E-Resources and Life Long Learning

The philosophy of “education  from cradle to grave” (Demirel, 2009) is respected and became a criteria for continuing in the market place. In order to meet the challenges of 21th  century, learning became not limited  to  formal  education,  but  integrated  with  non-formal  and  informal  learning. In the  context  of  rapid  socio-economic,  cultural  and  technological  changes  of  the  world,  it  is widely acknowledged  that  individuals  should  possess  unique  skills  that  would  allow  them  to compete  in  the  increasingly  globalized  world.  This lead the  concept  of education to change and the requirement of set of skills to increase. As such, people began to look  for  more resources  which are  supplied from  local  government  and  school events, scholarships  and for free online resources.

 Implementing the newest technology affects how we live, work, play, and most notably learn (Mareco, 2017).

 The benefits  of  applying  mobile  technology  in  the  classroom are  described  from  Mareco (2017):

•  mobile devices and their applications prepare students for the future careers;
•  effective way to connect with students of all learning styles;
•  enhance the interaction with classmates and instructors;
•  encouraging collaboration;
• develop student's digital skills;
• helps students stay engaged;
• increase students' responsibility;
• enhance the learning experience and create new opportunities for learning;
• quick access for information;
• and transforms the learning experience.

Lifelong Learning became the most important competency that people must possess.  Lifelong  learning  is  now  recognized  by  educators,  governing  bodies,  accreditation organizations,  certification  boards,  employers,  third-party  payers,  and  the  general  public  asone  of  the  most  important  competencies  that  people  must  possess  (Dam,  2018).The  competences  learned  in  formal  education  need  to  be  developed  in  order  to  be  adequate  during  entire life, and keep the competences up to date, to obtain new ones in response to changing needs, and that is a reason to become an autodidact, which is a lifelong process. The concept of lifelong  learning  has  been  adopted  with  the  necessity  to  adjust  to  the  requirements  of  the  knowledge  society in the 21st century and to cope with the rapid changes in science and technology (Demirel, 2009).

The high-quality of education and inclusive lifelong learning is at the heart of the solution of nowadays  growing  populism,  xenophobia,  spreading  of  fake  news,  high  youth  unemployment (David  Lopez,  LLL  platform - activity  report  2017).

Free resources supporting long-life learning

Nowadays  the  new  job  skills  can  be  learned  inexpensively  online,  the  interactive  learning  communities are already built by online education companies that transformed education (Pearce, 2017) There  are  huge  available  free  onlinecourses, which  supports  long-life  learning  (Brett  & McKay 2018; Cobb, 2017; Jane, 2018; Pearce, 2017):  

·         Blinkist– free data base for non-fiction books - business, philosophy, history, and more;

·         Coursera- the largest course  platform for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs);   

·         edX- non-profit source and a leading provider of free courses and training from Harvard University and MIT,  

·         Udacity- similar  to  edX  and  Coursera with  the  focus  on  STEM  (Science,  Technology ,Engineering,  and  Mathematics)  disciplines.

·         MIT Open Courseware

·         OpenStudy

·         Khan Academy  

·         Duolingo –  free  website  to  learn  foreign  languages, offers  online  courses  for  over  30 languages;

·           Code Academy - learn to code for free with interactive exercises;

·         Wolfram  MathWorld  –  extensive  math  resource  from  all  over  the  world,  include

·         Open  Course  Ware  (OCW)  Consortium  –a  collaboration  of  more  than  200  higher  education  institutions,  an  excellent  place  to  find  free  courses  and  course  materials  from some of the world’s best colleges and universities;

·          Lecturefox  –an  online  directory  of  free  audio,  video,  and  text-based  lectures  from universities like MIT and Yale;

·         LearnOutLoud – contains more than 20 000 free educational materials, including books, videos, audio lectures, and podcasts

·         CreativeLive- the live stream of courses for free,

·         TED–offers lectures by professors and interesting people on different subjects. TED also has  several  related  channels  on  YouTube,  one  of  which  is  TED-Ed  that  offers  online  lessons on various subjects including history, science, philology and many more, and can be interesting for children as well;

·         Saylor– the Saylor Foundation is a non-profit that provides a free University education.

·          iTunes U - free podcast lectures by the best professors from around the world;

·         Project  Gutenberg - offers  over  5000  free  eBooks,  from  the  classics  of  literature  to  the textbooks on specific subjects with impeccable quality;

·         The Online Books Page – the University of Pennsylvania’s Online Books Page is one of  the best places to find free unabridged books online;

·         The  Free  Library – Farlex’s Free Library contains more than five million books and articles that can be viewed online for free;

·         YouTube EDU–contain thousands of videos that cover a variety of topics.

Long-life learning is the main key that can keep the person on the attitude  to the position and degree that hold, and that is ruled by the fast changes of socio-economics. As for me, I read online articles on weekly basis. I take online courses and they really differed in my performance as a teacher and a teacher trainer.  Life-long learning also help my students and my colleagues who understand its  relevance improve.  

References:

Brett  &  Kate  McKay,  (2018):  How  and  Why  to  Become  a  Lifelong  Learner.  A  Man's  Life,  Personal  Development.https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-and-why-to-become-a-lifelong-learner/

Burgi  Pierre-Yves,  (2012):New  learning  environments.  https://ciel.unige.ch/2012/03/new-learning-environments/

Bushati  J.,  E.  Lezha,  E.  Hasmujaj,  G.  Tuxhari  (2017):  About  digital  culture  and  education. https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/271706

Cobb  J.,  (2017):  25  Free  Online  Resources  and  Web  Apps  for  Lifelong  Learners.  https://www.mission  tolearn.com/lifelong-learner-free-resources/

Dam,  (2018):  http://www.tesol.org/docs/default-source/new-resource-library/symposium-on-student-empowerment-8.pdf?sfvrsn=0

Demirel M., (2009): Lifelong learning and schools in the twenty-first century. Procedia Social and BehavioralSciences 1 (2009) 1709–1716.

EC  (2018):  COUNCIL  RECOMMENDATION  on  Key  Competences  for  Lifelong  Learning,  https://ec.europa.eu/education/sites/education/files/recommendation-key-competences-lifelong-learning.pdf

European Commission (2017): White Paper on the Future of Europe, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/ white-paper-future-europereflections-and-scenarios-eu27_en

Gulen M., (2015): The main duty and purpose of human life is to seek understanding. Education from cradle to grave. https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1319253/education-cradle-grave

University of Bucharest and “1 December 1918” University of Alba Iulia  

Jane  K.  (2018):  7  Online  Tools  for  Lifelong  Learning.  https://blog.peopleperhour.com/blogroll/  lifelong-learning-tools/

Koper  R.,  C.  Tattersall,  (2004):  New  directions  for  lifelong  learning  using  network  technologies.  British  Journal of Educational Technology, Vol 35 No 6 2004, 689-700.

Longworth  N  (2003):  Lifelong  Learning  in  Action:  Transforming  Education  in  the  21th  Century  Kogan  Page,London.  Lopez D., LLLplatform - activity report 2017.

Mareco  Danny  (2017):  10  Reasons  Today’s  Students  NEED  Technology  in  the  Classroom.https://www.securedgenetworks.com/blog/10-reasons-today-s-students-need-technology-in-the-classroom

Mwaikokesya M. J.D., Osborne M., Houston M. (2014): Mapping lifelong learning attributes in the context of  higher  education  institutions.  DOI:  10.7227/JACE.20.2.3  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276681843_Mapping_lifelong_learning_attributes_in_the_context_of_higher_education_institutions

Pearce  K.,  (2017):  100+  self-education  resources  for  lifelong  learning  online.  https://www.diygenius. com/100-self-education-resources-for-lifelong-learners/

Simmons  Michael,  (2018):  The  secret  to  lifelong  success  is  lifelong  learning.  https://www.weforum. org/agenda/2018/01/the-secret-to-lifelong-success-is-lifelong-learning.

The Worry of Trying New Things

Most people evade trying new things for fear of loss, failure and prefer staying in the comfort zone. Most of the time we take courses and attend workshops on technologies and we never use them. We decide to learn more on them and evade using them. 

My next question is when would a teacher use this TECHNOLOGY? Is there one particular maybe subject, or can it be applied to all subjects across the board? 

Any tool can be used in a variety of different ways. You can use it at the beginning, middle, or end of, a unit or lesson that you're trying to teach. Most of the time we lose time planning and then we do not experiment. To me the best way, if one does not feel s/he master the tool is to tell her/his students that they would experiment how the tool will help them acquire  the language.

HERE are two ways  of engaging students:

So, that's one case of synchronous. Other systems can be used as well. I know there's lots of different tools within LMSs that have a conferencing kind of app inside them that would allow for something like this. But you can also, I mean, to bring that one step further, you could take those questions and then put the top two that your class might vote on, put those in your discussion forms. And then, the students are discussing questions that they came up with collaboratively.

But you could also do this asynchronously in a discussion forum. And you can use the discussion forum to generate these questions. 

Learning Styles andTechnology Tools

The theory of multiple intelligences by Gardner really interests me. As teachers, we know instinctively that students have different intelligences, each unique to the other. Gardner's theory has confirmed this besides acknowledging that there could be more types of intelligences out there than the established number of 9 types.

School only tests or allows the display of a limited number of intelligences through its limited curriculum. Those who are not able to portray their talents or skills feel left out of the school system.

Thus, the teacher plays a very important role in acknowledging the skills that are latent within these students and find ways to bring them out of the students. A thinking teacher would organise activities that would allow for display of multiple intelligences by assigning them to organise a play or a sports event or a charity event all of which require various skills at work. Most importantly, the teacher has to recognise these skills and reward them appropriately. This way, the students will have a chance to recognise the talents that lie within themselves which goes a long way to boost their self confidence and morale.

Intelligence is a psychological notion which is connected with learning and which educators base a lot of their professional decisions on. Howard Gardner's MI theory is an important contribution to cognitive science and constitutes a learner-based philosophy which is "an increasingly popular approach to characterizing the ways in which learners are unique and to developing instruction to respond to this uniqueness".

Gardner said that there are many, not just one, different autonomous intelligence capacities that result in many different ways of knowing, understanding, and learning about our world. Gardner defined seven intelligences including verbal-linguistic, mathematical-logical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinaesthetic, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. In 1997, Gardner added an eighth intelligence, the naturalist intelligence, and two years later a ninth intelligence, existentialist intelligence.

The nine intelligences Gardner defines are:

1- Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: consists of the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.

2- Linguistic Intelligence: involves having a mastery of language. This intelligence includes the ability to effectively manipulate language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically. It also allows one to use language as a means to remember information.

3- Spatial Intelligence: gives one the ability to manipulate and create mental images in order to solve problems. This intelligence is not limited to visual domains-- Gardner notes that spatial intelligence is also formed in blind children.

4- Musical Intelligence: encompasses the capability to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. (Auditory functions are required for a person to develop this intelligence in relation to pitch and tone, but it is not needed for the knowledge of rhythm.)

5- Bodily-Kinaesthetic Intelligence: is the ability to use one's mental abilities to coordinate one's own bodily movements. This intelligence challenges the popular belief that mental and physical activities are unrelated.

6- Interpersonal intelligence: the ability to understand and discern the feelings and intentions of others.

7- Intrapersonal intelligence: the ability to understand one's own feelings and motivations. These two intelligences are separate from each other. Nevertheless, because of their close association in most cultures, they are often linked together.

8- Existential Intelligence: sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here.

9- Naturalist Intelligence: Designates the human ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations). This ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers; it continues to be central in such roles as botanist or chef. It is also speculated that much of our consumer society exploits the naturalist intelligences, which can be mobilized in the discrimination among cars, sneakers, kinds of makeup, and the like.

The four ways in which the MI theory can be used in the classroom as follows:

1- As a tool to help students develop a better understanding and appreciation of their own strengths and their preferred ways of learning.

2- As a tool to develop a better understanding of learners' intelligences.

3- As a guide to provide a greater variety of ways for students to learn and to demonstrate their learning.

4- As a guide to develop lesson plans that address the full range of learners needs.

With regard to the procedures of implementing MI theory in ELT, Christenson suggests the following steps:

1- Identifying the activities frequently used in the class and categorize them to each particular type of intelligence.

2- Making plans by selecting appropriate classroom activities/ tasks.

3- Using ELT Multiple Intelligences weekly/ monthly checklist to keep track of different activities and tasks conducted in the class.

4- Expanding classroom activities for the neglected intelligences by way of examining and analyzing the checklists for a period of time.

Multiple intelligence theory can be implemented in ELT classroom in the following ways-

1.   Words Are Not Enough: Do not rely on the spoken word only. Most activities for the younger learners should include movement and involve the senses, colours and sounds.

2.   Play with the Language: Let the pupils talk to themselves. Make them play with the language by making up rhymes, singing songs, telling stories, etc. in the classroom.

3.   Cooperation not Competition: The ideology of the theory of Multiple Intelligences is based on "cooperation" not on competition. So because of this reason, avoid prizes and awards in the class. In this regard, according to Scott and Ytreberg (1990), make room for shared experiences.

4.   Using Storybooks: The educational value of using storybooks and storytelling has always been undisputed throughout the world. EFL teachers are now more familiar with an acquisition-based methodology, and recognise the true value of using storybooks and storytelling as a way to create an acquisition rich environment and ideal learning conditions which provide "comprehensible input" or "language a little beyond student's current level of competence" .

5.   Drawing and Colouring: Children can redraw the characters; create maps showing where the story takes place, think of other possible cover illustrations, and so on.

6.   Handicrafts: Craft activities are extremely useful as learners can develop their listening and reading skills while following the written or oral instructions. Teachers should always make the craft activity themselves before doing it with their class. The finished work should be shown to the learners to give them a general idea of what is expected from them. Teachers should have the necessary materials with them so that they can do the activity together with their students while also giving the instructions

7.   Songs and Rhymes: Very often, the rhymes developed in stories are to be found in various songs and rhymes (Brewster, Ellis and Girard, 2003). Pupils can also compose songs for the storybook(s) they have read and then sing the song they have composed in the classroom.

8.   Vocabulary Activities: Pupils can create their own "picture dictionary", based on words from the stories they have read or heard. They can work individually or pool their efforts to illustrate the words, either by drawing pictures or by cutting pictures out of magazines or catalogues. They can choose whether to arrange the words alphabetically or thematically.

9. Drama: Pupils can act out the story in the storybooks or song they have read or listened to. They can organise a place and write, if they want, a different end for the story and then perform the story in the classroom. The pupils can also compose a song for the story and sing it in some parts of the drama if they wish.

10.   Games: Games can be used for teaching and learning purposes like word puzzles, running dictation among other games.

Integrating technology to meet the different leaning styles is very important for any teacher. Our students are certainly different in their behavior. So, we need to address and combine various technology tools to enhance the learning environment.

Padlet wall which can help improve individualized learning. For example, doing a project on the danger of smoking can motivate active learners to present their work in class or even have performance. Some could post or draw pictures on this topic while others can give their say by recording themselves and later uploading the recorded material on the Padlet wall. Moreover, watching a video posted on the Padlet can engage visual learners. Other learners enjoy collecting data on this topic such as the causes, impact and remedies.

To me, customizing learning activities to address students ' various learning styles is within the reach thanks to the available technology tools, the huge online materials and resources . One thing to keep in mind is to diagnose learners' behavior before tackling any activity or opting for any technology device so as to meet their needs.

Here is another exercise I do to engage and help all students with different learning styles I ask them to work on their own for half an hour daily on free internet resources. they read, watch, listen, chat in English. They use whatever online resources they like: those I gave them an idea about and those they stumbled on. They do so for 6 days per week and on the seventh day, they write 6 chunks of sentences on these resources and those who want to present what they learned or enjoyed can. I find this highly productive for many reasons: students chose what is appealing to their learning styles, they are responsible for their own learning and it is so empowering.