We are introduced to ANVILL this week. The article, "Transforming Language Education Across the Internet" showed us a good example of international cooperative learning. Many of us tried class online discussions using Nicenet and other tools, and this definitely offers students opportunities to use English for the sake of communication. Unlike traditional writing practice, the existence of audience makes the act of writing authentic. Now I would like to compare the class online discussion with the international online discussion. The big differences are, firstly, the need to use English is authentic in international online discussions, and, secondly, it can be a lot of fun to hear from the other side of the world.
When I tried a class online discussion for the first time, I was quite impressed by active participation by many of my students and decided to try an international asynchronous discussion with Taiwanese students in April. However, it did not go as well as I had expected, and there are several reasons for it. For one thing, I didn't set the clear time frame, and as a result there weren't much interaction in a timely manner. For another, the number of participating students were too big and unbalanced; 180 Japanese and 30 Taiwanese students. Another problem was students' limited familiarity to the topic. Colomba mentioned in her draft of the project report that the success of discussions depends on how much input they get before actually holding a discussion. I think that is very true, and the input can be as basic as familiarizing themselves with key vocabulary, and gaining some background knowledge is crucial, too.
I still believe there is some value in international online discussions. When I try it next time, I will control the number of my students and duration of the discussion. WebQuest along with other web tools might be a good way to familiarize students to the topic. I think this Webskills group has been becoming a great community of teachers. I wish we could work together even after the end of this course, of course at a much less strenuous pace. I am writing off the top of my head, but maybe we can set up an international discussion week once or a few times a year. We can set a couple of topics, and depending on students' needs and level, teachers can help them prepare for the discussion. I know each of us teach in a very different environment, so a good project which is suitable for all is impossible to make, but I just wanted to explore this possibility. I might want to write a proposal, but for the time being any ideas and comments would be appreciated.
Hello Sam,
ReplyDeleteAs you enjoy the online international discussions, you can enjoy the cross-cultural communication and awareness through the comments posted to your blog.
Congratulations on all that you do to make learning fun for your students.
Safaa
Hello Sam,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very powerful suggestion to collaborate online between partner schools from several surroundings. I think it can involve much more interest in learning English and doing online projects between different schools. Everything is appreciated what is helpful and attractive for the learning process.
To set a clear duration of the project and clear tasks I think one more powerful skill to be developed among teachers.
It's very useful not for students only but also for the teachers to share the tasks, activities and collaborative work online. It's great to do such international projects online.
I supprot your opinion as well as suggestion.
Kind regards,
Egle
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading the two first paragraphs of your blog, I was also thinking it would be great to have our students engage in such discussions and there you are, suggesting the same thing; I'm sure many other participants will be interested so let's give it a serious thought, shall we?
Regards,
Colomba
Safaa, Egle, and Colomba,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. I will give it a serious thought to the project. I think it is just important to move forward. Only that way can we discover new horizons. I hope to discuss this matter with you soon.
Sam
Hi Sam:
ReplyDeleteExcellent post. I really like how you describe your attempt at creating an online discussion community with Japanese and Taiwanese students. To me what is most interesting is how you analyze what went wrong. I completely agree with your analysis. Sometimes the problem is structural such as not having a clear time limit or in having lack of balance in the types or numbers of students. Sometimes it can be more related to language issues, similar to what you may experience in a typical face to face classroom as well. I think the lessons learned from what went wrong are just as insightful and meaningful as what went right. sometimes more insightful or meaningful.
I also appreciate your idea of extending our class by creating some type of format for us to continue to get together afterwards. Some past classes have set up a Facebook page. Others have set up a nicenet site to continue meeting and talking in an asynchronous environment. I try not to get involved in the design of this post-class platform and prefer to leave it up to all of you. But I totally agree with this idea and support your doing it.
~Robert