Another week is coming to a close, which is sad. I've got so used to this daily (nightly ;-) writing, that it feels strange when I don't do it.
In the course of the week I have been planning what to write in my blog, and I have had for great ideas, but as the focus has been shifting from one to another exciting things, the ideas got lost. I wanted to share my ideas of the on-line teaching tools I have tried, such as ANVILL, crosswrod puzzles and other handout making tools - but I have already written about these extensively on Nicenet.net.
Another set of topics was associated with the projects I was writing and reading, such as the readiness of the learner to accommodate the change; appropriateness of the use of technology (a case described by someone, when there was a black out and the students could not use Skype, they carried on in a back to back conversation. And I wanted to ask a question: is it expedient to use Skype when the students are in the same room? Kids are so IT literate today that soon we will have to teach them Face-to-face communication literacy. This is already done in NYC by some museums, who teach kids HOW TO PLAY OUTDOORS!!!
Etc. etc.
Now, after a cup of coffee, I decided to focus on just one idea, and save others for later.
This idea is reflected in the title of this post: Which way to go?
We have been introduced to so many powerful tools - what will be next. What to pick up, what to forget, when and how to implement all the activities?
I have noticed that many participants decided to open blogs, sites or other publishing media. It looks like a great idea, but let me share my five year experience of running a site, a blog and a thread at a forum.
It looks like fun at the beginning, but soon you will see that it takes up a lot of your time. You can limit yourself to fairly drab solutions, but then ask yourself a question - who would be interested?
Look at this:
- in most cases the administration is not going to care (unless you are doing this course as part of your job assignment and are expected to implement what you have learned)
- students tend to look for easier life, and if your on-line stuff is not competitive, you are going to feel their reluctance; it is still more probable because the administration in many cases won't introduce any changes in the assessment to make students do what you want to do
- your job most likely go unpaid, so you will be investing your time and effort - what will you get in return?
After five years of running my own project I have to answer these questions. I ask them to you now, to save you these five years.
Another issue here is the platform. Using free Google site seems to be a nice option. It provides you with tools and construction materials, but...
Google is a big guy, we, millions of its users, are invisible for him. We are like ants playing with an elephant. The elephant does not mean to hurt us, but when he moves, some of us can fall under his feet and die. Now, at the beginning, when you do not have a lot of content, you might not feel that.
But I experienced the aftermath of big guys' plays. I used to have my site registered with a local hoster, who, however, used to rent servers overseas. Some time about the government demanded that all Belarusian resources should be physically located on the territory of the country. So, the hoster had to transfer my site to another server. In the process 80 of pagers were damaged. To make things worth, I discovered the damage too late, when the backups were replaced with new ones. I still have the source data, but where to get time to restore so many pages?
But I am lucky because it was only half of the challenge. Those, who were registered with foreign hosters had to break the agreements and to switch to local ones. Let me drop the implications.
What I am trying to say is running professional sites/blogs is not fun. I recommend that before you get down to this, you check all the legal, business and administrative issues. Another question to consider is how much your materials would be different from what we have on the market. Still another one would be how to handle the traffic. Still another would be the security. These were the questions I asked at the beginning of the course, and they, being crucial in the long-run, remain unanswered.
I invite everybody, who is interested, to come back here to discuss them later, when you have more time and experience in running your web-sites and blogs.
In the course of the week I have been planning what to write in my blog, and I have had for great ideas, but as the focus has been shifting from one to another exciting things, the ideas got lost. I wanted to share my ideas of the on-line teaching tools I have tried, such as ANVILL, crosswrod puzzles and other handout making tools - but I have already written about these extensively on Nicenet.net.
Another set of topics was associated with the projects I was writing and reading, such as the readiness of the learner to accommodate the change; appropriateness of the use of technology (a case described by someone, when there was a black out and the students could not use Skype, they carried on in a back to back conversation. And I wanted to ask a question: is it expedient to use Skype when the students are in the same room? Kids are so IT literate today that soon we will have to teach them Face-to-face communication literacy. This is already done in NYC by some museums, who teach kids HOW TO PLAY OUTDOORS!!!
Etc. etc.
Now, after a cup of coffee, I decided to focus on just one idea, and save others for later.
This idea is reflected in the title of this post: Which way to go?
We have been introduced to so many powerful tools - what will be next. What to pick up, what to forget, when and how to implement all the activities?
I have noticed that many participants decided to open blogs, sites or other publishing media. It looks like a great idea, but let me share my five year experience of running a site, a blog and a thread at a forum.
It looks like fun at the beginning, but soon you will see that it takes up a lot of your time. You can limit yourself to fairly drab solutions, but then ask yourself a question - who would be interested?
Look at this:
- in most cases the administration is not going to care (unless you are doing this course as part of your job assignment and are expected to implement what you have learned)
- students tend to look for easier life, and if your on-line stuff is not competitive, you are going to feel their reluctance; it is still more probable because the administration in many cases won't introduce any changes in the assessment to make students do what you want to do
- your job most likely go unpaid, so you will be investing your time and effort - what will you get in return?
After five years of running my own project I have to answer these questions. I ask them to you now, to save you these five years.
Another issue here is the platform. Using free Google site seems to be a nice option. It provides you with tools and construction materials, but...
Google is a big guy, we, millions of its users, are invisible for him. We are like ants playing with an elephant. The elephant does not mean to hurt us, but when he moves, some of us can fall under his feet and die. Now, at the beginning, when you do not have a lot of content, you might not feel that.
But I experienced the aftermath of big guys' plays. I used to have my site registered with a local hoster, who, however, used to rent servers overseas. Some time about the government demanded that all Belarusian resources should be physically located on the territory of the country. So, the hoster had to transfer my site to another server. In the process 80 of pagers were damaged. To make things worth, I discovered the damage too late, when the backups were replaced with new ones. I still have the source data, but where to get time to restore so many pages?
But I am lucky because it was only half of the challenge. Those, who were registered with foreign hosters had to break the agreements and to switch to local ones. Let me drop the implications.
What I am trying to say is running professional sites/blogs is not fun. I recommend that before you get down to this, you check all the legal, business and administrative issues. Another question to consider is how much your materials would be different from what we have on the market. Still another one would be how to handle the traffic. Still another would be the security. These were the questions I asked at the beginning of the course, and they, being crucial in the long-run, remain unanswered.
I invite everybody, who is interested, to come back here to discuss them later, when you have more time and experience in running your web-sites and blogs.
Hi Val!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience!
Many things you speak about are true!
I have also started blogs with my students. I was planning to use blogger.com, because I knew how to do it, but, fortunately, I had an experienced blogger in my group, who had used several blogging platforms, such as twitter, and Google, etc. She advised to use a Kazakhstany site. At first I objected, because it is in Russian, and I had to learn how to operate it, but the girl explained, that no one would remove, or ban or blogs or comments, or somehow limit us in our country. Of course, the site we are using now is very slow, and many of my 'webmates' will not be able to appreciate my students' blogs. However, after reading your post I feel glad I chose this site.
And you were right, Val, saying that blogging takes a lot of time. I take less active part in conference threads these day, because I am busy with my project.. And yes, my extra time is not paid by the university, and that's true, at the beginning my students were much fascinated by the idea of blogging, but three weeks later I can feel the 'Wow' factor is wearing off...
Hi Yuliya,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your interested reply. Due to the super intensive discussions you might have failed to notice that I commented on your message about opening the blog driven backboard for your students. I wrote there that our interests coincide here and invited you to keep in touch on this. The more you will be doing this, the more the activity will be moving you away from teaching EFL to a completely different areas.
You might be interested in reading one's experiences here (sorry, its in Russian)
http://www.forbes.ru/svoi-biznes-opinion/konkurs-2011/79631-spasibo-programmistam-za-podstavu-gorkie-uroki-startapera
Let's get down to this later, when the course tasks are finished.
"See" you soon on our discussion boards,
Val
I have noticed your message, Val, though I left the idea to implement after the course finishes, otherwise it might be too much for me!
ReplyDeleteHi Val,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that blogging and site running is time consuming and not paid by the employer. However, sometimes we need to get involved into some extra activity, something which could unite us teachers with at least some of the students. I've also noticed that some of the students lose their interest in site running or blogging, but there always will be some who won't.
And one more thing, assign students to run the site/blog. They will feel more responsible and important.
P.S. At times, I'm also overwhelmed by such thoughts, but then I realize that we all have to commit ourselves to something.
I hope my comment will inspire you to keep on with your work, as it definitely helps a lot of students :)
Val,
ReplyDeleteYES ... I am wholeheartedly standing behind you in your call to everyone to be aware of all that is involved. As with all technology, it's easy to jump on the fun bandwagons because stuff looks so cool. But is it pedagogically sound? Is it the BEST format for the exercise? Is it going to save time, or actually take much more time? Not to mention all the web hosting issues that you have to deal with in your country.
It is definitely worth discussing this much more in future conversations with whoever is interested.
Jodi