An extraordinary mixture

As we have mentioned in previous posts, teenagers (and even children) are referred to as "digital natives" since they belong to a new generation that is growing up surrounded by the latest technologies (Prensky, 2001). They have fun, learn and entertain themselves using different technological devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and so on. Since the use of them is considered a mean to get students involved and motivated during the learning process, one of the main challenges for today’s teachers is to start including technology to the classroom.

From: elearningindustry.com

Blended learning is a term utilized to refer to “a mix of face-to-face learning and online instruction. The key is to get them right mixed for you and your students” (Its learning market, 2013).

Nevertheless, as Sophie Partarrieu (2015) claims in the article Why we still need face-to-face teaching in the digital age, “face-to-face teaching and technology can work together”. The key for a successful blended learning is to know how to mix the traditional teaching methods with an appropriate use of technology. Many teachers choose to provide materials such as videos, articles, pictures, mind-maps online in order to get students engaged and keep on learning outside the school.
It is important to know that the use of technology in learning would not replace the teacher in the classroom. The teacher is the only one that can perceive many aspects that technological devices can’t, such as learners’ needs and pace of learning, multiple intelligences and affective factors. Although many innovations have been included to the teaching and learning processes, the teacher still plays an important role in the students’ academic engagement and progress (Partarrieu, 2015).

From: www.upsidelearning.com/blog

There many sources available online that foster communication among the students and the teacher outside the classroom. One of them is Edmodo which is a free online networking application for teachers and students. It is primarily a tool for within-class communication, but it also provides several ways for teachers to connect with other teachers (edmodoteacherhub.wikispaces.com). Another useful free online networking is EDU 2.0. It is cloud-hosted, easy to use, and well designed and includes features for students, parents, teachers and administrators. Teachers can share class resources and more with their students and other teachers (educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com.ar).

To summarize, there are many alternatives to choose at the moment of planning lessons. The main responsibility for teachers is to distinguish what, how and when to include technology in their teaching while providing guidance and emotional support (Sophie Partarrieu, 2015).