Full name: Nguyen Phuong Lien

Cohort: PG-33
Reflection for Module 8
Dear teacher and all,
Having read about different learning styles before, this module not only strengthens the need
for activities that are beneficial for all types of learners, but also proves the role of the
Internet in enhancing learning in order to make learners autonomous.
It is undeniable that understanding learners styles plays an important role in teaching and
learning, in general. Not all learners are the same but categorized into 4 different types:
Visual learners, Auditory learners, Reading & Writing learners and Kinesthetics learners. For
further understanding, you can watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_IopcOwfsoU

One certain teaching style cannot be effective for every student in a class, therefore, there
exists a requirement for the continuous update in teachers' teaching style. To make it
happen, technology is the most ultimate support that a teacher could ever have. A huge
number of websites and online tools allow teachers to keep trying out new activities of
different approaches into their classroom.
Also in the previous module, we have discussed a few ones. Today, I would like to go into
details about the tools that totally changed my teaching style and my students’ learning style
during writing lessons.
Traditionally, when I wanted them to brainstorm and write an essay, the students were so
lazy to write. Normally when working in groups, only one or two students are truly active. The
section seems to be effective only for those of the group reading & writing learners.
Ever since the use of MindMeister and Toontastics, visual and kinesthetics learners get
much more engaged in the lesson. For MindMeister, students can easily brainstorm online
with their friends using the available shapes and colors in the site and immediately share
their work to the whole class. By doing this, it not only helps students feel motivated to work
on the idea but also saves a huge amount of time and effort to check the mind-map. Friends
can see each other’s map and give comments from their devices without having to interrupt
others. That's why it is so attractive to visual learners.
As mentioned in the previous module, Toontastics allows students to work in groups and
create a piece of cartoon by themselves. This attracts even the kinesthetics learners. Other
than that, by utilizing videos for consolidating students' background knowledge, even the
auditory learners feel interested in the writing sections.
However, the teaching and learning might become a mess and less meaningful if not
organized in a proper way and be systematic so that students may be well aware of what
they are expected to do, how to do, when to do and how their outcomes would be assessed.
Therefore, we all need a common class site. Previously, I just sent email of the whole term
assignment through email and all the other sections take place offline. After this module, I
would like to try out others like Canvas and Blog, which are very powerful tools to manage
class and encourage students to actively take part in every motion of the course. I am on my
way trying a small roleplay project on both platforms and my targeted students are those of
Grade 11, who are grown up enough to study on Canvas and to be able to spend quite a lot
of time working online. Should you have time, you may visit my Wix site:
https://phuongliennguyen.wixsite.com/myyouniverse, where all the products of the roleplay
activity would be showcased if the project is successful. Although I have just brought the
students online, they seemed extremely excited and eager to find out all the content included
in each module. The very first deadline was met with no procrastination. I consider it a really
positive signal for the very first-step in getting students to become more autonomous in
language learning.
However, there exist some hindrances. First of all, the facility and availability of the internet.
Next it’s the students’ attention span. They may lose their focus when working on internet-
connected devices. So I would have to keep an eye on them all the times, making sure they
are not doing something else and ready to support whenever they need.