Looking back, looking ahead...

The recent discussions and readings shared in our studies during the last two weeks have led me to re-view ("see with new eyes", as White and Arndt -1991; Process Writing- had defined it) all new technologies around me...

Internet+Me

View more presentations from Gladys Baya.

Some ideas I particularly want to remember:

• We need to make these tools ours ("appropriate" them, integrate them into our lives so that they serve OUR purposes) if the're to have a lasting effect on our lives... Then, we must look into ways to help our students do the same in turn!
• Different ways of doing things will inevitably lead to a redefinition of identities and social roles
• ... And that's about the only thing new technologies will "INEVITABLY" do... ;-) The rest is in the hands of the tool users...

BTW, this reminds me of something I read a long time ago, when I was studying the relationship between teaching and policy: "By refusing to take sides, the ELT community has actually been supporting the conservative status quo." We'd better make our choices this time, before someone else makes them for us!

Gladys

PS: If you've never watched The Machine is (Using) Us, don't put it off another day!

Difficulties to implement new technology?

The Internet

We've been reading about the Internet, its origin, history and evolution. I found this map particularly interesting to see the great differences in access to the internet and to band width. Consequences for language use in the internet? What about our role as bilingual professionals and teachers of English? What about digital literacy and language use? I recommend these links too.

It feels like home just because we are teachers!

Hello! I'm Mariana and it is so superamazing that we are here together! It feels like home to have you three around, even if I only know Gladys! I think we English teachers have such a great advantage when it comes to technology! Just the fact that we are able to read and write in English allows us to be connected, plus we are used to sharing with people of pretty diverse background! Well, I'll tell you a bit more about me, I manage two franchises of Alianza, one in Montevideo and one in Canelones, both in Uruguay. I am also a sociologist, licenced in 1994. Later I kept on more involved with organizational studies, especially organizational communication. So, there are so so many ways in which this diploma interests me!
Well, thanks for being around!

Here you will see two of my blogs, one of poems in Spanish (I write them) and one more related to my job interests