Task of week 8

As far as my experience is concerned, the language learning tasks in my university fall on point 3 on the flexibility continum, i. e., a restricted learning system. Students are given a limited set of predetermined choices in the language learning tasks. Tuition is usually restricted to a set schedule and students normally have to be physically present on campus for learning. They are not provided with many choices in the curriculum, nor are they provied courses which are designed to make them progess at their own pace. The tasks are not individualized enough and don't allow great opportunity to every student. However, changes are underway with the development of IT and with the rising awareness of using IT to add value to learning tasks. Some teachers in my university begin to realize the usefulness of the Web, and ask students to explore knowledge on certain topics related to the course by themselves. Some good language learning websites are also recommended by the teachers to the more advanced students who want to learn more beyond the textbook. Some tasks are designed to ask students to find useful knowledge through different sources mostly on the Internet, and present the product with integration of media. These kinds of tasks allow students to be actively involved in constructing knowledge for themselves with a focus on both the products and processes of learning. But these changes remain on a small scale and the whole learning system are still far from flexible.
Now many research studies have been conducted on learner-centre teaching method, and liberated learning tasks seem to be a trend in language teaching/learning. I expect to see it incorporated into teaching in my local circumstance in the near future. However, I think it is still too early to carry out "free" tasks in my university.

Webography—Using blogs for peer review in writing class.

Website 1
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47
The article on this web page was contributed by Mollie Crie, an educator with 22 years in the classroom, who currently teaches for Bedford County Schools in Forest, Virginia.
The content is very simple as a general introduction of the educational benefits of blogs, including using blogs for students to practice peer review and improve writing skills. Besides giving consideration of the risks of using blogs, the author also informs the readers of procedures of preparing student for blogging and steps for getting started on blogs. Although not directly related to writing class, it offers basic information and instructions which are helpful to teachers who want to start using this technology for their own purpose. This website also provides links to some blogs presenting more ideas for using blogs in education, and some first-person accounts of blog use in the classroom. In addition, this web page was created in October, 2006, which means relatively updated information.

Website 2
http://www.cites.uiuc.edu/edtech/teaching_showcase/brown_bag/archive/fall05/sandvig.html
This website supplies a brief written introduction of a presentation , together with the indexed video of the presentation given by Christian Sandvig, a fourth year Assistant Professor of Speech Communications. In his presentation, Christian Sandvig talked about the role that multimedia blogs play in managing and encouraging students in their writing process. He shared his experience of using blogs to make the course writing intensive but within a manageable workload of grading, peer review being one of the features. His presentation covered both pedagogical and technological aspects, which is convincing, informative and reliable. In addition, links to article about educational blogging, related report about the presenter, and advanced tool are provided. Since this website is created by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, both its look and its content are academic with easy navigation. The date does not matter so much, as this page is an introduction of a presentation made in October, 2005.

Website 3
http://www.evergreen.edu/washcenter/resources/acl/e2.html
This web page is from a handbook developed and edited by the Washington Center's Evaluation Committee. The article related to the topic is entitled Writing Portfolios:What Teachers Learn from Student Self-Assessment, written by Kim Johnson-Bogart, who wonderfully describes --through her students own words-- the power and benefits of peer review. It's worth noting that Kim Johnson-Bogart, in addition to teaching students how to do peer review also instructs them to write reflective essays of the type she quotes from. This combination—close reading and commenting on peers' writing and close examination and reflection on one's writing and writing work done in a course gives students useful tools for becoming aware of how writing works and how they work as writers. The idea of writing portfolios can be well borrowed into blog peer review. An academic handbook as its source, the page has a plain look without either any distraction or any links. However, the date and the introduction of the writer are missing, which are regarded as important information.

website 4
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/currents/fall05/fernheimernelson.html
This website is named Currents in Electronic Literacy. It is actually an e-journal of the Computer Writing and Research Lab at the University of Texas, whose aim is to point out emerging trends in the field of electronic literacy. This particular page provided carries an article entitled Bridging the Composition Divide: Blog Pedagogy and the Potential for Agonistic Classrooms written by Janice Wendi Fernheimer and Thomas J. Nelson. The article focuses on how writing teachers might use the new genre of blogs. In addition to the consideration of “how the quasi-public, semi-private generic attributes of blogs trouble the traditional divide in writing instruction between expressivist and social constructivist theories”, the writers also discuss “a model for using blogs in the writing classroom to promote intellectual community and agonistic engagement in the proto-public space of the classroom”. They value the implications of using a single, multiply-authored class blog as the central interface for the writing classroom. A Works Cited page is provided and there is a link to another credible site Computer Writing and Research Lab, but the page is no longer accessible through the link. The particular webpage as well as the whole website is easy to get around and the research is reliable.

Website 5
http://tlc.ucalgary.ca/resources/library/itbl/improving-writing-through-peer-review/improving-writing-through-peer-review
This website is created by Teaching & Learning centre at University of Calgary. The webpage recommended here supplies an article Improving Student Writing through Peer Review, which is quite relevant to the chosen topic. The significance of the article lies in the consideration of facilitating the peer review process electronically through several ways including blogs. More importantly, the article gives an example to demonstrate how to conduct peer review online, and how to have student authors follow up the feedback they receive. The background of the web page is artistic but not distracting. Links about peer review and online tools for peer review are provided but some fail to work. The information of the writer is missing; however a link for emailing the webmaster can be found. Since the content of the article is part of teaching strategy series of the Teaching and Learning Center of University of Calgary, it is reliable and worth reading.

Website 6
http://www.chu.edu.tw/~wswu/publications/index.htm
The page is from the homepage of Michael Wu, a research assistant of Chung Hua University, Taiwan. It lists all his publications, among which two articles are closely related to the chosen topic—The effect of blog peer review and teacher feedback on the revisions of EFL writers (2006), and Using blogs in an EFL writing class(2005). The first article is an exploratory study to investigate EFL adult learners’ reactions to peer review and teacher feedback in EFL composition class, with both the peer review and teacher feedback given to learners’ blog. The second article discusses the advantages of blog in an EFL writing class and gives a preliminary report about students’ reaction to the use of blog in two English classes. Besides, explicit instructions to set up a personal blog are given. Since the writer is a college teacher who specializes in oral communication and English writing, his research and publications are of help to other language teachers and worthwhile to read. All the links on the webpage function well and the content is well-organized and neat-looking. The last updated time is 2006/11/14 08:40.

Website 7
http://lttf.ieee.org/learn_tech/issues/october2006/index.html
This website is created by IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Learning Technology (LTTC). The above webpage is one issue of the publication of LTTC—Learning Technology. This is a special issue on “Blogging as an educational technology”. All the articles focus on how blogs can be used to enhance teaching and learning. It might be useful for those who want to facilitate teaching with blogs. There are a wealth of links of online tools, example blogs, and cited sources. All the links work well and fast. Attached link for email is behind the name of each writer. The webpage of articles is reader-friendly, but other pages might cause nervousness due to the red font on black background on the left and right column.

Week 5 task

I often feel irritated when cell phones ring during my lectures, and even curse the distraction the technology brings to our classroom. Although the laptop issues raised in the article haven’t shown up yet in my local circumstance, I can expect its coming in the near future. Inevitablly it will result in barrier in teaching and learning and affect the outcome, since students can’t concentrate in class. However we can’t blame the technology or students for all that. We have to admit that classroom access to the Internet IS a wonderful teaching tool, if not misused, and students are not mature enough to take the full responsibility. Then who are responsible?
First, the teachers. A good teacher should be successful in arousing students’ interest, attracting their attention, engaging their thinking, and motivating them. If the attraction doesn’t come from the teachers, of course students will turn to the Internet.
Second, the schools. Ground rules should be established by schools to tell student what can be done, and what can’t. Besides, students should be informed of the possible consequence of misusing technology and of being overdependent on it. They should be encouraged to making use of their own intelligence rather than being led by the microchips.
Third, the society. The whole society should take the responsibility in setting up morals of using the Internet, to establish examples for children how to be wise technology users.

week 3 assignment

Values given to education and IT in China

Chinese government has been giving great weight to education as the means to create quality human capital. The rapid development of IT technology brings impact to the traditional education in the new century. As a result, great importance is being attached to IT-based teaching. Take the development of modern distance education for example, it has been highly regarded by the Chinese government and society. In March 2005, when the “two conferences”, i.e. the conference of National People's Congress and the conference of CPPCC, were held in Beijing, members of the National Committee of CPPCC proposed on the development of modern distance education; while Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated the significance of “great development of online distance education” in his government work report. It is apparent that Chinese policy-makers are well aware of the great influence of IT on education.
Besides the government, there is a wide-spread belief among teachers that computer-assisted technology will play an indispensable role in education in China, with the popularity of personal computer, the establishment of networks and the development of multi-media technology. It will influence and challenge traditional teaching at different levels. First, it will involve information-processing competence of the teachers, students and administrative staff. Second, it will cause reform in teaching objectives and values. What's more, it will bring changes in teaching method.
So IT technology is revolutionizing education and bringing new challenges as well.

Related links:
http://www.chinaonlineedu.com/2005/
http://www.edu.cn/li_lun_yj_1652/20070115/t20070115_214465.shtml :

The Road Ahead and local circumstances

Some of Gates' visions for the classroom of the future based on IT technology have come into reality in the world, and there is no exception to China. But there remain some differences between what he describes and my local teaching and learning circumstances.
The similarities:
1. Many classrooms in China have access to the Internet now, which allows teachers great convenience to show a wealth of information and materials to students.
2. The widespread of personal computers connecting to networks provides teachers good communication channels with other teachers, with students and even with parents.
3. The development of IT technology creates more possibilities for distance education in China.
The differences:
1. The classes are still given in the traditional way in classroom instead of by using personal computers as described in The Road Ahead.
2. The digital white board in classroom remains a dream of teachers and students.
3. Multimedia is being made use of in classroom, but not to the degree as Gates expected.

Although there is a gap between Gates' visions and the reality, I strongly believe that some day they will come true.

Happy Ending

This is the second and the last term we'll stay in Singapore. I hope all of us can fully enjoy the time and the experience!