Ahhh...finally

I was finally able to access the week two readings and now my life is complete. Ok, maybe not, but I was able to synthesize some material - in my head if nowhere else.

I will say that after our first face to face, (or should I say F2F?…see how much I’m learning:), meeting, I felt more at ease with BAW. However, that is not to say more efficient or effective in the BAW, um, classroom?

What struck me after class on Monday was how much I enjoyed the interaction with real people. After floating around in a cyber universe for a couple of weeks, it was nice to put real faces to names as well as commiserate about the BAW experience. Commiserate. That sounds more negative than I intend. I guess what I’m getting at is that it was good to know that other people realized and felt a steep learning curve and had some uncertain feelings about BAW in general.

However, that being said, there are some things that I really enjoy about the BAW. For me, BAW provides interesting suggestions about how to incorporate technology into the classroom and provides a sort of an “introduction for dummies” of different programs that I hope to explore at further length later in the week.

Incorporating chats into or outside of the classroom allows students the possibility to interact with others in a more or less sheltered environment depending on the needs and skills of the students. Something that came to mind when reading about the incorporation of chats into the language classroom is the need for awareness on the students’ behalf of the abbreviations and colloquialisms used by native speakers of the English language. It would also require the teacher to be savvy to the terminology, as it changes regularly. Except for lol. That seems to be a staple that crosses linguistic borders.

Also highlighted was the possibility of inviting a guest speaker into the chat session. It is great to have the students prepare questions and be able to interact. However, the mediation/pace of such a chat can be difficult, as we saw on Monday :)

Another idea I appreciated were virtual office hours. How great to be able to answer questions from the comfort of your home.

I think chat interaction has the potential to be very beneficial to students, but I also think that it depends upon the student body and how receptive they are to virtual interaction. Something that I think some would miss during such interaction is the actual physical presence and synergy that occurs within a classroom.

The Joys of On-line Learning

The readings for Week 1 of the beautiful BaW course focused on strategies for successful on-line learning. When looking at what is expected of students who participate in on-line courses, guess what?! The suggestions for being a successful student on-line are similar to being a successful student in a real-live classroom! However, instead of being required to be on time to class, you are expected to log-on regularly to see if new information has been provided. Also, as common in many educational contexts, you are required to commit to succeed.

To me, the most interesting point mentioned about on-line learning is that students HAVE to participate to become successful in the course, and I can see both a positive and negative side to this. The student that might have been comfortable sitting in the back of the room drawing daisies instead of speaking in class is no longer allowed that luxury. Or, the on-line medium could be an arena in which some feel more comfortable expressing their ideas instead of a face to face setting. However, if a student is not comfortable with their writing ability, participation and the amount of information the student retains could be minimal. A potential hinderance of student participation is the occurrence of a technical malfunction that prevents a student to complete their readings. Hmmmm...I think that might be happening to me with the BaW Week 2 readings....

Me and My First Blog

Ahh, my first blog posting, ever. I’ve often heard about the wonderful world of blogs, but will admit to my personal skepticism about their usefulness. This is probably a result of my naivety, as well as a concern regarding who would want habitual updates about my life. However, I am beginning to see and appreciate the potential usefulness of this blog world, thanks to my enrollment in CALL 579. I say this because despite my initial tentative blog reaction, I’ll admit that I’m interested in documenting this experience and seeing my progression in the use technology and it fits into my life and future classroom.

To start off this journey, I will describe myself as a learner. I’ve taken learning assessments in the past and the results have said that I have no ‘dominant’ learning style. Apparently, I thrive using an array of learning techniques. However, I can describe my learning style and how I like to learn in one short hyphenated word: hands-on. I learn best through doing. I enjoy having things come ‘full circle’ and being able to explain what is happening as well as why and how it is happening. I am quick to spot the broad themes, and am sometimes easily frustrated with what I deem little details. I learn best when I see things and write them down, but I retain the most when I am actively USING the material. For example, I best learned French when I was in the country using the language daily.

The next question I will address are the types of learning experiences I would consider enduring. Hmmm. Well, I consider myself open to endure a wide range of learning experiences. The time I spent teaching and studying abroad in France resulted in some of the most difficult and challenging learning experiences of my life. However, it was through these challenging experiences that I have grown the most both as both an individual and as a learner. So, although a learning experience might not be what I would initially consider how I would ‘like’ to learn, or am traditionally used to learning, I am open to new learning experiences and ways in which I can utilize them in my life and future teaching endeavors.