516: The Starting Point 6/25/08

Before taking this course, I read some articles about constructivism and social constructivism. But few of them mentioned how to create a foreign language learning environment, in which the learners can be engaged into learning tasks involving real-world problem. Besides, I always wondered learners can produce work in truly collaborative ways to construct socially meaningful knowledge. The reading and activities in module 3 provide guidance and example of creating and publishing information in a new social context.

The most important tools, that would help me to create a collaborative learning environment, are weblog and wiki. Video sharing tools like YouTube and podcasts are the other two that can be used to create an authentic learning environment. I will also use RSS to track the status of the students learning and to evaluate their contribution to their group work.

The most important information I got from the readings and online resources during his course is that teaching is conversation, instead of lectures. Just as Will Richardson says, “Teachers must become content creators as well.” As a digital immigrant, I am ready to practice the tools, develop and enjoy learning styles and strengths similar to those of the digital natives. This course presents me a new box of tools and techniques to take full advantage of the opportunities this new Rea/Reflect/Write/Participate Web presents.

I think the Internet will put the traditional foreign language teaching system under great pressure. At the same time I see a great business opportunity of the Internet for foreign language learning. I remembered the prosperity of video and audio English learning publications in China in the past two decades. I also see how my students feel frustrated facing such a huge amount of productions. On the other hand, after arriving in America, I was shocked to see how outdated the learning materials our students are using.

The most important skill I learned during the course is how to use RSS. Subscribing to the content relating to my interest will same me much time and energy because new information will come to me automatically. I believe, this is the key to discern what of that increasing amount of information is useful. Therefore all of us can be smarter and more efficient consumers of online information.

I agree with one of our fellow classmates, Stephanie Dieudonne’s comment, “The tools discussed in this project (Group wiki activities) are useful in their own rights, but it is convenience that makes these tools so impressive.” The development of information technology is always closely related to every aspect of our social life. The definition of learning has evolved from the passing of knowledge to collaborating to contribute to the world knowledge. The learning process will become an exploration that will not end when we finish a specific assignment. Instead, it is the beginning point where other learners can make improvement on the basis of ours.

How is that ambition possible? Well, we have the convenient Internet tools that help us to discern the useful information from the mass and to save our efforts from being discarded or stored in a folder somewhere. Our creation can be added to the conversation and be used by future learners. That can be considered to be socially meaningful construction. Now, our effort matters to the world.

Moreover, the good news is that most of the tools are free (or with a reasonable price) and easy to learn. Now with this convenience at our fingertip, we can feel free to take advantage of the Internet resources. In this course, we have already had such an exciting experience led by both our instructor and Will Richardson. Though the students in this course have diverse educational, professional and cultural difference, we all have great fun. That is a good starting point.

Endless Possibilities with RSS Feeds 6/20/08

The RSS Feeds I found are Madrid Young Learners Podcasts (http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/RDwY) and Volunteer Voices (http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/multimedia/podcasts/rss.xml). The first one is an example from our textbook. An English speaker podcasts her story and exercises are offered after that. These authentic materials can be easily integrated into English as a foreign language teaching classroom, either online or on-site. The later is found by searching on Google with the keywords “volunteer podcast”. Coverdell World Wise Schools is a website that aims to enrich K–12 students with the dynamic cross-cultural classroom materials, literature, videos, lessons, ideas, and services. Volunteer Voice is one of the Poscasts resources they offered. These valuable RSS Feeds will enable my learners to communicate with volunteers worldwide, which will bridge the gap between their prior knowledge and the learning objectives.

I have been conservative toward the influence of Internet toward education, thinking that its role has always been exaggerated. However, this week’s reading and hands-on activities lead me to a totally new world, in which teaching and training are truly revolutionized by RSS Feeds. The more exciting part is that all the tools we experienced are interrelated and they make the learning process organized and easier. All these tools have opened up the door to a new model of foreign language teaching and learning. I will first of all use bookmarks, combined with the social networks, to guide the students to find and organize the authentic multimedia materials and carry out creative and cooperative learning activities.

Flickr Example

BBC Sport in Beijing: Volunteers
Originally uploaded by BBC Sport

BBC Sport in Beijing: Volunteers

Beijing Olympic Volunteers go through a dress rehearsal during a test event.

Volunteers for the Olympic and Paralympic Games will mainly be recruited in Beijing area with college students as the principal source. Meanwhile, a fraction of them will be recruited from among mainland residents of outside Beijing, from compatriots of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as from overseas Chinese and foreigners.

Get Started

Here I am! Get started in the blogsphere, the very first step of exploring the application of the Read/Write Web for Education. We have realized and felt how WWW has impacted our ways of communicating and working. There has always been heated discussion on its potential of changing our ways of studying. Now it is time for us to test our hypothesis in the real cyberspace. Are you ready?

I believe Weblog’s distinguishing features have great potential for the English Teaching reform in China. Mainly because of the shortage of teachers, the English classes in Chinese colleges and Universities are usually large (ranging from 40 to 200). One of the challenges is the learner difference, which is one of the deciding factors for successful teaching and training in big classes. I would like to use this space to share my experience for English (as a foreign language) teaching in large class and discuss how to use Internet resources, esp. the Weblog to facilitate learning.

Connecting writing seems to be the key to English as foreign language learning. One of the challenges we are facing is that students do not have an authentic learning environment, including both the physical word and the learning materials. Another one, as I mentioned earlier, is the ignorance of individual difference, e.g. the learner’s learning styles, language proficiency as well as personalities. Obviously, the flexibility of Weblog with the limitless audience will solve these major problems to a great extent.

I hope that the impact of Internet resource on Education is not for us to wait to feel, but something that we can discover and enjoy together!