If you ask me what the student role is nowadays, I would say that based on my experience, our students are indeed becoming autonomous learners. I have been a teacher for 13 years not, and I can see how that role has changed over the years. The student I had 13 years ago is not the same as the one I have now. Even the students I had a year ago are very different from the ones I have right now. First, I think that the students today don't learn the same way than they did 20 or 30 years ago. Probably the main reason for that is because of the way they study.  Their world is surrounded by information, by cellphones, iPods, computers, Xbox, PPS, and many other devices I don't even know how to pronounce. Even a 3-year old like my nephew can take my Android and know how to go about it to be able to take pictures or make a phone call. That's a very simple example of autonomy. Now, are the teachers autonomous learners too? I am not sure if all of us are, but we are definitely trying. We have to catch up with our students because as Jeremy Rifkins suggests, a new human archetype is born, one that knows the cyberspace so well that's interested on having exciting experiences and whose personality changes as fast as the cyberspace does. So, either we become autonomous and independent learners ourselves or we stay behind.

This week I have continued to implement my Google sites with the students, and I have found myself struggling with what I have been able to create and the roadblocks I have found. I have struggled with googlesites, trying to learn how it works because it  hasn't been easy. I was able to create the site and the pages for the weeks of class we still have left. I have also collected some materials and gotten some links to add in the site; however, I had had difficulties understanding the googlesites environment, finding it to be more complex than the yahoo groups I'm so used to. But just like my personality, I have looked for ways to cope with the challenge. If I don't know something, I ask for help, if I don't understand something, I look for answers. I mean, I don't think I have to have all of the answers or know all of the tools, I just know that I want my students to have the chance to practice as much as they can in and out of class. I am trying really hard to accomplish my goal, but it's been frustrating at times. However, I know that I don't have to be like Mrs. Gadget either and use technology inappropriately. I just have to be receptive to my students' needs and use the technology at hand to be able to fulfill their needs and help them improve. I hope I can do that. Thanks for reading!!!