Ibri QA newsletter

Teaching and Technology
In one of the classes that I am teaching this semester, a
student’s statement attracted my attention. This student
stated that unfortunately at high school he did not have a
teacher who encouraged him to love learning. He added
that he started to lose interest in most of the subjects
taught at high school. His reflection on his prior
experience of learning made me think about, “What we
have done for our students to be memorable”.
I used to be a student before becoming a teacher and I
had that constant fear every semester about “what kind
of teacher I might have for each new semester”. Some
teachers’ names are engraved in my mind and their
splendid efforts to make me a better individual is never
forgotten. Nowadays, EFL and ESL teachers encounter the
great challenge of getting students to have positive
attitudes towards learning. Our students in this era are
not like me or you who were only relying on print sources.
Technology has a massive impact on our students socially,
educationally physically and psychologically. Using
traditional and outdated ways of teaching is certain to
alienate your students.
Inspiring students
I do not think that using technology in the classroom
will “denigrate the two most important things we can do
as humans: To teach. To learn” (Stoll, Clifford, 1999, p.23) .
I believe that teaching and learning can be promoted and
enhanced if we wisely inspire students’ interests toward
the subject matter and learning process by using slide
shows, overhead projectors, smart board, smart pen,
blackboard, films and videotapes. Nowadays, some
universities and schools use 4Di/3Dhive, imprints,
digester, ambook and vark. All these types of technology
aim to inspire students to have a positive learning
experience and make their learning more purposeful.
This inspiration will not normally happen or occur by using
conventional techniques that students are fed up with.
Embrace technology
In addition, if the school doesn’t embrace this
technology in this era where every child has a laptop and
an IPad, it will present an odd and a ridiculous image to
learners. This is because at home these same learners are
able to have an opportunity to discover how the world is
viewed and access updated information just by browsing
the net, an experience which is not afforded at school. By
having a conservative belief that incorporating technology
in teaching will damage and disparage the teacher’s
sacred role, we will not create more than uninspired and
spiritless minds and souls toward learning.
We can fuse the use of technology with teaching in a
cautious way in which we can guide and direct the
students in how to use this technology in the appropriate
way. For example, not all the information can be
delivered to the students during the lesson because of
time constrains.
Sometimes, there will be additional and extra
information that the teacher will wish to give to the
students, but because of the limited time, he/she will try
to direct the students to get this information by searching
the net. Some students, especially ESL students, may
require more attention from the teacher to help them
develop and improve their skills in learning the target
language. This would be very difficult with a class that
consists of thirty or more students. So the teacher can
guide these students to go to certain links on the Web in
order to expose themselves outside the classroom to
electronic activities that are designed for ESL students.
These programs can enable these students to try activities
in a particular area of language such as grammar structure
or vocabulary.
Instant feedback
An interesting thing about these activities is the instant
feedback that these students can get after completing an
exercise. In addition, the learners who suffer from
deficiency in their speaking or listening skills can use
certain programs on the net that may again provide them
with activities to improve these skills. These activities are
designed to meet the diverse level of the learners
(beginner, intermediate and advanced), and they enable
learners to listen and see how the words or certain
sentences are pronounced and how people may use the
target language.
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