Teach-Tech- Connect

Image credit: appsonwindows.com We all face some students who suffer neophobia (the fear of trying new things) and technophobia (the fear of technology). Believe it or not some teachers do have the same fears, i.e. I used to be one of them 😃😉😂. In the last post, we explore the role some platforms play to improve collaborative learning in online writing classes, but what about speaking?! Let's remember the old days before COVID-19. You were in your classroom and about to start a speaking activity....How many things do you miss from this scene in your online class?  Oh! Do you have many things to mention?! I think you will have a list like this 👇: Visibility : we can't see our students and students can't see each other and this affects their pair and group work in speaking activities. Also, some shy students do not prefer using the camera. Sometimes, we are not prepared with clear set of instructions for the online speaking activities. Timing : speaking activities take l...

Image credit: Pixabay  How can you create a learner-friendly environment to improve your students' writing skills in online classes? A big question, isn't it? 🤷‍♀️🤔 If you ask this questions to teachers in different contexts, most of them will say: " let your students work together". By this answer, they simply touch on the  Vygotskian S ocial Constructivism theory (1978) from which Collaborative Learning approach was derived. Collaborative learning approach supports the salient concept of student-centered classroom where the teacher helps in scaffolding, guiding and facilitating steps. Working on learners' metacognitive learning and their mutual accountability is a key condition for collaborative learning. That's impressive, however it is problematic when we think about online learning and about a productive skill like writing. 👌 So, if you seek to promote your students' (especially adults) writing skills using cooperative learning approach in online...