Learner Autonomy and Tandem Learning

The author first clarified a few misconceptions of learner autonomy. Then he defined learner autonomy as a learner's capacity for critical self-evaluation and self-determination, an ability to take control over and responsibility for her learning.

Next, the author described and evaluated two tandem learning projects. He mentioned that problems in tandem learning could occur if learners placed more emphasis on personal learning objectives rather than collaboratively negotiated goals.

Tandem learning is a good idea for L2 learners to communicate and learn with an L1 expert. However, it may not be practical in primary schools, since teachers need to monitor the communication between the tandem partners.

Learner autonomy now becomes a hit topic even in primary schools. Young kids in my school are required to fill in a reflective report after the teacher finishes a mathematical topic (e.g. equation). Students write about their feelings in the report, also the classroom activities they like most. Some of them ask questions in the reflective report. A reflective report is a good way for the teacher to know a student's progress and thinking. However, if the students are required to write in their L2, they may feel a bit painful. I think.

Video Editing

Last night, we learnt to use Windows Movie Maker to edit video. I tried to use Movie Maker before, but I didn't like it because of the low video quality and limited functions. I learnt to use Ulead VideoStudio and Adobe Premiere. I think VideoStudio is easier to use than Premiere.

I've edited a few videos before, some for my school (mainly for recording an event, such as the sports day) and one for my friend's wedding. I think video editing is time consuming. To make a three-minute video, you may need to spend three whole days. So I have never edited one for classroom use. I may try to edit a video for classroom use if I have plenty of time and nothing to do or the lesson is really important.

What's your experience with video editing? Did you edit any video for classroom use?

Action Research Reflection

The aim of this action research project is to use an existing website to enhance teaching and to evaluate its effectiveness. The results showed that students were willing to spend time using online resources to learn English than using paper-based supplementary exercises. Also they preferred writing a story online than on paper.

The tasks, Writing a story: beginnings and endings and Writing a story: planning, on the BBC Bitesize Primary website are chosen to help students write a story. The School Intranet is also used for posting the drafts, comments and final products online.

LESSON PLAN FOR STORY WRITING

Aim: To improve pupils' story writing skills by integrating technologies in the classroom

Level: Primary 4 to Primary 6

Materials needed: Internet connected computer for each student

Objectives:

The learners will be able to

1. analyze key elements of a story.

2. develop a story from the scene-setting through the action to the end.

3. do peer-editing.

4. publish the final version of their stories.

Activities:

1. Teacher explains the structure of a story using the BBC Bitesize Primary Website, Writing a story: Planning. Pupils finish the online quiz as homework.

2. Teacher explains the development of a story using the BBC Bitesize Primary Website, Writing a story: Beginnings and endings. Pupils practices with the online activities in the computer room and finish the online quiz as homework.

3. Pupils work in groups to generate ideas and finish the mind map. Then they write up the story map based on the mind map at home.

4. Pupils do an individual writing, which is based on the story map. Then they post their draft for peer-editing on the Intranet.

5. Teacher demonstrates the editing stage. Pupils get into pairs to have the peer-editing and post their comment on the Intranet.

6. Pupils modify their story based on their peer's comment and publish their story on the Intranet.

In this project, the teacher conducted six writing lessons by using the BBC Bitesize Primary website and the school Intranet. The lessons were predominantly constructivist in nature. After evaluation, the students showed improvement in their control of story writing except the ending. The learning materials were found to fit the learners, but sometimes they needed aid. On the discussion board, the learners used the target language to negotiate. The technology supported tasks had a positive impact on both the students and the teacher. The CALL tasks were found to be practical regarding the software and hardware supported. However, the tasks were not authentic to the learners at this moment. To conclude, the use of technology to support process writing was successful and should be promoted to the whole institution in the future.

My harddisk crashed >.<

My harddisk crashed two days ago. I lost all the files. The harddisk has been used for almost eight years. And I lost my memories in the past eight years too. Luckily, my finished homework was also saved in my USB memory stick and my photos (NOT similar to Edison's) were saved in another harddisk. However, it may cost me a few thousands to recover the files and the result is still unknown. I need to wait for a few days.

I suggest you to backup your harddisk regularly. Although computer is helpful, it's not always reliable. This is what I learn from this expensive lesson.

Practical Considerations for Multimedia Courseware Development

The project mentioned was about developing a courseware with multimedia. It was an old project (implementated in 1991) when Windows 3.1 was still common. At that time, multimedia or even computer was not popular. The author/researcher put a lot of time and labor in developing the courseware. In addition to the film, background information, vocabulary, online help, instruction and exericses were provided. The author saw the projecct as an individualized instruction system which can be used for cooperative learning. He also claimed that the project was not only a stand alone activity outside the regular classroom activities but can be intergrated into classrooms. However, I wonder whether it is practical to intergrate a whole film into classrooms.

When I was a secondary student, I remembered that my English teacher played a film to us. I forgot the name of that film. It was about aeroplanes and airport. I remembered that the main characters fell asleep on a plane. After they woke up, they arrived at an airport but there're no one there. The airport was attracked by some strange insects and the characters tried their best to go back to the real world. It took a long time for us to finish the film. We spent a week watching the film. It seemed to me that my teacher was trying to teach language with the film but I can't remember what he taught. I can remember the film but I can't remember what I learn. So is it sucessful or not?

Recently, when I was teaching Present Perfect Tense to my Primary 5 class. I played a short movie to them. It is a short subject of a recent teleplay. I used the movie to arouse my students' motivation. I asked them to listen to what Kevin Cheng said and tried to write the sentence (Have you seen this girl before?) from memory. They were excited to do this.

Copyright Law -- a Guide for Teachers and Students

The copyright has been a popular subject of talks. However, it's my first time to read it.

I'm surprised to know that it's not "fair" for a teacher to play a DVD of a currently shown movie in class for students' entertainment after exams were over. The law states that it's not fair dealing because it is a currently shown movie and it was not used for an educational purpose. How about if I play a DVD of an old movie, is it fair?

Campus TV is common among schools. When producing the programme, music or video are always included. So if we play the campus TV program to our students, is it legal?

It seems that there're a lot of traps.

Hot Potatoes is useful

I heard of Hot Potatoes for a long time, but it's my first time to try it. It's not difficult to use and I'm able to produce different kinds of quizzes. That's great. Our project page is now filled with Hot Potatoes quizzes. ^_^