My self-reflection about the technologies that applied in our group project

My self-reflection about the technologies that applied in our group project

I want to talk about it from two aspects:
One is the application and use of Hot Potatoes and Dreamweaver;
The other one is the application and use of wiki.

1. Hot Potatoes and Dreamweaver.
Frankly speaking, these are the most difficult but also the most useful technologies that I learned from this course. These two technologies provide me a whole new and creative approach that can be used to design on-line exercises and edit webpage.
Hot Potatoes is really a practical technology which can be used to create various types of exercises, like cloze, match, MC, quiz, etc. We can also use Masher to mix different kinds of exercises together, making an integrated exercise.
Dreamweaver can insert videos, flashes and images which are relevant to exercises into the on-line quiz page. For example we can make an exercise page including the video of a song’s MTV and gap filling quiz of the lyric. By using this exercise, students can do the gap filling quiz and at the same time watch the video. I always believe that students like visual learning and practices, because students’ learning motivation and interests can always been inspired by visual learning materials.
Hot Potatoes and Dreamweaver are not difficult to operate and the exercise made through these technology are really practical and creative to assist both language learning and teaching, but there are also some problems that I found about my experience. One is that such kind of exercises is really condition-limited. That means students must need a computer-based environment when working on such on-line exercises, especially in class. Most of the mainland China schools can’t provide students the required computer-based learning environment. But if teachers prepare such kind of exercises for students to do as homework, the situation may be better because at present most students get computers which can get access to Internet at home. The other problem was found when we were preparing the group wiki. As our focus is IELTS, and IELTS listening don’t have practices based on videos, it was really difficult for us to insert audio materials by using Dreamweaver.

2 Wiki design
I think the design of our wiki homepage is really a challenge but interesting experience for every member of our group.
First, it was a tough task because we really met a lot of difficulties in both the use of technologies, finding materials and editing the homepage.
Second, I have to say that wiki is really a powerful tool that can be utilized by both teachers and students for specific teaching and learning purposes. It is an integrated on-line website which can incorporate various kinds of resources, like on-line exercises, on-line videos, on-line discussion board, on-line chat room and so on.
Although it is a practical teaching and learning tool, it also have problems just like the two technologies I listed above. Again it is condition-required. If there is no required computer-based environment, the wiki can’t exert its effectiveness and power to the most. Another problem is that to design a wiki and include the materials and practice you need is not an easy thing, it required some technological skills. I think a large number of teachers don’t have a good master of such skills.

Week10's reading reflection

• Week10’s reading reflection
  Alderson, J. C. (2000). Technology in testing: the present and the future. System, 28(4), 593-603.
  The topic of this piece reading is computer-based language testing. This paper discusses and lists the advantages and disadvantages about language test on computers, explores in detail development in Internet-based testing using the examples of TOEFL and DIALANG.
  Disadvantages:
   Computer-based tests are currently limited in the item types that they allow. Besides items types like MC, gap filling or cloze, other item type may be more appropriate. But they are really harder to applied in a setting wher responses must be machine-scorable.
   There is a lack of computer literacy tutorial about various test techniques and test answer skills that would be used by students in the tests. For example, reading on papers is much more different from reading on the screen.
   The most important disadvantage is the current limitations about language skills that can be tested on a computer. Speaking and writing are really hard to be assessed in any meaningful way right now.
  Technical advantages of computer-based testing:
   Computer-based testing removes the need for fixed delivery dates and locations that are normally required by traditional paper-based testing.
   Results of such kind of tests can be available immediately after the test.
   If tests are diskette- and CD ROM-based, tests delivered over the Internet are even more flexible if delivery or purchase of disks is not required.
   CBTs can utilize specially designed templates for item instruction by using special software or just the Internet.
   CBTs, and especially Internet-delivered tests, can access large databases of items, which mean that test security can be greatly enhanced.
  
  Pedagogic advantages of CBTs:
   Computer-based tests can be made more user-friendly than traditional paper-based tests. It also make is possible to give users immediate feedbacks once a response has been made. The concept based here is that feedback given immediately after finishing an activity is likely to be more meaningful and effective.
   Computers can also be user-friendly in offering a range of support to test takers. For example, helpful facilities can be accessed on line, like on-line dictionaries. Such kind of performance can also been taken into account in deriving test results for test scores.

The conclusion is that a research agenda is needed, and such a research agenda flows naturally from two sources:
 The issues that we found in the development of CBTs, like TOEFL.
e.g.: what should the entry point or level be? How is the best determined for any given population?
 The issues that come from the claimed advantages and disadvantages of computer-based testing.
IT-based assessment may not improve on current modes of assessment, because of the compensations of the medium in terms of convenience, speed, and so on, we need to be certain that IT-based assessment does not reduce the validity of what we do.

Week 8's reading reflection

Week8’s reading reflection: Hong Kong’s Amended Copyright Low
Guide for Teachers and Students
http://www.ipd.gov.hk/eng/intellectual_property/copyright/edu_guide.pdf.

No matter when I was a middle school English teacher, or as a student at present, I always thought that copyright was a word that was far from my everyday life and had little business with me until I acquired some knowledge form this course. Frankly speaking, this is also the first time I learn something about copyright from the aspect of teachers and student.

This leaflet emphasizes some changes brought to the Copyright Ordinance that affect teachers and students. These changes aim to instruct teachers and students to make accurate, legal and fair use of copyright words for teaching and learning purposes without breading copyright.

Four sections about fair dealing(41A), scanning and photocopying(45), performance, play of audio and video recordings at an educational establishment(43), liberalization in the use of parallel imports(35B) are discussed in this leaflet.

I want to talk about some of my own experiences relevant to some points of this leaflet:

As the unfair examples of acts dealing with a copyright work listed under 41A Fair dealing, the act that a student copying the whole or a large portion of a textbook because he believe the textbook is too expensive is unfair. Actually, the textbooks are really expensive here in Hong Kong comparing with the textbooks that I used in Mainland China. But an interesting thing is that I always buy books although they are expensive in Hong Kong, while in the mainland I did copy the whole portion of some textbooks and sometimes copying a book was usually more expensive than buying a book. What I want to say is that the situation about copyright is quite different between Hong Kong and Mainland China. In the mainland, people seldom take copyright into consideration when they do copying about hardcopies or downloading about on-line resources. I think firstly it is because the promotion of copyright is not enough, people don’t appreciate it and lack the knowledge of copyright, which means they don’t know what kind of acts follow or offend the copyright: secondly, there doesn’t exist effective institutions to supervise or restrict acts involved in copyright. Actually, there are rich freely downloadable resources including audios, videos or PDF file online.
The other example described another unfair act which confused me a lot, that is a teacher playing a DVD of a currently shown movie in class for students’ entertainment after exams were over. I don’t know why this act is unfair. The aim is for entertainment, so what is the difference between the students see a shown movie in a cinema or in a classroom? I will be quite sure students would enjoy more about the same movie when watching in class after exams with other classmate than watching in a cinema.

Week7's reading reflection

Week7’ reading reflection
Liou, H. C. (1994). Practical considerations for multimedia courseware development: An EFL IVD experience. CALICO Journal, 11(3), 47-74.
The big explosion of technological innovations leads to high development of CALL courseware, and many theories and practice about SLA, instructional design concepts can be relevant. But the question that how should the course develop, especially for the most popular one, multimedia, immediately become a hot issue and the considerations for many people. This paper discusses this issue through introducing and exploring the development of a piece of EFL interactive videodisc courseware. Detailed information like objective, instructional design, on-line implementation, and the whole process of analysis are explained in this article. This paper aims to suggest a direction for those who will develop or use CALL multimedia material in the future
The part that I want to put emphasize on is the conclusion part. Two important issues are presented as practical implications and recommendations for those who are interested in the development of multimedia courseware.
One is the design of the “template” for the project described in this paper ensure a further step for layman language teachers who may have little knowledge and experience about CALL, or rather technology skills, but would like to use videodiscs in language classes. The reality is that more and more teachers are interested in CALL programs and materials, but few satisfying or practicable products can be got access to.
My experience in the mainland is that many teachers are interested in CALL materials and programs and want to introduce them to assist their teaching, but most of the teachers experience little about CALL, and are lack of training about targeted technologies or skills. They have the concepts to apply CALL program in teaching and briefly have positive attitude toward the effectiveness of CALL materials, but can’t provide a well-command over the equipment and technology which are included in CALL programs. This seriously limits their application of CALL programs. Sometimes they have basic media equipments but can’t exert them to the maximum extent. The other situation is that maybe the CALL programs or materials are really well-designed and effective, but teaching environment failed to provide the required technology hardware. These two situations are the most common realities in Mainland English teaching environment.
The other issue is that courseware development involving multimedia tends to be labor intensive and time consuming.

Week5's reading reflection

Levy, M. (1997). Theory-Driven CALL and the Development Process. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 10(1), 41-56.

The paper of week 5’s reading talks something about the natures of theory-driven CALL, particular as it relates to development process.
First, the author gives a brief introduction, review and discussion about theory-driven CALL. Theories derived from cognitive psychology and SLA are the most common points of departure. One question is that some studies testified that not all the CALL projects were driven directly by theories. Some projects began with a theoretical orientation, some started at a lower level and more determined by conditions in which governed actual practice or problems arising directly from it. The other question is about the reliability of theories which were used to instruct theory-driven CALL. A theory may be well-testified and widely accepted in some fields, but in other fields may be less certain.
Second, the author gives a literature review of the development process, and a CALL development survey is described and discussed in this paper for further investigation the processes of materials production.
The conclusion is that the development process is first and foremost a dynamic process. The theoretical orientation should be reconciled with technological environment in which it is realized and the working CALL program should be well-validated within the context.
I am most interested in the difference between formalists and proceduralists. Formalists represent people who prefer to apply theory at first to solve a problem, a deductive approach. Proceduralists represent people who prefer to write CALL programs to solve specific language learning problem, an inductive approach. The weakness of proceduralists is that they may be led purely by what the technology can do without any coherent theoretical basis to support their work. The disadvantage of formalists is that the theory they applied may not exert the technology to best effect, which means the power of the theoretical basis is not powerful enough and the effectiveness of the technology is overlooked.

Learning in virtual environment

I agree with the point that virtual environment does benefit to second language learning, especially for the reduction of anxiety when communicate with native speakers or speak in an open environment.
I am a second language learner and I used to be an English teacher, I find that most English learners in mainland have great anxiety when speaking English, especially speak in public. This is a common phenomenon and I think most second language learners have such kind of experience. As a student who wants to be a future teacher, if the teaching environment permits, I’d like to lead students to learn second language in the virtual environment. If face-to-face communication makes students feel anxious, why not provide an environment which can make them feel more relaxing.
Class discussion on-line, chat-room, and e-mail with native speakers are all good way to increase their opportunities to participate in communication and language production. Keeping sending e-mails with native speakers can help students improve their writing skills, since you always write something or discuss something in more formal language with each other. Before sending the e-mail, you have plenty time to think over your choice of words, the native speakers can also check the correctness of you sentences. Communicating in chat-room or MSN on-line can help students improve their abilities in language fluency. Since most on-line language is informal and oral style, it can help learners to improve the ability of speaking and feel more freely and easy when communicate with others.
All the theories need to be test in real teaching practice, and several problems should be pay attention to carefully for both teachers and students, so there are still much knowledge to learn and lots of researches to do in the future before you can use virtual language learning environment to make efficient teaching and learning.

Something about Week Three's Reading

Many findings of some previous researchers show that a virtual environment may create a more relaxed atmosphere than a classroom, and the low level of inhibition and social anxiety would be good for foreign language learning and increase language production.

A project called Virtual Department for Minority Language (VDML) is a two year project which aims to produce guideline for students and teachers of less widely taught languages on how to create a virtual language department including making templates for a shared resource bank and suggesting ways in which collaboration between institutions of three UK university can take place. The project provides new experience for both students and teachers to learn how to work in a virtual environment and gives new teaching implications with regard to computer assisted language teaching. For second language learners, it is really important to participate in L2 language conversation, but students may always feel anxious in a face-to-face learning situation, and furthermore decrease the opportunities to join in the communication. However, if speaking in a virtual environment reduces anxiety in language learning, it would be a hidden benefit of computer assisted language learning. This article will focus on research into the psychological aspects of using the computer and internet in an education setting

Students always feel quite anxious when speaking to native speakers, but if instead the language students e-mail the native speakers, their anxieties would immediately be reduced. There is an illusion that language learners experience less anxiety when communicating via computer, and our behavior changes in a variety of ways when working online.

The study investigates a group of students’ behavior in the virtual learning environment through an on-line task in a chat room. Every student’s behavior is carefully examined and analyzed.

The results of the study show a number advantages for language students when working online. One of the advantages is that there is no accent to be distracted by, no time pressure and no interruption, which are all factors that would make students to feel anxious and reluctant to speak. In addition, there are no immediate reactions such as giggles or raised eyebrows. There is an illusion that online work gives a definite advantage to the shy and introvert language student. Finally, there is the advantage of increased participation.

There are also some issues that teacher and learners need to pay attention to when working in a virtual environment. First, exchanging the classroom for a virtual environment may change the old group dynamics; secondly, a virtual learning environment is likely to lower the level of language anxiety, but this does not solve the problem for students of foreign languages.