Module 1

Answers

1.1 Module 1 Introduction

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I've been working with technology in classroom since several years now (so my headteacher, parents and colleagues are definitely convinced!!). Now I am working with a mixed and mobile setting, including tablets and laptops and smartphones, and I find it extremely useful.

1.2 What is TET competence?

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There are some main ideas that I liked in this video:

1. adding 21st-Century technologies to 20th-Century teaching practices will not improve the effectiveness of teaching.

2. ICT has pedagogical added value when it supports individualized learning, formative assessment, and collaborative and project-based learning.

Those items state that a strong pedagogical basis is always essential when we decide to work with ICT in our classrooms.

It is not just "add and try if it works", but we have to be sure that our "technological experiemtns" have a right theoretical approach.

1.3 Games-based learning for teaching foreign languages

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I think that a lot of sentences in the video perfectly explain the pedagogical idea that lies behind the games-based learning:

1. total physical response

2. the motivation for the game forces to better understand the meaning of unknown words or sentences in order to play in the right way

3. pupils discover the authentic use of the language (in this case, the language of the games, but it could be any other authentic communicative situation)

1.4 Using Game Maker and Flash to teach programming and creativity

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I have to admit that I do not use games in my teaching practice as often as I could, but I try to do it...

What I find interesting in using games is the creative competences that students set in motion when creating a game for their partners.

I often use games in my eTwinning projects, above all when we finish a module or an activity and we want that our partners discover more things about what we did.

It is a motivating activity both for creators and players and it leads to deeper acquisition.

1.5 Using a Smartboard to teach literacy and numeracy

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Using smartboard in the classroom is useful - I think - at every level or grade. I teach Spanish and I find it extremely useful not only to teach the language but also to help my students to understand the culture of the Spanish-speaking countries.

With a smartboard you can easily have acces to a huge amount of documents that you can modify, analyze and share with your classmates and teacher.

As the Belagian teacher says, it is much more engaging and motivating and it respects each student's way of learning.

1.6 Using Scratch to teach programming

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Although I teach Spanish in an upper secondary school, I think that teaching computational thinking in primary school is crucial to help students to develop higher thinking competences that could be useful for their learning.

As the portuguese teacher says, Scratch promotes cooperation, communication and sharing: competences that could be set in motion in every other subject that students will learn at school.