Having taught English for almost 13 years made me realize that neither language nor content seemed to be enough motivation for students to engage in the learning process so I decided to start speaking the language the students knew better: technology! Three years ago I started to bring the computer into the classroom little by little, and today I have a variety of CLIL projects supported by blended learning, a combination of face to face and online teaching methods to enhance the learning of the language. Now students bring their own devices, either computer or tablets and the challenge continues. 

I strongly believe that our students need new skills for the XXIst century which can give them learning autonomy: skills for collaboration, for teamwork, to share knowledge, for interaction. That's the reason why I design school projects which catered for those needs since they are multi faceted: they integrate the teaching of the subject content with the language learning focusing on the communication of ideas through technology. Tablets are fundamental tools to achieve these skills I mentioned.

The most challenging aspect we need to consider is definitely connectivity. Our wi-fi connection is really bad. Apparently they have already solved this, aquiring a broader band. I will confirm it througout the week.

As fas as devices is concerned, the school has acquired 25 netbooks and my students bring their own devices, so every day each school has an element to work with. We started piloting the BYOD system in primary school this year and if things go well it will be extended to 5th the next year.

Regarding the training of teachers, last year there has been regular meetings to with an experienced ICT teacher in order to introduce teachers into the world of digital learning. Besides, we have the possibility of receiving technical support from a proffessional who is the head of the technological department. She created a shared document where teachers, students and parents pose questions which are answered immediately.

The most important challenge I face is to lower the level of anxiety from students, parents and school heads.

As we can all imagine, students are really anxious to use devices all the time every day and the first thing they say when we meet, instead of hello, is "will we use devices today?" We need to establish certain rules for the use of the devices and stick to them, insist on the fact that we need to be careful with our tablets or notebooks and to use them for academic purposes ONLY!. 

Besides, as we asked students to buy their own devices, parents want us to use them all the time, and we need to take certain steps to make sure students respect rules and are careful with personal belongings before we start using them intensively.

School headmistresses also require us to add the use of devices in our plans in order to make sure we use them appropriately and consistently.  However, if conditions are not given (such as internet connection during the first weeks of the pilot plan) we are spoiling plans and activities and we get disappointed as it takes ages to connect to a site.

My 6th form students are already trained as it their 3rd year using this tool so they know how to publish documents, follow a stream of talk, participate in groups and subgroups and publish their own findings.

Last year I started using edmodo with my secondary school students and it has also worked well so far. However, we need to be careful to set the limit of members who are allowed to be in the class since the may become naughty and create "anonymous" students who enter the virtual class to play jokes. This happened the first time I used it with teenagers so I immediately established the amount of memebers allowed in the classroom and I changed the group code.

I have also used edmodo to create study groups, selected students who wanted to participate in special colaborative assignments were grouped to analyse certain topics, to produce specific material and to share ideas.

My experience with edmodo continues being a successful one!

The Dream stage would be the moment in which I ask my students to be creative and think of what they would love to do, they brainstorm and share ideas.

During the explore stage students search information which might be useful to make that “dream come alive”. They use either their devices or material from the school library.

When carrying out the map step, my students give their productions a structure and try to use all the concepts and ideas gathered fluently.

During the make stage write down their ideas and come with a draft which is shaped and reshaped after conferencing with other students or teachers.

While conferencing, students and teachers ask about the productions to see how to improve them if necessary.

Finally, students (re)create their sample activity with all the information gathered throughout the previous five steps and (re) make it in order to publish it.

In the end, students show their final products either to the class, to the school community or to the world in their sites.

I'm sharing two links of plans I prepared whose steps resemble the learning cenarions.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-CEyw1TTG1fTHRCSEROS05yZkk/view?usp=sharing

Then, they watched and listened to some diary entries children working in factories wrote, so they replicated those entries, they wrote their own and now they are going to use fotobbable to record their own voices reading those letters.

Now, as a final task, we are planning to hold a forum to debate about the topic with schools from other parts of the world. We will use google hangouts and students will use their notes on the devices. Some students will become the jury and they will use todaysmeet in order to chat and come to an agreement on the "veredict".

These are just some activities a I have carried out recently, but last year I used other tools such as collaborative google docs to share information and create presentations; glogster , mural.ly, padlet or linioit to create posters in different situations, videos with slide.ly, animoto or even movie maker.

The most frequent way I group students to work with devices in in pairs. Depending on the activity, I pair them up according to the device they have, either notebook or tablet, and if it a tablet it also depends on the operation system.

In general we start working as a whole group, looking at the screen for general instructions and demonstrations. Sometimes students lead the class, some others the teacer does it.

Then, I give students an assessment rubric so that they know what they will be evaluated and how they are expected to work during the task. I share those rubrics and in some cases we design them together.

After that, I give each student a clear role within the group, so that they understand that the efficiency and success of the group will depend of each of them paying their parts accordingly.

FInally, when the task is shown, each students self evaluates their performance and we share our thoughts and impressions, following the rubrics.

This is the first time my students come to school with their own tablets, so we started a collaborative project which has been already described and which is still being developed.

But the previous years I worked on two collaborative projects about Identity and Belonging. 

(http://ecclestonline.wikispaces.com/Project+1+-+Identity+and+Belonging) and Rights and Responsibilities 

(http://ecclestonline.wikispaces.com/Project+2+-+Rights+and+Responsibilities)

At that moment we used the school netbooks but it would have been ideal to have my students using their own devices as the school ones were sometimes booked and we couldn’t use them freely.

From these experiences I can assure that students' enthusiasm and involvement is the most important aspect that makes a teacher want to go on planning school-to-school collaborative projects

I've been using Edmodo por a couple of years and I have experienced that this tools gives students the possibility to go over concepts and ideas deeply as they can watch a video or read information following their own rythm and pace. Besides, it gives me the possibility to personalise learning as I can approach each students independently and offer him/her extra explanations, activities and information.

Two years ago I used edmodo as a study group with "selected memebers of students" who wanted to investigate a topic deeply. They participated in a collaborative project and they designed their products or discussed about the topic in this group which was specially created for this purpose.

https://edmo.do/j/z76fcc

My students have their personal sites in which they show their own process of learning the best way they can. They add each activity carried out in bearing in mind their personal style, interetsts and preferences. They decorate and design their online portfolios as they wish and they even add the tasks they found meaningful.

I always have my blog to show students how to publish things and then they use their own to share their knowledge with the world. There is a variety of activities which cater for the different type of learners.

Here you'll find the links to some of my students' sites:

https://sites.google.com/a/colegionuevomundo.edu.ar/octi/

https://sites.google.com/a/colegionuevomundo.edu.ar/manu-d/

https://sites.google.com/site/emiliadellapaolera/

https://sites.google.com/a/colegionuevomundo.edu.ar/gaston-2014/

I think the most important challenge I find using the flipped classroom with my students is the lack of time at home to work things out. My studetns assist to a bilingual school and they are there from 8 am to 5 pm every day of the week so it is really hard for them to do extra work at home. What is more, we are asked to send few activities to solve at home as students don't have enough time.

Apart from that, the flipped classrom requires teeachers to have acquired specific skills and knowledge in order to prepare videos and materials for the classroom.

I liked this picture that was twitted in #tabletscourse. It illustrates the flipped classroom clearly.

I looooove my job and enjoy spending time with my students. I love planning projects which are enhanced with technology as I find electronic devices crucial for the XXI century education.

I also enjoy reading books, watching films and travelling around the world. Every time I have the possibility, I pack my bag and start a new adventure to different countries and different cultures. I have a curious self which is delighted to learn about others even during the holidays.

I would like to share with you my reflection blog in which I write posts related to education, both in english and spanish.

http://daimartinez1.blogspot.com.ar/

Review done by: Magdalena Staworko

I like your Learning Diary because it includes answers to all the questions which appeared in each module. It is very clear and comprehensive. I can see that you reflected on all the questions in the context of your own school situtation. I will keep your link as I can revisit your Diary later. You included a lesson plan that follows all the criteria identified in section 4.8.1 In your diary there are so many ideas for the great lessons, that I would like to make use of. You have done a wonderful job! Congratulations!

Review done by: Ingrid Julsing-Reus

Hello Daiana! I really liked reading your learning diary and lessonplan. I think you're diary and blog really show that you're a enthoustiastic teacher not afraid to reflect and learn. 

The Learning Diary includes answers to the questions raised in each module

This is a very good Learning Diary. It is comprehensive as you have mentioned most of the topics discussed in each of the modules. I will keep the link to your diary so that I can access later on to try out the resources you recommended.

The Learning Diary shows that the author has reflected about the questions and topics raised on the course in the context of her/his own situation

While you answer the questions posed in each of the activities in the module, you give examples relating them to your own situation. I really appreciate the fact that, even when your school does not have the resources, you are willing to take a step further and start getting trained for the moment when the students have them. Well done!

I loved the final reflections you included after dealing with each module.

The Learning Diary includes a lesson plan that follows all the criteria identified in section 4.8.1

This is a good lesson plan integrating many elements covered in the course and making use of tablets. You could develop the learning scenarios deeper, adapting the lesson to the 7 phases mentioned in the video. The plan has a good balance of activities as you dedicated a good deal of time to  production, acquisition, inquiry and discussion.

The Learning Diary includes answers to the questions raised in each module

This is a good Learning Diary. It is comprehensive as you have mentioned most of the topics discussed in each of the modules. I will keep the link to your diary so that I can access later on to try out the resources you recommended, such as classdojo.

The Learning Diary shows that the author has reflected about the questions and topics raised on the course in the context of her/his own situation

While you answer the questions posed in each of the activities in the module, you give examples relating them to your own situation and school projects. I have also been a teacher in 3^rd form and I had to use a number of activities to group them, but I like your ideas and I will use them. (I have never used teamUp, thanks for the tip!)

The Learning Diary includes a lesson plan that follows all the criteria identified in section 4.8.1

This is a good lesson plan integrating elements covered in the course and making use of tablets. You could develop the learning scenarios deeper, adapting the lesson to the 7 phases mentioned in the video. The plan has a good balance of activities as you dedicated a good deal of time to  production, acquisition, inquiry and discussion.

The Learning Diary includes resources, posts, ideas, etc. directly from the course, from other course participants or from anywhere on the web that are relevant to the topics discussed.

You have done a good job at collecting resources from many different sources. I like the images you used to represent the flipped classroom and the learning styles.

I invite you to join me in this community!