Week 7 - Learn to Learn Autonomously

Are You an Autonomous Learner?

     I learn many more new things this week. Some tasks that I’ve finished are quite difficult but they’re worth for me. I believe where there is a definite hardship there is an ease. It felt difficult at the beginning, but the more I tried to keep going, the more I felt the ease to get it done. A hard work will produce satisfactory results. That's also what I believe. This week there are several tasks given by my wonderful instructor. Reading some articles about autonomous learning and one-class computer is my first task. Next I discussed the topic with the instructor and colleagues in nicenet. I chose to read and discuss articles on autonomous learning and. I am really happy to discuss it with them. They convey the ideas that really inspired me to continue learning to be the best teacher for my students. Then I proceed with some other tasks.

AUTONOMOUS LEARNING

     I’ve got and learned a lot of new things this time. Now I realize that the importance of autonomy in student learning. The learner takes responsibility for his/her learning, sets goals, chooses language learning strategies, monitors progress, and evaluates his/her successful acquisition. In the article that I read by Andrew GP Nowlan, Motivation and Learner Autonomy: Activities to Encourage Independent Study, he uses reflective journal as a method to improve writing skills and to provide an effective sense to focus on the area of ​​the students' speaking. The other method that he uses is using technology and the internet. Instant messaging, discussion boards, interactive blogs, and online forums might be more useful in autonomous learning as well as social networks and other technological tools. There are a lot of available methods, techniques and technology and has been used in teaching students to become autonomous learning. It depends on us, as teachers, in selecting such right tools.

     Many activities that we can use and develop for fostering autonomous learning such as activities provided by Galina Kavaliauskiene in her article, Two Autonomous Learning Activities for fostering. In the article she describes two activities than can encourage learners' development towards autonomy by motivating and involving students, producing classroom materials and using them in class. I see that the two activities can give students the opportunity to speak out and argue their points. It also has the element of self-study and self-assessment. 

PADLET

      One technology tool that I learned is Padlet, a simple and useful tool that allow teachers or students to build a "wall" for sharing. It's an online bulletin board. It can function as a "bell-ringer" or "ticket-out-the-door" activity, as well as a homework assignment. My instructor provides padlet page for me and other colleagues to fill it with articles, video, audio, or other materials related to the topics we discussed about either autonomous learning or one-computer classroom and mobile devices. It is an amazing moment to share knowledge to others. We, as teachers, can use this as an online posterboard, and it is perfect for a group project. It’s a simple tool to share and increase knowledge about learning and technology.

     This week is really a wonderful adventure. I am also asked to choose a partner to help and share with a project for next assignment. My partner for this assignment is Juan Pachecho, a kind and amazing man. He is from Colombia. He is a great and inspired teacher and he has an impressive blog, too. I am really happy getting him in my project. His idea is very thoughtful and insightful. Thanks to him to be my partner in next assignment.

Husni