E-learning development - relearning how to teach

Being able to teach by making use of technological resources makes us rethink our whole teaching and learning process, and challenges us to reconsider our own approach to the subjects developed in the classroom, which we have got (a lot!) used to dealing with in a certain manner, in our own time and pace.

Let's be honest: how many online courses have you undertaken in the past 2 years? And, of these, how many were on professional development courses on technology in the classroom? Either because the school or language institute you work at don't sponsor recycling courses, or because you have a strong opinion about technology and its implications in the learning process, putting hands to work and reconstructing the learning space in accordance with the top technological resources still is a challenge for most teachers around the world.
One simple change or a greater adaptation of the learning environment requires a number of things to be considered, such as:

- Planning;
- Budget;
- Training and development;
- Implementation;
- Infrastructure;
- Security;
- Systems to be used;
- General awareness of the public about these new changes;
- Compliance to the regulatory concerns and implications of the new rules.

And it is not difficult to imagine why these difficulties arise in the first place: until some years ago, educators in general were not instructed at the university or anywhere to deal with technology when planning a lesson. Teaching theories and students' learning styles were not analysed under the scope of e-learning or distance learning realities, and flexible learning was something still discussed amongst scholars.

If it was already hard to predict what your students'difficulties and doubts would be and what pronunciation problems they would have to face at your following class (and how you are going to deal with that!), imagine now, that you have to remember to download that You Tube video and plan the follow-up discussion on the topic! Not to mention that you don't know how to download You Tube videos, and that you still have to watch the tutorial before checking your class for the following day (by the way, click here to watch this tutorial!). Very hard!

However, if you stop to think that the vast majority of your students are used to dealing with technology, and that their interest in your class will certainly increase if you make use of nice tech things, you will realise that your motivation to make students learn will be a key factor in having YOU learn how to deal with everything related to technology, in the first place. You will eventually be lead to research the same things you used to research to make your teaching easier and more interesting for your students, but the references you are going to consult and the way you are going to present them from now on are going to change. Listening exercises now become more exciting with the aid of visual resources, and teaching cultural aspects of England or of the US is much more effective and makes more sense for the student, if you know what to show to him, how to plan your lesson and how to allow them to develop further discussions on the topic.

This article is the first of a series that will focus on e-learning and development training for teachers, and I hope that you can learn and put in practice all the ideas discussed here.