No pain no gain!

Online certification, module 2... wait! did I pass Web 2.0 already? Yes, I did..... and just when I thought I had passed the most challenging course, an even more challenging one arises.
Yes, I am a material creator and designer, an editor, among other things in my current job. I thought, okay, now I have to create a syllabus with activities and assessment methods for this online English course of mine. I thought: great, this is my thing... this is what I do all the time! Wrong!! With backwards design, we have to come up with enduring understanding, which is going beyond Ss' desired proficiency, but rather focus on how this whole learning they will acquire will be relevant to their own life and to the global community around them. What a challenge! My academic world shook completely!!! And I am so glad it did. I am guessing tyhis is the feeling I have to produce in my students to make them come up with essential questions which will assist their learning. I am really glad to be pulled out of my comfort zone and being forced to think out of the box in order to make learning a long lasting, meaningful experience for my future students.

confusion preceeds understanding

The picture is starting to shape up!!!

Almost a month after I wrote my first entry, and after the on campus session we had last week, everything started to be a lot clearer in my head.

Our teacher gave us books of the online courses we would be teaching, sat us in groups and made us discuss what tools (which by the way we are at this point decently proficient at) from the ones learned in our course we could apply with our future students. How fascinating!!! putting what you've learned into practice! That is the best part of learning. My partners and I could think of plenty uses for the Web 2.0 tools in an online English class. That experience was so important because it allowed us to exchange ideas and get feedback on the activities we thought about. I could finally go from "WHAT" to "HOW."
Our next assignment is to create three activities for the courses we'll be teaching, which means we are in my favorite part of learning level: application and creation. I now do not have to convince myself that using web 2.0 tools to teach english makes sense.... I am convinced already!! Confusion absolutely preceeds understanding