Elise Claire Schell - Teaching With Technology

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Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese

Using Technology

Technology Reflections

Technology is a valuable resource in foreign language teaching. Because my students are quite familiar with technology, I use technology as a means of connecting with them. More importantly, especially for foreign language teaching, I see technology as a means to enhance communication. Using technology in the classroom affords us so many tools with which to work to achieve our ultimate goal of communication.

Much has been made of technology based programs (like Rosetta Stone) for learning another language. While I understand the popularity of such programs, especially for people whose schedules don’t permit traditional classroom learning, I truly believe that there is no better resource for learning a second language than a real live speaking person! Human language is unique in that we can create and adapt and invent in our language and still be understood. As humans, it is our responsibility and privilege to make the most of technology to facilitate language learning and acquisition.

My use of technology in teaching has been a continual learning process for me. I use programs like Microsoft Powerpoint and ANGEL (Penn State's online course management system) on a daily basis. I was familiar with ANGEL from a student perspective, but as an editor in ANGEL I have the ability to upload course content, create quizzes and surveys, and initiate classroom discussion forums. A few months ago, I was virtually clueless as to how to make a webpage, and now you’re viewing my very own site! I must admit, it was pretty exciting the first time that I saw my page on the internet. I am thankful for the opportunities that I have had to further my technological education while using these same technologies to connect with my students.

How I use Powerpoint in my class:

Powerpoint is an extremely effective tool in second language learning in that it allows for the presentation of a new grammatical structure or vocabulary set in a visual and aural form with graphics and other visual enhancements to facilitate comprehension. Here is an example of a Powerpoint I created to introduce the grammar structure of the past perfect tense (el pluscuamperfecto).

Integrating ANGEL with topics presented in class:

The same week that students would see my pluscuamperfecto Powerpoint in class, they would be doing activities in ANGEL that offer structured input relating to the same grammar topics. Here is a screenshot of a quiz that I created in ANGEL to supplement my in-class presentation on el pluscuamperfecto.

Additionally, quizzes in ANGEL can incorporate multimedia images and different question types (multiple choice, multiple select, true/false, matching, fill in the blank). Here is an image of a vocabulary quiz that I created in ANGEL using pictures to prompt students to enter the correct word in Spanish.

Here is a screenshot of a discussion forum in ANGEL. Students can use the discussion forum to post questions or issues for the whole class to see and respond or give feedback -- further contributing to our ultimate goal of communication!

Another important feature of ANGEL is a group calendar that allows for the posting of important events (like deadlines, exams etc) for which students receive reminders on their ANGEL home page.

Finally, ANGEL's gradebook feature allows students to have immediate access to their ANGEL homework grade -- both their overall grade and their grades for each individual assignment. The ANGEL gradebook also permits students to see which assignments they've completed and submitted as well as those that they haven't finished yet.