I'm a bit of a late starter on the whole technology thing - a definite digital immigrant. In fact, I was always quite sceptical about the use of computers in English language teaching as my experience was always that :
a) the technology wouldn't work, and I'd end up with technical difficulties that I couldn't solve, and
b) the class in a computer based room didn't have the atmosphere that I like in a language class.
In the college where I work interactive whiteboards were introduced a few years ago and whilst I originally thought 'glorified OHP', I was quickly convinced that they are a very powerful tool. Like all resources, there's room for careful thought in how they are used. In my role as a teacher trainer I've seen a lot of IWBs making lessons very teacher focused, but this isn't a fault of the technology, just of the pedagogy. I've also seen them used (and used them!) to introduce motivating material and as a teacher to plan and organise lessons effectively.
My real interest, though has really been awakened by the possibilities that exist in a 'connected classroom', in using the internet to expand learning outside the class and all through the week. This is where the real value lies for me. Nowadays, I send my students e-mails a couple of times a week (very quick to do if they are on a 'contact' list) reminding them of the homework and pointing them in the direction of interesting websites I've found. I'm also planning to get them to write blogs to help give their writing practice a real audience.
The other thing that really interests me is the idea of the possibilities of CPD that exist for teachers on the net. There is so much information out there - great talks and presentations by all sorts of inspirational teachers, lots of links to interesting things on Twitter and great blogs that really help to make you feel part of a community of motivated and therefore motivating teachers. There are free on-line journals and a variety of conferences that are free that you can attend - this enables even teachers with little money and a lack of resources to do this kind of thing face to face, to participate in a much wider world. Fantastic! The only trouble is that it can potentially be a real time-sink!
Visit Virtual Round Table Conference
My other interest is in virtual classrooms, not necessarily for language learning, but in teacher training. I feel convinced that this will come to be a much more significant way in which a lot of training will be done in the future. It isn't as good as a face to face environment, and it has lots of disadvantages in terms of not being able to see trainees easily, pick up on para-linguistic clues, etc, but the advantages of ease of access and cost mean that it will certainly be more and more part of distance courses. I'm currently piloting a pre-CELTA grammar course for NS teachers to learn the nomenclature and systems of their language before they try and teach it, and am learning so much every week about the differences in teaching that the medium requires. All very interesting stuff!
