Week 1 (Jan 9 - 15, 2012)

During the first week of the course, participants were to:

1. join the group online meeting place;
2. exchange introductions and become familiar with the group environments;
3. explore some online tools; 
4. create and/or share their digital portfolios;
5. go on a web safari about technology integration;
6. reflect upon technology integration in the classroom; 
7. discuss their own ideas on how they can use those tools with their students.

Task 1 - Joining the Digital Tools Wiki

I Requested access to this wiki, which is collaborative webpage for our session http://pbworks.com/.

Once I have granted access to it, I went to my account settings to add my details and upload my photo.

Task 2- Connecting - Getting Started with EDMODO
I signed up for an account at http://edmodo.com and joined our Edmodo group. I took my time to explore the group page  and the place for social networking in a school-safe environment and tried to connect to others.

Task 3 - Your Story - Introducing Yourself, Establishing Bonds, Socializing

In an online setting, there are multiple ways we can introduce ourselves. One can write a poem, add a video, a PPT, a photo, or just words. But this time we were offered some web tools to explore and practice using them for making unique presentations:

http://animoto.com

http://about.me/

http://flavors.me

http://prezi.com

I have explored all of them, and I have really enjoyed the very process of making presentations in different ways! I’d like to share the following I’ve created with you:

http://about.me/NataliaPerev

Due to the participants of the project I came to know also some other web tools. Just have a look at it!

My sliderocket presentation

My VOKI presentation

I will try to use the web tools I've got acquainted with this week at my conversation classes at the University. I suppose the idea of presentation can be used as an introduction to this or that discipline outlining its main objectives. By the way I will encourage my students to use these tools when preparing their reports at the end of each block of lessons connected with one theme. Oh, I suppose the above mentioned tools will be useful for the students to represent their Home-reading reports in a modern, curious, unexpected way!

Task 4 - Your e-Portfolio - Deciding for your Online Space
Throughout this online session, the idea is that we:

1. collect the digital resources we produce along the way;
2. keep a space for reflection on our learning and the tools we get to know about; 
3. receive feedback from our peers in what we've been producing;
4. start our journey as a lifelong learner.

Well, what can I say more... To tell you the truth this is my first experience in EVO session and thus everything is new for me and rather catching and challenging!!! I have learnt so many useful web tools which could be used at classroom and make the process of learning vivid and interesting! Not without reason it is said Live and learn. So I continue my journey as a lifelong learner. Practice makes perfect you know :-)

Task 5 - Web Safari, Reflection and Action Time
I have browsed the Technology Integration Matrix 

I understand the stages and the characteristics - however, I believe that a teacher can be at various points at the same time, since he/she may use technology differently in different classes according to the students' level and the goals of each individual lecture or conversational class.
Since my teaching experience connected with digital tools has been rather limited up to this moment, I would have to say that I have been probably always at the "Entry" stage, sometimes with a constructive, or authentic or goal directed approach. In my future teaching I would like to use technology more, however, only if the setting enables so (resources, etc.) and if the specific lecture requires and would benefit from that.