It's joever, guys. 2

"Early Access Release!" by Kit9 Studio

 Well, I'll be damned, end of another course, and the final blogpost that comes with it. Also today is my birthday, so happy birthday to me!

 Aside from that, this course was a lot of fun, with a vast variety of assignments that are both team and individual efforts. However, just the last final blogpost, we have some questions to answer again. So without further ado, let's get right on to them.

1. How did you view technology integration in English language teaching before you took this course? Have your thoughts changed? If yes, in what ways? If no, explain why not.

In my opinion, technology integration in ELT is an important and inevitable development that clearly needs even more focus than right now, especially in our country. Enhancing language teaching with both regular digital and AI tools, when done right, does wonders for learners and severely increases their learning performance. Thanks to the tasks we were assigned throughout this course, we've also had the opportunity the experience this firsthand, both from the students and teacher perspectives. So, technology integration in modern ELT is an absolute must, educators should not shy away from using various tech -especially AI- and educate themselves on such matters to both become a 21st century citizen and a modernized educator. My thoughts on this matter were pretty much the same before taking this course, but with the tasks and content of our course, I was able to solidify my opinions further.

2. Explain how this course has contributed to your learning about and understanding of technology in integration in ELT. Refer to the tasks you have completed and the reflection processes you were engaged in.

I'd dare say that I already knew about most of the stuff explained in the course and the chapters -minus the extremely detailed technical stuff and certain terms and acronyms- but this course really helped me reinforce my knowledge with practice thanks to all the tasks I did. Especially with the infographic, podcast, and digital story tasks, I had the chance to use my knowledge to do some real-life work and create authentic content.

3. Considering the tasks you have completed, which one(s) you like the most and which one(s) the least? Explain your choices.

The task I've enjoyed completing the most was the collab writing one, because up to that point I wasn't able to work with anyone else and I worked solo for the entire course. Also, the student I teamed with turned out to be transfer students, so that helped me gain a broader perspective as to how other future teacher from around world view ELT and technology integration of it. For my least favorite, I think AI tools task takes the cake on that one. Idea-wise, it's not a bad task at all. It's well thought and explained, the tools are free and easy to use, which is definitely an upside, however I simply hate writing itself. At some point, the task itself really felt like the freelance copywriting job I had back in the days. Stuff like this should absolutely be left to AI, with humans being present solely for supervision and modification. I just get the feeling that handwriting reports should've been left to automation like a decade ago. I get that creative writing can and should not be left to AI, but there's not a single shred of creative freedom in this assignment, with the character selection and interview questions being possible exceptions. I mean, there's nothing wrong with a hard day's work, but it all feels reduntant to me now that we have means to do this type stuff without human intervention.

4. Do you have any suggestions to improve the course?

Even though it's far more convenient for instructors to force group work on tasks, especially in terms of scoring and grading, almost every assignment this course provided was either pair-work or a group project, with only a few of them having an option for solo work. As a senior student taking a sophomore class, this was greatly inconvenient for me. Since we were from different years, I was not able to socialize and integrate myself into a group, resulting in problems when turning in the assignments. If it wasn't for the transfer students from Kazakhstan, I would be forced to complete every single group assignment by myself. So, my suggestion should be obvious by now: include solo work as an option on all assignments, even if they're meant to be completed as a group or with pairs. Those who want to work as groups and pairs will do that anyway, and people who experience hardships in finding a pair or a group will also be able to participate in assignments without the fear of point deduction just because they were unfortunate enough to be all by themselves.

 And with that, this concludes my final task. Overall, I really enjoyed this course and the tasks except for a few small bumps in the road. Basing my pre-existing and classroom-taught knowledge in practice really helped me maintain my positive attitude towards tech integration in ELT. Working solo and with a group left a mark on my perspective, too. In the future I really plan on using various means taught in this course to help facilitate the learning of my future students. The material present in this course should act as a guide for all prospective teachers, not just ELT ones, for the effective, ethical and responsible of digital tools and AI in the future. Godspeed, and Super Earth salutes you for your perseverance.

With love,

Melih Kır