Primarily, insights into my learning on a Masters distance course with the University of Nottingham.
So before the LTMOOC, came the SpanishMOOC! Apparently, this was the first time a language had been taught in the MOOC format, and I was very excited to make history! Technically, I was not a beginner in Spanish when I took the course. (A recent online test graded me at CEFR Level B2). However, I…
Why participate in LTMOOC? Because I love learning languages! So it all started about 20 years ago, my first year of secondary school, and French was obligatory. Not that I minded, my teacher loved her subject, and that love resonated with her students. Fast forward 10 years, and I lived and worked in Paris for…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeJZwrrRFQU?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281 This week we watched an interview with Kathryn Murphy-Judy of Virginia Commonwealth University. Kathryn’s Bio Kathryn Murphy-Judy holds the MA from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in French from the University of Minnesota. Throughout her forty year career as a language educator, she has worked in technology-enhanced language learning (TELL), from reel to…
Interaction in Distance Learning One of the tasks for Week 3 was to read an article about Incorporating Interaction into your Distance Learning Course, published by Worchester Polytechnic Institute. The article describes several possible benefits of interaction in a distance course: Learner>Content interaction, which results from students examining the course content and participating in class…
The highlight of week 3 has been starting to create my own course in Instreamia. Obsessed with doing things the hard way, I am not only creating a course to teach English to my Chinese students, I am also creating a course to teach Chinese to myself and my peers. I must admit, there have…
Understanding Instreamia Learner Methodology, using SpanishMOOC as an example.
This week’s tasks included watching/listening to an interview with Ed Dixon, Lecturer in German Language and Culture at the University of Pennsylvania and the Technology Director in the Penn Language Centre. What I learnt from the interview: The widespread access of computers and the internet is fueling an unprecedented growth in distance learning and blended classrooms in…
One of our tasks this week was to take an unorganized list of 21 tasks language learners might do and: A. Identify whether each is an input or an output (or both i/e) B. Place them in order, from most effective to least effective. C. Create at least 5 more activities, and add them to…
One of this week’s main task was to read Tomasz P. Synlaski’s article on Inputs and Outputs Here are my thoughts on some of the comments Szynlaski makes about Input and Output and why we need it: Szynlaski says that foreign language is best taught without analyzing grammar principles. I disagree. Grammar is a fundamental…
One of this week’s main task was to read Fredericka Stoller’s piece on Content Based Instruction and Tomasz P. Synlaski’s article on Inputs and Outputs Here are my thoughts on Fredericka Stoller’s work: Stoller’s eight teaching practices above are the basis for a well-structured language lesson. I was first exposed to most of these ideas…