Last Lecture_Today I Learn, Today I Question!

It cannot be disputed that I have learned a whole load of Web 2.0 technologies, models, ideas and how to share what I have discovered while exploring the Web 2.0 tools. All these were made necessary and available through the generosity and design of our lecturer, Huey Zher and the unselfishness of other classmates. It has been a truly wonderful learning experience and really complement the PXGT6111 course that I took to get an idea of what I want to do for my project paper. (YES! I managed to figure out and what tool to use and sent in the proposal to the office today!) It's like figuring out and putting the pieces of a puzzle together.

Let me sum up.

First the serious part:

Through the semester I have learned various important models, frameworks and approaches in teaching and learning i.e ADDIE, Engagement Model, Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction, Personalised Learning Environment, Blended Learning, TPACK, Bloom’s Digital Taxanomy, Technology Integration Matrix. All these will help me clear up the confusion I’m facing with my project paper. Oh yeah, the Smart School Vision too. Haha. I’ve never realised until now just how forward looking the Malaysian Government is, or at least was, back in 1999 when they first conceived the idea of the Smart School in Malaysia. Now I’m not so sure, seeing the regression in the PPSMI policy. Let’s hope however, because of the reversal of the PPSMI policy the government would spur its efforts in using technology in education.

Now the fun part:

Huey Zher introduced many Web 2.0 tools for us to explore. To be frank, this semester being a hectic one left me no time to experiment with many so after checking out that they are easy to use and the sort of requirements they needed (whether need to dl) I sub-contracted them to my 9-year-old to try out ;D
When I needed to do the Show and Tell (good way to make us try out the web 2.0s, Huey Zher!) I asked for recommendations from my kid. She recommended Kerpoof but when I tried to use it, I found that it was not so suitable for the level of students and task that I had in mind. So, I abandoned ship and moved to Myths and Legends. This served my purpose.

Lastly:

I also decided to share ‘Edmodo’ with everyone like I promised last week ,before the BLACK OUT! It’s actually very user friendly =)
That’s all for now! Better go to bed now to get some sleep before I go explore ice-skating tomorrow with my librarians!

Lecture 12_Today I Learn, Today I question!

          Well, I was the presenter for the 10 December 2011 class so, no more sitting back and listening. I was pondering for the past 3 or 4 weeks on what to present for 'Teaching with Technology: The Future'. Everything seems to have been well covered more or less by the others. Read through the Horizon Report but still thought that anything that I have to say would have been said. Then, luckily last week, at the end of class, Huey Zher gave me some pointers, "compare the Horizon Report to the Malaysian Smart School Concept"

          I had read through the Smart School Roadmap for PXGT6111, trying to see how I could incorporate it into the Lit Review. As I sat down to compare the two, however, a pattern seemed to materialise. Both have almost the same vision as to educational tools for the future. What is left to see is how Malaysia is going to implement the Smart School Concept in schools.

          One of the issues we discussed was how many teachers were reluctant to embrace technology. When I was taking my bath in the evening, I thought (yes, I think best when I'm bathing. maybe it's the soothing sound of water) about how we can get teachers to be enthusiastic about going for training to use new technologies. One way is to offer teachers who have gone through an "Application of Internet in Instruction" course and an "Information Technology in Teaching and Learning" course an extra jump in the pay scale when they pass the courses with at least a B+. This will lead to more eager learners and more teachers who will see technology as friends rather than inconveniences. I know that this can be done if political will wants it. Currently Principles of Accounts teachers get one or two scales higher than people who graduated the same time as them.

         It was great to hear about what the government has actually tried to do even though it's still not enough. Before they give out the laptops/netbooks to students they should make sure that at least 50% of the teachers are well trained in technological instructional design so that the laptops are not given in vain. The government should also disseminate information about the Smart School Concept to the public through campaigns, TV ads and road shows so that everyone understands what is expected of them and so that parents won't treat laptops as windfalls but as part of the school books. No one ever sells school books right?

Anyway, this is a very interesting report in the New York Times regarding the use of technology in classrooms:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/technology/technology-in-schools-faces-questions-on-value.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1&sq=education%20and%20technology&st=cse&scp=1

and another site:

http://beyondmontessori.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/the-debate-over-technology-in-the-classroom/

Lecture 11_Today I Learn, Today I Question!

Chan presented on Blended Learning today. The most important points I gathered from the concept are:
1. student engagement
2. interactivity
There was a term that puzzled me, however, so I had to ask for the meaning, hoping that I could get a quick explanation and not have to puzzle it out by myself. The term is “decreasing the learners’ transactional space”. I found this website/webpage on it :
http://www.deakin.edu.au/itl/dso/strategies-teaching/tips/d2l-transact-space.php?print_friendly=true
After reading the explanation on the webpage I think that what it means is we must make ourselves accessible to the students to create a social presence i.e a sense of connectivity so that the students will feel comfortable connecting and collaborating with “real” people. If the students feel disconnected then they will be reluctant to communicate on the chosen platform. Is this correct? Please feel free to redefine. Thanks!

Lecture 10_Today I Learn Today I Question!

Huey Zher introduced a few books books that would be useful to guide us in research and teaching:-

1. The Technology Toolkit for Teaching
2. Empowering Online Learning : 100+ Activities for Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, & Doing

The books looked exciting! Must find the time to read!
Also the Horizon Project Navigator to keep ourselves updated.
Oh yeah, from Yee Hui I learned about Prezi, from KJ Google Extentions. Made use of the extentions already! Thank you, Yee Hui and KJ!

Today's presentation was about the Flipped Classroom. The idea is very stimulating. I was all ready to think of which of my topics I want to use with this method. Then it hit me- the parents! We need to re-train them to allow their children to adopt the usage of technology in the classroom and outside of classroom. The computer has always been associated with entertainment and play. The MOE really needs to change the parents and most of the teachers' mindset with regard to the possibilities of technology in all aspects of learning. There are so many resources on the world wide web to be utilized, if only Malaysians are more open to new technologies and the World Wide Web!

However, on a brighter note, I might assemble a power point with all the video cuts I want my students to watch then get them to watch the power point at home to save time.

This post will be a short one because I still have to catch up with my reading and try to get some sense out of the articles to link up for my literature review assignment =(

Will be back next week ;D

Lecture 9_Today I learn, Today I Question!

Time Flies! It’s week 9 already? Cannot be, yet the date tells me it’s true. The pace of the semester has picked up considerably with the main assignments for PXGT6110 and PXGT6111 due pretty soon. Though the school holidays has started it does not mean any less work for me, being caught up with invigilation, marking and assignments. I will only be done with all these by the end of December, when school starts again! What bedlam!

Through this week’s presentation I was made to understand one thing, that is, pedagogy is more important that technology. we should actually use pedagogy to guide us towards the right technology to use in class and for each lesson. Because we are teaching languages or sciences and not technology. I will bear this truth in mind when I next design for my class.

I’m all excited about the possibilities of using technology in the classroom but also question the possible distractions that they bring with them, having my doubts raised after reading:

Distractions in the Wireless Classroom  By Michael J. Bugeja

however,
the article in the Edu Cause Quarterly address these concerns :
 

From Distraction to Engagement: Wireless Devices in the Classroom By Berlin Fang

Lecture 8_Today I learn, Today I Question!

It's November already and mid-term. Time flew past so fast. I dread the end of the semester when this course will end. I haven't had so much fun in ages though of course it's hard work.

Lecture this week is on the various ID frameworks like ADDIE, Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction, Kemp and others. After reading through some materials on Instructional Design for e-Learning posted by Huey Zher and also the presentation by Jessica, I gathered that these are the steps that I must take to ensure a good design:
1. Perform a Needs Analysis based on curriculum requirements and the actual need for instruction. Check out the constraints/limitations and resources-make sure that the students don’t get lost in your design. We found out that our students did get lost so we have to narrow down the exercises on our wiki- in other words- redo =(( Time is also an important factor in ID. We must allocate enough time to design, develop and go-live.
2. Identify Instructional Goals and Analyse Tasks- break the goals and tasks into smaller, more manageable units according to outcomes and objectives.
3. Write the assessment for the design based on goals and objectives.
4. Choose teaching strategies and Instructional Media – determined by objectives and goals of instruction.
5. Teach the course.
And after that of course at the end of each lesson we have to analyse them. If something does not work out, we have to redesign, re-implement and re-evaluate. Evaluation can be in the form of facial/verbal clues and does not necessarily have to be tests/exams.

We also had an activity where we had to sum up what we’ve learned so far. This is our summary, using graphics. In our opinion, PLE is the final outcome, while the theories, TPACK and Model of Learning Engagement are the back bone. ADDIE and the aspects, visual of web-based learning will guide us in our design. Thus, the following graphic:

I also downloaded and installed JING recommended by Huey Zher. I find this software really useful because there's something wrong with my laptop printscreen function. See the image I made using Jing and Powerpoint below. I didn't use SnagIt because there's a trial period of 30 days so I suspect they will ask us to subscribe after that ;D.

Lecture 7_Today I Learn, Today I Question!

Today I feel light, the heavy clouds of doubt hanging overhead seem to be dissipating and I see a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. Huey Zher and Yee Hui shared how to plan and get the most of Wikispaces and this really helps. At least we have some  inkling of how to get about completing our work. We also had about 30 minutes to discuss and ask our course mates some technical questions- which was great since we find it quite hard to meet up. Pheeeewwww!

 This song keeps playing in my mind because the lyrics include "...light at the end of the tunnel" =)


The presentation today is about “Designing of a web-based environment for learning & Usability”. When I read the notes for this week I noticed that to fully justify learning all that, and as Yee Hui mentioned, we need to know about E learning.


Essentially, as stated in Wikipedia, “E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process. The term will still most likely be utilized to reference out-of-classroom and in-classroom educational experiences via technology, even as advances continue in regard to devices and curriculum.

E-learning is essentially the computer and network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. E-learning applications and processes include Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual education opportunities and digital collaboration. Content is delivered via the Internet, intranet/extranet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM. It can be self-paced or instructor-led and includes media in the form of text, image, animation, streaming video and audio.” (Please forgive the cut and paste- I feel that the idea must be read in its entirety and not some watered down summary by me ;D)

To read more about E-learning, go to this link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning

Lecture 6_Today I Learn, Today I Question!

As usual, lecture is action-packed, filled with new information, new ideas, new concepts that I never would have known existed had I not signed up for this class. About 3/4 of the class also take PXGT6111 so the combined effects of both classes, one on Friday afternoon and one on Saturday morning leave us, or at least me dazed, with adrenaline surges to get started on research on whatever it is we’d learned for the day, to work on our projects and assignments, to explore the new technologies introduced. but all these come accompanied by fear, or at least jitters, of “I don’t have enough time to explore all these”, “what if I can’t handle the new technologies?” “why is my thinking so shallow compared to others?'” These fears aside, I don’t think I would have given up on any of the two courses even with all the hard work involved. I feel that I’ve learned a lot, even though it’s only been 6 weeks since we started.
Today’s presentation is on PLE- Personalised Learning. Before the presentation by Pearl, Huey Zher asked everyone to post on Spectrum what PLE means to us. Since she has given us some articles to read(which we only had time to finish half), we had some idea what it is, but how to conceptualize something that is half learned? ARGHHHHH. We try our best to describe what we understand in our own ways. Dee gave the best summary of it, here it is, (copied and pasted for future reference ;P) “it is the learner's autonomy to create his/her own learning ground”
After Pearl’s presentation on PLE, which was simple and clear, we had a bit of discussion about whether we had, in our own ways, incorporated this concept into our lessons in school. It seems that most of us had, at some point or other, or even quite frequently for some though we had no idea what we had done was termed as PLE. These are some of the activities that we have carried out:

• movies shown to students – students create and present own plays
• journal writing
• students create and present powerpoint
• debates
• students create magazines for NIE projects in groups
• students watch movies (must have appropriate content) then write reviews and carry out discussion about the issue e.g racism
• post links to activities and information on Facebook Group for students to respond and take learning out of the classroom
• students look up a recipe of choice, practise at home then give a demonstration in class (ERT room)

If these activities are PLE then to some extent we have carried out PLE in our lessons. However, the number of teachers who actually use the PLE concept is far and few between. Some quote the lack of initiative due to heavy workload, lack of facilities, not being comfortable with technology. As long as all these concerns are not addressed, PLE will not be fully adapted by the teaching community.

To conclude, personalised learning means a learning environment where the main focus is on the students themself where they are expected to get the most out of what they want to learn and had learned. Students will be the one who are responsible for their learning most of the time but with teachers to facilitate and help.

                               

Lecture 5_Today I Learn, Today I Question

This week’s lecture comprises a number of presentations. It’s quite different from our normal lectures where Huey Zher would lead some of the discussions. Sailor started off with his presentation on TPACK –Technological, Pedagogical And Content Knowledge. His slide show was very informative and I enjoyed looking at and relearning what we’ve learnt about TPACK. The slides were easy to understand. However, when I reviewed them later I realised that there was a point that I did not fully understand, which is, “the situated nature of learning”. I checked it out and found this explanation: “situated or anchored learning,  presumes that most learning is context-dependent, so that cognitive experiences are situated in authentic activities such as project-based learning”. Is this what you mean, Sailor?

Yin’s presentation was equally awesome and I find myself quickly saving the links she gave so that I could check them out later to see if I could use them for either Assignment 3 or my project paper (*keeping fingers crossed). It was also very good that we had this topic because I've forgotten ALL that I've ever learned about learning theories(studied them over 20 years ago)

Oh yeah, in the midst of all the excitements of today I almost forgot to mention: we have a new addition to the class and member to our group. Her name is Shakirah. After the two individual presentations, came the various groups’ presentation on what their ideas were for Assignment 3. There was not enough time for our group to present (*phew! – the other groups sounded very confident and impressive) hehe.  However, Huey Zher insisted that we follow her out of class to present her our ideas. At first we were quite blur but after a few probing questions and pointers from her, our focus seemed clearer. Not going to divulge anything yet ;P Need to work on it more. The question I kept asking myself was: will we live up to the task?

      Huey Zher pointing the way.
             

                                                              Our group members’ dazed and blur looks

Lecture 4 _Today I learn, today I question

An exciting day it proved to be today. As always I look forward to the Application of the Internet in Instruction class. We started the class with a discussion of Power point Presentations- I know about the outdated idea of having 6 bullet points on each slides but have never thought about the other aspects of attention grabbing slides so today's lecture was an eye-opener. These sites should be helpful as reference points:
1. Garr Reynolds http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/slides.html
2. http://www.m62.net/powerpoint-slides/conference-slides/


I’m glad that Huey Zher introduced us to the Phases of Engagement Model coz it’ll be really useful in guiding us in Assignment 3. (reminder to self- maintaining engagement in learning- for the long term) I've always been interested in using technology to teach but did not know how to sustain the activities to the point where students can take ownership of their own learning. this has always been my question which i have not found any answer to until now. I hope that by keeping the Model in mind, I'll be able to take my students further.


Today also is the first time I heard of the term 'Blended Learning'. I googled the term and found this "Many people may be using a form of blended learning in lessons and teaching, but may not realise it or be able to give it an actual name. Blended learning is not a new concept, but may be a new term to many users (why must it be named? a rose by any other name smells just as nice. haha) However," the term blended learning is being used with increasing frequency in both academic and corporate circles. In 2003, the American Society for Training and Development identified blended learning as one of the top ten trends to emerge in the knowledge delivery industry." So, I guess we'll have to use it so that we can keep up with the progress in the teaching world. Some older and more common names for blended learning are "integrative learning", "hybrid learning", "multi-method learning"

Wow, so it seems that I've been trying out this type of teaching but have not known it.
I also found that there are many forms of learning that people consider as blended learning as well. For example, as shown in the diagram below. So, which is the correct one? Or can can they all be considered blended learning?

Lecture 3 Today I Learn, Today I Question

Class today is as information-packed as usual.
First we used chat on Spectrum to discuss what we read in Chapter 5 Technologies of Online Learning as Huey Zher felt that many classmates are not really participating in oral discussions (we can use this method in our own classes as well). She decided to try us on a “moodle chat”. (Am I correct? Please correct me if I’m wrong) At first we started off quite slowly with everyone getting a feel of the chatbox. As soon as everyone warmed up however, we got a whole load of information which I found very informative but a bit overwhelming. The conversation went so fast that I found it quite hard to keep up since I wanted to google the tools mentioned as well. Ooops! Haha. I didn’t say that. However, the chat session proved to be very useful because from there I came to know about many tools that I haven’t heard about before e.g:
1. Webnode,
2. Google Sites(heard of before and tried but gave up since I did not have a need for it then)
3. Wikispaces
4. Not to forget- the chat though I think if we use blogs we can also set up and use a chat box. Then the teacher and students can look at the work posted and comment.
We also discussed the affordances and limitations of each tool which was great since then it will help us to decide which tool to use for assignment 3. Thanks for a great discussion, everyone! You’re all awesome!
(I’m looking forward to learning how to use them)
Then introduction by Huey Zher to some really interesting websites like The Forbidden City- Beyond Space and Time and others. Will really have to find the time to explore them.
Lastly we had Kong Joo’s presentation on the first topic -
History and development of the internet in teaching & learning Evolution of instructional technology
Refering to today’s reflection on ‘Today I learn, Today I Question’, after listening to KJ’s presentation, I felt very excited about the potential of the Internet and also web-based technologies which can only improve. I also felt a bit down cast because what KJ’s said at the end is also very true – if you can find other ways that can be used to teach as effectively, then why use the web which will definitely incur more $$$ in the purchase and setting up of hardware and also time and energy invested in looking for the best tool and suitable content to be put into the tool. We must also spend time in training our students to use the tool we want for T&L. Are all the efforts warranted?

The GANG of FOUR

This is the name I give to the four benchmarks that I’m going to discuss.
Let’s see, what to write about?

Provide a canvas and they'll create a masterpiece.
Last year I used the internet to try to interest my class of very weak students(Form 4 but level of English is K2- Form 2) to write. Normally, on paper, my success rate is about 4/18. However, when I took them to the computer lab to “write’, I could see that they were very excited. I asked them to identify a place/country that they would like to visit. Using power point, they are to google for pictures and write short descriptions of the place and why they want to visit the place/country. Prior to this, I had them read a description of places of interest in Hong Kong. When they actually settled down to the task, I could see that they were very excited. Normally the students who would talk or sleep when asked to do any free or guided writing are now participating! They actually tried to write something and when they do not know the English words, they asked either me or one of the more able students to help them translate. Every group produced a piece of work. Even the weakest student produced a few lines!

Recognize and understand the demographics of your students.
Before we ask our students to do a certain task, we have to study their background and understand the limitations and constraints that would affect their performance in the task assigned. When I set my students the task of preparing a power point presentation, I was very confident that it would be a breeze since every student in the 21st century knows how to do it, right? Wrong! Even though every student was supposed to have gone through ICTL classes in Forms 1 & 2, all of them did not know how to prepare a power point presentation. They did not even know the basic rudiments of preparing a power point presentation. 4/18 did not have any computers at home. Not knowing this set the class back a few periods while I try to teach them how to use MS Power Point.

Provide access on multiple platforms
Oh, no! After googling up the phrase ‘multiple platforms’ I realised that I can’t really relate it to my experience. Multiple platforms, was defined as :
If a software program is developed for mulitple operating systems, it is considered to be "multiplatform." Since Microsoft Word runs on both the Windows and Macintosh platform, it is a mutliplatform application.
In the consumer gaming market, mutliplatform games run on more than one gaming machine. For example, a sports game developed for Xbox, Playstation, GameCube, and PC would be a multiplatform game.
With my limited knowledge of the computer and its hardware, I am not able to give any feedback on this benchmark. Then I found this: (some sites say that multiple platforms has the same meaning as cross platform)
Refers to developing software for, or running software on, more than one type of hardware platform. The most universal cross platform application is the Web browser. Written for every desktop computer platform, Web browsers render Web pages "almost" the same no matter which computer they run on.
I asked my students to use google to find images and information and then write an email to their pen-pal regarding the place they visited and send a copy of the same email to me.

In regards to technology, be comfortable failing in front of your students.
In a world where teachers will always be Digital Immigrants to our students’ Digital Natives, we have to learn to accept the fact that we will never be sages. We have to learn to take a back seat and let our students take over when the technological tools we plan to use do not behave as they should in class. Always identify a student who is more technology savvy and have him/her on hand when you need help. Never be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Of course it also helps to set up the things you want to use like the computer, internet access, LCD projector ahead of class time and to test out everything before the class arrives at the computer lab or AVA room.

Lecture 2

Ooops. Today I arrived a little late for class. When I entered everyone was already seated with their desk/lap tops all ready for the lecture. Panicked a little since I've not finished my Learning Contract nor linked it. Luckily Huey Zher was kind enough to let us work on it in class. Lucky too that she showed me a way to transfer my incomplete LC (which was in MS Word) to Google Docs. Haha. The way to do it is to email the MS Word doc to your googlemail then view the doc there. To link, open Spectrum in Mozilla Firefox. I was really surprised that it was so easy, after having agonised over it for many an hour.
         
           After doing all these we proceded to discuss our reading for the week, which I had read and highlighted but when it comes to giving opinions during discussion, I found it hard to locate what I wanted to bring up. Anyhow, after Ng and Yin volunteered their opinions, I found myself more focused and was able to add my own opinions. Bravo to both of them!
          
           From my reading of the text “Do generational differences matter in instructional design” by Reeves, Thomas C, an important issue that arose was when he ask these questions:

- Will members of the Net Generation arrive in the workplace with advanced technology skills and strong information literacy as some have predicted?

- Or are their technology skills shallow and superficial?

After reflecting on these questions, I am of the opinion that for the general population of net-generation, even though they are familiar with technology, they may have only superficial knowledge of how it really works. To them technology is invented for their pleasure and leisure. They play games online, download music and movies, blog, use social networking sites etc. They only use what they want and ignore the rest and they don’t really use discretion or censor what they say or post online. Right now, what we need to teach them is, based on our discussion, Digital Citizenship. I feel that even though it does not seem like our duty but hey, teachers also teach students to clean the classroom, to pick up rubbish, teach them not to simply throw rubbish and other things which are not part of the curriculum. It is our duty to educate and not only to teach.

- Is their information literacy limited in fundamental ways that actually limits their powers
to reflect, reason, and make decisions?

I think this affects a large number of the net-generation based on my casual interaction and observation but I have not researched any empirical evidence that support this. So, further research and reading......

Learning in the Digital Age

John Seely Brown

In Brown's lecture, he talked about how universities have recognised the role of Instructional Technology on campus and how it is affecting campuses. He also talked about how educators need to learn how the net-generation thinks and learns. We also need to rethink what we have to relearn how we learn so that we can turn learning into a life-long habit. 

          Before the advent of the technological age, we have always thought of learning to be pouring knowledge into a kid's head. We come into being by participation and we understand what is socially constructed through study groups. With the evolution of learning, our current students learn through the clicker method, by doing work together, virtually. What educators have not realised is that studying together in this way is also fun. When work in progress is made public, others learn from it. Instructors do not know how to be mentors, not sages in a studio based learning. We don't like to reinvent teaching practices. However, we have to learn to be facilitators in peer-based learning. He also found that peer-based learning works extremely well for minorities and women.

         He also said that in this age, there are a lot of ways learning can happen. We are now beyond merely textbooks. Students no longer learn about something, they learn to be, to see solutions to a problem elegantly and take charge. In the net-generation, learning is a culture of participation, of building, tinkering, reusing, sharing and creating meaning by "what I create and others build on or comment on and share. 

         Man has evolved from being homo sapiens (man the wise) to homo faber (man the maker) to homo ludens (man the player). In the world of the homo ludens, students have the freedom to fail and try again and again fun and see learning as riddles to be solved. Tools such as Youtube, Wiki, Blogger, Facebook, Flicker, World of War Craft provide the foundations for man to constantly master a world in flux, a world which is constantly changing.

         Instructors need to acknowledge that learning happens outside the classroom as inside and that we need to facilitate both. Students need to be given the ownership of learning so that they will be motivated to do so.

Brown gave an example of Singapore which has adapted the concept of "Teach Last, Learn More". Starting from kindergarten, students are introduced to productive inquiry and experimental learning. 

         Brown believes that one of the most important issues to tackle is teachers' beliefs. Even if we are given all the facilities but do not use them in teaching then all is lost. Then again, there are teachers who have picked up the new technologies but in the real world but there is no support from the department of education concerning time and freedom. The department is also slow in acknowledging and advocating the use of new technology ideas like social networking sites in and outside the classroom.

         Based on my own experience, the issues Brown brought up were all very true. I for one is for using all these new technologies in the classroom but really found that the administration people in my school are still very skeptical about them. They would far rather rely on the concept that teachers are sages rather than mentors or facilitators.

First Impressions

17 September is the beginning of the new semester 2011/2012 for me since Friday was the Malaysia Day celebrations and classes were cnncelled. I awoke before my alarm and got ready for class which showed how  excitedly I was anticipating the courses this semester, after the long,long break of 4 months. Arrived a little before time and saw a familiar face outside the labs. Chatted for a while then went into Lab 2 to talk to Dr.Tee regarding my project paper.

At 0800 we went into Lab 1 for PXGT6110- Application of the Internet in Instruction class. Saw more familiar faces here and I was very glad because I thought I would be an outsider here, being one of the very few TESL students who would venture out of the safety of English courses and explore the unfamiliar territories of Instructional Technology. However, I prefer a lot of hands on work with computers and the internet rather than discussing theories in English all the time.

Our lecturer introduced herself as Ng Huey Zher. She discussed the course pro-forma and what was expected form us. Seemed like a lot was expected, especially 'Create a Web Based Learning Environment'. I'm quite worried about this since I have not have a lot of experience with this and have not attended the same courses as the rest of the students in the class. I'm very interested though and hope to learn a lot which would help me with my project paper. Huey Zher told us not to be too worried and also said she would walk us through it. She seems like a pretty nice lady, what's more, I was excited to know that she was from the same state, Johor.

This blog that I have set up is part of our coursework, to record our reflections of what we've learned and experienced over the semester. Hope I'll have lots to write and rave about.