Universidad Nacional de Catamarca

Facultad de Humanidades
Departamento de Ingls
Tecnologas de la Informacin y Comunicacin

Professor: Edith Luna
Student: Gustavo Nazar
M.U.N: 2688


Primer Examen Parcial

1) a) C.A.L.L. (Computer Assisted Language Learning): it is an important use given to
computers in terms of learning and teaching a second language. Here the computer
works as a presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned. It has
a most accepted and widespread definition given by Levy (1997): the search for and
study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning.

b) Word Cloud: it is a visual representation of a large group of words, especially key
words that are linked by a particular topic, that is to say, the words shown in the Word
Cloud are represented in diferent fonts, colours, sizes and positions (vertical or
horizontal).

c) CMC (Computer Mediated Communication): this term is referred to communication
between two or more persons via computers. There are two types of interaction:
synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous refers to real time communication, that is
to say, all participants are online simultaneously, whereas asynchronous refers to the
type of communication that is not performed in real time, for example when someone
sends an e-mail to another person; this person later read and respond the message.
This means that there is a lag time between the queston and the answer.

d) To digitize: it refers to the process of converting analog data (pictures, sounds or
documents) into digital data, in other words, digital formats that can be used in a
computer (jpg. pdf or mp3)


2) a) Information both videos have in common:
They explain how technology in education progressed over the years.
Both are visually striking.
The two describe the benefits of including technology in education.
Both videos suggest that there is still much to discover and make progress in
what refers to technology in education.

I) To my mind, the first video does not refer totally to the history of technology in our
context because in its last part when it shows the interactive use of some technological
devices in the classroom, I realized that these devices were never applied in our
educational context.
In my opinion, the second video refers to the history of technology in education in our
context, because it shows the same devices that were used here, in Catamarca, either in
schools or in the university.

II) In the first video, Internet, Web 2.0 and Mobile learning are located at the end of it
(accuratelly at 2:14) when a title slides on the screen and says: 1995, the digital age.
The same occurs with the second video, these terms are represented nearly at the end
of it (specifically at 0:38).

III) To my way of thinking, the first video refers to Digital nativeness, considering that
nearly at the end of it, it shows a boy that is learning to use a variety of technological
devices in the classroom, and after that, the video suggests that the boy graduates
from university and starts teaching in a school with those technological devices. What I
want to explain is that the boy was educated with these devices, thus he is able to apply
them in the classroom.
In the second video there is not any clear reference to Digital nativeness or Digital
immigration. However, I think that it makes a little reference to both, Digital nativeness
and Digital immigration, because I understand that the video is focused on students
(and frequently young people know more about how to use Internet, computers and
mobile phones) and mostly in teachers, for it shows the variety of uses that computers,
mobile phones and Internet can have in education.


3) c) Ideal b-learning English Language II course
This blended learning course is about English Language II, because I think this subject is
one of the most completes subjects, for it includes Grammar, Writing, Reading,
Listening, Vocabulary and Spelling. Then I propose a set of online tools that I think may
be useful in terms of practicality, that is to say, what I want to achieve in this blended
course is that these tools could be used as a practical support to reinforce our acquired
skills or those which are not yet acquired fully.
Now I will start describing the tools I think would be useful for this course:

VerbBusters: this is an online tool which helps students to learn and assimilate
verbs and their different tenses (present, past and participle) more quickly. As I
said before, students would learn verb tenses more quickly because there is a
chart to complete the verb tenses and below it there is a countdown timer with
a limited time and they have to complete it before the time is up. In addition, to
increase the competitiveness, there is shown a leaderboard with the best scores,
and that encourages students to improve their score. I prefer this tool because I
think it is very simple to use and entertaining and for it is online and does not
need to install any software, but it has a disadvantage because as an online tool,
it need internet connection to work

Activities for ESL students: this is another online tool which I think could be
useful in this b-learning course. It offers a variety of exercises to do for students.
They could reinforce their knowledge about vocabulary and grammar, because
you can create for instance a crossword puzzle with key words in a given text
about a scientific article with technical words (helpful for vocabulary), or for
example, they can complete multiple choice exercises about grammar topics.
These topics (about grammar and vocabulary) are divided into different levels of
difficulty and students can also solve bilingual exercises, that is to say in two
different languages, but always offering English as the second language, for
instance you can combine: Spanish-English or French-English. Like the previous
tool, I prefer this because of its simplicity and easy to use.