Why should teachers use technology in their classes?

Why should teachers use technology in

 their classes?

Teacher Hala Arraby observed that her students were more interested in learning English when she used technology. Photo by Yong Xin / Creative Commons

This week, the UK and Israel agreed to work together on a project to train Israeli teachers. We asked Israeli teacher Hala Arraby, who took part in our Routes to Excellence teacher training programme, how it works and why teachers should develop their digital literacy.

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Why should teachers use technology in their classes?

As a young English language teacher, I recognise how important it is to use technology in my classes. My students need to be able to interact in English in a digital world, and they are more likely to be engaged in classes where they use 21st century tools.

I started out with the basics – YouTube and an interactive whiteboard. At first, it was quite tough to integrate technology into the more traditional style of teaching that is common in Israel. It’s typical here for classes to be less interactive, with learners answering closed questions and completing worksheets, and most tasks being assessed through summative tests.

To my surprise, my students’ reactions to using technology were good – they were more interested in learning English than before. For many of them, English is their second foreign language, and not an easy one either.

Teachers need to learn, too

I was approached by my English inspector and asked if I would be interested in becoming an accredited British Council teacher trainer for the Ministry of Education in Israel. I jumped at the opportunity to learn new techniques and develop professionally.

In July, I took part in a training course on how teachers could use technology better. This course is a part of ‘Routes to Excellence’, a teacher training and development programme run by the British Council and the Ministry of Education in Israel. It emphasises teaching before technology. To make the transition from teacher to teacher trainer, I learned how to motivate teachers and students, make more effective observations, give peer feedback and encourage students to communicate.

The British Council uses the latest English language teaching pedagogy, which encourages students to be actively involved in how they learn. They taught us to focus on group work using  interactive online learning tools such as linoit and tricider to encourage ideas and discussion.

One of the most significant parts of the training was getting feedback on our teaching. We were put into pairs and asked to prepare a mini-lesson, which we then delivered to the wider group. We received feedback on this lesson from the British Council trainers and from our peers. This was challenging, but extremely helpful. Observation does not happen nearly enough, and is vital for developing as a teacher and a teacher trainer.

How to train other teachers to be technologically savvy

The training provided me with confidence to become a teacher trainer, and train teachers who have more experience than I do. Of course, it also improved my own classroom teaching. Teaching other teachers how to use technology is not always easy. Not all participating teachers have computers in their houses, making it difficult for them to access the websites and to learn to use online tools effectively. Many teachers in Israel lack experience in learning technology. This course was particularly helpful as it offered a combination of teaching theory and practice, as opposed to other courses that are more theoretical in nature.

Now I train teachers how to use technology in their English lessons. I teach them how to create and work with wikis, blogs, Voki and VoiceThread, which they can use during lessons. We discuss the importance of digital literacy, cyber wellbeing, evaluating websites, mobile learning, using office software and social networking in the classroom.

The approach encourages teachers to reflect before, during and after a lesson on whether they’ve achieved what they wanted to, whether learners are engaged and what needs to change. This is something I try to impress upon all of the teachers who take part in my course.

The teachers that I train say that their students really enjoy surfing the web for specific information, posting grammatically correct passages, checking, commenting and collaborating with each other through online audio and writing tools. Technology and teaching are two parts of one body. They complete each other and ensure that students have the best experience when learning English.

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The Routes to Excellence programme is now supported by a ‘memorandum of understanding’ between the UK and Israel, and will reach most English teachers in Israel – including teachers in the Druze, Bedouin and other Arab communities – and more than a million pupils over five years.

Read more: The benefits of new technology in language learning or how English teachers can use pictures or e-books in the classroom.

کامیابی کا راز: ناکامی سے نمٹنا سیکھیے

سال رواں کے لیے نوبل انعام کے حقدار قرار پانے والے سائنسدانوں میں سے ایک جیمز روتھمین نے کہا ہے کہ کامیابی کا راز اس بات میں پوشیدہ ہے کہ انسان یہ سیکھ لے کہ اسے اپنی ناکامی سے کس طرح نمٹنا ہے۔

جیمز روتھمین

امریکا سے تعلق رکھنے والے جیمز روتھمین کو ان کے ہموطن محقق رینڈی شَیکمین اور جرمن نژاد امریکی ماہر تھوماس زُوڈہوف کے ہمراہ مشترکہ طور پر اس سال کے نوبل انعام برائے طب کا حقدار ٹھہرایا گیا تھا۔ سٹاک ہوم سے ملنے والی رپورٹوں میں خبر ایجنسی ایسوسی ایٹڈ پریس نے بتایا ہے کہ روتھمین نے جمعے کی رات سویڈن کے دارالحکومت میں طلبا اور صحافیوں سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ سائنسی تحقیق کا مطلب تقریباﹰ ہمیشہ ہی یہ ہوتا ہے کہ انسان اپنے خواہش کردہ نتائج حاصل کرنے میں ناکام رہتا ہے۔

2013ء کے نوبل میڈٰیسن انعام کے حقدار تینوں سائنسدان

تاہم اس امریکی سائنسدان نے زور دے کر کہا کہ کسی بھی فرد کے لیے اور کسی بھی کام میں کامیابی کی کنجی یہ ہے کہ انسان یہ سیکھ لے کہ اسے اپنی ناکامی سے کس طرح نمٹنا ہے یا ناکامی کی صورت میں اس کا رویہ کیسا ہونا چاہیے۔

جیمز روتھمین کے مطابق کسی عظیم سائنسدان اور کسی بدقسمت سائنسدان کے درمیان زیادہ فرق نہیں ہوتا۔ انہوں نے کہا، ’’ایک عظیم سائنسدان بھی اپنے کام میں 99 فیصد کوششوں میں ناکام رہتا ہے جبکہ ایک بدقسمت سائنسدان اپنی 99.9 فیصد کوششوں میں ناکام رہتا ہے۔‘‘

اپنے تعلیمی کیریئر کی مثال دیتے ہوئے 63 سالہ روتھمین نے کہا کہ وہ نیورو سائنس کی تعلیم حاصل کرنا چاہتے تھے لیکن ہارورڈ یونیورسٹی نے ان کا نیورو سائنس میں داخلہ مسترد کر دیا تھا۔ اس پر انہوں نے بائیو کیمسٹری میں تعلیم حاصل کرنا شروع کر دی۔ جیمز روتھمین کے بقول، ‘‘اس کا نتیجہ یہ نکلا کہ میں ایک کافی اچھا بائیو کیمیسٹ بن گیا۔‘‘

یہ تینوں سائنسدان آئندہ منگل کے روز سٹاک ہوم میں دیگر بہت سے ماہرین کے ساتھ مل کر ایک شاندار تقریب میں اپنے انعام وصول کریں گے۔ انہیں مشترکہ طور پر 1.2 ملین ڈالر کے برابر رقم بھی انعام کے طور پر دی جائے گی، جس کی وجہ ان کی طرف سے اس بارے میں کی جانے والی تحقیق بنی کہ کلیدی نوعیت کے حامل مختلف مادوں کی خلیوں کے اندر نقل و حمل کس طرح عمل میں آتی ہے۔

جرمن نژاد امریکی ماہر تھوماس زُوڈہوف

امسالہ نوبل میڈیسن پرائز کے حقدار ٹھہرائے جانے والوں میں سے روتھمین کی عمر 63، شَیکمین کی 64 جبکہ زُوڈہوف کی عمر 57 برس ہے۔ ان ماہرین نے سٹاک ہوم میں طلبا اور صحافیوں سے اپنے خطاب میں اپنی اپنی انفرادی زندگی کی کچھ باتیں اور اہم تجربات بھی بیان کیے۔

شَیکمین نے کہا کہ ان کی سائنسی علوم میں دلچسپی لڑکپن میں ہی شروع ہو گئی تھی اور وہ ہائی اسکول کے دنوں میں اپنی کھلونا خوردبین کے ذریعے ایک جوہڑ میں پائے جانے والے کیچڑ کا مطالعہ کیا کرتے تھے۔ اس کے برعکس تھوماس زُوڈہوف نے کہا کہ ہائی اسکول کے دنوں میں ان کی سوچ یہ تھی کہ سائنس ’کافی بور کر دینے والی چیز ہے‘۔

The Task You've Been Putting Off Forever

You have a task that is not getting done.

In fact, it’s been on your to do list for a long time.

Days, months, …even years.

What is your forever task that’s not getting done?

The Task That Never Ever Gets Done

There is a task that has been on your list forever.

You probably don’t even recall when it was first added.

You have been avoiding it, ignoring it, and forever putting it off.

But, there it sits. Continually haunting your todo list.

At some point, it will catch up with you. Or in the case of some goals, you might run out of time to ever do it.

Yet, there it sits.

In plain sight on your todo list. Or maybe hiding out on your Someday-Maybe list.

Are you ever going to do it?

Here are a few reasons why you aren’t getting your forever task done:

• Putting It Off – Someday doesn’t get those tasks done. Set a hard deadline to get those “put off” tasks done.
• Don’t Want to Do It - You may be avoiding the task because you find it unpleasant or even boring. That’s not a valid excuse. You will have to do many things in life that you don’twant to do.
• Forgot About It – If you are forever forgetting a task, then you need to make it visible. Get it on your list. Put it where you can’t miss it. As well, don’t let it hide out on your “Someday” list.
• Ignoring the Consequences – Undone tasks create more work for you. As well, there are always consequences. The costs can be time, money, or missed opportunities.

Get That Forever Task Done

You don’t have to take on all of your “forever” tasks at once.

However, pick one and make plans (or an appointment) to get it done.

Someday isn’t a due date.

Do those forever tasks today.

Nelson Mandela’s Life and Times in Photographs

Nelson Mandela, the civil rights leader who rose from a small village in rural, apartheid-era South Africa to become the country's first black President, died on Thursday at age 95. Mandela's election in 1994 ended three centuries of European domination of indigenous African people of the region.

Mandela, pictured here in 2006, had been released from prison in 1990 after serving 27 years for his attempts to overthrow the white minority government in the 1960s. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and other honors for his leadership of the peaceful transition to democracy in South Africa.

When Mandela arrived at the Cape Town City Hall after his release, a crowd of 50,000 supporters had assembled to hear his first words in public in over a quarter century. "Our struggle has reached a decisive moment," he said, in an event broadcast around the world. "Our march to freedom is irreversible."

The lawyer and anti-apartheid activist had been convicted of treason and sabotage in June 1964 and sentenced to life imprisonment. He spent most of his sentence on Robben Island, off Cape Town, doing hard labor. During the 1980s he refused many offers for early release from the government because of the conditions attached.

But on February 2, 1990, South African President F. W. de Klerk reversed the ban on the African National Congress (ANC) and other anti-apartheid organizations, announcing that Mandela would be released. It was the beginning of the opening up of apartheid-era South Africa, in which blacks faced severe discrimination.

In the first national elections in which blacks had the right to vote, the ANC won and Mandela became President. He remained in that office until 1999.

Nelson Mandela was born into a royal family of the Xhosa nation, one of the largest ethnic groups in South Africa. Xhosa young men, such as those in this photograph, undergo a rite of initiation that involves isolation from their families during which they receive instruction by elder men, followed by circumcision, which continues to be practiced in many parts of central and southern Africa. Initiates are thereafter considered to be adult men. Mandela recalled his initiation in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.

South Africa in Flames

In this September 15, 1990, photo, the burning body of a man identified as a Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party supporter is clubbed by followers of the rival African National Congress during factional violence in Soweto, South Africa.

In the run-up to the 1994 elections that brought Nelson Mandela to power, many South Africans were fearful about the rising violence, particularly between rival ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party factions. Aggression and bombings by white supremacists hoping to spark a race war to stave off black majority rule were also a concern.

Mandela campaigned indefatigably, appealing to people to throw their weapons into the sea, and demanding that the last white President, F. W. de Klerk, get tough on recalcitrant officers in the police and security forces.

Against all odds, the party of Nelson Mandela transformed a nation where just 20 years before black South Africans could not vote, and where public amenities like buses, trains, beaches, and restaurants were segregated racially. Following the electoral victory of the ANC, Mandela worked hard to defuse racial tensions by including Inkatha leaders in his Cabinet and reaching out to white right-wing leaders. Political violence simmered down.

Winnie Mandela

Winnie Mandela, wife of Nelson Mandela, raises a clenched fist after appearing at a Johannesburg magistrate's court in December 1986. Mrs. Mandela had been held by police in Soweto the previous day for defying an order banning her presence there.

She became a political leader in her own right during her husband's long stint in prison. But her leadership style and some of her associates made her a controversial figure, especially after a youth staying in her house was beaten to death in mysterious circumstances.

Mandela's Prison Cell

 in B-section in the political prisoners area) on Robben Island, off Cape Town. Conditions were spartan in the tiny cell; the bed was a mat on the floor. For years after he was released, even when he was President of South Africa, Mandela continued to make his own bed each morning, as he did in prison.

The Robben Island prison was where the South African government incarcerated its most high-profile political prisoners. Mail to and from the facility was screened and censored, and only occasional visitors were allowed. Mandela and others used communal lavatories and showers. They spent much of their day at hard labor, including breaking rocks in a lime quarry on the island, where the glare and dust caused damage to Mandela's eyes.

Robben Island's political prisoners organized themselves, negotiating for better conditions with the authorities and establishing their own rules of behavior among themselves. They also shared their education with one another. While in prison, Mandela secretly wrote much of his autobiography, which was smuggled out by released prisoners.

Mandela Released

With much of the world watching on television, Nelson Mandela and wife Winnie walk hand in hand and raise clenched fists upon his release from Victor prison, Cape Town, on Sunday, February 11, 1990.

Mandela Abroad

Nelson Mandela addressed a crowd of about 15,000 from the balcony of Amsterdam's city theater on June 16, 1990. On the left, seen from the back, is his wife Winnie. Then the deputy president of the African National Congress, Mandela was on a 13-nation, six-week Freedom Tour to thank international supporters of the anti-apartheid movement and appeal to the global community to maintain their sanctions against South Africa.

Mandela Visits His Prison Cell

On the fourth anniversary of his release, Nelson Mandela looks out the window of his former cell in Robben Island Prison. He was held as a political prisoner by the apartheid-based government from 1964 to 1990. The cell has been preserved and has become a popular destination for tourists.

South Africa’s First Multiracial National Election

Lines of people wait in the dawn light to vote in the election that resulted in Nelson Mandela's election as President of South Africa. The three-day voting period, April 26-29, 1994, marked the first time that adult South Africans of all races could vote for representatives to the national Parliament and provincial legislatures. The African National Congress won by a landslide, and April 27, Freedom Day, is now a public holiday.

Celebrating Mandela’s Election

South Africans partied through the night when the official results of the April 1994 election were released, after Mandela and other party leaders had spent hours behind closed doors reviewing allegations of fraud and other issues. But there was no doubting the result: More than 60 percent of the votes had been cast for the African National Congress, and Nelson Mandela was the President-elect of a new democratic South Africa.

Mandela in Retirement

In this 2007 photo, former South African President Nelson Mandela reacts as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, waves farewell after a meeting at theNelson Mandela Foundation building in Johannesburg.

Mandela continued to receive heads of state for years after he stepped down as South Africa's first post-apartheid president. In recent years he spent most of his time in seclusion with his family, occasionally appearing in public for a major national event. Mandela started ailing as he entered his nineties and was repeatedly admitted to hospital to treat a recurring lung infection.