On-line Tools for Enhancing Learning

          This week, like all the previous weeks, was full of new ideas and suggestions for using online tools and exercises in our teaching.  Among them were online class websites such as Nicenet and Google Sites, and a myriad of online tools for creating exercises such as word search, bingo, crossword puzzles, board games, flash cards, matching exercises, multiple choice exercises and so on.

         As we have been using Nicenet for this course, we can see how easy it is for both teachers and students as it doesn't require any special knowledge to use it. So, it can be used in combination with face-to-face learning, so that it can increase the communication between the teacher and the students and offer more opportunities for discussions and exchanging and sharing of ideas, materials and weblinks. Google Sites is another useful tool for teachers for creating class websites. I hadn't heard about it before, but I tried it and found it very easy to use. 

         Among the many online tools for creating exercises, Hot Potatoes is my favourite, although there are many others that I am sure all of us will use. What I like about this software is that it allows you to create several types of exercises which you can publish and students can do online in class or at home, or if there are no computers in the classroom you can print them out and use them in class. Moreover, students can create their own exercises which they can share with their classmates, and which can help them learn and retain the material better and become more active participants in the learning process.

        Using online tools can certainly help our students become more autonomous learners because by doing online tasks such as writing blogs, doing webquests, taking part in creating class websites, or by engaging in other online exercises and activities, they become more involved and more motivated to learn the language, they can discover ways of learning the language that suit their learning styles and preferences,  which can boost their self-confidence, improve their knowledge of the language and increase their awareness of the importance of taking responsibility for their own learning.