Creative Use of Tablets - EUN MOOC
ANNA LAGHIGNA's
LEARNING DIARY
ANNA LAGHIGNA's LEARNING DIARY 
On board the European Schoolnet Academy MOOC on "Creative Use of Tablets in Schools" 
Started on 13th April 2015 - Finished May 2015.
Hi everyone!
My name's Anna. I'm a secondary teacher of English as a foreign language.
I have been teaching for about 16 years. Before that I was a freelance translator/ interpreter and a tour guide.

I am half Italian, half Austrian. I partly live on the Austrian mountains and partly in northern Italy, where I teach English at a high school​.

I'm keen on technology, which I have long been trying to implement in my teaching practice. My blog is a dedicated place to my students, where I showcase their multimedia artifacts and celebrate their achievements.

MY TEACHING CONTEXT

The school I work at is quite big and it is disseminated among several buildings. 
There are about 1,000 students aged 14-9 who attend different courses. 
These all  finish with the Italian State exam (A-levels). 
Students study classical ballet and contemporary dance along with more academic subjects. Class sizes are between 15 and 25 and there are lessons until late in the afternoon. Many students stay in the boarding house the whole week and they have little chance to access the Internet from a PC.

Foto: these are some of my students in the rehearsing hall.
CLASSROOM SETTING
I do not have my own classroom and rotate around different rooms throughout the day. Classroom layout is very traditional and students sit in rows in front of the teacher's desk.
There are some interactive whiteboards in few classrooms, which can be used only by thestudents in that class. We do not have projectors, neither tablets or laptop computers.
There is a computer lab with 24 PCs where we can take students upon reservation, but our WiFi connectivity is very weak, so even the best designed lesson can end up in a total flop.
This is why I and my students prefer using our own devices. I bring my laptop, tablet and smartphone to school and we share all devices available in class.
Any time we want to do groupwork, we need to move desks to arrange for better layout. Below you can see how some of my students are working together on a school project. 

I enjoy teaching!
It's a big challenge, but also very rewarding when you see that spark of intelligence twinkling in your students' eyes.

I have been experimenting with technology-enhanced teaching for the last six years and I must admit that it has had a tremendous impact on my students' learning outcomes.

I believe we should prepare students for their future as best as we can. Their world will be highly digitised - that's a fact! And it will require new 21st Century Skills. So digital tools need to be implemented also at school.

I am very excited to embark on a new course by the European Schoolnet Academy.
I hope this new MOOC will provide us all with new inspiration for innovative teaching and learning.