Revista simpozionului Eficiență și calitate în educație - 19 mai 2017 Eficiență și calitate în educație | Page 72

and the teacher. The value of the dialogue journal “lies in the open exchange of ideas that
can occur and the concerned and warm acceptance by the teacher of the student`s
writing” (Peyton & Reed, 2011, p. 4), drawing, voiced opinion or video representation of
ideas and thoughts.
Some of the advantages of having a dialogue journal from a student`s point of view
are increased communication between students and teachers, positive influence in the
educational approach of teaching, express fears and language problems they might be
experiencing but they are afraid to elicit, complain about different issues or activities, take
advantage of the opportunity of using language, images or their voice genuine interactions.
The benefits of having a dialogue journal from a teacher's perspective are the ability to
individualise and personalise language and content learning, using a subtle way of
providing support and encouragement without making other students feel less or
undervalued, contains information about interests or concerns that can assist in lesson
planning, easy to adapt to a variety of students and helps the development of English
fluency and of their own inner voice, learning to adapt and cope with different situations as
well as addressing the students differently and giving them the chance to freely express
their feelings, thoughts, comments or concerns.
B. Collaborative Learning
English as a foreign language is taught to children and teenagers in quite diverse
settings. A classroom may not always have a computer, a video projector, an interactive
board, teacher aides, or the latest in textbooks and materials, but every classroom has one
valuable resource, every classroom has students. “Language acquisition is fostered if it
occurs in a context that is supportive and motivating, communicative and referential,
developmentally appropriate and feedback-rich” (Kagan, Dimensions of cooperative class
structure.In Learning to cooperate, cooperating to learn., 1985, p. 12). The need to
transform and improve the educational strategies has made teachers and researchers
come up with new and exciting methods of teaching. What I like most about collaborative
learning is the duality of the concept. It can be applied to students, as well as teachers
because whether we want to admit it or not, “teachers who are well versed in a variety of
team structures can create skilful lessons that engage and enlighten their students”
(Kagan, The Structural Approach to Cooperative Learning, 1990), therefore language
teachers need to continually study and learn in order to keep up with what educational
strategies are in trend. This type of learning facilitates the inclusion of technology because
it makes everything easier.
Collaborative learning is a technique that teachers use to group students and
generate a positive impact on the learning activities. An important aspect of using
collaborative methods in a classroom is promoting a change of paradigm and shifting the
learning activity from a teacher-centered to a student-centered model. The focus of the
article is on possible versions of collaborative learning in an online space or virtual reality
and letting students teach one another and deepen knowledge and understanding.
Technology, in this case, offers the framework for collaboration in such an extensive
manner that we can form groups with students from other non-native English countries by
using savvy tools for online activities. We can use software like Stixy (online shared
whiteboard space), Blackboard (the online version of the typical blackboard – a virtual
learning environment), Google groups, webinars, Moodle( socially derived management
system that supports open, collaborative partnerships), Sakai (a system designed
specifically around collaboration and research) or Mikogo (free screen sharing and online
meeting software). Collaborative learning is also promoted by AI gadgets such as Woogie
(AI voice-activated robot that acts as a personalised learning companion proactively
providing knowledge) or Google AI projects (Giorgio Cam – visual recognition of objects
using the English language and music; Quick Draw – recognises objects so if a student
72