Hi, folks, H R U?
My name is Laura Schopf.
I'm in my early twenties and I was born in Santa Maria, Brazil.
Nowaday I'm taking a teaching degree in English at UFSM, and I work as a monitor at LabEON.
My favorite free time activities are hanging out with my little brother and my twin sister, watching basketball, movies and tv shows, reading and doing Crossfit.
Reflection on the second semester of remote teaching at UFSM.
by Laura Schopf / on February 02, 2022
Before the first class, I was quite nervous because I imagined that we would learn how to become "fluent" in the programming language or specialists in digital technologies and digital tools for teaching. But throughout the classes, I could see that technology will always take the second place, and that the teacher, as a designer, will always be more important.
At the beginning I was much less confident about using technology, but the concept of “Digital literacy” showed me that much more than knowing how to use technology, being digitally literate involves a set of 21st century skills, ranging from creativity to critical thinking, essential for the increasingly digital context in which we live.
Through this course I learned how to prepare my future students for the real world, and how to use technology, not as the main resource of the class, but as a complement to it. I also realized that I am not teaching digital natives, but that my focus should be on providing tools to prepare them for social life, employment and citizenship.
The first challenge is to adapt the curriculum and educational practices to support the students' new necessities, to do this effectively, it is necessary to innovate the way of teaching, making learning more relevant and putting technology in the hands of the learner.
To promote this autonomy in my students, and also to support my pedagogical practice in the classroom, three authors were fundamental to my understanding of digital literacy and digital fluency. They are Bill Cope, Mary Kalantzis and Professor Susana Cristina dos Reis.
The proposals by Cope and Kalantzis caught my attention for disseminating the idea of making students more active in learning, promoting their engagement by offering a varied repertoire of activities that encompass the Knowledge Processes. I also identified with the transformation of the teacher presented by them and the gradual transition from traditional teaching to learning through design, and I intend to adapt the following ideas into my professional context.
“If we are to have new learners, we need to have new teachers, no less.
The new teachers will be the designers of learning environments for engaged students, rather than someone who regurgitates the textbooks. (...) instead of being the authoritarian, they need to be able to “let go”, allowing learners to take more responsibility for their own learning” Cope; Kalantzis (2010, p. 204)
“ Design Idea at the heart of knowledge process- simply granting a wider scope for participative agency in the learning process- open the curriculum to diversity.” Kalantzis; Cope (2010, p 10).
"Literacy teaching and learning needs to change because the world is changing" (Cope and Kalantzis, 2000)
The article entitled ENGLISH ONLINE 3D IN MOODLE: A PROPOSAL OF DIGITAL TEACHING MATERIAL FOR THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE IN BLENDED MODE, authored by Professor Susana Cristina dos Reis, allowed me to observe a more practical implementation of the pedagogy of genres and multiliteracies, as well as the production steps of the English Online 3D course or E-3D, based on the conception of language as a social practice.
Nossa meta do curso é que o aluno aprenda a língua de forma contínua, pela interação social e colaboração, por meio de experiências, obtendo desempenho pelo seu envolvimento em práticas autênticas e situadas, fazendo uso da língua em uma perspectiva funcional (HALLIDAY, 1978; 1989). Para isso, propomos o engajamento dos alunos em contextos que o possibilitem explorar gêneros (discursivos, multimodais e digitais), os quais são utilizados como ponto de partida para a modelagem, desconstrução e a compreensão da linguagem, a partir da seleção de exemplares em circulação social para mediar o estudo da língua alvo
(REIS, 2017).
Em vista disso, é importante salientar que entendo gêneros como atividades sociais com as quais nos envolvemos ao lermos, ouvirmos, falarmos e escrevermos, ou seja, são instâncias de uso da língua que são constituídas na e pela linguagem (MOTTA-ROTH, 2008). Aliada a essas concepções, recorremos também aos movimentos pedagógicos previstos nos processos de conhecimento de aprendizagem pelo design, propostos por Cope e Kalantzi (2009, p. 187), na perspectiva da pedagogia de multiletramentos,esses processos representam uma variedade de maneiras e/ou modos de produzir conhecimento. Para os autores (idem, 2009; 2015), os movimentos pedagógicos “são formas de ação, de atividades que o aluno se envolve para aprender e expandir suas possibilidades de aprendizagem”
(NEWS LEARNING,2020).
Nessa abordagem, o aluno pode iniciar o seu processo de construção de conhecimento por qualquer um dos movimentos,
No e-3D, em práticas de ensino, sugerimos que o aluno seja abordado, primeiramente, pelas experiências que já são conhecidas (experiencing the known) para conduzi-lo à novas experiências (experiencing the new).
E-3D is a basic English language course and promotes teaching and learning activities. It is offered by the Online Language Teaching and Learning Laboratory at the Federal University of Santa Maria, of which I am a member, working as a monitor. LabEON aims to train teachers to work in hybrid and distance modalities, which became a common reality during the pandemic of Covid-19, but which was already part of our goals.
Distance learning, although it’s not new, was something new for me as a student and as an E-3D monitor. But it was a very good experience, despite the challenges, the most important thing was to feel safe, motivated by the teachers, to be able to build friendships with colleagues, and I believe that all of this was possible because we are already familiar enough with technology to be able to adapt the context of teaching so abruptly, making it even more necessary for us to become digital literate.
I really liked all the proposed activities, especially the analysis of digital artifacts, because I participated in a seminar with Professor Susana on the same topic. For future courses, I hope that we can use the teacher's knowledge and collaboratively develop a digital artifact, considering the “ Modelo Cíclico de Desenvolvimento de Artefatos Digitais (MODE).
This class has given me tools to start shaping the kind of teacher I want to be, one who presents problems for students, guides them, but lets them find the solution.
Finally, I believe that I deserve the highest grade in my finals, because, in addition to delivering all the activities on time and engaging as much as possible in and out of class, I did more than I expected of myself.
Figure 4: E-3D course page on Moodle platform
Figure 5: Online class with the students of the E-3D course.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
Digital Literacies Research and Resources in Language Teaching Gavin Dudeney, Nicky Hockly and Mark Pegrum
https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/80730/47312
CURSO ENGLISH ONLINE 3D NO MOODLE: UMA PROPOSTA DE ARTEFATO DIGITAL PARA O ENSINO DE INGLÊS COMO LÍNGUA ADICIONAL NA MODALIDADE HÍBRIDA (REIS, 2021)
A PEDAGOGY OF MULTILITERACIES LEARNING BY DESIGN EDITED BY BILL COPE AND MARY KALANTZIS
