Technology and Me

I'm Moniqua and I'm just now getting ready to finish my MA (and embark on the long road to a PhD) in Hispanic Linguistics. My main areas of interest are all in SLA, and specifically in the areas of pedagogy and bilingual education. I love teaching and I love learning about how to be a better teacher, so I have to admit that I'm pretty excited about this Technology class.

As far as my relationship with technology, I consider myself a pretty tech-savvy person. I have a full working knowledge of most technological tools, and I have worked in the past with programs ranging from IMovie to Photoshop to Dreamweaver, among many others. I can write and edit HTML (please visit my personal homepage), and I have basic scripting knowledge. I can use Power Point, and I'm not sure if it's the luddite in me or not, but I refuse to use it. I absolutely abhor Power Point, well, maybe I should say that I absolutely abhor the use of Power Point to avoid actually teaching. Right, that's better.

Although I consider myself to be well-rounded technologically, I have to admit that there are many things that I have yet to implement in the classroom. I often use the internet to bring cultural topics into the classroom (youtube, Storyplace Digital, etc.) but I find it difficult to effectively use technology in other ways. Cultural topics are so interesting to the students that it makes it easy to use technology. I guess in some ways I feel as if a Power Point or a video or a listening exercise will just give the students another excuse to zone out.

I am very interested in what I can learn in this class. I have many ideas on projects I would like to carry out and research I would like to conduct in this area, so I'm hoping that the articles and discussions can point me in the right direction. Please don't miss out on the poll question at the bottom of the page...I'm interested in seeing what the general opinion is.

Hasta la próxima....