Reflection @ Halfway Point

This course has been really eye-opening for me as a language educator, even at our midway point. I have personally been very attracted to the opportunities in the use of technology in the classroom, but have not been at a school that has had the budget to incorporate the necessary tools for me to utilize CALL into my teaching. Now that I will be transitioning to a new teaching job, the school is very advanced in technology. For example, every student and teacher will be getting their own personal computing device for school related purposes. The students will be required to carry them to class, and teachers are being trained throughout this summer on how to best utilize Computer-Assisted-Learning in each content. However, for me as a Spanish teacher, I get to actually use CALL in one month! As a matter of fact, the Spanish curriculum has been upgraded for this next school year as well and I will be using a web-based curriculum. The students will have textbooks available for reference inside of the classroom only, and they will be required to be logged on online in our interactive textbook during class. It will definitely be a learning experience, but having this class this summer is perfect timing!

Something new that I have been introduced to in this course is that through the readings from Levy (2009) and Warschauer (2004), there is extensive research and productive findings to demonstrate to other language educators that students can and “should perform real-life tasks on the Internet and solve real-life problems in a community of peers or mentors in target language” (Warschauer 2004). From the developmental keys to CALL, I realized that integrating research projects and outreach projects to the community would be an amazing way to perform these essential tasks.

What I would like to learn next would be how to design lessons around CALL being an essential part of my day. I have a new curriculum to learn within the next month, and I am a planner! I would like to understand the actual integration aspect to CALL for teaching a language and examples, perhaps of what a CALL classroom looks like! If possible, I would like to explore different CALL programs, similar to the study we did this week with MALL evaluations. I want to explore different programs and research their output and success rate with students. I am expected to create lessons and assignments based on the new curriculum, and must do this all online.  I would like to know what online programs I can use i.e. Prezi, iMovie, in order to design and structure my courses.

I believe I am doing well in this course. The other students are great, and so professional in their discussions and work fields. Ai-Chu has been great at communication and the goals of the course are very specific. I have enjoyed the readings, have been able to submit all work and appreciated the feedback given from the students and professor. Plan on finishing the course as strong as I started!