Websites in the spotlight .-

After analyzing the websites https://elt.oup.com/?cc=ar&selLanguage=en 

and http://www.eslkidstuff.com/ under the Lesley University criteria, we considered that they are very useful and reliable since, once you know this classification, you can take them into account and see if the website you are visiting follows these criteria.

As regards the most important points within the classification, we might find:

• ·         Reliability and Responsibility: In this section, personal information about the authors is presented. You get to know them, who they are, what they do for a living. What’s more, they offer you ways to contact them by different social networks such as facebook, twitter, blog and also via e-mail, so any need that you may have will be met by their reply, once you write to them.

• ·         Currency: It is very important that the page you are visiting is updated. Websites not only must continually evolve and be refined to meet the increasing demands of your audience, but also having fresh material added regularly to your site, keeps visitors coming back to see what's new.

• ·         Accesiblity: By using headings correctly and strategically, the content of your website will be well-organized and easily interpreted by readers. Besides, you have to make sure that there are no advertisements interfering with the page, if not readers might get distracted and deviate their attention to another point of concentration such as a game or a different page.

Taking these points into account, we hope you make use of them in the next webpage you visit, even more if you are going to quote some information from there. Good luck!   

Teachers and students in this new technological era

“Should the Digital Native students learn the old ways, or should their Digital Immigrant educators learn the new?” 

          In the last decades, technology has brought about several changes, which not only had a meaningful impact on everyday life but also had a significant influence on education. Nowadays,  technology plays a very important role in students' lives and, as a consequence, teachers need to find new methods to involve their students actively in learning situations.

     Marc Prensky distinguishes two kinds of students: Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. Making reference to the former, he considers that these students are surrounded by technology from the moment they are born. The latter, people who were born before the advent of digital technology and they need to adjust themselves to this challenge.  We may consider ourselves to be in the middle of these two generations; even though we are acquainted with this “technological world”, there are far many things we don’t know or simply we have never heard about them before. As a result, there are lots of problems we face in order to keep in touch with new technologies. However, digital natives are a great help to cope with the problems that may arise using new technological devices.

    In this technological revolution, teachers need to find ways to approach their teaching. As Prensky mentions, games are a great way to get students attracted and motivated since they are in contact with learning material even without realizing they are. This is a useful and helpful tool to introduce language and learning in an indirect way.  The educational world would do well to consider how this could be exploited in order to enhance teaching and learning experiences of learners from the ‘Playstation Age’.

We, as teachers-to-be, need to bear in mind this new coming generation, we need to understand that they are here to stay so it is our responsibility to help and guide them in order to ensure a good learning experience.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon (MCB University Press, Vol 9. N. 5)

To see the link,  click here