The Background
When I finished my high school in Baghdad, I always dreamt about working with technology. And in spite of the fact that I focused on literature in my BA and Masters studies, I still had a passion towards technology and utilizing it to make our life easier. Living in a country like Iraq in a period of horror under a relentless regime (Saddam’s period) was very difficult for everybody. Science was looked at as a crime. I remember using computers was considered to be an act against the government. As for using a mobile phone, that would definitely lead to a death punishment. Moscow, where educational technology is still in its early days but hailed by everybody, was my next step after Baghdad. I learnt a lot in Russia in regard to applying technology in the learning process. Actually the Russians were and still are influential in the field of education and technology. The perestroika was the reason why the educational system in Russia became more effective with the advent of technology to a country that was isolated. I learnt most of my computer tricks in Russia!
After spending a period of 18 years in the field of education and after utilizing what is available of educational technology tools in my ESL classes I realized I needed to boost this passion in me by using and applying technology in the my work field.
The Present and Future
Using technology in all fields has become a common characteristic of our current time. In fact it is rare to find any aspect of life here in North America without a connection to technology. The ESL field, where I have been working for more than 18 years, is one of the fields that can be a fertile soil for technology which can boost the complex structure of the ESL system. I would love to tackle this major point of using Educational technology in improving the way ESL students learn. It is true that using ET is not easy in the ESL field because of the complexity of the learning process and also the limitations the ESL students have. The limitations of using English can be a hurdle in the face of using ET in this field. However, with the flexibility ET offers through its practical affordances and its constant changing shape, one can really rely on the ET tools in building an effective educational system.
With the advents of the revolutionized world of computers, tablets, telephones and the smartboards, it has become easy to include ET in the learning process. Here lurks my main goal behind studying ET in the MET program. I am driving at using ET to cover two main learning tenets: teaching the language and also paving the way towards preparing the ESL students to do non-ESL courses. The task is not easy as it needs special technological and educational treatment in order to achieve effective results. Designing a platform in the ESL field sounds easy but the reality is not so. This is not the first time that I work on an ESL virtual platform. In previous MET courses and in my school (MOSAIC) online platform, I worked (and still do) on designing a constructive online field for the ESL student to work on.
Why 565A?
One of the effective courses in building a solid technological background in the MET program is 565A. It is so because it focuses on the applicability of technology in education. It is something I need to take so that I can strengthen my ET skills that are challenged constantly with the seemingly endless progress of technology in general. I need to learn how to build a solid educational platform that can achieve the previously mentioned goals. I hope 565A in particular and MET in general will help me reach my objective.
The Tools
I would love to focus on designing a platform that encourages the ESL learners’ abilities and skills in using the material given constructively. The system used in the platform supports the learners to be in the centre of the process. The constructively designed programs that we see every day in the virtual world can definitely create a student-centred platform. I would love to utilize all the technical possibilities (software and hardware) that can be used in building a flexible, affordable and easy to use LMS. With what we have in the market now, I think this is doable.