How can technology make the English classes more dynamic, meaningful, and authentic? During last year’s KU Training Day, this particular workshop started with quotes from famous people who had made predictions about technology which turned out to be false. The projections claimed that technology would replace teachers and revolutionize education.

These predictions hooked the audience with the idea that technology cannot replace teachers, but those teachers who are good at using it will replace the ones who are not.

The audience and presenter shared several reasons on why technology cannot replace teachers. Technology cannot make English learning easy and fun or emulate a teacher’s capacity to provide useful feedback, share enthusiasm and empathy, be adaptable, improvise, and engage others in learning and improving.

The presentation was a demonstration, where each participant had the opportunity to try for themselves all the planned activities. First, they created an Edmodo account to join a pre-arranged group. Then, the attendees followed the presentation and walked through the slides all filled with tasks.

Participants learned to share content on multiple websites on Edmodo. They shared ideas on how to plan a class using the Edmodo assignments, and the integration of MS Word. They received feedback on how to use the platform. After that, the attendees reflected upon the activities and gave an opinion on the power of the platform and ways to maximize its use.

As part of the workshop, attendees took a quiz and a poll online; the results were analyzed and discussed. The attendees who had never used Edmodo before praised this activity.

A few attendees discussed the fact that many schools in Nicaragua do not have enough resources to instill this technology. Others argued that mobile technology is reducing the gap between traditional teaching and technology thru more access to the Internet and its resources.

Also, the audience saw a 7-minute video of a teacher who has implemented the use of different platforms to improve his classes delivery. The teacher demonstrated how he used Nearpod to create a very dynamic lesson. The video focused on how the teacher has been able to improve his class delivery due to the immediate feedback he receives from students who are not performing well.

After the video, the audience split into two main groups to share their reflections on the video and the presentation. Attendees expressed their opinions on the Nearpod video as well. Some were particularly impressed by the app’s real-time capabilities. They thought it enables teachers to adapt lesson plans quickly.

Finally, both groups expressed impressions on the presentation, and some said they would start using Edmodo and Nearpod.

After the session, some teachers asked for further ideas on how to implement Edmodo and requested to maintain access post presentation to the Edmodo group.