Week 10: Overall Reflection of the Course

Dear Donna and e-participants,

This week is about over! The course is also about over! I remember how I spent past ten weeks. It is very hard to describe using a few words. I say it is PRECIOUS.

What was my curiosity with this course?
When I was informed that I was selected for this course ‘Building Teacher Skills through Interactive Web’, I jumped with joy because it was my first opportunity to have online course from American University. I thanked to all the concerned who provided me this opportunity. I was very much curious and was waiting for the day when the class would formally start. Firstly I was curious about the nature of the course, instructors and the learning environment and tasks I had to carry out since it was my first experience with the online course.

What anxiety I had when I got informed to have been selected for the course?
I was equally anxious about the course. The condition that the participant wouldn’t get any further chance if he or she couldn’t complete the course, made me very serious and devoted to the course. I was anxious because of technical problems like daily load shedding, unreliable internet facility and other possible problems. Especially, my whole anxiety was related to the nature of the course and the tasks I had to do during the course.

What I learned during the course?
The course was the ten weeks training package. It is really difficult to measure its worth with the help of simple words. Just I claim it is precious for all teachers. I had only known power point presentation in the name of technology and it was also not interactive enough. During the course, I learnt many more things about the use of technology to make the classroom dynamic and bring learner autonomy. The most important thing I learnt through this course is – LANGUAGE CLASSROOM IS HANDICAPPED IN THE ABSENCE OF TECHNOLOGY; LEARNER AUTONOMY CAN BE MATERIALIZED SUCCESSFULLY WITH THE HELP OF TECHNOLOGY; LEARNERS THEMSELVES ARE THE MAKERS OF THEIR OWN KNOWLEDGE.

More specifically, during this week I leant how to create ELT blog, nicenet, rubrics, interactive powerpoint presentation, webQuest, online course site, ANVIL and so on. We were given clear instruction for creating and using them in our class. I found every single week more informative. I got the exposure of more and more reading materials.

The discussion issues during the course were writing objectives following ABCD model, learner autonomy, incorporating technology for teaching aural/oral skills, technology enhanced lesson plan, CALL, project based learning, technology for interactive classes, one computer classroom, online tools for enhancing learning, learning styles and multiple intelligences and assessing the Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi). Every issue was supported with abundant reading materials.

Project work was another demanding task that every participant had to carry out during the course. We were given a lot of sample projects carried out by our senior colleagues. Most of us prepared project plan since we had just started to use technology in our class. I prepared a project plan and will definitely carry out the project report.

Rapport with the instructors and other e-participants
There was a very good rapport with the instructors and e-participants. I realized what teacher is after attending this course. We were lucky because Donna was the main instructor for this course. She always encouraged and motivated for carrying out the tasks. She was quite busy with commenting and encouraging us during the course. She provided us clear instructions for every task. I think she had to handle the participants form different cultures and different background. She never felt tired and always encouraged us with beautiful words – ‘excellent’, ‘very good’ ‘nice’ and so on. I am proud of her. I wish I could take one more session from her. Similarly, Jeff Magoto, director of the University of Oregon’s Yamada Language Center, and other instructors also facilitated us with different issues. I would also like to thank them.

We were twenty participants in our group. All were free and frank and enthusiastic to learn. Some friends were familiar with the online course whereas others were like me. Some friends had very good knowledge in technology and some were like me. We were all the teachers from school level to university level. I found all curious and helpful. We all received each other very well. We never broke the rules that we ourselves determined just before the course started. The rapport among the participants was really good and will remain forever because we are in the same field no matter wherever we are.

How I apply this in our class?
As mentioned above, this course provided us more and more insights in using technology in the language classroom. The course has been successful to change my attitude towards teaching profession. In the past I might not be learner centered but now I can claim that I am trying to be learner centered. In the light of the knowledge I got from the course ‘Building Teacher Skills through Interactive Web’, I have started to carry out technology integrated and learner centered activities and I will keep it on during my whole teaching career. My aim of teaching now and for future is to bring learner autonomy through the use of technology.

Finally I would like to conclude my reflection with the statement Margaret Fuller, ‘If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.’ I will definitely disseminate the knowledge I acquired and let my colleagues be familiar with this. I will share it with the teachers who are In NELTA and working different parts of Gorkha. I am also planning to share this in the international conference of NELTA. I am still thirsty and will always run for quenching the thirst. My respected TEACHER DONNA has opened the door for me to enter the field of vast knowledge and practice related to the use of technology in the language class. I will try my best. I would like to thank Donna and other concerned who provided me this opportunity. I always remember Evan Esar for the statement, ‘success is the good fortune that comes from aspiration, desperation, perspiration and inspiration’. Though it is the end of this course, I will always be in contact with our GURUAAMA Donna (in Nepali - female teacher who is always respectable like mother) and learn more getting more suggestions and guidance from her in the future too. I will always be in contact with my lovely e-colleagues and share our ideas in the future too.

With warm Greetings!
Kamal

email: kamal_busy2022@yahoo.com

Week 9: Reflections: Multiple Intelligences Exist in Every Class

Dear Donna and other e-participants,

What I learnt?
This week I got the opportunity to broaden my knowledge on Multiple Intelligence and learning styles. As Gardner states, intelligence is the ability to find and solve problems and create products of value in one’s own culture. Gardner and others talk about different types of intelligence. They are verbal/linguistic intelligence, mathematical/logical intelligence,

visual/spatial intelligence, bodily/kinesthetic intelligence, musical/rhythmic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence, naturalist and existentialist intelligence. They claim that every individual is equipped with these intelligences. However, the degree of intelligences in different individuals is different. This shows that a class is just like a miniature society. There exists individual differences and the crucial matter is teaching learning process cannot be successful if such differences are not addressed. Again, the problem that occurs is how to address individual intelligence if the class consists of a large number of students.

Technology should be incorporated while addressing multiple intelligences of the learners in the classroom. Different programs and activities should be designed to enhance an individual learner and his/ her intelligence(s). Regarding the importance of computers for addressing learning styles, Davis (1991) puts, ‘computers can be a valuable and vital tool when combined with Gardener’s seven Multiple Intelligences to enable educators to reach students with a variety of learning styles.’ As given in the reading materials, learners who have verbal intelligence can be encouraged to use email, blog, chats, writing, rewriting and so on. Learners who have mathematical or logical intelligence can be engaged with the activities related to calculation, online calculation tools, math and science soft ware and so on. Similarly, the learners having musical intelligence should be engaged in singing chants, rhymes, songs, playing musical instruments and so on. For the learners, having interpersonal intelligences should be engaged with the activities like blogging, chatting and so on.


Another very important article I went through is the one written by Richard M. Fielder and Barbara A. Soloman. It basically talks about different types of learners in terms of the learning styles they use while learning. They have talked about active learners and reflective learners, intuitive and sensing learners, visual and verbal learners and sequential and global learners. Like Gardner, they have also focused their attention on individual differences in learning. For example, for sensing learners, we should design the activities that demand facts whereas for intuitive ones we should design the activities related to discovery and problem solving. Similarly, for visual learners, we should have pictures, diagrams, charts, and films and so on whereas for verbal learners we should design the activities that demand spoken and written explanation. Sequential learners tend to learn the content in sequence of linear steps whereas global ones tend to learn the content randomly without seeing connections.
How I apply in my class?
Multiple Intelligences exist in my class too. So I will try to identify the learners and their dominant intelligences. I may not be able to address the individual learners. For the students of small class where there are no more than 15 students, I will try my best to address the learners individually. For the large class, I will find out the common trends among the learners and group them for different activities. I design the activities suit for them. I will try my best to incorporate technology in my class too.


Thank you.
Kamal

Week 8: Reflections - Wonderful Experience with e-tools for Educators

Dear Donna, Jeff & and e- friends,
This week we got the opportunity to be acquainted with different e-tools which are very useful for the teachers involved in teaching in general and language teaching in specific. We were given a number of tasks like discussion with different tools for educators, creating a nicenet for the class that we participants teach to, creating our own wiki for the online course, creating a blog for the class that we teach and most importantly to join with ANVIL.

Firstly I consulted with the 'Tools for Educators' (http://www.toolsforeducators.com/) that we were given. I found a number of exercises like 'Free word search', 'Free Cross Word Puzzle',
'Free Bingo Maker' and so on very useful for the language classes. They are precious to motivate the learners in learning. LANTERNFISH (http://bogglesworldesl.com/) is another tool which consists of printable materials. 'Easy test Maker' (http://www.easytestmaker.com/default.aspx) is another tool which helps the teachers for generating tests for evaluating learners.

Secondly, I created a nicenet account for my class. I designed some exercises for involving the learners in nicenet discussion. No doubt, it a precious tool for involving the learners in written tasks.

Thirdly, I updated my class blog and shared with my respected teachers and e-participants. I think it is the best tool for letting the learners post comments and take part on the discussion.

Fourthly I created a sample wiki for online course. In the beginning I faced a number of problems as I had limited technical knowledge but later I got a success on it. I created it and designed an online course for the intermediate learners. I designed some exercises for reading and learning English.

Joining in ANVIL creating the teacher account is another task I did this week. I found ANVIL a boon for teachers. The credit goes to our respected instructors Jeff and Donna for exposing it to us. It is the best tool for exposing our learners’ speech. Listening and speaking skills can be taught successfully with the help of ANVIL.


All these tasks are very important to enhance learner autonomy.

Finally, I prepared the first draft of the project plan I am going to carry out and posted for peer review. I also went through the Project Plan carried out by Hari Maya Sharma. As we both are quite familiar with the ground reality of the teaching learning environment in our context. We are constantly sharing our ideas for make our project plans applicable.

Greetings
Kamal

Week: 7 – Reflections - Learner Autonomy: Isn’t it the Demand of 21st Century?

Dear Donna & e-friends,

This week remained a very fruitful week for me. I went through the articles “What is Learner Autonomy and How it be Fostered” by Dimitrious Thanasoulas, and “Learner Autonomy; Bird-in-the-hand or Birrd-in-the-Bush” by Samuel P-H Sheu. I found them very informative. As Dimitrious has put forward it is the shift from traditional teacher-centered teaching learning approach to modern learner-centered approach.

As cited in Thanasoulas, Holec (1983) states, it is the process of developing “the capacity to take charge of one’s own learning”, in the learners. In other words, this approach encourages a learner to be fully responsible for his own learning. He/she himself/ herself is the maker of meaning. It is a self-directed learning and the learner is solely responsible for making decision on what to learn, how to learn, when to learn and which speed to learn in keeping himself or herself in the framework of syllabus given. I also found Sheu so interesting that it is fully related to the sharing of his own experience. I think it is a very good exemplary lesson for the teachers and learners who are teaching and learning English anywhere in the world.

For enhancing learner autonomy, Thanasoulas and Sheu, including others have talked about some of the techniques. Self reports, diary writing, self assessment, reflective activities and classroom reflection are the useful ways of it. They can be used even in the absence of technology. WebQuest, Blog and CALL are very useful where there is the access of computer technology.

Besides this, this week I got some experience on the use of one computer in the classroom. This is very fruitful for us since we don’t have more computers in our context. We can use one computer for better learning. Similarly, I read some of the ideas for preparing project plan. I selected my partner to whom I have to work together for our project plan.
Now I am eagerly waiting for the next week!

Greetings
Kamal

Week 6: Reflections – Learning is something students do, Not something done to students

Dear Donna, Jodi & e-friends,

Experience with Interactive Powerpoint Presentation

This week I start my reflection with a beautiful statement made by Alfie Kohn, ‘learning is something students do, not something done to students’. Yes, this week I got more ideas on how I can make my powerpoint presentation more interactive. I observed the power point presentations that my respected instructors Donna and Jodi sent us. I also observed other PPTs prepared by my e-friends. I am proud of them they all are praiseworthy. And now I have come to the conclusion that interactive powerpoint presentations are useful for eliciting ideas from the learners, motivating them for learning, letting them for broaden their knowledge with classroom discussion and assessing their own current performance in the classroom.

Dealing with Large Class

The second task I did this week is I consulted with the reading materials related to using technology in large classes. I found the articles very informative. I got more insights for handling large classes. I think large classes are not only the burden but also the fun; it is only we teachers who can make the classes boring or live. I see large classes are full of potentialities so the thing is how we use such potentialities. While using technology, we should involve the learners in interaction. No doubt, as large class is heterogeneous in nature, the teacher should enhance collaboration, participation and acceptance of the individual potentiality. For dealing with this issue I consulted with the following sites including the given ones.
http://www.ehow.com/list_6742683_benefits-teaching-large-class_.html
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/teaching-large-classes
http://www.englishclub.com/teaching-tips/teaching-large-classes.htm

Technology –related changes in my class

Regarding the implementation of technology in my class, I have just started to use interactive powerpoint presentation. I took four sessions to all the learners of English Access Microscholarship Program, Gorkha Center, Gorkha, Nepal. The sessions were all related to the use of technology in communication and learning different matters including English language and culture through internet. I encouraged my learners to create yahoo account/ Google account and facebook account. Now they all have their own accounts. I have added them in my list under Access Program. I gave them some of the important sites for English learning. Now they are familiar to http://www.youtube.com/, www.google.com, and some other few websites. I have also shown them my blog and some sample WebQuests. In my class too I use computers, TV and CD player for involving them listening to music and English language. I am using the listening CDs published by Cambridge University Press as recommended by the Access Curriculum. My learners also watch films once a week. I have started to keep the record of their progress in language learning and using technology. So far I know I have just started to implement the technology in my class so I will share more about the changes in the week to come.

Thank you all.
Kamal

Week 5: Reflection – Less Teaching More Learning

Hello Donna and e-friends,
WEEK 5, I remember, is now about over. As I did in the earlier weeks, I enjoyed a lot this week too. Something special that I knew heartily this week is LESS TEACHING MORE LEARNING. All the tasks that we had to carry out were interesting and would demand meticulous labor from our side. How lucky we are! We got the opportunity to be familiar with Rubistar, WebQuest, WebGarden and so on. I will present what I learnt this week.


Enjoying with Alternative Assessment

I went through the reading materials related alternative assessment, a new approach for assessing the learners’ performance. It is student- focused and has been designed with the activities in which students actively participate. As stated in the article, effective alternative assessment relies on observations that are recorded using checklists and rubrics. So I learnt something about checklist and rubrics.



Reading about Project Based Learning

The next thing I consulted this week is Project Based Learning (PBL). I went through the given reading materials. After reading them, I got more insights on how we can use it in our class. I found it the best approach to make meaningful learning. It assures “Less Teaching More Learning” so it is the radical shift from the traditional teacher-centered approach of teaching. In this approach students keep on doing something while learning. During the project task, students are engaged in producing or creating something collaboratively so they are highly motivated.
For this task, I consulted the following websites:
http://www.globalschoolnet.org/Web/pbl/plan/assres.htm
http://www.sun-associates.com/lynn/pbl/pbl.html
http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning
http://www.atesl.ca/cmsms/home/newsletters/december-2007/project-based-esl-education/
http://susangaer.com/studentprojects/



Creation of a Sample Rubric: Lesson Planning

The task related to creating a rubric is very important for us. I created the rubric in lesson planning. It was new to me so in the beginning I got confused and failed twice but later I followed the procedures meticulously and I succeeded. My URL is - http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2072696& .
For this task, I consulted the following websites:
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/eta/Rubric_Tutorial/default.htm.



Creation of a WebQuest: Two Long Term Problems: Overpopulation and Deforestation

This task is equally important for us. It enhances quality teaching and quality learning. As rubrics, it was also a new task for me. I got success only after several attempts. I went through the WebQuests that other teachers have created. Most of them are wonderful and precious for both teachers and learners. I also created one focusing the learners of intermediate level in our context. My URL is - http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=108828. For this task, I consulted the following websites:
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub3.html
http://www.webquest.org/search/index.php
http://www.webquest.org/index-resources.php
http://www.zunal.com/


Continuation of the Project Work Discussion

As given in the weekly assignment, this week I described some potential changes of my class. I expressed how I am engaging my students to introduce technology in their learning.


How I apply the knowledge in my language class:
- I will apply PBL in my language class so the learners who are shy and less active become very active.
- I will use the WebQuests in my language class as they are the strong tools for both teachers and students.
- Rubrics are very important for evaluating the learners so I will create and use them when I have to evaluate their performance.
- I will try to use more and more technology because it enhances LESS TEACHING MORE LEARNING.


Thank you all.
Kamal

Week: 4 - … pictorial presentation of my reflections on the Journey I made during this week ...

Dear Donna and e-friends,

As the earlier weeks, our teacher Donna provided us many articles related to the use of technology in teaching reading and writing skills. Among them, I went through ‘Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction’ by Jarek Krajka; ‘Three Extensive Reading Activities for ESL /EFL Students Using E-books’ by Mei Ya Liang; and ‘Using Technology to Assist in Vocabulary Acquisition & Reading Comprehension’ by Andreea I. Constantinescu. I found them more informative.

I tried to find out more about how computer and other modern technology have been incorporated in teaching reading and writing skills.

I am quite impressed with Krajika in that she has tried to explore more about the issues of using internet in teaching writing with reference to different genres. She has also provided the reference websites for most of the genres.

Going through such articles was really a fun for me. And I made it and took part in nicenet discussion with my teacher and e-friends.

Second task for this week was to work for the project work. So I too presented some issues, challenges and possible solutions of using technology in the language classroom I teach. It is really important for me in that it provides some guidelines for the project work I am going to carry out in this course.

Preparing a lesson plan was another important task I had to do this week. I prepared it for teaching 'Organs of Speech' for the students of Bachelors' Degree (First Part), Tribhuvan University, Nepal. I tried my best to incorporate computer technology in that class.

As other e-participants, I would like to make a commitment to use the learnt knowledge in my class.

Now this week is over. I enjoyed a lot. I am eagerly waiting for the tasks I have to do next week.









Thank you all.
Kamal

Week:3 - Reflection - trying to chew some delicious reading texts, trying to know more about the project work and trying to get ideas on how to incorporate computer technology in my English language classroom

Hi Donna & e-friends,

As the earlier weeks, the third week remained very important for me. For this week, I was given some tasks to do. All the tasks were very important and I could learn a lot from them. The tasks were creating delicious blog, reading articles related to the use of CALL in second or foreign language teaching and making nicenet discussion on the articles, reading the project reports given and making nicenet discussion and finally writing the weekly reflection and posting on the blog.

Delicious Blog
Creating a delicious blog was very interesting and important task for us. In the beginning I felt a bit difficult to accomplish this task. I thoroughly followed the guidelines for creating it. I created the blog and added the URL on the delicious wiki. I also added the URLs of our teacher Donna and other e-friends. As I added the URLs, I visited their blogs and knew the reality. What a fantastic world! We have the access of the books or reading materials that one finds. I went through some of the reading materials. I also searched something new from through the cite, http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html . I added the bookmarks of the findings in my delicious blog. From this task, I learned that we can share the reading materials and making our network reading effective. Similarly we can use it in our classroom. We can encourage our learners to create their delicious blogs and share what new reading texts and others fruitful documents they have.

Reviewing the Articles Related to CALL
Reading the articles related to CALL and reviewing them was another task for us. We were encouraged to make nicenet discussion on the use of computer technology and other modern innovation in second or foreign language teaching. Mainly three articles were given us. ‘Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials’ by Lindsay Miller, ‘New Perspectives in Teaching Pronunciation’ by Maria Grazia Busa, and ‘The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second / Foreign Language Speaking Skills’ by Julia Gong were the main articles for reading. We were also provided the reading resources of lesson plans for teaching different skills and aspects of language. I found all the articles very informative and all of them clearly emphasized the crucial role of technology in language teaching. CALL is really very advantageous in that it makes the learners learn on own pace and it also makes the learners free from any kind of psychologically threatening classroom environment. I went through different resources for the history of CALL and knew how important it is for second or foreign language teaching.

Reviewing the Project Report
Reviewing the project report was the third task that we had to carry out. There were seven reports and I went through most of them. I found all of them very commendable. The researchers have worked hard to come up with the findings they have written in their reports. Among them, I selected the project report carried out by Prem Bahadur Phyak. He carried out his project on the students of M.Ed. second year, University Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. His project was on "Developing the Research Skills on the Students". The students were under the access of computer technology and internet facility. Later he encouraged them and guided them to use that in carrying out their research. The findings were highly positive. I got a kind of insights for carrying out my project work.

The tasks that I mentioned above are really fruitful for enhancing my teaching professionalism. The first task has taught me how to involve my learners to share and read the limited materials. Similarly, I myself can use a lot of materials that my e-friends have collected and added in the form of bookmarks in the process of teaching English. The second task has taught me how to incorporate the computer technology in English language teaching. I will apply the knowledge in my class. I have come to the conclusion that use of computer technology makes my class live and dynamic. The last task has taught me how to carry out project task relating the use of technology in the language class.

Suggestions are welcome.

Thank you all.

Week: 3 - CALL As I Experienced ...

Dear Donna & e-friends,

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is one of the several innovations brought in the field of second or foreign language teaching. It, in the words of Levy (1997:1), is “the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning.” The application of computers in language teaching started in the 1950s. When we see CALL historically, we can clearly find three distinct phases. These phases are found to have been determined with the approaches and methodologies of language teaching dominant at that time. The early period of CALL was dominated with behaviorism, psychological school of learning and structuralism, linguistic school which were in power in the 1950s and 1960s. The impact of these schools in second or foreign language teaching remained unchallenged until the seventies. Audio-lingual method which emphasized language learning as a matter of habit formation employed the then computer technology in the field of second or foreign language teaching.

The second phase of CALL starts only after behaviorism in learning and structuralism in linguistics were challenged. After 1960s, audio-lingual method lost its faith in maintaining communicative goals of language teaching in the learners. On the one hand, mentalist or cognitive school came as a reaction of behaviorist psychology and on the other, generativist school of linguistics led by Noam Chomsky came as a reaction of structuralism. Similarly, in the early 70s, Halliday brought his functional linguistics claiming that language should be studied in terms of the function it does in communicative contexts. In the 1980s, there came notional syllabus in language teaching. They all paved the way for the development of communicative approach in second or foreign language teaching. The goal of language teaching under this approach was to enhance the communicative ability in the learners. So CALL was guided by that goal and used for maintaining communicative ability in the learners. This period of CALL remained till 1990s.

The third phase of CALL starts with the several criticisms that were laid on communicative approach of language teaching. No doubt, communicative approach had a number of weaknesses. To address such weaknesses, integrative approach of language teaching was introduced and so happened in the use of technology. There were innumerable innovations like animation, graphics, and so on in technology too. Development of different forms of multimedia and internet system paved the way for the development of integrative CALL in the history of CALL. Language teachers started using such innovations to facilitate their teaching and learners learning activities. This phase of CALL is much dominant in the field of using computer technology in language learning.

As mentioned above, CALL has encountered many ups and downs. Now it has been proved that it is a must for language learning and teaching. It is not the end but a powerful means for teacher and learners for carrying out any tasks. It is also a powerful source of knowledge. As Busa in her article ‘New Perspectives in Teaching Pronunciation’ expresses, ‘CALL applications offer individualized environment where learners learn at their own pace making autonomous decisions on the order of study topics, lesson reviews, lesson repeats, etc’. Similarly, as Julia Gong claims in her article ‘ The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/ Foreign Language speaking Skills’, CALL provides highly motivating environment for the learners. As she says, learners feel away from the psychologically threatening environment of the classroom when they learn through CALL. Finally I want to conclude that CALL is the boon of the twenty-first century and we should use it as much as we can in our teaching learning process.

References:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/Writings/Papers/CAllELTJ88.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-assisted_language_learning
http://www.etthillside.co/up/files/article4.doc
http://www.openstarts.units.it/dspace/bitstream/10077/2850/1/bus%63%AO.pdf.
www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/research/resources/student_res/postscriptsiles/vol3/_1_gong1.pdf.

Thank you all.
Kamal

Week 2- Reflections: Quest for Knowledge; Realization of the Right Path for Writing Behavioral Objectives & Starting for the Project Work

Hi Everybody,
This week is about over. I am amazed how I spent this week! As I did last week, I want to share some experience with you this week too. Sure, I have come up with some very interesting experiences I got form the tasks and activities given to me to do by our respected teacher, Donna. This week has taught me a lot. It has given me a lot of insights in the field of language teaching and use of technology for that. I have perceived this week as the week when I was in quest for knowledge; the week when I became familiar with the new method of writing behavioral objectives; and the week I started to work with the project that we have to carry out in this course.
As mentioned above, this week remained very important for me. I was given the access of a number of search engines and portals. Before this, I was familiar only with a few search engines. I used to search the reading materials and the references I needed in Google and Yahoo before. But now I am familiar with a number of sites. I found iseek Education, Infotopia, Wikipeadia,Wordcentral, YouTube and other different search engines equally useful. I found a number of sites and URLs from my friends for journals, videos and other references. I spent this week moving mouse from one search site another site, one search to another search engine and so on. I did so to be familiar with them and to make quest for the useful references and materials for English language teaching.
I have already stated that I got the opportunity to be familiar with very useful method of writing behavioral objectives. It is ABCD method. I tried this method for writing some objectives and found it very easy and scientific. As the acronym ABCD suggests, I knew that we should address audience (A), behavior (B), conditions (C) and degree (D) while forming or writing objectives. Audience is our learners who we teach to and who we expect to to do something after the instruction. Behavior is the expected performance or the action or the specific task that we expect from our learners after the instruction. Condition is the circumstance or context under which we expect our learners do something. And finally degree is the extent of excellence or level of mastery that the learners show while carrying out the expected task. Using this method we participants wrote objectives, shared experiences and discussed about our strengths and weaknesses in writing objectives. For this I consulted with a number for reading materials using the search engines. I felt it is really the right path of writing behavior objectives.
The third task that I did this week is the starting of the project work that we have to carry out in this course. As I was given the guidelines, I made a description of the learners whom I will carry out my project, the classroom setting, technology available, goal of the course, needs of the learners and the relevance of the project work on that group. We participants shared our situation and plan for the project work. It became very fruitful for us to know each other deeply. It was really a very important task for us and we are in its initial stage.

Finally I would like to wrap up this week saying that I WOULD EXPECT THIS WEEK AGAIN IF IT COULD COME.

Thank you all.
Kamal

Week 2 : My Journey With ABCD Method for Writing Behavioral Objectives

'Aims', 'goals' and 'objectives' are very common terms used in instructional planning. They all are related to the expected outcomes of the instruction. Aims and goals are very general and non-specific and are appropriate for an entire course or syllabus. However, objectives are very specific and apt for the individual lesson of the course.
Objectives are the intended learning outcomes that the instructor intends to be achieved after the instruction. In other words, they are the statements of expected behavior that the students will exhibit in their performance after the instruction. They help the instructor to select content, develop activities, select the method and techniques to be used in the class and develop materials. Regarding the role of objectives, Jones (1997) writes, “Clear objectives can help the instructor design lessons that will be easier for the student to comprehend and the teacher to evaluate.”
While writing or determining objectives, teachers should be very careful. They should know that the objectives they write should be specific, measurable, attainable, reliable and time bounded (SMART). Any sort of ambiguity and vagueness should be avoided to make the statements clear and strong enough for defining and describing the performance behavior of the learners that they show after the lesson. The crucial factor that helps to write such statements is the selection of the verbs that are used to prepare the statements. Non-action verbs like comprehend, learn, understand know, memorize etc. should not be used in writing objectives. Especially action verbs like say, write, read, compare, sing, locate etc. are very much useful because they demand particular behavior from the side of the learners. This can be illustrated with the following sets of objectives:
Set A:
• Given the learners chance to listen to the rhyme “Ding Dong Bell”, they will be able to know the rhyming worlds with 60% accuracy.
• Given the opportunity to read the story “The Kind Ghost”, the learners will understand how the Kind Ghost saved the life of the common people from other cruel ghosts.
Set B
• Given the learners chance to listen to the rhyme “Ding Dong Bell”, they will be able to say at least two pairs of rhyming words.
• Given the opportunity to read the story “The Kind Ghost”, the learners will be able to describe how the Kind Ghost saved the life of the common people from other ghosts in ten sentences.

In these two sets of objectives, Set A does not contain action verbs. So these objectives are vague and it is very difficult to measure the learners’ performance using them. However, the verbs that Set B contains are action verbs and they demand the concrete behavior from the side of the learners.
While writing objectives, the domains and various hierarchies of learning that Bloom and others have developed should be kept in mind. Our objectives should demand any of the learning domains viz cognitive, affective or psychomotor. In other words, our objectives should be capable of addressing either mental and intellectual skills that come under cognitive domain or emotional and attitudinal skills that come under the affective domain or manual or physical skills that come under the psychomotor domain. We should select the appropriate verbs for writing clear objectives from the reference of such domains.
ABCD Method for writing Objectives
ABCD method is a very useful and easier approach for writing objectives. Here, “A” stands for “Audience.” It refers to who the objectives are written to. In our case, audience refers to the learners whom we teach. “B” stands for “Behavior”. It refers to the particular behavior or action or task that the learner is expected to do after the completion of the lesson. In other words, it is what we expect our learners be able to do after we teach a particular concept. “C” stands for “Condition”. It refers to the circumstances or contexts under which learners are expected to perform something. It is the sum of circumstances that enhance the learners to accomplish a given task. The last letter of the acronym ABCD, “D” stands for “Degree”. It refers to the degree or level of mastery that the learners show while doing a particular task. In other words, it says how well the learners do a given tasks. Degree of degree of accuracy can be related to the time limit (5 minutes or 10 minutes) or number of the correct answers or a range of accuracy (60%) or some other qualitative means. One example is given below:

• Given some model blogs and proper instructions and guidelines, the participants will be able to create their own blog within one hour.

Here,
• A = participants
• B = creating their own blog
• C = given some model blogs and proper instruction and guidelines
• D = within one hour

References:
• www.nlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
• http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/learningdesign/objectives/writingoblectives/
• http://www.slideshare.net/ashleytan/writing-specific-instructionallearning-objectives-presentation
• http://edtech.tennessee.edu/~bobannon/classifications.html
• http://www.ehow.com/info_7946641_format-objectives-classroom-activities.html

Week: 1- Reflections: Week of Trial and Error, Week of Sadness and Happiness, Week of the Entrance to the New World

Hi everybody!
I would like to share you all about how I spent this week. No doubt, I was very curious about the course, class, reading materials and the tasks that I had to do since the time I was selected for this course. I became very happy when I was sent an e-mail by Donna, our respected teacher. It was shortly before the course began, Danna sent me an e-mail for encouraging me to live with the computer and be familiar with the computer terminologies related to online education. The course was formally started on the 20th June. As you all have been sent, Donna sent me some tasks that I had to complete this week. She clearly sent me the instructions for doing each and every task. The main tasks for this week were: creating a Google account, creating a Nicenet account and joining in the nicenet class, creating an academic blog and commenting and preparing the ground rules and rubrics for the academic discussion.
For doing these tasks, I spent much time with my computer. I e-mailed my teacher Donna a number of times because I was not good at computer use and not familiar with these programs. I remembered the learning theorist Throndike and his learning theory trial and error. I followed the same theory for carrying out most of the tasks. Very interesting thing I want to share here with you is that I posted mistakenly to Last year group. Donna kindly informed me and I came to my own group. I spent more time for preparing an academic blog. I have already posted my experience of preparing a blog. So in general, I have perceived this week as the week of trial and error.
This week for me is the mixture of sadness and happiness. I became sad time and again when I failed to do the tasks I have been appointed. And I became happy when I would get little success on doing that task. There would not be complete sadness when I was doing the task because there would be some hope. And there wouldn’t be complete happiness because there would remain some confusion after the little success on each task. I realized both happiness and sadness are the relative concepts that everyone has to experience.
This week for me is the week of the entrance to the new world. Truly speaking, firstly, it is the entrance to the new world for me in that I have got a chance to enter the online course which is the new trend of world education and I had never got the opportunity like this. Secondly I have entered the platform where I can share the ideas, feelings and experience with the teachers and friends who have same profession, interests and desires. Thirdly and finally, this is the entrance for me to bring changes in my classroom performance. Teaching without computer and other modern technologies becomes passive and unfruitful. This is the conclusion I come up with at the end of this week.


Thank You
Kamal

Hi Everybody

Learning is a kind of passion. There is a thirst when there is a passion for something. And truly speaking, I have a thirst for learning. I have just entered into the blog for learning. This is a very special platform for us for sharing our ideas and quenching our thirst.Our teachers are supporting us enthusiastically and our responsibility is to heighten their enthusiasm showing our commitment in learning through webskills.
So far I know, teaching language using modern technology is a must for this twenty-first century. Our learners of any corner of the world listen to English through cell phones, television, computer and other digital tools. Think, what happens, if we do not use such modern technology in our class and teach only with chalk and board? So, we have to grab this opportunity and learn more and more about the use of digital tools in our class.

Reflection of the first week tasks: (6/25/2011)
Regarding the tasks that I had to complete this week, I got unforgettable experience. Really I was not so familiar with some of these tasks. Firstly, I created my own Google account. For that I totally followed the instructions that Donna had sent me. Then I created my nice net account.
I had already got the class key so used it and joined in a class. In the beginning I faced a number of problem but Later I got a success. I went through the messages that out teacher Donna and my e- friends wrote. Then had to create my academic blog. In the beginning I thought it was a simple task but when I started to do it I knew the reality. That time I realized how difficult to learn something. I tried for many times but I failed. I read the instructions that Donna sent us thoroughly and tried but I couldn't. This time I realized how difficult it was to bring the theoretical knowledge into practice. I wrote Donna when I faced the problems. She kindly helped me. I tried and tried and nearly I was hopeless. I again read the steps and the instructions I got from our teacher Donna. I listed out the steps into my copy and did as it was instructed. This time I got success. I knew this when Donna wrote me:

Hi Kamal,

This is a great blog. I love the photo of your hometown. It's beautiful.

Donna
I got excited seeing the very encouraging remarks from my respected teacher, Donna. I at once spoke, "Thank you Donna...". I shared it with my lovely wife. I am still in confusion whether my blog is visible to all my teachers and e-friends or not. If not please send me I am learning and it is my first phase in this field.
I have some more tasks for doing this week and the week is about over. I just went through the ground rules for discussion and rubrics. The stated rules are really nice and I agree with them. I have already sent the comment on it but still I am not sure whether I am doing systematically or not. I am going through the messages and post that friends and teachers have posted. Really I need your help. I think this may be the motto of our course Learning through webskills.
Thank You.