Chapter 3 & 9

Chapter 3 is quite informational and also inspirational for me. I actually spent a whole day reading through it, checking out most tech tools it mentions, which are mind-blowing and thought-provoking. I never thought technology could be so well connected with content knowledge, to the extent that it has changed the learning experience and transformed the learning style.

Upon viewing a TED video recommended by Mandy, I was touched by what speaker in the end quoted from Seymour Papert :"school should be like a Rio pre-carnival," which is very true when we have so many tools available to students to pick up and perform with, when students are free from the restrictions of static print materials and start creating their own repertoire. Computer technology enables and promotes student-centered, constructivist teaching, and offers teachers and students a rapid self-correcting feedback. This summer, for example, when I was having vocation in China, I set up two English clubs where people can practice  their English skills and also participate some cultural events. In order to help members to improve their pronunciation skills, we set up an online file storage (like Dropbox) where we uploaded audio and video materials and website resources for members to download and self-study; also we built up a chatting group, including  ELLs and also volunteers of English native speakers,on Wechat (a Chinese-based equivalent of Whatsapp) where they were able to interact and get feedback instantaneously. Now, in this chatting group, I still see more people joining in, and actively share out their lives and thoughts in English with others -- a simple use of technology makes a better communication and reciprocal learning.

The four teaching and learning theories are important to bear in mind that how we define learning would shape the way how we teach and what we would like to incorporate in. As for students, teachers should encourage them to use technology to evaluate and create their work on top of using technology as a tool to find and understand information. They should learn how to ask questions, and where to locate and how to validate the answers, which definitely is challenging and demanding for teachers to work out. Therefore, digital citizenship is fundamentally pivotal to make students life-long beneficiaries of using technology and also take the responsibilities to a larger society.

One big takeaway from Chapter 9 , on top of multimodal approaches, is Tufte's Critique of PowerPoint that points out the potential underperformance in regard to engaging audiences and provoking in-depth interaction. Nevertheless, incorporating multiple combined strategies into presentation could minimize the side effects. For example, I observed a teacher start a social study class about "people have different perspectives" by showing an image that students would perceive differently based on viewing angle, which could smoothly generate a discussion and lead to the core topic. Prezi, one of the next-generation tools, features visual displays and online-based platform, which makes collaborative work easier -- by sharing, group members are able to contribute their own ideas on one template and view the whole group work in no time. Animoto and Glogster make video-making easy and appealing, and greatly encourage students to think and create -- when I was viewing these websites, I was amazed by those students' work.

I'm so happy for knocking down such number of inspiring resources. "A journey of a thousand miles starts beneath one's feet," I hope after this semester I will finally gain the confidence and ability to incorporate my teaching ideas into these fancy digital tools. I can't stop imagining one day I would have my teaching videos and podcasts, and also help my students to develop their digital citizenship and to enjoy the wealth of this wonderful tech-world.

Questions
1, How does technology make learning natural?
2, How will you go about teaching creativity to students?