Reflection 1

This is the first time I have a chance to study the course of Information and
Communication Technologies; and I find it extremely interesting and helpful for
both my learning and teaching English. The first module gave me the overall view
about this course such as the objectives of the course, the rules of the course and
how the lecturer lectures this course. Along with general module, using blogs for
language learning and teaching was introduced, which I have never used before for
my students; therefore it encourages me a lot to find out the benefit of blogs.

My first impression about this course is that learners entirely work with
computers and all materials are available online, which is in contrast with my
imagination that I will have teacher-led lessons. One more incredible thing of this
course I am very keen on is that I can have distance learning modules instead of
going to the classroom, which is very convenient for learners especially for whom
leaving far from the university. In the first lecture, I was instructed to create an
account and give some personal information such as name and the school that I
work at on the google map which the lecturer suggested that teachers can also apply
in their teaching.

The most important part in the Module 1 is creating an academic blog. My

friends and I all discuss about the great benefits when blog can be applied in
language teaching. Upon my experience of creating a blog which is also an
assignment in this module, it is user-friendly. By some basic steps, students or
teachers can have their own blogs. When teachers use blogs for teaching, they help
their students have another learning space to interact besides their language class at
school; and this kind of space seems to promote learners autonomy. According to
Darabi (2006), The core principles of learning communities focus on integration of
curriculum, active learning, student engagement, and student responsibility... (p.
53). All these requirements of a language community can be met by blogging
activities; therefore the teachers should make use of it. Besides, there are many
other reasons why blogs should be encouraged in teaching activities. Blogs can be
seen as a source for disseminating content of the course in which student can
publish their work or project; then the teachers can let their students discuss or
peer review. Blogs offer users opportunities to post their comments for blog
postings or forums for discussions; thus students can interact and learn from their
classmates. In addition, teachers can use blogs for reflection and evaluation. They
may be a good tool for students to share what they have learned and their feeling
about the course. Students can post their reflections on the class blogs or they can
post in their own blogs. At the same time, teachers are able to assess students work
by giving comments and marking the points in confidence

At the school, I mainly teach English skills to students such as writing,

speaking or pronunciation so it is really helpful for me when I use blogging activities
in teaching process. Actually, before this course, I think that I just learn some
techniques or software, for example powerpoint to create a lesson. The content of
the course is beyond my imagination, it is extremely new and useful to me. I think
that the teacher should be updated on technology because now we live in
technological era and employing computers and internet make teaching more
effective and engaging. In conclusion, this ICT course can be a valuable reference for
me and my department because we are having a plan to conduct such a course for
students.

Reference:

Darabi, R. (2006). Basic writing and learning communities. Journal of Basic

Writing, 25(1), 53-72.