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Switch Chapter 1-2
Share a Bright Spot using the DISCUSSION BOARD section for discussing our reading.
Tell the story of the successful use of technology in the schools that you have seen that has inspired you.

I consider myself lucky and privileged as I had the opportunity to study in the U.S, learn from tech leaders and educators. My goal is to learn new practices and try to use them in developing countries like my home country, in North Africa. I teach at the University of Vermont and supervise the ELL practicum where future educators go to different schools in Vermont and I'm always amazed by the new technologies that are used in American classrooms. One of the tools I particularly liked and that can be used in ELL classrooms is Voicethread. I liked how students could learn, create their own presentations using powerpoints, videos, audio files, etc..
When I went back to Vietnam in the summer of 2018, I recommended that my ELL teachers use voicethread with their teen classes. Our Vietnamese students are studying English to study abroad and need to take the IELTS exam which is an English test that has 4 components, reading, writing, speaking and listening. For the listening part, they had to talk about a topic and were assessed on grammar, range of vocabulary, fluency, and accuracy. Voicethread was a great tool for them to listen to their voices, as well as correct their mistakes. It was also a great resource to improve their public speaking skills as they learned how to make presentations.
I'm learning new resources every day and throughout this class, I hope to learn how to master more resources to help ELL teachers across the globe. 


Switch Chapter 3-4

Brainstorm a short list of  changes you would like to inspire in a school or organization.  Add those to the Discussion Forum with this prompt.
Pick one of these changes and create a destination postcard for that change.
The destination postcard can be created with any medium you want. (words, pictures, video).  You can use digital tools to create your postcard or analog tools (like markers, pens, crayons).

I'd like to see the following changes related to technology:
-more tech tools used in developing countries and in rural areas.
- more  tech trainings to ELL teachers
- raise awareness on the important of tech tools in developing countries classrooms
- Add a tech tool class as part of the schools curriculum
- access to computer labs for students who can't afford their own computers.

Here's the link to access my Postcard :

https://arbyghemari.blogspot.com/



Switch Chapters 5-7

Consider some successful  and less than successful changes you have seen implemented in the areas of educational technologies.
What evidence can you find that  any of the the 3 principles outlined in the Motivate the Elephant were present or lacking.
- Shrink the Change
- Find the Feeling
- Grow Your People


Coming from developing countries where access to technology isn't always guaranteed, a successful was change that I have seen in schools was the presence of  1 computer per classroom. When we're used to just chalkboard, having one projector and a computer can make a difference. The students were engaged more and seemed to enjoy coming to school more. The last 5 years have been revolutionary as some schools in Vietnam started equipping classrooms with a computer as well as interactive whiteboards.

When it comes to shrinking the change, and one thing that schools administrators forgot about was training the teachers to use the interactive whiteboards. I remember observing the first week of classes and a couple of teachers were struggling because they didn't know how to use the interactive whiteboards. Learning the shortcuts, the software, as well as apps that can be used with that model, was a learning process. We recommended that all new teachers to be trained on how to use the whiteboard and asked them to shadow an experienced teacher for 3 days as part of the initial induction.

As part of the training, we also encourage teachers to create interactive lesson plans using the new digital whiteboards. This new technology seemed to have brought the teachers together as they were learning from each other, creating lessons together as well as exchanging lessons plans. Through the partnership with National Geographic, and training provided by the school, even teachers felt more excited to come to school. We also had a monthy meeting where teachers were encouraged to use a new tech tool and use it in the classroom then share it with their peers during the meeting.

Comments

  1. I enjoyed seeing an international perspective in relationship to the change theory framework that the Heath brothers describe in Heath. It's so easy to assume that we have equitable access to educational technology resources. Your offer an important reminder that this is not the case.

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