Archive for January, 2009
Social Presence
Social presence is the degree to which an individual feels real or is seen as real while studying in an online context. The higher the degree of the learner’s social presence in a VLE, the lower the probability of the learner not finishing his/her studies.
In: E-Learning Design & Management, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, Observations · Tagged with: interaction, social presence
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. Bonk & Ke Zhang’s (2008) Empowering Online Learning, pp. 62-63. Types of resources & activities […]
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 with: activities, language learning e-tivities, Learning Language Teaching, online lessons, resources
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 is different in this situation is the level of your students’ language proficiency. What makes […]
In: Collaborative Learning, groupwork, language learning e-tivities, Learning Language Teaching, Teacher Skills · Tagged with: dictations, games, input, level, mazes, mingling, mixed-ability, puzzles, quests, scaffolding, task, trivia quizzes
Is Studying 1-to-1 Pairwork?
Does studying 1-to-1 qualify as pairwork? And is it necessarily teacher-centered and bad? Anyone?
In: Collaborative Learning, E-Learning Design & Management, groupwork, Learning Language Teaching, Observations · Tagged with: 1-to-1, mind-boggling thoughts, pairwork
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.
In: Course Design, E-Learning Design & Management, Instructional Design, Observations, Statistics · Tagged with: communication, distance learning, frustration, technical difficulties
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 on topics training truss – an infrastructure requirement
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 with: 5 Ts, Ian Forsyth, interactivity
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 in space often results in learners’ having to spend more time online than they would […]
In: Course Design, E-Learning Design & Management, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, Observations, Teacher Skills · Tagged with: archiving, categorizing, feedback, interactivity, issues, materials, sorting, time, usability, worksheets
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 metatags are usually embedded in website code, are not visible to the eye, are added […]
In: Course Design, E-Learning Design & Management, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, language learning e-tivities, Web 2.0 Buzz Words · Tagged with: aggregators, hyperlinking, metatags, RSS feeds, RSS readers, tag clouds, tagging
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 than 3 clock hours talking without a break. I guess that’s the maximum. As for […]
In: Instructional Design, language learning e-tivities, Learning Language Teaching, Observations, Statistics, Teacher Skills · Tagged with: duration, EFL lesson structure, lesson planning, lesson stages, online lessons, warmers
