Without a doubt, the most demanding task this week was the
draft project. Not only did we have to finish it in time by Wednesday, but we
also had to read our partner’s work and give feedback. We were given a final
project template, information about project plan and report, rubrics, peer
reading checklist, etc, so I think all the members of this online course must
have a clear picture of what to do. Then, there were discussion and task to do
as usual, and this week’s topic was about online course sites.
While I was doing the draft project, I thought I could just
copy and paste my previous task steps, but then I realized it was not that
easy. I found most of them were not organized enough or looked not like a
serious academic essay because oftentimes I was just reflecting on my own
current teaching practice and wrote down whatever came to my mind. So, I almost
had to start all over again to fix the problem, and still I wasn’t quite satisfied
with my draft. I wish I could have more time.
It was a pity I didn’t catch up with the online face-to
face discussion, but Robert has kindly recorded the whole webinar so that I can
check it out later on. Actually, I myself have been practicing speaking English
one on one via Skype for five years, and it has really helped me a lot, like
giving presentations in English at workshops here in Taiwan. I wonder if there
will be another chance for us to exchange ideas of this online course with the
teacher and other course members.
With the help of modern
technology, language learners have more access to different learning methods
and motivating resources, which also makes it much more challenging to be a
teacher. Since our students are so exposed to different formats of stimuli,
traditional lecturing might not be sufficient just to grab their attention, and
that’s why we teachers have to keep on learning and studying. Therefore, I am
grateful that I get to know so many online resources because of this course and
its tasks.
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is almost the toughest week. But, we're doing fine, all of us are hard worker dedicated persons. Working with such group motivates me to do better work. We should think of a way to keep in touch after this course. Perhaps, we should create a blog or a site where we can exchange our experiences.
Naglaa
Hi Richard, Naglaa and Tanya,
DeleteWow! What a great idea, I also think we should keep in touch after this course. I am sure this is just the beginning of a long lasting relationship with web resources and why not sharing it together.
Thanks for thinking about it,
Lorena
Hi Richard!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that technology pushes our students forward. Today's students have broad experience with web-based communication tools. They appreciate and have some level of expectation that some tools will be part of the class communication process. They look for new and interesting things and we,teachers, shouldn't disappoint them.
By the way, your thoughts are always deep and inspiring.
Tanya
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteIt is always nice to read your posts since you manage to say what we all want to say but don't know how. I really thought I was the only one who was planning on just copying and pasting my previous work to finish the projet draft. I was also caught by surprise, but it was great we had the chance to reflect on our work before sharing it with our partners.
This was indeed one of the toughest weeks but at the same time one of the most meaningful.
Lorena