Webskills Course - Week Four Reflections

Introduction

How fast time flies and nobody has any control over that! However, one can always think of ways in which how the time is spent. Guess the weekly reflection is an endeavour in that direction too.

What I did and learned

This weeks Webskills course focused on Reading and Writing using technology. Like always there were four different assignments to do. There were couple of readings to do too.

Out of the readings I liked Three Extensive Reading Activities for ESL/EFL Students Using E-books by Ling. As part of the Nicenet discussion I posted how I'll make use of ideas mentioned in this article to develop a lesson of my own.

Then there was a distinct strand on corpora. I don't make use of corpus much in my teaching and was surprised to see so much of enthusiasm from my classmates on how to integrate this into language teaching, especially vocabulary teaching. My curiosity to know more about corpus took me to a post on Onestopenglish website titled Introduction to corpora.

The second task was to come up with a technology enhanced lesson plan. I took a while to do this. I went through couple of my classmates' lesson plans before garnering the confidence to do one of my own. I thought of using technology and the internet to raise learners' awareness on current affairs and in the process work on their language and study skills. Learners of our era are fortunate to have access to a variety of resources - print as well as digital - around to enhance their learning. Sadly, many students don't make use of this either because they don't know about them or don't know how to make use of them. Classrooms in such contexts can introduce the resources as well as show learners how to make use of these resources.

My lesson plan which is open for comments can be accessed by clicking here.

There's a final project task that is left now and I know there's a step that I'm lagging behind and can now sense how that has to be taken care in order to do this.

Apart from all these I learned how to spice up my blog by adding blog roll (that can be seen on the right side) which in a way will help me to keep a track of the latest posts from my classmates.

Classroom application

The sites that I got exposed to in this week can in deed help me in integrating technology in the classroom. I knew technology or the internet is just a tool in my hands to enhance learning experience of my students and nothing more.

Webskills Course - Week Three Reflections

Introduction

What a learning week this had been especially for the online learner in me!

Week two had been lull for various reasons - personal largely - the proof of which is the missing blog post (this does not mean that I didn't do anything or learned anything that week; but that is yet to be reflected and recorded). I was drifting away I know and somehow I couldn't do anything about that feeling. However, through the timely intervention of my course tutor Courtney I believe I am a better online learner now. As the course is unfolding I can sense the learning curve getting slightly steeper (may be this is purely subjective) and know for sure that unless one has a plan and that too a solid s/he cannot survive.

What I did and learned

It took me a while to understand that the weekly course requirements have four distinct strands. These are namely:

1. I've to participate twice in a weekly discussion. 
2. Do a weekly task and post reflections on that. 
3. Update on a step of the final project. 
4. Finally update the blog. 

The four seems simple on paper (blog here); but for a learner like me who wanted to do all in one go they posed a big challenge and made me run away and hide. However, through a series of mails with Courtney I think I know better the nature of the beast I'm dealing with.

So what's the plan that I'd learned about doing an online course well?

First and foremost never try to do everything in one go.

Break it. Time it. Space it.

All are important. A learner has seven days a week to complete the four items. Even if one decides to do one per day there will be three more days left which when thought that way is a great relief. Also focusing on one task out of the four can help in quality and better assimilation of the concepts.

Second is finding your way around. This is very important since the course may have many links to visit and might be spread out across online topography; but, activities happening in one or two places might only be evaluated. This one has to keep in mind. This does not mean that one shouldn't/needn't visit the other places; but, should make sure that s/he be where the activities count too.

The third thing is to ask for help if you think you need instead of running or drifting away. I luckily had an instructor who was kind enough to get in touch and enquire whether I need help. But this might not be possible all the time in all cases. The learner need to keep this in mind and should be bold enough to reach out to people who could help.

Apart from learning how to be a good online learner I learned about websites for developing aural/oral skills and social bookmarking websites. Through my classmates I came across many useful websites for developing skills and now have a delicious account which you can see by clicking here. In addition I read two articles - one related to teaching listening and the other on teaching pronunciation.

Classroom Application

My own learning experience as an online learner and the way in which Courtney reached out to me will be of use to me when I conduct online learning programmes for my students. The articles on listening and pronunciation provided me opportunities to understand the history, the need and the theory behind the teaching of listening and pronunciation. Furthermore, I now know a handful of sites that can be used for teaching aural/oral skills. Moreover, through the social bookmarking site delicious.com I can now arrange my links in a jiffy and can share them as public or private.

Webskills Course - Week One Reflections

Introduction

Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web is my first formal online course which if done well can fetch me a certificate! But am I doing this for the sake of a certificate? Honestly, NO! Even if there were no certificates or formal recognition I believe I would have done it anyway. Then what is this soft feeling towards the certificate? Well I believe it has to do with the ambiance the course is creating. It feels like going back to school where one has a teacher and classmates and is asked to do things as part of learning and assessment. I do not know whether I can use ‘discipline’ as a word to capture what I experience! May be I think I should say ‘Yes’!

I am not at all new to the web and I use it quite extensively to get several things - personal, professional, academic - done. I have noticed how subtly the web can swallow my time even before I notice it. Sometimes I end up with too little take-away value; but too much of investment in terms of time. Another nature of web is that it is overloaded with information. If somebody has put something on say anything, using a search engine anybody can easily (?) get that information and many a times that can lead to another search, then another search that very soon one is lost in an information maze. 

Through experience I now know that self discipline is something that is of prime importance for anybody who is interested in using the web for anything. Lately out of this realisation I have started my own effort in that direction. I will try all that web has to offer; but in moderation. The Webskills course that I am doing now is like a place for me to work out this enlightenment.

The first week of the course is about to be over and so much has happened in so little time and looking back now I know I am yet to have a system in place. By this I mean a regular log in, log out time. Hopefully that will be in place very soon.

What I did and learned?

Though the course was opened on Oct 1 as previously announced I could not join it on that day. I was on the move and wished I had a device that would help me to stay connected while I am travelling. This experience also reminded me about the digital divide that can be found in many parts of the world which could be in the form of lack of devices or connectivity or digital illiteracy or anything else. 

By the time I was able to be on board two days had gone past.

Initially like any other online participant I too lurked and had a look at the course website and the Nicenet. I never have heard about Nicenet before and was happy to see/learn how it functions. Once logged in I read the already posted introductions and was surprised to see the participants from all around the globe. 

Courtney Cunningham, My Course Instructor

I decided to make my web presence for the course by responding to the online questionnaire. 

Then a day or two later (by then Courtney  had grown a little weary about my absence and got in touch to enquire whether I am facing any technical glitches) I posted my introduction. While doing this I did not do it the right way. My introduction appeared as a reply to Courtney's introduction and by the time I found out this, the site would not allow me to delete but only edit the post. So I had to leave a reply to all those who had participated in that thread before moving on to post my introduction as a separate entry.

There are two more Nicenet threads that I need to participate which I think I will do after my first reflective blog post which is this.

By then Courtney had put up a wiki version of the WebSkills course for the Fall 2012 participants and one thing that caught my imagination was the Google Map feature that she had incorporated there. I use this application whenever I travel; but I have not yet explored it beyond checking my own whereabouts while I travel. So the resource links (especially the 'Directions for how to use a Google Map') that she had put up I found particularly useful.

Building an online community sometimes can be challenging especially when people are not ready to collaborate. The internet has democratised the learningscape; however, much still depends on the participation of the people involved. I knew I simply cannot think my work is done right after I post something. Instead I need to respond at least to one another participant's contribution and build meaningful conversations. The era of 'I-know-it-all' or 'I'll-talk-only-to-the-teacher' is gone.

Classroom Application

All that I had done and learned can be shared with my learners when I try out such things with them. Since many things I myself have learned as a learner I believe this will help me to  look things from a learner's perspective.

The resources that I have been introduced - Google Sites, Nicenet, Google Map, Blogger - can all be part of the web tools that I can use in my class.