I am sure that out of the group of twenty class members, it is just me who ended up hitting the road block. On arriving home Friday evening from the US, I spent a part of Saturday reading materials provided, confident that I would wake up fresh Sunday morning and do the Nicenet, the Class Wiki and the Create and work on the Reflective Blog assignments since I had understood what needed to be done.
Despite some struggle, I succeeded, only to realize this week I had ended up leaving out an occasional assignment here and there. And not only had the Tutor made a note of it, I had lost a chunk of marks. People from this part of the planet grow with an obsession for exams and scores... But I have matured, seen many a moon and overcome such digressions. I crave to learn the latest in my field... occasioanlly some marks could be a casualty and I shouldn't worry about it.
I have been using the computer for twelve years now; have cleared a Master's program from the United States with computer as the chief instrument of expression (followed shortly by broadcast quality camera: probably a PD 100) and yet I found it difficult to comprehend matter here because of frequent and excessive page opening. I would lose the track and go back a third and a seventh time to accomplish a task. Finally, I decided to resort to 'pen and paper', though in a limited way. And here is a message for the Teacher Trainer and the Teacher in me: That is how teachers, who can barely express themselves in English when they come to the Institute for training, fumble all along during our programme. I should learn to be patient when they try mastering MS Word and PPT having little previous practice in it.
And now that I have almost cracked the mystery of this elusive page, I am excited about storming into the Bloggers' world. I want to share so much with this international community I am getting to interact with. And I want to do so using their tools of communication; some of them seem to have complete knowledge of the field of 'delicious' and all possible websites.
And then I want to use these resources with the MA students when I take up lessons in Sociolinguistics with them. So if we are working on langauge and attitude in Canada (Quebec area or in Malaysia, or in India), they can explore a range of websites to research, and I can guide them.
I can also provide support to the teacher trainees on our Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching of English Course when they work on the online course on English Communication Skills that we have incorporated this academic calendar.
Well, no doubt, Sunday and Thursday have been difficult days, but I will pick up speed soon. And Robert is a very understanding Tutor. But for the 25% lost right at the beginning.
I am certainly enjoying the Learning by Doing approach.
Despite some struggle, I succeeded, only to realize this week I had ended up leaving out an occasional assignment here and there. And not only had the Tutor made a note of it, I had lost a chunk of marks. People from this part of the planet grow with an obsession for exams and scores... But I have matured, seen many a moon and overcome such digressions. I crave to learn the latest in my field... occasioanlly some marks could be a casualty and I shouldn't worry about it.
I have been using the computer for twelve years now; have cleared a Master's program from the United States with computer as the chief instrument of expression (followed shortly by broadcast quality camera: probably a PD 100) and yet I found it difficult to comprehend matter here because of frequent and excessive page opening. I would lose the track and go back a third and a seventh time to accomplish a task. Finally, I decided to resort to 'pen and paper', though in a limited way. And here is a message for the Teacher Trainer and the Teacher in me: That is how teachers, who can barely express themselves in English when they come to the Institute for training, fumble all along during our programme. I should learn to be patient when they try mastering MS Word and PPT having little previous practice in it.
And now that I have almost cracked the mystery of this elusive page, I am excited about storming into the Bloggers' world. I want to share so much with this international community I am getting to interact with. And I want to do so using their tools of communication; some of them seem to have complete knowledge of the field of 'delicious' and all possible websites.
And then I want to use these resources with the MA students when I take up lessons in Sociolinguistics with them. So if we are working on langauge and attitude in Canada (Quebec area or in Malaysia, or in India), they can explore a range of websites to research, and I can guide them.
I can also provide support to the teacher trainees on our Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching of English Course when they work on the online course on English Communication Skills that we have incorporated this academic calendar.
Well, no doubt, Sunday and Thursday have been difficult days, but I will pick up speed soon. And Robert is a very understanding Tutor. But for the 25% lost right at the beginning.
I am certainly enjoying the Learning by Doing approach.
Hi Sharda,
ReplyDeleteI like the orange background, very lively. sounds very interesting to teach MA students using technology...good luck and keep in touch!
Hi Hala
ReplyDeleteThe philosophy I have about marks in this class, is that they are a kind of feedback. Many small assignments for small points, and the feedback or marks helps you stay on track. If you loose a few points here and there, it may look like a lot in the beginning when not so many scores have been added. By the end of the course, when we have added all the weekly tasks together a few points here and there will really be hardly noticeable.
Robert