also be powerful. The most important point of the first video is in my opinion that yes, teachers can be replaced by technology- but we still need them: to guide the learning process, and to make it “safe”.

The second video demonstrates very well how fast our world is changing under the influence of new technological inventions. They affect all the facets of our way of live- from work to leisure time. That is why it is necessary to teach our children how to use these technological tools- if not they will be completely lost in this world of easy accessible information. We need to teach our students not only how to find information, but also how to critically analyze it.

3 Phases of Educational Technology

Why We Need To Teach Technology in School

 

Some tips on how to teach effectively with technology….

THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING

by Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Ehrmann

This article originally appeared in print as:
Chickering, Arthur and Stephen C. Ehrmann (1996), "Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever," AAHE Bulletin, October, pp.  3-6. 

Recovered from http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html on the 23 of September 2010.

Principle 1: Encourage Student-Faculty Contact

Instructors should provide clear guidelines for interaction with students.

Principle 2: Encourage Cooperation Among Students

Well-designed discussion assignments facilitate meaningful cooperation among students. Lesson for online instruction: Well-designed discussion assignments facilitate meaningful cooperation among students.

Principle 3: Encourage Active Learning

Students should present course projects.

Principle 4: Give Prompt Feedback

Instructors need to provide two types of feedback: information feedback and acknowledgment feedback.

Principle 5: Emphasize Time on Task

 Online courses need deadlines.

Principle 6: Communicate High Expectations

Challenging tasks, sample cases, and praise for quality work communicate high expectations.

Principle 7: Respect Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning

Allowing students to choose project topics incorporates diverse views into online courses.

DEFINITION OF TECHNOLOGY

Practical application of human knowledge for the design of machines.

It includes software and hardware.

Advantages: Social network, world access, faster transactions.

Disadvantages: people get lazier, less willing to think critically.

Also see: http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=technology

TECHNOLOGY FOR LEARNING

Use of technological means to support learning.

Also see: http://www.techlearning.com/

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Getting training to use technology to teach others.

Also see: http://itls.usu.edu/

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

The study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.

UAE Journal: Educational Technology and E-Leaning.

Benefits: Students motivation, wide participation, improves students writing, easy to access materials. Subjects made easier to learn.

Also see: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/front_tech.htm

ELEMENTS OF THE RATIONALE FOR TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY

Motivation

Unique instructional capabilities

Support for new instructional approaches

Increase the teachers productivity

Require skills for information age

Also see: http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwctl/resources/teaching_technology.htm

Strategies for teachers to use Internet effectively

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About me...

Hi everybody!

My name is Leonie, and I love animals, especially dogs. I also enjoy hiking and gardening.
I was born in Germany and have been living in Costa Rica for the past 7 years, teaching English at a private school for 2, 5 years.
I am looking forward to this course because I think that nowadays teaching and technology cannot be separated.

So I hope to learn useful stuff for my lessons!