Reloaded Design of EFL Teachers Materials

Web 2.0 is the current state of online technology as it compares to the early days of the Web, characterized by greater user interactivity and collaboration, more pervasive network connectivity and enhanced communication channels (Rouse, 2015, para. 1). As Chirstensson (2008) explains, the term became popular in 2004 and includes new features and functionality that were not available in the past. Web 2.0 does not refer to a specific version of the Web, but rather a series of technological improvements.  Some examples of features considered to be part of Web 2.0 are: Blogs  - also known as Web logs, these allow users to post thoughts and updates about their life on the Web.   Wikis  - sites like Wikipedia and others enable users from around the world to add and update online content. Social networking  - sites like  Facebook  and  MySpace  allow users to build and customize their own profile sand communicate with fri...

Selecting digital materials always results interesting and highly engaging for students. However, digital resour ces not always are well implemented when it comes to teaching. Therefore, in order to use technology as a real tool and with a meaningful purpose, a good idea would be to take the SAMR model as a guide.  Dr. Ruben Puentedura created the SAMR model to let teachers notice the differences between using technology as a substitution of traditional material and the use of it as a real tool with a unique and particular function. The following picture will help us understand better what SAMR is about.  As you can see, Puentedura (n.d) suggests that this model consists of four different levels: Substitution, Augmantation, Modification and Redefinition. John Spencer classifies them into two groups: “the first two layers focus on enhancing the learning task and the next two layers focus on actual transformation ” (2015). The first layer , called substitution...

In this post we would like to present the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge  (or TPACK for short).  The authors Koheler & Mishra (2009) explain that “ the TPACK framework emphasizes how the connections among teachers’ understanding of content, pedagogy, and technology interact with one another to produce effective teaching”. In other words, TPACK will help teachers to identify knowledge they might need to focus on in order to teach effectively using technology. As it is shown in the picture above, TPACK consists of three main knowledges:  technological ,  pedagogical , and  content . With the aim of using it effectively, teachers need firstly to decide on the content they want to teach; secondly, they have to think how they are going to do it; and finally, they choose the technological tool to do it successfully. These three individual concepts are embraced simultaneously in TPACK to create a deep understanding of how ...

Nowadays there is a growing awareness of the importance of new media literacies in educative contexts. Many schools around the world are supplementing the traditional three Rs (reading, writing and 'rithmetic) with the implementation of media literacy skills. Hockly, N. (2013) "Digital Literacy".  Before stating our point of view on this new phenomenon, we consider necessary to explain what digital literacies are. According to Hockly (2013), they refer to our ability to effectively make use of technologies at our disposal; not only technical skills but also the social practices that surround the use of new media. That is, for example, not just how to create a blog but also how to use it, and to whom it is directed. The author suggests that digital literacies can be divided into four main areas:  Those with a focus on language:  Despite the fact texting literacies are believed to have a negative effect on the students ‘development, they should be...

As teachers, at the moment of deciding the kind of materials we are going to use for our lessons, we usually debate whether to use or not the course book. It is undeniable that course books have many advantages, but it is also important to mention that they are not everything.  To design our own material has a crucial role when planning our lessons. One of the reasons for this is that teachers can adapt this material to the needs of each particular group freely. This contextualization is an important tool that text books do not offer. By designing our own materials teachers can adapt it to the students´ own culture and also we can take into account all those factors that may affect their learning process such as age, interests, background knowledge, among others. Moreover, a way to contextualize our materials nowadays is by paying attention to the new technologies.  As Marc Prensky (2001) explains, currently, new generations are increasingly immersed in the world ...