Week 7 To depend, or not to depend

Learner autonomy involves a psychological process on the part of both teachers and learners. There are teachers who feel comfortable with the role of 'purveyors of knowledge' and don't want to get down on the plain from mount Olympus. There are learners who are comfortable in the traditional system of learning - being passive at the receiving end, looking up at mount Olympus for the oracles to be announced. Putting this analogy aside, I strongly feel a walk towards learner autonomy or self-directed learning is a giant step for teachers and learners on 'our part of the world' as it demands to get rid of the dependence on teachers and learners. 

To depend on technology or simply put - a computer, isn't a favorable choice for us as well. As Moni portrays the Bangladeshi scenario in his blog post this week, we are lucky who are teaching at tertiary level. It happened many times with me when I prepared my lesson with a power point presentation or video clip and things didn't work out the way I wanted to because of power failure or the lack of technical support. I had to change my ways but tried to carry out the lesson. I always believe in the good will and innovation on a teacher's part to overcome all difficulties. If a teacher really puts his/her mind onto something, it's achievable.

Wallwisher is a wonderful tool to provide students a common platform to share links to reading materials, video/audio, slides etc of their own choice. Thus it doesn't only enhance learning by sharing but also promote autonomy.

WebQuest is another way of promoting autonomy and my project deals with one that I prepared at Zunal. I'm preparing my draft project plan with apprehension at how the students will react when I announce the project to them. I'm trying to see things ahead and embracing myself for an adventurous ride with my students. Hector signed up the partnership document on the class wiki where Alina, Hector and I are in  a group to review our drafts. I'm looking forward to the next week and to the review of my project plan.

Week 6 Technology Tools, Large Classes & Interactive Power Point

Ask me about the largest class I had to deal as a teacher! It was back in 2005 when Dr. Wayne Scott from the US came to teach at our university as a foreign faculty. The university authority cramped almost all Business Administration students into one class to get the maximum benefit 'out of' a foreign faculty. The course was titled 'Introduction to English Literature' and there were 150 students there! I was there with Dr. Scott not only as an assistant but also as an interpreter. Traditional mode of lecture-based teaching was practiced in the class. The difference was in the assessment. I first got introduced to the idea of having different kinds of question patterns to assess students' learning in easier ways other than the conventional question-answer pattern of essay writing. The classroom experience was not so sweet back then... But as I read the articles given for this week and also take into account of my colleagues' experience from different parts of the world, I feel confident about facing large classes now. (I won't still call for one!)

Now I'm teaching groups of 43, 49, and 35 in three classes. What I feel about using technology aids (Blackboard/classroom clicks) or different techniques (quick-thinks/think-pair-share etc) to ease the 'pain' of teaching large classes and enhance learning is - a concrete planning and a thorough preparation are required. Will the given class time be enough? Did I check all details so that I'm in control? Will I be able to adjust with any mishap, like a power failure or missing handouts? 

Some of the technology tools are jaw-openers for us, especially the assessment tools. But to incorporate these into our system might take a little longer...

I use power point for my classes. But never explored all these wonderful interactive tools before. The weekly task was very constructive as I practiced some new modes. It was also    stimulating as I saw 'things' happening in my slides. I took such a pleasure in making those slides!

It's nice to visualize all the other participants busily working with their students to implement their projects too. I'll be waiting for my turn . . .

Week 6 Refining Project

My project task lost its flow when I suddenly realized that I can’t implement the project in week 6 and week 7 like the others due to the midterm exam of my students. So I had to opt for a project plan instead of a project report. This was quite frustrating as I was thoroughly excited about implementing it. The consolation is I’ve more time to refine the project so that when the students come back to the classes after their midterm exam, I have a well-thought-out project to offer them. I have prepared my Zunal WebQuest for the project last week (as an extra task) http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=182851. As per Courtney’s suggestion I added a category to the rubric (I also entailed the rubric task with the project so that all finally came together to fit in the project). I also added an additional link to my process page this week.

Two significant changes that I am planning to bring are –

1. Instead of implementing the project with just one group of 42 students undertaking Classics in Translation I course, I’ll include another group of 49 who are also studying the same course. The regular attendees are 35 and 45 respectively. 

2. My project plan was to create a class wiki so that students can upload their Vimeo links there. But as I’m already using a blog http://tahsinay.blogspot.com/2013/02/your-task.html for a specific web search task by introducing Noodletools to both the groups, I am planning to use the blog where they’ll upload their links http://tahsinay.blogspot.com/2013/02/your-assignment.html. Peer evaluation can be easily done at Vimeo as comments for a specific video.

I will use the following references to support my planned change:

1. Susan Gaer’s "Less Teaching and More Learning"

2. Jo-Ellen Tannenbaum’s "Practical Ideas On Alternative Assessment For ESL Students" 

3. Bernie Dodge’s "Some Thoughts about WebQuests"

4. Bernie Dodge’s interview

Project related follow-up activity will include peer evaluation. Students must watch others’ role play and post comment at least about one video on Vimeo. I’m also planning to have a follow-up activity in the form of a questionnaire where students will analyze the impact of the project. I'm still brainstorming with this part and thinking of adding the following yes/no questions:

1. Did you enjoy doing the task?
2. Did you explore the web for this task?
3. Did you practice using English in a more interesting and fruitful manner?
4. Did you groom and improve yourself?

5. Was the task different from a traditional assignment given in other literature courses?

But more substantial questions should be added for an evaluation of the task from the students' point of view. I already gave a questionnaire to the students initially just to assess their ‘technology and web-related exposure.’ 

I'll devote the next week in writing down the first draft to be sent to a classmate.    

   

Half way through

As week 5 is coming to an end I am reminiscing how it all started last December with a proposal from the secretary general of Fullbrighter Association in Bangladesh.... 

Shahidul Islam used to work with me in the same university but switched to another one a few years back. But he always kept in touch and informed me about workshops/seminars. When he suggested that I submit the form for nomination to participate in the Webskills course online with Oregon University, I expressed my doubts saying I had no ELT background. He assured me and said he had full faith in me that I'd be able to cope up. I submitted the form, Shahid recommended me, I got nominated, and registered for the course with Oregon University's Linguistics Department. The American Center organized an orientation program for the new participants where we had the chance to meet the old participants who received their certificates during that program. The happy faces of the former students proudly receiving the Oregon certificates from Fife McDuff was a real motivation. During the experience sharing part, they cautioned us about utilizing time properly and to read the articles right away when the week would open for our course. Before the course started officially, I had communicated with the department expressing my insecurities and wanted to know if I needed to study ahead. I still had in my mind that the course would introduce me to theory regarding the web and web-based approaches to teaching. A reply assured me that once the course started the course instructor would help me out with everything. I embraced myself with courage and was prepared mentally to go through a tough time.

The course started in January. During the first week I was bombarded with frequent emails from Courtney Cunningham. The orientation to the course was smooth enough with 4 simple tasks - introducing myself to the class, commenting on the ground rules, filling in a questionnaire and creating my blog. After the first week I started feeling confident about myself. Week 2 demanded more and I remember writing a few emails to Courtney asking for clarification or suggestions. She was and still is the able guide with prompt reply to keep me on track. After the second week (specially after seeing my points on Jupiter Grades) I felt things were settling in and I could ace the course!

Learning never stopped but it was different than what I had had in my mind. I was straight way applying and synthesizing after reading. I got introduced to various theory, tools and techniques. I learned from the Nicenet discussions too. It's like coming together and talking about our different contexts and how teachers in different parts of the world are striving to facilitate learning. 

In terms of applying technology I did two things with my course students (the same group of students I chose for the project). 
1. I conducted an open book test on the first book of the Iliad during which they used the web (it wasn't mandatory for all but 40%students browsed) via laptop and cell phone to aid them in the test. 
2. I created a blog http://tahsinay.blogspot.com/2013/02/your-task.html and assigned 90 students of two groups to use Noodletools for searching the web for course related studies. 

5 more weeks left. There's a project and report of the project due. But I don't feel apprehensive about it anymore. I feel confident as I march with my virtual friends-colleagues and know for sure that when the course comes to an end, Courtney will feel proud of herself for bringing into changes in all our lives as teachers/educators/facilitators.         

Week 5 Streets to classroom

I have had difficulty with my Internet connection this week and faced real problem with posting/working for the course. I could not even watch the video clips recommended on the course site let alone Courtney’s suggestion about a Webinar and PBL in Hong Kong at Nicenet. Aargh! But this is not the only news! The week was dormant in terms of teaching as we had two days of political strike in support of the war criminals (!) and classes were not held. Things started get stormy from Tuesday as the verdict about a 1971 war criminal was given. The public demand was death penalty rejecting the inadequate punishment. Facebook based bloggers association started a protest on Tuesday and it grew enormous. I went there and saw the youth of Bangladesh raising their voice against the verdict, participated in the protest, and met a lot of ex and current students, and acquaintances. Just to give you an idea of the mammoth size of the movement I’ve attached a photo from one Facebook page. 

The others are taken by my cell phone and put into a collage. So things have been quite invigorating for me. In the midst of this turmoil I was able to attend the ‘Fusion Ecstasy’ presented by Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Ustad Zakir Hussain and Rakesh Chaurasia on Wednesday. That was a treat to the soul. 

I was done with the reading materials early. I guess that’s why I could pull over all the other tasks on time. The first one that I went through “Assessing Learning: Alternative Assessment” makes a link between alternative assessment and learner-centered classroom. It shows how gradually students can be oriented to alternative assessment and benefit from evaluating themselves and peers. It also lists checklists, holistic rubrics, analytic rubrics, primary trait rubrics and multitrait rubrics with examples.

The next article “Practical Ideas on Alternative Assessment for ESL Students” by Jo-Ellen Tannenbaum like the first one puts emphasis in the very beginning that we need to focus on the students’ strengths than weaknesses during evaluation. I came to know about the K-W-L charts along with alternative assessment on nonverbal tasks, oral performance or presentation, oral and written products and portfolios. This article also has lot of examples to go with and an interesting read.

“Less Teaching and More Learning” by Susan Gaer shows the transformation of a traditional teacher into a Project-Based Learning (PBL) based teacher. I think Susan’s experience is going to be quite identical to some of the participants in this online course! Starting with a cookbook project, then into a folktale project, dealing with many more Susan takes up a student newspaper project which has a larger impact. She opines that PBL has lot of motivating factors for the students in language learning but also cautions us to gear the project to the students so that they see value in it, and put necessary efforts and time to execute the project. Susan’s website with lot of different examples helps understand the ideas better. Most of the Nicenet discussions (including mine) mentioned all the positives about PBL unlike the first post on the thread by Sharmila and Bobby’s. Bobby came up with three problems – evaluation, restraint of time and unsatisfactory results. I think in all the three cases the teacher/instructor plays the key role. He/she needs to come up with strong rubrics, motivate the students by having a project that they agree with and put a little extra effort into it.

The last one in the list “A Project-Based Learning Activity About Project-Based Learning” has a chart of different learning styles which comes very handy. It shows how PBL can address different student learning styles and offers a practical PBL activity.

My students have ideas about the areas that I focus for evaluating them for a particular task. But I have never given them rubrics (used checklists before). So making my rubric for a specific task is rewarding – not only for myself but also for my students. In creating rubrics I think the learning objective should always be kept in mind.

I wasn’t at all familiar with WebQuests. Creating a Zunal account and happily making WebQuests was an extra task but didn’t seem like an extra burden. Rather it felt that this is going to help me out with the execution of the solution to the problems raised last week or the probable project plan. I have already chalked out the project plan but feeling the necessity of suggestions/comments to mold and finalize it.

I think all the tasks of week 5 will come down to the practice in different courses I’m teaching. Like the other invigorating and rejuvenating activities in the week, teaching-learning has become very stimulating.

What kind of teacher are you?

This is a simple reflective assessment of what kind of teacher you are. I was introduced to it by Adrian Tennant, Freelance Teacher Trainer from the UK, at a conference workshop session.

For the first part you have to choose any of the four words from the box that describe what you do as a teacher.

explore                                develop                                 inspire                       tell                                                              share                                   facilitate                           participate                            cultivate                      transmit                                          help                                                      inform                          coach             shape                            give  mentor                         motivate                                             plant                                                      prepare                               instruct                                   nurture

For the second part you have to choose one picture out of the following four which describe you as a teacher. (In your response you can mention Picture 1/2/3/4 with the words).

The assessment will be given later after I get a few responses. :)

My assessment surprised me!

Week 4 Technology

I'm relieved that this week’s tasks are all done in the midst of picnics!

The readings were interesting as they were varied. Jarek Krajka’s article was very practical as teaching different genres of writing was addressed through the Internet, Mei-Ya Liang’s article showed the importance of learners’ autonomy and how this is related to motivation in the learning process, and Chao-chih Liao’s article showed how using emailing project under CPAW program worked wonders for students in Taiwan. I never knew key pals exist!

As my Nicenet classmates provided wonderful reading, writing and vocabulary tasks with the help of technology and as I kept adding useful links to my Delicious page, another week came to an end. Technology or not, I try to incorporate critical thinking into my lessons whenever possible, and I congratulate my classmates like Hector for his idea of making students write a letter being Charlie (a character) and Izela asking students write a different version of the story in their proposed lessons. It’s interesting to see how teachers in different parts of the world are striving to create an ‘educated’ generation.

I browsed lot of new sites, shared quite a few with my colleagues at my work place, thought of ways to include technology in lessons and finally prepared a technology-enhanced lesson plan with the use of Google doc.

On the whole, this week’s message to me is – the lesson and its objective are primary, technology should be thought of as a tool to assist us in implementing the lesson and ensuring that learning takes place. Technology shouldn't be used in an overtly dependent manner by us. We should be able to teach even without the presence of technology. In addition, I'm looking forward to the project work by which I hope to solve problems with the help of technology!