Category Archives: E-Learning Design & Management

Online Language Lessons – Idea Bank

It looks like more and more language teaching is being done on the web. Let me summarize what online language teachers have on offer, what they do or could do in theory.  I will list several examples from Curtis J. … Continue reading

Posted in Collaborative Learning, Course Design, Digital Storytelling, E-Learning Design & Management, groupwork, Instructional Design, language learning e-tivities, Learning Language Teaching, Observations, Teacher Skills, Using Blogs in EFL, Using Wikis in EFL | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

The 4 Types of Multilevel Class Activities

Heather McKay & Abigail Tom (1999, CUP, Teaching Adult Second Language Learners, pp. 21-22) suggest teachers differentiate among four types of mixed-ability activity.  Unless the text is in quotation marks, it is my own interpretation. same input, same task What … Continue reading

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Is Studying 1-to-1 Pairwork?

Does studying 1-to-1 qualify as pairwork? And is it necessarily teacher-centered and bad? Anyone?

Posted in Collaborative Learning, E-Learning Design & Management, groupwork, Learning Language Teaching, Observations | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Sources of Frustration for E-Learners

According to research, e-learners are likely to be frustrated by technical difficulties communication breakdowns Source: Hara., N (2000). Student Distress In a Web-Based Distance Education Course.

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Interactivity & The 5 Ts that Make it Fail

Ian Forsyth (Teaching & Learning Materials & The Internet, 3rd edition,  p. 135) defines interactivity as emulating the traditional classroom He lists the 5 Ts that cause interactivity to fail on the Internet (pp. 19 -23) time technology timid territoriality … Continue reading

Posted in Collaborative Learning, Course Design, E-Learning Design & Management, Educational Technology, groupwork, Instructional Design, interactive CD-ROMs, Learner Skills, Learning Language Teaching, Teacher Skills | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

E-Courseware Design: Issues

Let me list some of the topical issues that keep emerging and need to be addressed asap. usability – what I mean here is all the extra clicks that either my students or I make, which takes time. Distributing courseware … Continue reading

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Web 2.0 Synonyms & Opposites

The opposite of hyperlinking is RSS aka really simple syndication. Users find content on the web and hyperlink to it . The opposite is subscribing to syndicated content aka RSS feeds. RSS readers are also known as aggregators. Metadata or … Continue reading

Posted in Course Design, E-Learning Design & Management, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, language learning e-tivities, Web 2.0 Buzz Words | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How Long Should One Online Language Lesson Last?

To begin with, I am not aware of any reliable statistics.  I can only draw on my personal experience and summarize a number of related Google search results. It is obvious, I hope, that it is impossible to spend more … Continue reading

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An Ideal E-Notebook

‘Spent the day contemplating Clarke’s e-note-taking advice. Isn’t it amazing? They’ve got it all online but for proper note-taking tools.  I mean Moodle doesn’t have such a module or activity as a notebook. Nor does Blackboard Vista. Well, they do … Continue reading

Posted in Course Design, Instructional Design, language learning e-tivities, Learner Skills, Observations, Teacher Skills, Using Blogs in EFL, Using Wikis in EFL | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

E-Learning & Note-Taking

Alan Clarke (E-Learning Skills, 2004, p.  26) made my day today when I read this E-learning does not provide an event at which you are required to take notes. All the content is presented in a form you could save … Continue reading

Posted in Learner Skills, Learning Styles, Using Blogs in EFL | Tagged , | 2 Comments