Blogging is less daunting than before ...

I have decided to make blogging a compulsory weekly event in my combined class, i.e., the afternoon when I must teach both the IELTS and SSPP class together. My hope is that they will eventually fly solo with this concept and generate their own discussions - although a cyber bulletin board might work better. I'll have to give that one some more thought.

For the moment I am posting tasks to the class blog that I moderate and getting the students to follow the instructions re postings etc from it. Half of my class are not comfortable with computers which is a huge surprise for me as the majority of them are teenagers. So much for the concept of the young running ahead of us in the techno-stakes.

Perhaps there is such a thing as tech-overload with our younger users after all.

Traffic might not be the death of me but it certainly may be the death of my career...

It would appear that there is a major accident on the Ipswich motorway between Fernvale and Gailes at least once a fortnight. No big deal as long as you are not in the subsequent traffic gridlock. Today was my best effort. I heard the traffic report; opted for an arduous trip through Ipswich central and out to Blackstone Rd... Half hour wasted as it was gridlocked. Doubled back to Dinmore only to find that I could have come straight down the highway and cut out at Dinmore... did my usual back way only to find that it is no longer a secret... 40 minutes where I usually take 10... I nearly rang in and resigned... The dole is looking good... or a job in the local bakery... cleaner at the local school.... teachers aid... road sign nazi!!! The options are endless.

Moving On

In some ways it's very nice to be moving on but in others there's always that feeling of loss. Now that I have my weekends back I feel slightly rudderless.

However, some good news on the techno-ESL front - This week I introduced my new IELTs class to Blogs and blogging. I hope to encourage them to generate their own discussions via their individual blogs. At the same time I was pleased to see that my SSPP class has moved to the next level in blogging with all students now cross-commenting on the various group blogs.

One small step for woman etc...

Trial by Fire...

Yesterday, ten of my SSPP students engaged in a reasonably successful sortie with my Health and Nutrition page. I'm happy to say casualties were low. They had been forearmed with two previous 'face-to-face' lessons on Health and Nutrition - "Dietary Guidelines for Australians" and "How to Prevent excess Weight Gain". These lessons were based on the information published in the "Dietary Guidelines for Australians - A Guide to Healthy Eating" put out by the Australian Government.

As this was simply the first skirmish in a protracted campaign (i.e. 6 computer periods of approximately 1.4 hour duration) no definitive results are yet available.

After their foray, the students were debriefed. They were asked to give their impression of the two activities they had time to trial. The feedback was both verbal and in writing. [Individual student comments are attached to this posting] Nine out of the ten students managed to attempt two activities in the limited time frame. All ten students successfully completed activity one which was a reading comprehension exercise on "Enjoying a Wide Variety of Foods Every Day". Four of the remaining nine completed the Crossword. We had to return to base earlier than planned to allow others time on the battlefield. [A study tour group teacher asked me to give up part of my allotted computer room time so that her homesick students could contact friends and family. Owing to the fact that I felt it politic, at that particular juncture, to re-establish my reputation as a benevolent despot I acquiesced.]

We had some serious technical hiccups that clouded the trial. All of the students' computers are linked to the same server on the same line and therefore are abominably slow... and for some unaccountable reason they were even slower yesterday; much slower than the staff computers which aren't as fast as they could be either... the page took too long to download.

Because I am going to be using this teaching resource quite often at this particular (though unsatisfactory) location, I will have to forego some of the fancier elements like 'flash buttons' for basic hyperlinks in order to speed up access. Just as well I haven't loaded this page to my public website. I'd like to iron out a few more kinks before taking that particular plunge.

Also, some students tended to rush ahead without thoroughly reading the instructions which I feel is detrimental to the learning process. I am going to have to include a few more checks and balances on the way through. It's fine if there is a teacher present at all times but if for some reason this material was to be used in a 'distance education' capacity, i.e. most of the work being done online, this could cause unnecessary frustration on the part of the learner and be a demotivating factor in the learning process.

Interestingly some students felt the comprehension questions were easier than those they had done in class and perhaps they were. Because this was the first activity in the series and the whole concept of doing this type of work on the computer is so new to my students I didn't want to make their first attempt too daunting. I'll monitor this with future students and make any necessary adjustments when I have a little more feedback.

A couple of students had problems finding their place on the page when clicking through to answer the questions. Perhaps a split screen activity might be more workable or a few more sub-headings in the text.

I was relieved, though a little surprised, to find that all of the students who attempted the crossword enjoyed the process, despite the fact that they found it very difficult to do. Also, none of them pressed the solve button for the quick answer. Despite this pleasing outcome I think that I will rebuild the crosswords with some easier hints in them; probably some hyperlinks or pictures would be the best option because the object of the exercise is to build or reinforce vocabulary. I don't want them to be tempted to go the easy fix and just press the solve button in order to finish the exercise.

Watching the students work through the exercises I realized I needed to add a hyperlink to an online dictionary/thesaurus which I will now do.

The above hiccups/technical glitches notwithstanding, I am pleased with the webpage and excited at the prospect of refining it to improve students' learning outcomes.

Back from Paradise...

North Queensland was a lovely break. All that green was a bit depressing... My partner was going to take a photo of the lush grass just so we could all remember what it looks like but I dissuaded him. :) It rained on and off for the entire time we were there! Coming back to clear blue skies after promises of rain on the forecast was very depressing. Let's hope they get it right for later this week.

The Whitsundays are lovely but I have to say you really can't beat South East Queensland for the variety. We've got it all... well we usually have it all and will again once the drought breaks. Our beaches are lovely. Our hinterland is exquisite. Our holiday accommodation is much more affordable and a lot more up you go than up North. They really need to check a dictionary to find out what 'deluxe' is supposed to mean. :|

Went to Bowen... hmmm was underwhelmed. Saw the movie set whilst I was there. They just blocked off a small section of one city street, covered the asphalt with dirt and plopped a few WWII army vehicles there. I was amazed how authentic it looked.

Still it was nice to take a break for a couple of days. Leaves one reluctant to return to the classroom but I am sure once I see my students' expectant faces I'll be right back into it.