Week # 4 My experience in my last class.

One of my groups are high school students.  They are taking their English class with technology using a multimedia program called DYNED (dynamic education). It is mandatory for the class to bring headphones with microphone.  Half of the students didn’t do it. They couldn’t stay there without doing anything so I decided to split the group of 36 in two parts. Based on what I have learned in this course, the first part started working with DYNED and the rest of the group (students without headphones) was sent to another lab to do some searching.  I asked them to search the components of verb tenses: present, past and future, write a dialog using this information and practice the dialog. They worked in pairs. This topic is the first point of their study guide. Everyone did the job. The students were involved in this activity; even they didn’t take their five minute break. My supervision was enough for what they have been doing.I reviewed their work and it was good, just some students need to improve their knowledge in this topic.

At the end of the two hour class, I remained them to bring their headphones for next class.

INTRODUCTION TO DYNED

DynEd's programs are a step forward in English Language teaching. Based on extensive classroom experience, the latest research into how people learn, and upon data gathered and analyzed over 20 years in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL), DynEd courses take full advantage of what advanced technologies and neuroscientific research can provide.


DynEd's ESL/ELT/ELL technology-assisted courses and assessment tools help learners develop all four language skills, beginning with listening and speaking: "the 4-skills path."


There are significant differences between traditional, text-based approaches and the listening-based, iconic approach that is at the heart of DynEd's Recursive Hierarchical Recognition (RHR) design. DynEd's ESL solutions have proven themselves in quality programs around the world and are on the leading edge of a transformation in language education.


Recursive Hierarchical Recognition

Developed by DynEd’s founder, Lance Knowles, this breakthrough language learning approach resonates with how the human brain has evolved to search for, recognize and employ language patterns. Learning proceeds in a recursive fashion, employing the brain'shierarchical memory structure in ways that a linear design cannot.

Fully Interactive 
                          

Learners are active, not passive, when using DynEd's time-based interface. Within a lesson, students can move backward or forward, repeat a sentence or phrase as many times as needed, record and monitor their voices, and see clear visual support that aids comprehension. In addition, learners actively demonstrate the level of their comprehension by completing listening or other tasks that are woven into each lesson and which may even alter the depth of the presentation through DynEd's patented 'shuffler' mechanism.

Multi-modal Learning

Language models are presented and practiced in ways that facilitate comprehension, long-term learning and automaticity. DynEd's unique "iconic" approach coordinates visual information with auditory input in ways not possible with textbooks. This allows the learning sequence to follow the natural path: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

 Blended Learning

 Guided by research, learning theories, and by actual classroom experience, CALL is now moving toward a blended model where the multimedia computer provides the necessary optimal input and practice activities, and the classroom provides the human element where the language models come to life and are extended in a social context. Viewed from this blended model, both classroom and multimedia activities play an essential role. Without the social environment of the classroom, learning is tedious, unmotivating, and too restrictive to meet the needs of learners. Typically, drop-out rates are reported to be 80 percent or more in e-learning environments where little or no classroom support is available. On the other hand, without the effective practice provided by well-designed, media-rich courseware, language learning is slow, painful and discouraging, a fact borne out by the results of traditional language learning models which suffer from a lack of practice and an overemphasis on memorization and conscious rule learning that is soon forgotten.

In our experience, the blended model can reduce language-learning time significantly, in some cases by 50 percent or more, depending primarily on the following variables:
1. Scheduling of practice sessions for optimum frequency and duration.
2. Quality and design of practice sessions, supported by coaching, feedback, and suitable learning tasks.
3. Sequencing of content and an appropriate mix of skills so that the strategic support elements of language are developed in a well-designed learning path.
4. Classroom sessions that provide extension and personalization of the language models, including the assignment of reading and writing exercises.
5. Suitable technical infrastructure and support.

Once a suitable infrastructure is in place, teacher training is generally the most important factor in the success or failure of a CALL initiative. In the blended model, where practice is emphasized more than ever, students need to be coached and monitored. The quality and design of practice sessions must be supported by coaching and feedback, and this is most effective when provided by a teacher who knows the student and has a good idea about what differentiates effective practice from inefficient practice, the kind that wastes valuable time and de-motivates students.