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Linley
Joomjaroen:
Some of the aspects
of the PD program which have been invaluable to me and also able to meet
very specific needs have been :
1. face to face
support, one to one at convenient times and locations. ie go anywhere,
anytime (including at home and on the weekend)
2. encouragement
to follow idiosyncratic directions ie do anything (well, almost anything)
3. Asynchronous
OL support by email ie on demand
4. Excellent response
time to above
5. Course material
and instructions available OL and accessible via project web page - excellent
to be able to check details when in different location to hardcopy and
to keep up with others' projects.
6. Wise and timely
guidance to selected relevant and stimulating sites and lists (eg Michael's
Homepage, Learnscope, Neteach and others) broadening issues nationally
and internationally.
7. Access to other
participants, their projects and issues through mailing list
8. Colleagues
at workplace with shared demands, interests, frustrations. People to chat
with.
9. Opportunity
to experience and rehearse chat via regular Learnscope chat 10. Access
to support people for chat scripts and problem solving.
(top)
Darlene
Ho
My project was
to develop student worksheets to help beginning ESL students gain some
familarity with using the computer to access the internet and to create
a web page where I could share my worksheets with others. I developed
3 easy student worksheet to use with the Australian On-line White Pages.
The project involved revising and practising many of the skills I learned
in Stage 1 of the project. These included:
(1) brainstorming
and searching the web
(2) sending an
attachment and
(3) using Netscape
Composer to design and create a basic web page.
I found the skills
I learned, the notes from Stage 1 as well as my one-to-one sessions (about
4) with my mentor very helpful. The Learning Plan that I wrote up after
an initial consultation with my mentor was followed, even though at the
time of writing it up it seemed not within my capabilities.
The process involved
in Stage 2 of the project was very satisfying to me, especially as it
gave me a lot of time on my own to explore and practise much of what I
had learnt in Stage 1, as well as having access to someone with some knowledge
and expertise in facilitating such a project which saved me hours of time.
I was also especially keen to do something useful to assist my students
in gaining awareness of the usefulness of the internet and to practise
their English.
I am still much
of a novice with my skills and need to develop and practise further. In
particular I need to focus on file management and do more web searching.
I am interested
in having students use English in authentic contexts, as well as gaining
information that is personally relevent and useful. In the future I would
like to extend the worksheets I have done to more interesting and useful
exercises for the students. One exercise could be to teach the students
to search for government and business phone numbers and devise a worksheet
with various important phone numbers that they would try to find, such
as the Poisons Information Centre.
(top)
Bev
Hewison
During Stage I
I learned many new skills and frankly was not always at my best as the
first few weeks were a rush to get to Croydon on time as I had a class
which finished at 12. Also I am teaching low level students at present
and knew that I would not immediately be able to use much of the material
I found on the Web. I did not want to work on a project as such for stage
2 but rather to consolidate as we had covered a lot of ground during term
3. I did find it hard to have the discipline to sit down on Thursdays
some times but my mentor was very patient and encouraging. I practised
Powerpoint and made a presentation about the Preparatory program which
my mentor then suggested I alter slightly to make a web page. This then
turned out to be my 'project'. I agree with many of the things Frankie
wrote re feeling a bit shaky on some of the skills we'd learnt in stage
one and I've now discovered I can't remember how to send an attachment.
This is a problem as my evaluation is due today! Overall I've learnt a
lot, still have much consolidation to do, and it's been a bit of a disadvantage
not having internet access at home. Thanks to the facilitatorsl for a
job well done.
(top)
Kathy
Stevens/Cathy Clennell
Stage 2 gave Cathy
and me the opportunity to consolidate and therefore apply the knowledge
gained in Stage 1. We both decided that if we were going to do something
it needed to be useful and not just a paper chase.Hence the Enhancement
Project (EP) web page. Our EP web page will become part of the EP resources
and we intend to develop it further next year. For example, include information
re on-going professional development and workshops. This will be invaluable
for participants who can't attend in person. Newsletters may also be "online".
I still need a
lot of practice as far as designing web pages. The difference between
these and a word document can still leave me feeling skill less, but practice
makes perfect. What has been invaluable has been the regular contact with
facilitators and mentors, and setting up peer support was a good move.
The skills I have gained have enabled me to be more independent in my
day to day work. Once just needing to send an Email resulted in a request
to the ASO!
I still can't
believe that Cathy and I actually presented four workshops on "ESL on-line".
The last workshops also included cutting and pasting from a web page to
a word document,saving graphics from a web page to a floppy disk and bookmarking.
During these sessions we were ably assisted by Peter Gripton who volunteers
two days a week in the Home Tutorr Scheme office and has an enormous amount
of computer skills.
I still have a
way to go re these skills as sometimes during these sessions the steep
learning curve became a slippery slope!!!! Without this PD opportunity
I would never have tried to learn these skills or seen the potential of
the technology and how it applies to ESL. Participating in a training
group was essential and invaluable as far as reaching a successful outcome.
Thank you to our facilitators.
(top)
Jean
Carr
The PD course
Stage 1 was terrific. It felt like a big commitment to come down from
the country which meant one whole day out of a week which was already
rather hectic. After the first Friday those days quickly became addictive
as our facilitators guided us through pathways and towards IT possibilities
only dimly glimpsed until then. It was also terrific to meet other ESL
lecturers for the first time and to be able to fit names to faces.
The facilitators
obviously prepared the course with great care. It was interesting for
me - a new person to ESL - to learn from observing their classes. And
heartening that they were both so quickly responsive to cries for help
in the classroom or on email throughout Stages 1 & 2. Whenever I left
my IT folder at the "wrong" campus up here in the Riverland it was good
that I could still access course details and support on the course page
on the web.
Stage 2 was different.
I felt "avalanched" by the work I had neglected by choosing "the Friday
option". I had foreseen this but still chose to take part in the course.
And I'm very grateful for all the information I gained in this way - much
quicker than by choosing any other option. However I still have a long
way to go on almost every front before I round off any achievements with
classes as a result.
Nevertheless,
individual members of the Migrant English class I share with Frankie have
explored a number of avenues with me as a result. Students have created
email addresses for themselves and now communicate with each other both
at TAFE and by using their own local public library. Four members of class
have moved away - two to Queensland and two to different parts of Greece
and keep in touch with us and each other by email (as well as with far
away friends). One student was a rather reluctant convert to Internet
but - as a small businessperson (an apiarist) - he has seen the value
of keeping up with research and information in his field via the Internet
and is fast becoming a fan. Another student is happy to access sites which
help her with grammar and essay construction as a support to her studies
with us. I'm still working towards the day a student would like to construct
a web page.
My part of Frankie's
page on the course home page is still "under construction" and I am very
disappointed in myself as a result. However I have skills I didn't have
before, the students have a window on another world which is opening up
opportunities they didn't know about before so I'll fossick onwards next
year - travelling in hope even though I haven't yet arrived.
(top)
Elizabeth
Waye/Mary Readman
The PD course,
in one word ? Empowering. It was a push and a shove into the new millenium
for me: new skills and and a new attitude. I'm an old hand at Word, but
a very recent convert to Netscape. Surprised (and relieved) to discover
that many others in the PD course knew as little as I did. And so, coming
together as a group in Stage 1 of the course, was invaluable and reassuring:
progressing as a team, the humour, the frustrations, the minute glories
along the way, discussing intriguing issues such as copyright re Internet
during smokos, and simply picking up enough computer lingo in order to
talk about it in the first place.
These Friday morning
sessions were very motivating. Our facilitators taking us through it step
by step, then encouraging and cajoling us to do the homework. By the end
of Stage 1 my initial resistance had dissolved. The general feeling in
our group was so positive and enthusiastic that I finally gave up my cynicism
towards the Internet and the new technology, and began to enjoy the prospect
of developing my own website in Stage 2.
How can I make
this project work for me as an ESL teacher and for my students in the
classroom ? This was the starting point and rationale behind the project,
"Australian Studies Resources". Out of endless hours randomly searching
for websites on topics related to Australia, the project gradually began
to shape itself into 8 separate categories (web pages). This required
a lot of useful repetition of basic skills introduced in Stage 1 (bookmarking,
saving images, linking sites, inserting tables etc.)
When Mary Readman
joined the project, I finally had a good reason to practise using email.
(But it still would have been a lot easier to use the phone.) Collaborating
with Mary was very valuable for extending the project beyond one campus,
and for seeing computers as a means of communication, not only a resource.
And so out of our collaboration came the most obvious next step: create
a forum for students across the two campuses. But without having participated
(albeit reluctantly) in the forums in Stage 1 of the PD course, it would
not have been obvious at all.
Another aspect
to this project was to design student activities related to the websites:
getting down to the nuts and bolts application. In the activities on the
"Geography" and "Aussie Lingo" pages, using the computer as a resource
is only one ingredient of an otherwise oral focused session involving
small group and class discussion. In designing these activities, I didn't
envisage students staring at the screen for an entire session.
Throughout the
course, I tried out a few of these sites with my current Advanced English
students at Salisbury campus. The first reaction of a few students when
I first introduced the lesson and mentioned using computers was, "Do we
have to stay ? Can we go home if we don't know how to use the computer
?" But by the end of the session, they were so involved in the resources
that they had forgotten that they were using a computer. But on the other
hand, I had less success taking students into the forum. My own lack of
experience resulted in a very frustrating session. Apparently if students
take too long composing a message, the computer seems to jam up and all
their work is lost! A critical detail!
Tomorrow we have
"show and tell". The project has been completed in terms of Stage 2 of
the PD course. But it's on-going. It needs to be tended, extended, used,
tested.... The "contact" page should perhaps be more inviting, less of
Mondrian's modernist boxes. If we encourage students and teachers to send
us other useful sites to link to, or ideas for activities, then the site
can start breathing on its own. It would be great if in the future another
campus sent us their class photo and joined the forum. And students in
the forum who have personal web pages could be linked to our site. It
never ends: the never-ending webpage.
And thank you
to our facilitators. The amount of work, time and patience involved on
your side must have been tremendous. I hope that you're feeling as satisfied
as your PD students with the outcomes. It has been a revolution..a revelation.
Signing off.
(top)
Amanda
McKay/Stepanie Jarrett
Our stage 2 project
involved four students, three who came every Wednesday for two hours for
six weeks, one who came and worked separately with Amanda when he could.
Students also worked at home and were able to email our mentor for help.
The concept was
to create a Job Link page, which presented Job Link and had links to pages
presenting professional/biographical information about our students. We
asked students to create as a minimum their own simple biographical page.
In fact most of
these students had far greater aspirations - they actually wanted to advertise
their businesses for commercial purposes.
- Wolfgang - an investment
advisor wanted his page to present investment information to his clients.
(In fact he wanted the information to be accessible by password only
to those who were paid up. This was beyond the scope of this project.
) Wolfgang's completed site consists of some publicity about his investment
business and a resume.
- Tamara - an artist
wanted to present her artwork including paintings, greeting cards and
wrapping paper. She worked with Paintshop pro and Netscape Composer
but towards the end of the project we got Dreamweaver so that she could
manipulate her images better. She has created a beautiful artistic site
which she will expand as she goes along. This course has inspired her
to enrol in honours in computer imaging at the University of SA.
- Istvan - a computer
programmer wanted to present his mobile computing solutions business.
His challenge was to pitch his information to the right audience ie
to those who need his services but don't yet realise it. This was a
language challenge - how to explain to the layperson what mobile computing
solutions are and how businesses might benefit from them. It also brought
up the issue of using key words that could be picked up in a search.
- Kamal - a poet -who
has a network of friends all over the world whom he met while working
for the UN. His ultimate aim for his site is to share his poetry and
life in Australia with his international friends.
The Process:
- explore the concept, your
purposes
- design your pages
- learn by doing with a few
simple written instructions and help on hand from facilitators (more
or less expert)
- refine
The Job Link site
cannot satisfy the commercial aspirations of these students. It is only
accessible through ESL talk. For their own purposes the students would
need to put up their own sites in consultation with their own Internet
service providers.
The success of
the project lies in the knowledge gained by the students (and the teachers)
from the experience of conceptualising, designing, trying and making mistakes,
coming up against obstacles, refining and finally producing. It's a bit
like a relationship: initial acquaintance followed by ever deepening knowledge
of the other, joys and frustrations, love and fights, gestation and labour
and a bonny babe to show for it at the end.
The Job Link Website
now has links to 4 student pages/sites. In the future other Job Link students
could create simple pages with the help of some step by step notes, peer
tutoring by those who have already done it, or Job Link staff. We would
need good photo scanning facilities, which we haven't got at the moment,
a digital camera , reliable computers and good computer support preferably
by people with these skills.
(top)
Julia
Pitman/Wendy Sadler/Sue Darsow
As a follow up
to stage one of the Learnscope project in Term 3 1999, a group of 3 of
us decided to design a web page for the statewide program on which we
teach, The Advanced English for Migrants Program. Our aims were:
- To practice many of the
skills which we had learnt during stage 1, particularly those related
to web page design.
- To develop a simple web
page (currently non-existent) which would advertise our program to prospective
clients.
Now in the last week of the
project we are on the brink of satisfactorily achieving both goals. In
evaluating the project there are a number of aspects which we would like
to comment on.
Firstly we came to the project
with a significant degree of trepidation. Stage 1 was a very comprehensive,
thorough and enjoyable program which provided us with practice and a very
effective set of notes to which to refer. It was a very well run program
but, like all learning processes, requires the learners to practise the
skills out of class hours. This was not always easy, as all 3 of us have
considerable teaching loads and other commitments. Hence our trepidation
- which was definitely not a reflection on the teaching of our facilitators.
Nevertheless, we decided that
the best way to start was to jump in at the deep end; so after a fairly
comprehensive planning session (with Liz to reign in our ambitious ideas),
we set about the continuation of the web page (s). With support at critical
moments from Liz and Alison, we were able to develop the pages and certainly,
as the process continued we became more confident about the mechanical
skills required. We experienced a degree of frustration caused by apparently
"losing" material on the computer, but this is more the result of careless
file management than anything else.
A few thing we learnt:
- The importance of the careful
labeling of files
- The necessity to keep a
manual list of names of pages developed and where they are saved.
- The importance of planning
each page carefully so that tables can be constructed initially - easier
than at the end!
- The necessity to "read"
the formatting information thoroughly so that careless errors do not
hold up development.
- Simple designs are often
more effective - too much information on a page may be confusing or
off putting.
- Everything takes longer
than expected!
Overall we found stage 2 of
the project very valuable. It forced us to put into practice what we'd
learnt in stage 1 and we defiantly developed in proficiency and became
more realistic about the process. While we are proud of our final product,
we know that there are many refinements that can be made to it. Maybe
in time - if only there were more of it!
The LearnScope project was
a very satisfying experience = It was a steep learning curve but we had
great teachers and gained significantly from the experience. It would
be wonderful to be able to use these skills next year - Any more money?!
Certainly if there is funding available it would be good to work on developing
some on-line modules. Alternatively, getting involved with staff development,
training others in using these skills and providing ongoing support would
be very satisfying.
(top)
Andrea
Murray/Deb Jones
Here at Port Adelaide TAFE
Deb and I went for a programme of consolidation for the second stage of
the PD course - Deb entered the course late and I felt a great need to
"secure" the skills that we had covered in stage 1. I am now [relatively]
confident in areas such as file management and eudora [including many
of its facets]
During the course of stage
2, as needs became more apparent and as confidence levels rose, Deb &
I undertook the design of a Powerpoint presentation which is to be used
for the student information session at the beginning of the semester.
Deb had actually started this at the original session on Powerpoint but
had not had a chance to get back to it and I had actually missed that
PD session so it was a good and practical opportunity to work on this
together. Our mentor's assistance and comments were invaluable.
The second stage of the PD
course also saw me taking my class into the computer room on a regular
basis. [albeit only for the last 4 weeks]This would have been unthinkable
without the PD course.This was possible because:
- I had the confidence to
take that step
- I was convinced that it
was of value/advantageous to the students
- I knew where to get "emergency"
help
- I knew that things may not
necessarily go according to plan and that was not necessarily "my fault".
"things happen......."
Next year/semester I intend
to continue using computers on a regular weekly basis. The web sites/addresses/evaluations
that are put up are an invaluable resource.The main problem is - as always-
the time factor. I look forward to increasing levels of confidence and
creativity in this technology in the future.
(top)
Shivanthini
Rajaramanan
My evaluation of stage 2 most
is probably the last one in and with least amount of substance. I really
did not have a project as such to develop and so I can't comment on the
prgress of it. I checked a few links and searched for a few sites that
could be added to the ESL talk pages as well as consolidating some of
the other skills acquired in Stage 1 of the course. I was able to introduce
some new sites to my computing class as well as familiarising them with
browsing and searching the net.
I did spend a fair amount of
time ( between kids) browsing the net myself and looking at chat sites,
web pages etc. The biggest plus point for me has been the increased confidence
to 'go it alone' through the web and to know there are plenty of 'life
lines' if and whenever I needed one. And it was wonderful to get immediate
feedback to anything I sent to the list - insignificant and minimal as
it was!!
(top)
Valerie
Cleland/Sue Connelly
Stage 1 of the Learnscope project
was excellent. It was well-prepared, well presented, interesting in content
and most enjoyable. The ratio of two facilitators per group enabled each
participant to get the help they needed at any time.
Following on from Stage 1,
we decided to make Stage 2 the training of two colleagues in the Counselling
team where we work at ELLS. We chose this project in order to consolidate
our own skills and found that training other people did achieve this aim.
The support available from Liz as our mentor was invaluable.
We conducted a skills audit
for the two colleagues and on the basis of that information we designed
the course content. (see attachment) We allocated two hours per week for
the training and started very optimistically. All went well for the first
two weeks mainly because we decided to work in the library where we would
have no interruptions.
Unfortunately the Computer
Suite became unavailable and so we had to return to our work stations
where there are constant interruptions in the form of phone calls and
inquiries from staff and students. In addition, one of our colleagues
fell and broke her collar-bone after the second week and hasn't been at
work ever since. We continued with the remaining colleague(!!) and tried
to fulfil the tasks we had set.
Due to the nature of work in
the Counselling team the time allocated was not always available in reality.
As a consequence the remaining staff member offered to come to work on
her leave day so that we could finish the training.
We achieved what we set out
to do even though we encountered the above problems. We are both more
confident about email, the internet, file management, web searching and
creating web pages. Our colleague is so enthusiastic about the training
that she wants to come in this Friday whilst on leave to complete her
tasks.
We would like to offer the
following recommendations for other people who undertake a similar project:
- as a trainer, set realistic
goals
- find a separate location
to avoid interruption
- allocate realistic time
slots to achieve the desired outcomes
- ensure that participants
can clear other work obligations in these time slots in order to succeed
- ensure that no colleague
falls down the stairs on her/his way to the training!
(top)
Frankie
Hendrick
- Stage 2 made me consolidate
the shaky skills I had started to build up in stage 1 but had not practised
enough.
- The fact that my mentor
kept insisting on coming to visit us all the way out here in the bush
meant that I couldn't fob it off, couldn't pretend to be too busy and
had to do it.
- Result was I discovered
how shaky some of those skills and understandings were-I didn't even
know how to log in to ESL Talk. However by revisiting IT with a colleague
and with E-Mail help from my mentor my enthusiasm was reignited and
after her visit and completing our web pages which are "up" my confidence
has been boosted.
- Slowly I am seeing the ways
of using the net with our mixed bag of students, however we have some
serious access problems to deal with and as I learn more about IT my
frustration with our IT resources grows.
- Access to our ESL noticeboard(
which is now well used, and which was before something that I had no
idea how to use or even who the people who rarely used it were) has
been one of the most beneficial aspects of this PD program. I feel I
can now access information about ESL and am no longer isolated in the
bush! I can make immediate contact with other ESL teachers many of whom
I now know and can see their faces on the web. They are real people
with similar computer skills to my own and I can ask them for help in
any area. I don't have this luxury in Student Services which is my other
work area, and can see how much our ESL PD has achieved as other areas
haven't got this invaluable system working yet.
- Stage 2 - teaching those
IT skills to my colleague has enabled me to have confidence in my own
skills and I realise how much I have learnt ( and how much more there
is to learn)
- Reliable immediate replies
to any queries from facilitators and mentors throughout this whole time
has been invaluable, and especially essential for Stage 2.
- Access to the course material
on the web along with the student web pages has been very helpful and
a motivator for others still struggling to complete theirs.
- Web pages completed have
been put "up" on the web-within a day or 2 has been appreciated as immediate
reinforcement of all that work.
(top)
Alison
Banks
I feel (this project) has been
a great success, particularly as I have devoted the last seven weeks to
introducing my students (ASLPR 1 to 1+) to the internet - a feat which
would have been impossible before the first stage. I will endeavour to
dot point these successes as follows:
- clear instructions at all
times in the use of email, sending attachments, contributing to a group
email list, file management
- introduction to ESL Talk,
a very practical medium for ESL teachers to communicate online, and
to discover interesting ESL websites
- using chat and bulletin
boards to communicate
- guidance in how to evaluate
websites and in designing a web page for personal and/or professional
use
- consistent and positive
feedback from our instructors always encouraging
Stage Two
For seven weeks I have assisted
my class of 10 ESL students in using the internet. I have done this with
the regular assistance of a mentor. Certainly, without her help I would
have been on shaky ground. However, Stage One plus her ideas enabled me
to teach my students confidently, amazing as it may seem!
In a nutshell we:
- learnt vocabulary related
to going online
- explored national newspapers
through ESL Talk, compared accessibility to all types of newspapers
with webwombat newspapers
- explored employment data
through ESL Talk Linkaway and related this to the employment topic of
the week
- learnt how to subscribe
to hotmail and how to send each other a message
- learnt how to negotiate
the internet and then to send an email relating some information that
had just been read e.g. the weather in one's home city, or the headlines
from The Advertiser
- learnt how to use the Virtual
ILC for developing/assessing Certificate competencies e.g. the reading
tasks for the Certificate in Spoken and Written English II
The students have been extremely
interested and I feel I have enabled them to become empowered through
going online. I also feel I have offered them a way of learning English
independently and have provided a medium for a lot of communication with
their classmates. Perhaps the best indication that the course has been
a success is that we don't ususally finish until well after 12.30, often
it's 1 o'clock and I leave well before they do!!
Next year I would like to consolidate
these skills by teaching a class of a similar level English and to explore
more options e.g. chat rooms, bulletin boards and even webpage construction.
Many thanks to our facilitators and mentor for a brilliant launch into
cyberspace!
(top)
Alison
Cheetham (mentor)
I began the PD in Term 3 thinking
that I would be able to learn about web design and construction, but that
most other things I was pretty well able to do. After all, I had been
using email for about three years and had been playing around on the Internet
for four years (intermittently). I was competent in managing files and
had started the year by becoming involved in producing material for online
delivery. I had been teaching my students to access the Internet and email
for a few terms (not always successfully), so thought that I could help
out as a mentor to others doing the PD and support the facilitators as
well.
However, I learned some tricks
in using email (the art of addresses), which make life much simpler and
less a hit and miss affair in sending messages. I am confident that my
messages will always arrive and am now quite accustomed to sending attachments
too.
I also learned some valuable
tricks in keeping up with the plethora of passwords that are given every
time you arrive in a new protected environment. If I choose, I now try
to use the same one, and if I am given one, I have found it works to save
it on a disk which I can carry with me.
Then I discovered a whole new
way of searching the Internet which makes my searching much more controlled
and not the random unknown discovery that it used to be. Now I can use
boolean searching and use the meta search engines and have a much better
idea about keyword searching, which previously had been painstakingly
learned by trial and error.
I have also learned the simple
art of sorting bookmarks and being able to save them to a disk so that
they can be saved from computer to computer upgrade, or to transport from
one computer to another - great for preparing common bookmarks for a class
to use.
In Term 4, as part of the second
phase of the project, I mentored several projects and shared the excitement
and frustration of the participants as they ventured forth into new territory.
I learned of the difficulties from a reflective point of view of dealing
with low English levels and of complete unfamiliarity with the technology,
and talked about ways that we could use to help solve these problems.
It was especially valuable for me to be one step removed as we discussed
these issues as it will inform my praxis as I go back into the classroom.
The greatest learning came
when I helped out with uploading the web pages created by the teachers.
All the intricacies that are involved meant that the learning curve was
really steep at times and the frustration level in the danger zone. However,
being part of a great team meant that we never blew out at the same time
and so were able to hold it all together overall. Being able to upload
both in and out of WebCT, at home and at work, singly or two or three
at the same time, amazed me at the flexibility of this medium and now
I know that I can work any where in the future.
I can roll over, sit up and
beg, fetch, jump through hoops and am now learning to run while standing
on a barrel. Who says "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"? I can be
taught and have fun at the same time.
(top)
Marie
Ruth Dwyer
- My original plan was to
help the Kosovars set up a chatroom with people in their country and
those here at the various havens throughout Australia. I managed to
get hold of a chat site but found it didn't work. I took two people
to the Burnside Library to start but for some reason we were not successful.
Most probably the library did not allow for chats. I am not sure. Further
inquiries at Hampstead proved also to be unsuccessful. It was very disappointing
but the Kosovars knew I was doing my best.
- My second plan was to make
better use of the computer classes during the holiday program at ELLS,
Renaissance Centre. I found that those who were skilled in IT preferred
to do their own thing.
- My third plan was much more
successful. Students in combined CSWE Levels III/IV had one hour computer
class per week. Initially they started work on the workbooks but once
the class had settled we started work on the Web. I found that they
soon became more organised and more self-sufficient about logging on
and accessing information on Webwombat. When they thought I was not
looking they would access their own language newspapers! I was very
pleased because that meant they would know how to use the site at their
local library! I developed a series of work sheets for the sessions.
I was very pleased with results.
The class consisted of students
from a wide range of ages. The older ones were very hesitant about using
a computer. They overcame this hesitation. One student went all over the
place with her mouse and at the end of a session she had opened so many
files. I just stood there looking at the screen in amazement. I am keen
to find a program on mouse skills to help along. Can anyone help!
I found that the time spent
in the classroom explaining computer tasks before going into the computer
suite was time well spent. Also some of the class learning activities
were developed further through IT exercises. In the year 2000 I hope to
consolidate a learning program for students in the form of a package.
What I learnt: I learnt I could
do IT!
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Shivanthini
Rajaramanan
Being an online participant
was novel and exciting to me because I had never done anything of this
nature previously - I was a bit nervous as I did not know exactly what
to expect and how I would cope with problems that would need immediate
feedback or personal assistance. Thus it was with a sense of slight apprehension
yet anticipation that I went into the course.
I can say that I gained enourmously
from the course in the area of knowledge on how to use the internet. The
subject matter that the course undertook to deliver was done well. The
e-mail list and the website especially was of enormous help to me as I
learnt and surfed!! Knowing that I did not have the opportunity to go
to a face to face session where I could request and receive immediate
feedback was for me an essential part to getting to be independent on
the web!! I felt that at times I had to almost go it alone and I started
to enjoy that aspect of it very much - It was with some sense of acheivement
that I finished my web page as an online participant and realised that
I had kept up and that one could actually keep up with a face to face
group. The fact that I could iron out some of my difficulties with occasional
meetings with one of the facilitators helped a great deal too.
As for feeling part of THE
group; I had sort of imagined that I would be somewhat isolated as an
online participant from the rest of the group and to a certain extent
I was. I did not feel very connected to the other particpants but at the
same time I could empathise with what they were going through, their frustrations,
their acheivements and their excitement. This was in Phase 1 of the course.
I however felt that it would have been a good idea to have met the other
participants at least once. Maybe the reason that I felt somewhat remote
was that I was almost the only online participant whereas the 95% of the
group were more personally "connected" - I could sense this online as
well!!! This was confirmed on the final day when I met the others.
I definitely preferred stage
1 to Stage 2. I enjoyed stage 1 and as stated I felt that I actually achieved
something. However in stage 2 I felt I had nothing to do; a bit lost and
wandering!! I definitely did not feel a sense of wholeness between the
two stages. Maybe if I worked along with another participant on a project
I would not have felt so. I felt that I was doing something almost irrelavant
to what I had done in stage 1; maybe my expectations were differrent.
However I feel that the online participants would need more close 'monitoring'
and support at this stage than was provided.
The course was definitely of
great value and the convenience factor it provides for online users like
myself should not be under-estimated. Undoubtedly it was on the whole
a satisfying experience - it opened a whole new dimension in the areas
of learning and teaching for me. I would definitely recommend it and would
class it as a very good tool for professional development if it were done
effectively. I am inclined to wonder what if more or all participants
were 'onliners'? Would there have been more of a feeling of 'connectedness'
between them?
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