|
Post by anisoara on Jan 14, 2010 8:22:09 GMT -5
Thanks Carlos and Veronica for your inspiring comments.
Distance learning is also weak in my country, Romania, students are dependent on teachers.
I have never taught online, just attended online courses (I’m not a digital native)
Indeed autonomy is a XXIst century skill and what f2f education should aim at would be to offer students skills necessary to cope with challenges: computer literacy among others.
I think there are also intercultural aspects you need to take into account when teaching online usually to international students pertaining to politeness and indirectness. A straight comment on not being able to carry out a task or mistake a link can sound rude, for example, in my culture and this demotivates the students. I realized this only when I put myself in a student’s shoes.
|
|
|
Post by catherinedorgan on Jan 14, 2010 18:27:53 GMT -5
I've just finished a master's distance course and what was most important for me was to spend quite a lot of time before the course really started just getting familiar with the site, finding out what was where and where the different notices (assignments, calendar, discussion groups, etc) were posted. I think it's important for distance courses to have a period at the beginning for orientation and give students compulsory tasks to familiarize them with the technology. Also self-discipline is important as it's easy on the web, at least for me, to be distacted by the wealth of interesting but trivial information that's thrown at you. For example I came online this morning to spend a maximum of 20 minutes checking my email and an hour later I was discovering that if the temperature gets really cold when you exhale the vapour forms ice crystals that you can actually hear hitting the ground - fascinating but not what I should have been doing!
|
|
|
Post by isabelteixeira on Jan 14, 2010 19:32:04 GMT -5
Dear Carlos and Veronica ,
It´s interesting to see two different experiences towards online learning. Carlos, it´s nice to see your have a different point of view now. Online learning can be as effective and the traditional one. Veronica, good question! But I think we have to have in mind that each student has their own time and lurkers as also learners.
thanks for participating!
|
|
|
Post by gilder on Jan 14, 2010 19:39:43 GMT -5
Hi! Both readings are really interesting. I think that they give us the chance to know more about how to be a better online student. Be an online student, in my case, has not only been to get new knowledge about a topic or an unknown area, it’s been more than that. For me, it means an opportunity to improve my skills as an online teacher. It helps me to design new and challenging activities and, of course, to become a cool teacher for all my students. It also explains what things we have to keep in mind in order to make an online course a successful experience. If we are part of this new age of teaching I’m pretty sure we would develop better online classes for our students. Thanks for the readings. Two thumbs up!
|
|
|
Post by sheela on Jan 14, 2010 19:59:45 GMT -5
I also liked both readings a lot. They have nice hints for people who want to learn online. Sometimes I feel I'm overloaded with information as some here already mentioned. I myself have problems with passwords, so i decided to keep them written down... I believe the best way to enhance the success for online learning is focused on discipline. If we separate some hours of the week, or even one hour every day, for example, to get acquainted with the "worlds" we are supposed to work with, it becomes less difficult. I think in the future we will face them much more naturally than now that we are working with everything at the same time. Besides, after this marvellous experience we will still be in touch, have the records in the wiki, blog and forum. Something that is also important is to keep practing so that we don't forget how to deal with such tools and learn new ones as they are always being updated. Thanks for all the help everybody gives, you are simply the best!!!
|
|
|
Post by Daf on Jan 14, 2010 22:00:06 GMT -5
Hi, I've always considered distance learning 'weak'. In my country, Ecuador, it is a must to be in a class with a teacher, who is the owner of the class; the content, methodology, learning strategies, etc. are brought and decided by him/her. Learners just follow suit and do as they are told. Autonomous learning is the ultimate objective of education; online tools and learning definitely help learners to get there. Online learners don't need dependency on teachers, and this pushes them to do things by themselves and call on the teacher only when they really need. Being a good online learner demands commitment and constant adaptation and adopting strategies that help learn. Learners need to make sure that the strategies are effective; they need to try them out and keep the ones that work for us. There is not just a set of strategies; the only one who knows what maximizes their learning is the student. Carlos you have nailed it!!!!! Daf
|
|
|
Post by Daf on Jan 14, 2010 22:05:12 GMT -5
Hi! Both readings are really interesting. I think that they give us the chance to know more about how to be a better online student. Be an online student, in my case, has not only been to get new knowledge about a topic or an unknown area, it’s been more than that. For me, it means an opportunity to improve my skills as an online teacher. It helps me to design new and challenging activities and, of course, to become a cool teacher for all my students. It also explains what things we have to keep in mind in order to make an online course a successful experience. If we are part of this new age of teaching I’m pretty sure we would develop better online classes for our students. Thanks for the readings. Two thumbs up! Thanks Gilder! You have showed me that you have become a great online learner, and I am sure that this experience will be reflected in your own teaching. I am saying this, because Gilder was my student in a graduate ESP online course last trimester and even though it was his first online course, his performance was excellent. :-)
|
|
|
Post by Daf on Jan 14, 2010 22:09:33 GMT -5
I also liked both readings a lot. They have nice hints for people who want to learn online. Sometimes I feel I'm overloaded with information as some here already mentioned. I myself have problems with passwords, so i decided to keep them written down... I believe the best way to enhance the success for online learning is focused on discipline. If we separate some hours of the week, or even one hour every day, for example, to get acquainted with the "worlds" we are supposed to work with, it becomes less difficult. I think in the future we will face them much more naturally than now that we are working with everything at the same time. Besides, after this marvellous experience we will still be in touch, have the records in the wiki, blog and forum. Something that is also important is to keep practing so that we don't forget how to deal with such tools and learn new ones as they are always being updated. Thanks for all the help everybody gives, you are simply the best!!! I totally agree with you, Sheela, organization is a must for an online learner and for teachers, too. Like you, I write my passwords and usernames. I have a telephone book where I keep them organized alphabetically (using the name of the application). I jot down the name of the application, the email account I use for that application, my username and password. If the name of the application is not self-explanatory I also write down its purpose. Best, Daf
|
|
|
Post by Daf on Jan 14, 2010 22:20:30 GMT -5
I've just finished a master's distance course and what was most important for me was to spend quite a lot of time before the course really started just getting familiar with the site, finding out what was where and where the different notices (assignments, calendar, discussion groups, etc) were posted. I think it's important for distance courses to have a period at the beginning for orientation and give students compulsory tasks to familiarize them with the technology. Also self-discipline is important as it's easy on the web, at least for me, to be distacted by the wealth of interesting but trivial information that's thrown at you. For example I came online this morning to spend a maximum of 20 minutes checking my email and an hour later I was discovering that if the temperature gets really cold when you exhale the vapour forms ice crystals that you can actually hear hitting the ground - fascinating but not what I should have been doing! Agree, Catherine. Self-discipline and organization are 2 main characteristics of successful e-learners and e-teachers. Apart from my involvement in BaW, I am delivering 6 online courses (graduate and undergraduate) and I need to organize my time in order to design my lesson plans and be there for my students but at the same time have a life ;-) A first period to get acquainted with the different platforms and the course design is very important. It is not so difficult in regular academic courses, but it is not so easy in the case of the EVO sessions which are short and with a huge number of participants. Btw, what was your Masters about? Cheers, Daf
|
|
|
Post by dimivalmi on Jan 15, 2010 2:44:27 GMT -5
As I've taken part in several online courses, adding something new or valueable in discussins has always been the most difficult part in the forums. While reading to yourself and analysing it's easy to agree or disagree, but then it's so hard to word your ideas.
|
|
|
Post by Stella on Jan 15, 2010 9:13:42 GMT -5
What I have learned from on-line learning is 1- to be organized (Thanx Daf, you gave me the very same piece of advice two years ago: I also keep a little address book with passwords and stuff) 2- to become more HANDS-ON learner: that is to say to be more pro-active, not to say: "Aha, this is HOW they do it" :obut to do it myself (perhaps not always successfully) A s a matter of fact taking a Baw course may be different from taking another regular course. Here here's room for everybody: the experts, the newbies, the would-be users, etc. There's lot to learn. A piece of advice for those who will surely be (overwhelmed): TAKE YOUR TIME, and go on pracitsing during the rest of the year! Rome wasn't built in one day and our e-skills either!! stella;D
|
|
|
Post by anisoara on Jan 15, 2010 13:00:29 GMT -5
Totally agree with you Catherinedorgan, when we launch on the Internet if we do not discipline ourselves to stick to the initial target, we are lost in trivial pursuits. Gilder I agree with you that teaching online whether synchronously or asynchronously is a rewarding experience for both self-esteem and student satisfaction. Sheeila, you’ve summarized the essence of being a good online student/teacher: staying in touch, being self-disciplined, being password-wise, practising constantly. Dimivalmi, you know what they say: practice makes perfect. I know what you mean by “taking your time” – as I said many a times before, I just heard about wikis, blogs, TI, chat, virtual rooms this time last year at Baw09 and right then I was really anxiously overwhelmed, wanted to quit many times, invested a lot of time daily – but as you say these materials stay here for as long as the Internet is going to be, so I came back many times, explored links to what other colleagues had done and that is how we can make constant progress. Thanks to all successful online teacher-students.
|
|
|
Post by Olga Muranova on Jan 15, 2010 17:01:21 GMT -5
Yes, the system of on-line learning and distance studies is quite new for all of us (including the Russian EFL teachers, of course . However, many of us have already some experience of learning on-line. For example, beside two EVO workshops at present I also take part in a distance course which is dedicated to the issues and some "tricks" of intercultural communication. All materials, tasks and commentaries are left on the WEB-page of the group organized within the Russian popular blog WEB-site which is called "V Kontakte" (that is "In Contact" . So every participant of the course can see each other's commentaries, answers to the tasks, questions, etc. All this makes me think that such "openness" of this system helps its organizers to assemble a real "WEB-community" which makes our participation and the general results of organizing the course much more effective, I think. Besides, it is nice that all the necessary explanations and commentaries are presented there in the news of the group and in the answers of its organizer. It makes our learning within this course much more convenient and less time-consuming. So it seems to me that all these things coincide with the hints given in the article. Hopefully, in the future on-line education will become more and more popular in different spheres including learning foreign languages . I am sure that EVO sessions and workshops are a good proof of growing popularity of on-line education . I am sure that some elements of on-line learning can be introduced at the usual, "live" lessons as well - including our EFL lessons, of course. For example, it's possible to resort to videofiles, various WEB-tools and some materials on the WEB-sites to make our lessons more "interactive" and "modern" and hence more effective and even "unforgettable", I would say. Thus I think it goes without saying that the issue of on-line learning is very up-to-date now. Thanks that you decided to offer us these materials for reading and their further discussion! The choice of materials was right, I think! Hopefully, other participants of BaW2010 think the same. ))
|
|
|
Post by anisoara on Jan 16, 2010 7:02:50 GMT -5
Hi Olga, I agree with you about memorabiltiy, espcially in educational contexts where there is no regular online experience. About the 'In contact' web page you are talking is it organized at national level by the Ministry of Education, British Council or some other EFL organization?
|
|
|
Post by Gabriela Crocilla on Jan 16, 2010 13:54:39 GMT -5
To enhance your learning on line you should get familiarize with the website, visit the course website regurlarly, participate in conferences designed for the course, keep up with the course schedule and contact the course professor for any question that may crop up.
|
|