Monthly Archives: October 2013

Language teachers have a hard time teaching online courses because it is near impossible to learn a language without interaction. Therefore, building an online community and making the course interactive online is essential to language learning.

Ideally, I would love the idea of having a virtual classroom online that is 3-D and where students can learn a language in the same way that they can play video games online. I have always imagined that the ideal online French language class should be created in an environment similar to Second Life where the character, or avatar, visits Paris in a 3-d world and learns French during his visit.

In reality, it is near impossible for me to create such a setting so I have to settle for the tools that will allow me to make my course as welcoming and interactive as possible. The tools I plan on using are the Wimba Voice Board and Vimba Presentation, VoiceThread, Discussion boards.

Students will create their own content by contributing to discussion boards, recording their voice, and presenting on a cultural topic related to French and Francophone countries. Even though my current class is face-to-face, I have asked students to join discussion board on Blackboard and tell me which French songs or movies they have seen and write a short description. I have really enjoyed my students’ input, I learn a lot about them in this way.

I am just learning to record my own voice and to use screencast websites. It will be a good idea for online instructors to have a resource page so that we can easily find tools and also see which tool worked for which instructor.

I really like the concept of teaching by trial and error. Since I will be teaching online for the first time in Spring, I truly welcome the idea of erring and trying as I go. I feel as though I will be learning to play a new game and will have to keep at it until I am an expert. I will do my best not to become obsessed with perfecting my course.

Teaching in a face-t0-face setting does not compare to this new online pool of open web spaces and technologies. I really like playing video games, and I have always owned an XBOX or Wii, or Nintendo. In college, I even explored the world of computer programming with Visual Basics and C++ classes. I remember being in the computer lab until four in the morning with my peers to finish up projects. The online course is reminiscent of those classes and projects. I feel as though I have to be talented at teaching, computer programming, and design. Lisa is correct to say that “If you’re not creating the content pathway and facilitating the learning at every step, you’re not a teacher.” Unfortunately, teaching online takes more than just a teacher. An online instructor is 3 people in one.

I am near completion with my online course for the Spring of 2014, but there is too much text, not enough links, images, videos, and my pages are not pretty enough. On the one hand, the gamer in me enjoys tweaking my page and learning about new tools and new ways to design. However, the teacher in me is wondering how talented I can really be at designing, knowing that I have never had a grain of artistic talent in me.

This is why one may become obsessed with online teaching. It is teaching, designing, and programming all in one. The field is constantly changing and we have to stay in tune with new technologies. I believe that the “online classroom design junkie” will eventually be present in all of us whether we like it or not.

This blog entry will be short. I am lucky to have taken a few CS courses during my undergraduate years. There was a time when HTML and DreamWeaver, and other internet languages and tools were fun to me. Now, the Web brings new things every day and I feel like I have a hard time keeping up with the pace of technology. I am glad that we still have the basic HTML language to hold on to.

In Blackboard, embedding a video is really not as easy as it seems. I listened to Pilar Hernandez’ advice and tried to add a table and then put an image in the right column and the text in the left column. Unfortunately, the image fell below the text and the table became unmanageable. I then resorted back to just telling Blackbord to insert the image on the top right of the page and that seemed to take care of the problem.

The advantage of HTML, if you are familiar with it, is that you can always see the code behind a written text online and you can tweak the HTML code to make small adjustments. Sometimes, Word Processor programs like those in WordPress and Blackboard are not programmed well enough to be more user-friendly than just simple code. That’s when HTML can come in handy.

I have chosen to embed a video for children. I use this video in my class to teach professions to my students of the French language. You don’t really need to know French to get what they are talking about. I hope that you will enjoy it.

I have also included an image of my test score. I did better this year than last year. Yeay!

The syllabus and teacher availability:

Schedules and reminders:

This week’s reading was crucial for designing an online or even hybrid course. It is always easy to tell what one should do, but much harder to tell how it should be done. Rachèle Démeo and Pilar Hernandez both showed us some pieces of the online puzzle. I had struggled with aligning a picture with text, and now, thanks to Pilar, I know that creating a table is the way to resolve this problem.

In addition to the course organization and making the syllabus interactive, it is really important to remind students of due dates. Ko and Rossen discuss this issue as well in chapter 5. I agree that too much text or images can overwhelm students, but it is crucial to send at least one reminder a few days before an assignment or test is due. Students are usually taking more than one course, and they can get lost among all the due dates. My homework due dates are always either on Saturdays or Fridays. My students all know this information because I have reminded them a few times. However, some still ask me or forget. They have now asked me to send them an email reminder 2 days before the due date. Experience has thus taught me that sending or posting reminders for due dates is crucial.

Teacher availability:

How often should I be available to my students? Should I set time slots for responding to students’ inquiries? Experience has taught me that it is essential to respond to all of students’ questions as promptly as possible. Students tend to get discouraged very easily and they are seeking someone to help them or guide them, so it is important to be there when they run into trouble. When students do not have the opportunity to interact with the instructor in the classroom, they may get discouraged or shy away from the class even more easily. Ideally, I do my best to answer students’ questions and concerns within 24 hours, but I think that 48 hours is acceptable as well.

I think that the instructor should make himself/herself available via Skype at different times during the week and for a 2 hour time slot each time. This will give students the opportunity to check and talk with the instructor if they prefer to communicate in this way.