Abstract:

Since the beginning of the 20th century up until now, there have been few structural changes in the Educational Systems around the world. Students are still being taught according to the guidelines imposed by the Industrial Age, in which they were taught not to think, but instead, to replicate what they learnt. (Kelly, McCain, Jukes 2009).

Thus, this study aims to explore the outcomes of a program drawn specifically for this purpose. We used IT tools, such as computers and mobile phones, thus avoiding the instructional methods, such as pen, paper and blackboards.

The program lasted for one month and it was held in a private school in Lisbon. It was designed to teach six Portuguese students from the ages of 11-12 years old, learning English as a second language.

As for the IT tools used in this study, we chose three websites (www.typingclub.com, www.mindmup.com and www.kahoot.com). The first website played an important role once it was used as an English vocabulary source to participants, including games, informative videos and tasks.

The idea for the second website, www.mindmup.com came up due to the need to register the vocabulary learnt in each session. Thus, instead of being the teacher telling the students what to write, the website allowed them to be creative and to create their own mind map based on the vocabulary learnt on each session, using images, colours, and schemes provided by the website.

The third website, www.kahoot.com, was chosen due its flexibility in terms of use, but also because it could be used as an assessment tool. Having reached the last session of the program, the teacher designed a game which summarized all the topics and vocabulary learnt over the four sessions. Instead of using a written test to assess the students’ knowledge, playing kahoot was a fun and relaxed way to understand their struggles and accomplishments, and also to assess what they have learnt.

This study revealed that students felt more engaged and motivated to come, and to be in class. The use of IT tools brought them close to their reality, enabling them to feel more comfortable and connected towards school. Following the use of the referred tools, students were eager to learn and to participate in the activities held in class.

Apart from the higher levels of motivation and engagement, students also stated that the quick feedback provided by games (through badges and sounds) and other websites such as the mindmup, would help them to improve their learning skills due to their quick “responses” and rewards.

As for future recommendations, we would like to suggest other teachers to use IT tools in order to promote engaging learning environments, not only for the students but also for the teachers. Other than that, we would also recommend the use of this program for longer periods of time and with a wider range of students, in order to collect more data to improve it.

Keywords:

Motivation, engagement, technology.