Knowing how to navigate the various tools and resources available on the web is a vital skill in today’s global society. Without this ability students will not be adequately prepared for college or work. Most schools offer technology courses where students focus on learning about Internet resources, but, unfortunately, not all of these courses are required. If a student does not have the opportunity to take a technology class, it is the responsibility of all of their other teachers to expose them to as many of these tools as possible. I think that most teachers don’t focus on using technology either due to lack of training or lack of interest. A core subject teacher is probably going to teach with an emphasis on their subject matter with a disregard for technology. As a non-technology teacher I feel that there is a lot that I can do to offer my students exposure to tools and resources at the same time as teaching my subject.
The least that I could do as a teacher is to present course content using technology such as showing videos and presentations or accessing websites. The students need more than to be “shown” technology, they need to interact with it; they need to use it to create and communicate. Chapter nine references several common Internet resources such as email, discussion boards, mailing lists, chats and video conferencing. I think that every teacher should make use of discussion boards. Discussion boards are conducive to communication between students and teachers that can take place outside of normal class time. As a foreign language teacher, video conferencing is an amazing way to connect students from different parts of the world. With video conferencing, students can learn about other cultures from their global peers. As chapter nine points out, communications were “once limited to paper and pen,” but are now “instantaneous and international.” Video conferencing technology can teach social and cross-cultural skills which are considered to be important 21st century skills. Something else that I think teachers should impart to their students is how to conduct responsible Internet research. Not only should educators expose their students to search engines, but they should also inform them as to which sources are credible. It is so easy today to quickly search for information only to find out that it is inaccurate; we need to teach students that not everything on the web is true.
This week we had to create a class website, which every teacher needs to have available to his or her students. A class website is a great way for teachers to communicate information not only to students but also to parents. While working on my website this week, I realized how important it is to present information in a clear manner so as to avoid confusion and ensure that any one accessing the site can easily find what they are looking for. A class website needs to be visually appealing and easy to navigate if a teacher wants repeat visitors. I have never used Weebly to create a website before and I found it to be very user-friendly. All teachers need to go through some sort of training on how to create a website, no matter the hosting service.
French 1 Course Website