Module 5

TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

Using Open-Ended Tools in Facilitating Learning
Productivity- Software Application for Language Teaching and Learning
Open-ended tools or productivity software applications are ICT tools, which help the teachers and the learners make their
learning together concrete, efficient, encouraging, and meaningful. In any teaching-learning process, the use of these tools plays a
vital role as it helps meet the demands of the learners in the 21St Century classrooms. As described by Palmer (2015), teachers need
to demonstrate 21 51 Century characteristics to be able to meet the demands of the 211t Century learners. To be able to demonstrate
the characteristics of an ICT-engaged classroom and teacher cited above, it is appropriate to discuss how the various productivity
software applications can be used in the language classrooms.
A. Using Word in Scaffolding Student Learning in a Language Classroom- To appreciate the value of Word Applications
in scaffolding student learning, we must explore how these are maximized by teachers. In education, scaffolding is use to
refer to various forms of support given / to assist, guide, or facilitate the learning process (World Links, 2008). Examples of
scaffolding for learning that are usually prepared using word applications are learning plans, assessment tools, templates and
forms, graphic organizers, and others.
Activity 1: Creating Learning Plans Using Word Applications- With the ubiquity of word-processing software applications and
the ability of students to quickly use them, it is not difficult to encode and package learning plans. This activity will help you plan,
organize, share, implement, and enhance your learning plans in teaching your language courses.
Step 1: Testing Your Knowledge of Word Processing Software Applications- Begin this activity by citing the existing word
processing software applications familiar to the students
Step 2: Viewing the Essential Parts of Learning Plans- Although there are varied formats and contents of learning plans across
all schools in the world, a learning plan has essential parts that are non- negotiable which must be considered by any teacher. Learning
plans can be good for a semester like a syllabus in the tertiary education. It can be a unit plan, daily lesson plan, or an individual plan.
1. The Teach Unit Plan 3. Masusing Banghay Aralin
2. Department of Education 4. Syllabus
"Step 3: Sharing the Features of Word Applications for Scaffolding Student Learning- By analyzing the special features of
Word Applications used in the samples of learning plans, answer the following discussion questions.
1. What are the advantages of developing learning plans using a word processing software application?
2. Based on the example, what are the special features of word application software that are beneficial in organizing the
information required in any learning documents?
3. What additional features of word applications do you think are beneficial in preparing the following in your language class:
a. pamphlets for learning a second language or a foreign c. charts and graphs for language acquisition
language. activities.
b. brochures for the different macro skills. d. worksheets for language drills; and
e. language assessment tools?
Activity 2: Preparing Process Guides and Graphic Organizers using Word Processing Software Applications- As a result of
the exploration of word processing application features in Activity 1 of this module, you will be tasked in this activity to explore some
process guides that you may implement to help your future students to do their assignments and perform various tasks supported by
productivity software application tools.
Step 1. The Relevance of Providing Process Guides and Graphic\ Organizers in Language Teaching- Discuss the relevance
of using process guides and graphic organizers to allow students to become more efficient and productive in performing their learning
tasks. Provide examples on how to guide them through the process of writing, reading, listening, and speaking.
Step 2 Examples of Process Guides as Scaffold in Language Teaching and Learning- Brainstorm and analyze some examples
of process guides in language teaching and learning. Follow the procedures below for the brainstorming 'activity.
1. In a small or large group, select a leader and a recorder (they maybe the same person)
2. Present the question or idea to be brainstormed: What are some specific examples of process guides that you need to
prepare as a reception scaffold in teaching reading?
3. Present the following sample steps of teaching reading and lit the students research and develop a guide for each step.
4. To enhance your process guide, you may consider completing the following graphic organizers identified according to different
purposes (Ware, ND, cited by World Links, 2008)
Purpose Graphic Organizer
To compare and contrast two or more concepts Venn Diagram
To describe a concept Frayer Model, Bubble Diagram, Concept Map
To show cause and effects Fishbone Map, Inductive Tower
To show sequence (as in progress) Flow Chart
To identify basic components Story Maps, 5W’s Chart
Specifically, the integration of presentation software applications to language teaching, and learning is very beneficial in developing the
students' four language skills 1ff their study Schcolnik and Kol (1 999) were able to present how presentation software activates the
four macros' -skills.
1. Reading- They analyze the articles critically, compare and contrast the 'ideas presented, synthesize and evaluate. Finally,
they select highlights for inclusion in their presentations. This process is comparable to the process students go; through when
reading to write a paper.
2. Writing- In this type of 'minimalistic' writing, key concepts and words have to be retained, while the 'chaff' is discarded This
information reduction process is in itself a difficult but very profitable language task. A slide cannot be too cluttered, the size
of the font has to be large enough, and the location of the elements on the screen has to be balanced. All these force’
students to re-read, re-evaluate and re-write what they have written again and again.
3. Speaking - The material that students have read, organized, and summarized has to be presented orally to convey a clear
message to an audience of peers. Students must 'rehearse' the pronunciation of difficult words, time themselves, and make
sure that they have all the English lexicon needed for their speech.
4. Listening - Listening to a non- native speaker is not easy, and visual elements facilitate comprehension. Brooks and Gavin
(2015) stressed that most teachers recognize the spoken component of presenting, as students are required to speak when
giving their presentations. Moreover, they are required to research and plan out their presentations for a properly structured
academic presentation. Students also have the opportunity to practice their writing skills when they are asked to give
presentations that include some type of visual component.
Basic Instructional Design in Preparing Presentations
1. Setting Up the Presentation Class - Students have to be taught the skills involved in giving a presentation. This can include
such things as when to use eye contact, how to organize a presentation, how to connect with an audience, how to use body
language and manage time, and how' to construct an effective PowerPoint presentation. Since oral presentations involve multiple
 communication and language skills, it is important to focus on the specific presentation skills that are needed to present in front of
others. These included things like voice projection, eye contact and the use of gestures.
2. Organization of the Presentation - Proper organization of information is one of the most important competencies that must
be developed among students. There is a need to learn how to separate the presentation into meaningful sections and present
each section separately to reduce the cognitive work that is required in the presentation.
3. Presentation Skills - Its developing oral presentation is very important to consider in developing oral presentations to spend
time to consider the macro and micro skills that are needed.
4. The Use of Visual Aids - Visual aids help cater to different learning styles and some of the students who are not savvy at
paper written presentations are motivated at using presentation software applications.
5. Performing Self-Reflections - The final stage of each oral presentation involves students writing a self-reflection of their
presentation. Through this activity, writing skills are further enhanced together with the ability of the students to do self-reflection.
B. Using Spreadsheets in Language Learning- Spreadsheets are very helpful in introducing some lessons in language courses.
Through spreadsheets, one can teach with tables and charts, make a table and a graph, compute students' grades.
With the advent of web-based word processing software and with the exposure of a lot of students in exploring
new innovative media tools, explore the following online Microsoft Word Alternatives (Investintech,- 2020).
1. Drop Box Paper- Dropbox Paper is a free online word processor offered by the online cloud storage provider. To start using it,
you will need a Dropbox account. Once logged in, you get full access to the online Suite. The minimalist interface is very intuitive,
and its simplicity allows you to focus on your content You can also do many things that go beyond creating a textual document.
You can add rich media, such as audio, video and images. Dropbox Paper also allows you to access apps that let you embed Trello
cards, YouTube videos or SlideShare decks. Other collaborative features include document link-sharing, creating and assigning
checklist items to members or embedding one of your Dropbox documents. Dropbox Paper, overall, does an excellent job at
creating dynamic documents you can share and access online.
2. Office Online For Microsoft Word and Office aficionados, the best possible free online alternative for their document editing
needs is Word online, which comes as part of the Office Online suite.
3. Google Docs- Google Does allows you to create, collaborate and share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings and
even forms
4. Etherpad- Etherpad is an online document editor primarily intended for collaborative editing in, as the site claims, "really real
time". It's an open source, highly customizable tool for online document collaboration with friends, fellow students and classmates,
or colleagues at work One of its advantages, especially appealing to users who are reluctant to use services which require email
registration, is that there is no sign up with Etherpad All you need to do is start a new pad and share the link to it with your
collaborators. You can also invite them by email if you prefer. After that, you can start working on the planned writing project
together, in real-time, even if you are miles apart.
5. Zoho- Zoho offers around 20 free online applications including Writer for word processing. You can link your Zoho account to your
Google and Yahoo accounts, as well finish typing. Zoho Writer is well-equipped with features that allow you to work easily online:
two-way desktop sync, large file transfer, encryption, file recovery, two-step authentication, in-app chat, and more. You can import
and work with MS Word documents, allowing you to insert images, and edit content as needed. Zoho Writer offers all the standard
text formatting and document creation features and can export to DOCX, ODF, PDF, Latex, RTF, TXT and even HTML. It can plug
into Echosign for digital signatures, publish the document to a blog or make it public for all to see. Zoho Does is completely free to
use.
6. OpenOffice- The OpenOffice package includes six programs that use the same engine making them inherently the same and
extremely easy to learn and use. The 6 applications included in the OpenOffice suite are: Writer (word processor), Cale
(spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Draw (graphics) and Base (database manipulation) and Math (mathematical equations).
Writer can even natively do some things that Word cannot, like open PDF files without the addition of a plug-in or commercial add-
on. As the software is open source, it is maintained by a large community meaning help and bug fixes are freely available and
quickly created. This is perhaps the leading free desktop alternative to Microsoft Word/Office. You can install this suite On
Windows XP to Windows 10, macOS (OS X) and Linux.
7. AbiWord Abi Word is a free word processing application very similar to Microsoft Word. It is available for Linux distributions only.
The software is fully compatible with not only Microsoft Word, but also OpenOffice.org, Word Perfect, Rich Text Format and more.
It has advanced document layout capabilities and can do mail merge as well, which allows you to automatically fill in specific form
fields in documents with information from databases and comma separated or tabbed text files. It is a highly useful feature if you
need to work with many formats at the office. Additionally, the software can be enhanced and expanded with freely available plug-
ins that will give you even more features and functions.
8. Jarte- Jarte is based on Microsoft WordPad Engine but is still free. There is a paid version of the software that adds on some extra
functionality, but the free version is more than adequate and fully compatible with Word and WordPad documents. Features
include an ergonomic tabbed interface, small resource requirements, portability support for touchscreens, and quick loading time.
It also has built-in spell checking and can export to HTML and PDF files. Jarte allows you to insert images, tables, hyperlinks and
everything else that you have come to expect from Word.
9. WPS Office 2016 Free- WPS Office 2016 Free is a free document processing suite whose WPS Writer app will serve you well as
a Microsoft Word alternative. WPS Office 2016 Free can open and save to a long list of popular. file formats native to those
applications like docx, doc, and more. You can get the application in languages other than English: French, German, Spanish,
Portuguese, Polish and Russian. The suite has the same familiar look and feel of MS Office with one exception--it has a tabbed
viewing window, so you can open more than one document at a time. And also worth mentioning is WPS Cloud, the company's
cloud document storage service that offers up to 1 B of free storage that you can use. This is perfect if you're trying to find a free
Word alternative that's not only scalable for teams but can also be as collaborative and seamless as its Microsoft counterpart.
10. SoftMaker FreeOffice- SoftMaker FreeOffice is another great free suite that offers a full featured Microsoft Word alternative; The
suite's TextMaker application allows you to focus on creating documents just as you would in MS Word. This suite offers up
essential editing features and even a handful of basic templates, for creating and editing documents. Tables, charts, shapes and
graphics are available along with standard text formatting options. This application provides you with everything you need. The
entire suite is available for Windows, Linux, and Android, so you can keep your document processing tasks going even while away
from your desktop.