Before I review further on my CALL class, I am very happy to share that I'm not a computer illiterate anymore! :)
I always had a poor ability in IT and always blamed my bother who is a web developer that he took all of my mechanical gene;) Because I knew I was bad at using computer, I always asked him to help me everything with computer, however, I feel like I won't need his help anymore:) I feel like the time went by so fast because I still remember the first day our class talked about why technology is important in learning language and it is already time to review this class. As we discussed the first day of class, computer is more interactive and more flexible comparing to books, whiteboard and chalk, because computer would never tire it self to give a repetitive explantation to students.
I believe that there are countless pros of CALL class.
First of all, I learned so much and so many great tools. Starting from PPT, Google to Blogger, another greatest presentation tool Prezi, video editing tool Daum PotEncoder, a developing pronunciation tool Englishcentral, a great digital storytelling tool Storyjumper, a real time collaborative editor tool EtherPad, a screen recorder tool Screencast-O-Matic, and online student response system Socrative. I really think that my classmates and I learned the most important and necessary main technical tool for learning language. I think giving students time to present each material as in pairs was also very effective, because then students are able to engage deeply and understand a deeper sense of new materials.
Since I can't really think about the cons of this class, I would just like to share the cons of overusing technology for students. One of my friends works for the most well known English academy in Korea, and she shared the problems of students using technology in class before. Since we live in the computer era especially for younger students, her workplace changed to use a tablet PC instead of a book. I was very shocked and wondered if it is going to be effective and really work for the students because I'm still in the era of using pencils and paper to memorize and study better. However, she said it is hard to maintain the students because she has to put more time on monitoring students because some students plays with the tablet instead of following the direction, and she said that students with understanding new contents seemed easier before when they could actually use a pencil to write on paper. Since they can't write, it's hard comprehending the materials. Here, we all can think about learning language through technology can be difficult in some cases.
Overall, I learned how important the technology is for teacher, too. Having a deep knowledge of technology can be more effective for teachers' use, and also for the students in class. I really believe that this CALL class was very effective, especially for me. And, I'm sure it's not just the class materials, professor Warren was there. Learning new material can be very boring or exciting, and I believe if you are poor at doing the material, it can be even difficult and easy to lose interest. However, with professor Warren's clear "step-by-step" instruction and explanation, I believe my classmates and I could easily engage into the new tools, and it really brought us one step closer to become a better teachers in the future.
