Reflection first part of the course

In general, I have always had a great interest in new technologies, we have the technology present at any time and that is why we depend on it.  It is said that we are ‘’digital natives’’ and for that reason this subject could be a great help for our future, it can help us to improve our digital skills. Despite having wide knowledge about computers and their applications there is always much to learn, so I think that this subject will be very enriching.

And after a lifetime surrounded by different types of technology is normal to reach a point where we already know certain things that we work in class, such as Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint...

I have learnt to use many different resources to create materials that can be very useful in foreign language classes as well as in many other subjects.

First I learnt what does a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is, a very useful tool with enables us to have direct access to every web page or application we usually use.

Another useful tool that I have learned to use is Mendeley, a program which allows to manage and share bibliographical references and research documents, find new references and documents and collaborate online.

I will also liked to mention Hot Potatoes, a program in which it is possible to create different materials such as, crosswords, activities to relationate, texts with gaps…  And the best thing about this tool is that you can perform the exercises online without having to complete them on the same device in which they were created.

Finally, Storyjumper is the last tool that I would like to highlight, in which we have created virtual stories choosing the characteristics that each one wanted and carrying out the actions that we ourselves chose.

I think that the most useful for me as a future teacher will be the resources that serve to carry out activities with which to learn vocabulary. The simple memorization of words is very boring for the vast majority of elementary students, which is why teachers seek different resources such as games, stories... As we all know, using digital resources in the classroom always arouses the interest of children and therefore increases their motivation towards learning, so the use of these resources story jumper, hot potatoes... I think it will be really useful.

On the other hand, the least useful can be those resources that we can easily substitute for others that we already have. For example, I think that the quizlet tool can be effective for learning vocabulary of children but I think we can replace it with other simpler, such as eBeam if we have interactive whiteboard that nowadays is present in most of the classrooms.

Finally, what I liked most about the subject so far is that the resources we use are simple, for all kinds of subjects and free. I believe that this makes what we learn more useful throughout both our academic training and our professional experience as teachers.