Learner Reflection

Learner Reflection

Due Dates: (throughout the semester)
What is it worth? 20% of your grade.

As mentioned in the participation pages of this site, a great deal of your learning in this course will be by your active participation in groups and by your individual effort.  One of the best ways to gain a deeper understanding of anything you are learning is by actively reflecting of it.  When talking about reading, for example, one can discuss skills, strategies, and the concept of metacognition.  Skills are automatic abilities.  As NS of English we don't have to think about the sound of a letter. Strategies, on the other hand, require thinking.  Outlining a text is not automatic for most people.  Metacognition is thinking about thinking.  

The learner reflection you will do in this course will ask you to think about why a certain tool works the way it does, why we teach the way we do, and how we as language learners can improve our own learning via the use of technology.  Some of this reflection will be individual and some will be done in your telecollaboration groups.

How to do this?
You should keep a 'running dialogue' concerning the learning process. This will be done digitally and can be carried out in any format or platform that you choose (see list of tools). Some suggestions (but you are free to choose others) are blogs, twitter, podcasts or online timelines such as Capzles -any platform that allows you to mix documents, video, audio, images, etc. The documented reflection should contain four parts (again, the free format):

• An introduction: this is who I am and this is where I am starting out. I know this, I know that and I need to know about the other ... (See point about self-evaluation).
• Descriptions and observations of learning episodes: what you are learning, when it occurred, what brought it about, was there a 'eureka' moment when something clicked, etc. These observations can be textual, audio or through imagery (comics, for instance). 
• Links to relevant theory: Episodes of learning should also be directly related to theory -how does what you have learnt fit into the big picture of research and theory about language teaching and learning? This can be done through quotes from written resources (always provide references!), or links to online theoretical resources.
• Exemplification: whenever possible, you should provide evidence that you have truly assimilated what you have learnt (e.g. you may include a transcript from a text chat, a short audio clip of something you said during a videoconference, a message exchanged, a screenshot of a videoconference, clips from your own teaching, etc.).
• Summary: you should compile an engaging précis of your 'personal teacher trajectory'. 

The point is to inform and illustrate your own development in a way that engages the listener/reader, while convincing the audience that what you state is actually true (this is where evidence of learning comes in). Think of it as a type of 'job interview' for the teacher of the 21st century!

Individual Reflection:  
While I strongly suggest you add to your individual reflection each week, I only need to see a summary of your reflection at the end of the semester that charts your path of learning over the course of the semester.  Here are a couple examples of these:
A series of blog posts over the semester: http://reflectionjournal587.blogspot.com/
A powtoon for a final individual summary:
https://www.powtoon.com/p/eyAK5C1x4cg/?mode=movie


Group Reflection:
This will be created by your group and combine your experiences of learning as a group and what you've learned together.  Here are a couple examples.
http://learnerreflectionm.wixsite.com/atravelofreflection
http://aierim6729.wixsite.com/mgm-lreflection


Optional reading & self-evaluation: One of the most complete outlines of the competences that a foreign language teacher needs is the European Portfolio for Student Teachers ofLanguages. A reflection tool for language teacher education (EPOSTL). Because it is a comprehensive handbook, we have compiled some of the competences directly related to this course into a 'personal checklist'. This is designed to help you establish a baseline of what you know, what you need to know, set your own learning goals and also serve as a benchmark for self-assessment of your own learning process. Ideally, you will make reference to the competences you have chosen in your descriptions, observations and exemplification.