Tools for Improvement

by Silvina Lopes Rossi 

Improving Learning Outcomes 

by Silvina Lopes Rossi

By implementing the use of electronic tools the whole learning and teaching environment improve a lot producing really interesting outcomes.  They offer many advantages while posting some challenges, especially to those (teachers or students) who are not fully computer literate.  Engaging students into participating in collaborative learning environments might help them develop confidence and make them become more active and committed towards their own learning.  Quite often, students avoid interaction in the language classroom since they are afraid of making mistakes.  By using online learning students do not longer feel embarrassment to participate, but they feel encouraged to improve gradually.  Likewise, teachers who are able to cope with the tiny difficulties posed by the use of technologies will see their personal and professional development enhanced.

          If Feedly is used properly will help either students or teachers to succeed in their endeavors. First, this tool is very easy to use.  It is free, and it helps organize your search by categories.  Then, it lets teachers and students select among a wide range of reading and video resources.  These resources quality might also be easily assessed by having a quick glimpse of the content offered by this platform.  For example, the teacher will have access and will evaluate the content and quality of many articles just in minutes.  Otherwise, this process could require a longer time investment.  So, it helps you save time and work.  Another advantage of Feedly is that it might be customized to the user’s needs who can also save articles and documents, and organize searches by using keywords.

          Likewise, the use of google forms might open up a whole new virtual classroom.  It makes learning easily accessible.  It is really helpful to create quizzes, reading, listening, and writing practices for students, creating valuable tools that might be improved and edited later, changing it according to the need.  It is possible to upload videos, listening practices, reading materials, and even powerpoint presentations. Then, the teacher might have a quick assessment of the students’ performances very fast, and the students might have the opportunity to evaluate his own performance and take every practice more than once, storing and classifying his own learning resources.  Another interesting feature to mention is that these forms might be adapted to any kind of electronic device; such as, tablets, cell-phones, and computers.  These forms also let teachers see information in different forms (pie or bar charts, and numbers) while getting individual or group information.

          Teachers might also get feedback from students using forms to gather and organize information for professional improvement. There is no way out, if teachers are able to use this tool wil improve their professional practice a lot.  All the information saved might be consulted later for further studies following up different processes both ways, by one side student’s improvement, on the other side teachers’ betterment. 

         Concluding, tools like Feedly and google forms might change the learning environment, potentializing the teaching-learning process by multiplying the learning possibilities, and acctivities.