I find this chapter to be very very interesting (not that other chapters weren’t, in fact they have been oh so ever helpful, but we are touching basis with the student body).  Reading the articles and chapter and watching the youtube links was very interesting and fascinating because it is something we are in constant contact with: our student population.  I, myself, have to admit I am “guilty” of multi-tasking.  Just the other day I was commenting with my friend how ADAHD we are becoming in the sense that if whatever it is we are downloading/uploading we expect it to process in a nano second.  Otherwise, we jump to another task and therefore divide our attention at risk of becoming less (or perhaps more) productive.  It was interesting to read the article and note there was no continental/cultural difference in the students surveyed.  They all admitted to multi-task and move on to “faster” things.  As noted in the research findings written by Jakob Nielsen, students (and sometimes ourselves) “are enraptured by social media but reserve it for private conversations”.

In the beginning of this semester a student came up to me and wanted to comment on one of her observations.  She told me she grew up in a generation where technology was the way of communicating, creating and learning and that it was weird to her that one of the students in class asked her a technology questions in regards to the class.  She was thrown off by this question.  She said she assumes everyone of her and younger generations are familiar with computer softwares and programs.  It raised an important issue, we cannot assume students are familiar with programs.  Hence we have orientations in the beginning of the semester to get students familiar with the programs we will be utilizing in class.  I have created my SurveyMonkey.  Thank you 🙂

I usually have students present a historical figure presentation to tie in culture and language in class.  They have to either use PowerPoint or any other online resource which they are familiar with.  Over 2 years ago, one student asked me if she could use Prezi which, in her words, was a more interactive version of PowerPoint.  I said of course as long as the presentation requirements were met.  Every so often I have students do their presentations with Prezi if they so desire. I recently enjoyed a Prezi presentation a student used and asked her to show me what template she used and she showed me after class.  This template is the one I ended up using for this assignment 🙂 Here is my Prezi Presentation.

Coursework in relation to online classes, as defined by Ko & Rossen 2010, are “all  the software tools, digital materials, and resources used as course materials to deliver an online class”.  A few resources that grabbed my attention was Voki, from YouTube video.  I love that you can integrate audio with images and avatars.  It also mentions there’s multiple options to integrate video/images/audios allowing even shy students to share their ideas and voice, or other formats of oral communications.  Voki was also mentioned in Chapter 9, as well as others such as DoInk.com and Fuzzwich amongst others. I plan to integrate these in my regular class (Computer Lab Trip :p ) to start experimenting with them 🙂

An interesting topic yet very slippery slope.  As a language teacher, I try to use realia by obtaining information/images etc. from multiple sources and multiple (Spanish-speaking) countries in order to introduce student’s a bit of real language use.  How much can we share? How much is appropriate? With the world wide web we have an infinite amount of resources, but we also have the responsibility to appropriately credit authors for their hard work.  How much do we want to make public of our own creations?  And the questions continue…

A wonderful format which I often use myself is saving in PDF formatting, as mentioned in Chapter 8.  I love this format because students can’t change information nor formats (unless they are hackers) and regardless of what program they use to operate they will all have the same information appear in the same order unlike using other formats which may appear differently depending what program is used to open document.

My LucidChart illustrates/ taps a bit into some material used in language class.

Come Together: Student Activities

Ice breakers have always been a good idea to do that precisely, break the ice in a new atmosphere.  As mentioned in Chapter 7 (Ko & Rossen, 2010), this activity “allows student to begin to form some sense of community”.  An interesting factor within the Ice Breaker activity is the “icebreaking team-building activity”.  I liked the idea about encouraging students as well as instructors to upload their picture to give it a personal touch.  Even if students don’t feel comfortable with personal pictures, as it has happened in class activities, some students upload pictures of their favorite artist, hobby etc… and still it gives us, the viewer, a sense of this person.  Taking advantage of technology, I like the idea that now students have the option of creating an avatar to represent them in such activities.

I have already done role playing and simulations in class activities and they have been a very fun learning activity.  However, online simulations and role plays open a whole new dimension of possibilities.  Luckily, the book we use for our class has many great activities that can also be facilitated online.  In an online activity of this kind there are important factors to take into consideration such as providing technical support and “time out” periods as mentioned in chapter seven. Another point I agree with is that simplicity sometimes does it and especially when it comes to instructions. Students need to be able to understand the activity procedure in order to be able to concentrate on developing the activity.   I will definitely integrate and experiment with these activities modifying and editing and improving every step of the way.

As Ko and Rossen (2010) mention, preparation stage “involves a bit of trial and error”.  As in regular classrooms, or face-to-face classes, there is always room for improvement and modification.  Every semester I find new activities or resources to integrate into the classroom.  Sometimes activities don’t go as expected and flexibility to modify these activities and sometimes re-invent them is important.

So far, I have found unit-organization (I guess combined with week/topic organization)as the most efficient organization for the material and class layout.  An important aspect mentioned in Teaching Online: A Practical Guide (3rd ed.) is the “click time” or streaming of media.  Since I’ve never taught an online course before these are factors to consider when creating an activity and developing the class layout.  However, I’m glad it mentions to not be afraid to go back and readjust the syllabus. On the other hand, I had not thought about online communication as a whole.  As it is we already communicate with students through email, and it seems with online classes communication tools multiply.  There are several forms of communication which definitely facilitates student-instructor interaction.  Going back to the second week, online communication can integrate different features such as an emoticon which can go a long way 🙂

I have somewhat experimented with cloud sound with music, but I can definitely work with this tool to integrate to online class so students can produce language and also listen to themselves and others.  Another interesting tool I have heard about are these “virtual worlds”.  I have heard from other colleagues about creating avatars.  These virtual characters seem like a fun and personal representation of students for certain activities in the online class.  I really want to experiment with these tools to help create an online community.

Creating a community can be challenging, but given the right tools and attitude it can most definitely be done.  As Pilar mentions in her video creating an online class community from Day 1 is important and it gives students a sense of collectiveness as a class.  I loved the idea of creating an activity and message with images to engage students from “Day 0”.  Adding short/informal videos during the middle of the semester, as done by Pilar, can definitely give students that extra “pull” or motivation to continue through the semester.   It’s always nice to know you’re still on track 🙂