Saturday 18 April 2009

Ann Foreman: Encouraging Learner Autonomy

A talk I missed at IATEFL, and I've been kicking myself for it ever since, was by Ann Foreman, the Information and Communication Technology Coordinator at the British Council in Bilbao, whose blog is an incredible source of information on using web technologies wisely in teaching. Her blogname "Encouraging Learner Autonomy" (http://encouraginglearnerautonomy.blogspot.com contains the message. Her "how tos" are clearly written - lists! - and easy to follow.

Her blog is written systematically, starting out with "What are blogs?", so you can work through it step by step. A recent post includes directions for her students, "Read, listen and record a podcast task", which gives you a very good impression of the skills and hardware you and your students will need if you are going to do a podcast project together. Ann Foreman's blog is yet another reason to take off a week and to do some online self-study.

With people like this involved in promoting Learner Autonomy, I'm seriously considering joining the IATEFL SIG www.learnerautonomy.org.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It was a very interesting talk - and I do recommend joining the LA SIG - we're an active SIG, and are putting together a Pre-Conference Event for next year's IATEFL which will feature the relationship between technology and autonomy as one of its main themes. Best, Richard Pemberton