After a week of my CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) class, I find myself no less a luddite than I was last week.  However, reading other classmates' blogs, and talking about my anti-technology leanings with others, make me reconsider my position.  James Carpenter reminded me that as teachers, we need to adjust to our students needs and/or expectations, and I can see the legitimacy of this viewpoint.  Students needs must always be of primary importance.  If most students these days find technology to be an engaging and effective method to learn by, why not utilize the resources available for their benefit?

Additionally, I found myself getting excited at the prospect of designing a Digital Storytelling mini-course in my Curriculum and Administration class.  This course will utilize online tools and resources as a vehicle for students to design a presentation based on personal interests or experiences. This course will use technology as a mean to an end, and when I think of the communicative ends that can be achieved, I begin to get excited about exploring the technology that will be used to achieve those ends.

Class discussions regarding different types of technology that can be used in the classroom also made me think of possibilities that I had not considered previously.  When I have thought of using technology in the classroom, I generally have thought of pre-packaged language programs and online language learning tools. Rosetta Stone, for instance.  It was also pointed out in our textbook that many of these pre-packaged language programs make assumptions about the students that will be using them, or in how they will be utilized.  However, when in class we discussed how to evaluate online resources to adapt for a classroom setting, it opened my mind to more creative possibilities for technology use in the language classroom.  There are oodles of resources online.  But why not move beyond the internet and use other technological tools?  If we are discussing technology in a broad sense, then operating beyond the internet becomes possible.  There are, of course, smart phones and iPads, but there are also things like video recorders and music recording software.  I began to think of technological literacy in a broader sense.  Technology is, most of all, a tool.  Finding the right tools to apply to achieve a specific purpose is the challenge.

1st Blog Post

My name is Marianna, and this is my first blog.  I am taking a course in Computer Applications in Linguistics.  This is a new endeavor for me as I am, more or less, a ludite.  I am only as connected to technology as I have to be.  In fact, before embarking on the adventure that is grad school, I taught kids in the woods.  There was no technology there.  We used pinecones and rocks as teaching aids.  We didn't even have cell phone reception!  However, as I am going into the field of TESL, and as computer applications for language teaching apper here to stay, I thought it would be a practical course to take.  I hope that I will be pleasantly surprised by the myraid ways in which language learning can be accomplished through computer technologies.  I don't really know what to expect from this course.  I have no idea what types of computer applications are out there.  I'm just hoping to familiarize myself with the technology that is out there and finally become part of the 21st century.