How+to+prepare+students+for+the+activities+and+the+potential+pitfalls+or+issues+the+use+of+specific+technology+might+give+rise+to

For preparing the students, teachers can give them access to the internet and look for relevant information of the topic of ‘Going Out’ to familiarize themselves with what are they going to do. Then make sure the computers, internet network, microphones etc are ready for them in case they don’t have these equipments at home. During lesson, teachers should provide clear information on what to do, especially introducing the technologies that they are going to use. Also, teachers should leave some time for answering the problems that the students have encountered.

The potential pitfalls for using technology would be limited access to technology which some students cannot afford computers. Also, technical problems are sometimes out of control, such as the loudspeaker doesn’t work during listening or the microphone doesn’t work during recording.

When using Pro Prof, a problem that teachers and students may encounter would be the essay type question. Students will not get the answer correct unless he/she gets the answer in exact wordings. This will be a bit discouraging if the students get all the other answers correct but they can’t gain full marks. It then requires the teachers to look at the answers again to judge whether they are right or wrong. Therefore, Pro Prof will be best in setting MCQ or fill in the blanks type of question.

When using Voicethread, the pitfall would be a lacking in clear boundary between the dialogues and the comments if it is in dialogue format. Students will not know which part is the starting point of the comment and will be confused. Also, for voice recording means, if the user does not have a good voice, it is hard to continue the discussion if others can’t listen clearly to what has been said and if using typing method to replace, the meaning of oral discussion will be lost.

When using bubbl.us, there is a problem that changes will not be saved if the ‘save’ button has not clicked. Also, the account will not be working if it is left idle for some time and the unsaved changes will be lost. It will be quite frustrating for the users. And if a student makes changes to the map, just like wiki and Google doc, notification will not be sent to other collaborators of the map. Even worse than wiki, there will be no history saved for modifications, so collaborators will not know the changes and cannot undo the changes that others have made.

Overall, all technologies have pros and cons. When the benefit of the learning of students outweighs the technology pitfalls, the technology is worth implementing.