Student-centered learning and interactive PowerPoint

This week we learned about various techniques to make the learning process more student-centered and more engaging for the students. The techniques were specifically written for large classes, but can be easily applied to smaller classes as well. One site had a list of 36 interactive activities. These ideas are written with lecturers in mind, but it helps all ESL/EFL teachers to be reminded of how many ways there are to engage students. All of us can get stuck in a rut. That's why a course such as this is so helpful; we are able to share ideas with one another and think about teaching in a different way. I'm sure that our teaching will change for the better.

The University of Oregon site on Using Technology in Teaching Large Classes has many links to lots of information about keeping students engaged. I think one of the advantages of large classes is that the students have so many colleagues to learn from (similar to our class!). As a teacher, I can make the class more student-centered and more effective by providing opportunities for students to learn from each other - by doing predicting activities together, playing a game or writing a story together, or by doing summarizing activities together. Students can do many pair/group activities and have different partners each time. This is a definite advantage that large classes have over small classes.

The other focus of this week was interactive PowerPoint. It was very useful to go through the steps of creating an interactive PowerPoint presentation and of course, to view the presentations created by my colleagues. By becoming students and going through the learning process ourselves, we can empathize more readily with our students who are also trying new things, stumbling, getting frustrated, trying again, and feeling the personal satisfaction that comes from acquiring new skills. We can talk about the pleasure of learning and the importance of life-long learning from a personal standpoint, not just a theoretical one. Learning is part of living.

Deborah's PowerPoint presentation about interactive PowerPoint presentations was an excellent introduction to the methods that are available to teachers. I never knew a presentation could be so interactive. My goal is to use a few of these techniques in every presentation I create from now on. I created a PowerPoint presentation, but I have not created a jeopardy game or interactive story yet. My colleagues have been using these tools though, and I think they will work well. Luiza mentioned that students may not see the benefit of just playing games and I think this is true. Any new technology or task we introduce we have to "sell" to the students by explicitly saying how it will help their language learning. If we can't do that, then there is no reason to use this technology or task at all.

Once again this week I've learned a lot by going through the readings. Then I learned more by doing the assigned task - creating an interactive PowerPoint presentation. Finally, I learned even more by reading the comments and posts of my colleagues who have helped me think about the material in a different way and have sometimes challenged my initial views. It's been a very productive week for me. Thank you Deborah and everyone!

Janet