My reflections on design of digital language learning tasks

In my university (Xi' an International Studies University), few teachers can figure out the significance of integrating IT into the design of classroom tasks. Traditionally, language learning involved no Information Technology, the tasks were therefore simple and controlled. With the limited access to computer as well as internet, teachers can design internet-based tasks, for example, listening teachers may want students to listen to the materials on internet, and extensive reading teachers may make e-magazines and e-journals as the reading materials. However, these tasks are far from being IT-based tasks in the real sense; it is merely the reproduction of pen-paper tasks via the computer screen. what's more, these tasks are rather closed or restricted in terms of time and place. Others may be not be called as tasks at all because they are not meaning-based, “exercises” being a better name for these. The liberated and free tasks can not be achieved because in most cases, teachers are still the center of the classroom and little time is given for students to construct their own language. and due to the lack of necessary equipment as well as essential knowledge, digital language tasks can not be realized in short time in my university.

my comments on "digital distractions in a wireless classroom"

After reading the article, i begin to think about this issue seriously. Since wireless classroom is still a dream in the north-west part of China where i am currenting teaching, this problem doesn't exist at all. However, similar to their siblings, the other marvels of this century, for example, cell phones, are doing the same jobs in the classroom. Occasionaly, teachers are disturbed by a piece of music or a strange sound during the middle of the lecture and then a student quickly search over his bags for the phone. With the development of the technology, sooner or later, we will face the problem brought about by the wireless environment.
However, the fault is not on the high technology itself. and we can not simply ban the students from using the laptop, since it is a great aid to studying. Here are some suggestions.
As teachers, we should firstly educate the students to respect others. bringing the laptop into classrom and clicking on the keyboard will definitely distract their neighbor's attention from the lecture, let alone frustrate the teachers. so, the students should be taught to behave politely.
if it doesn't work, teachers can make it a displine for students to abide by. i do like the suggested punishment raised in the article.
Finally, teachers can make effort to grab students' attention, trying to pull the students back to the classroom, e.g, designing some students-centered activities and creating a task-based classroom.

webography

Using Blogs to Create Collaborative Learning in Writing Class
Site 7 http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/home.htm
This website is the online journal to Computer and Compositions, an international journal, which features writing course teaching via the help of computer. having a long history of 21 years, it aims to be a significant online resource for scholar-teachers interest in IT-tech based writing. Sponsored by Bowling Green State University, it is a non-profit official website. This website is quite informative and the layout is simple. You can easily get access to the databases simply by buttoning on the icon of Elsevier, or by using the searching log for specific materials. besides, some good links are provided in relate to using blogs in teaching writing. The chief editor is Dr. Kristine L. Blair, a Professor and Chair of the Department of English at Bowling Green State University, and is a computer-mediated writing and technological literacy specialist.

webography

Site 6 http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/?q=node/100
This webpage carries a paper entitled “Welcome to the blogsphere: using weblogs to create classroom community”, published in August 2003 on CWRL (the computer writing and research lab),a website specially dedicated to computer aided writing programs and on-line writing workshops. This paper focus on the introduction of weblogs as well as the potential usages in the classroom setting where computer is available, especially in writing courses. The whole paper is organized in three parts. The first part provides general ideas of what a blog is and how it develops. And then it reviews the characteristics and advantages of blogs in creating oppotunities for colaborative learning. Based on these features various ways are suggested in which blogs might be used effectively in the classroom. the author is quite objective as he also presents some potential problems at the end of the paper. the biggest merit of this paper is the endnotes. the author provides quite a few relevant websites for readers' reference. In general, this paper focuses on the pedagogical value and use of the blogs in classroom settings.

webography

Site 5. http://www.chu.edu.tw/~wswu/publications/papers/conferences/05.pdf
This website is a paper entitled “ Using blogs in a EFL writing course”, coming from Chunhua University of Taiwan. The author did a survey-based research into the application of blogs in writing course and its effectiveness, and observed the students feedback concerning the use of the blogs. Besides, he/she touches upon basic issues as to how to set up a blog as well as more advanced application of blogs, for example, RSS and inserting audio-clips. dealing both theoretical and practical issues, this paper has great pedagogical value to teachers who are new in this field as well as those who need more than just basic information. although exact year of publishing can not be traced, it is quite current judging from its citations and references. the author, wen-shuenn-wu, is an experience teacher has contributed several article of the similar field.

webography

Site 4 http://www.personal.kent.edu/~pbohanbr/Webpage/papers/blogpaper.pdf
“Collaborative Learning, Critical Thinking and Blogs: Internet Journals as Graded Assignments” is published in 2005. It describes how the author designed and implemented writing assignments based around the use of internet based journals (blogs), as well as some of the problems that he encountered. The author is quite objective in his evaluation of using blogs. He believes that these journals offer many advantages over traditional journal assignments, for instance, they can be used to encourage collaborative learning, and can also keep students to write for longer time. He also admits there are several drawbacks. These include issues with student privacy, enthusiasm for new assignments and, often times, learning a new technology. This paper is rather empirical than theoretical. Writing teachers will definitely gain some pedagogical and practical experiences from this paper. Besides, the author illustrates how to use blogs in writing class in a detailed way, so it is especially suitable for those who try blogs in teaching for the first time.

webography

Site 3 http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ei38/int.html
This is an on-line paper entitled “Revisiting Multiliteracies in Collaborative Learning Environments: Impact on Teacher Professional Development”. As its name suggests, this article explores the role of multiliteracies in collaborative learning environments, especially its effect on the teachers. It presents quite a lot of complicated networks and websites that teachers have created for collaborative learning, most of which are new to us. Besides, issues as “the importance multiliteracies approaches to education” and “effectiveness of community-based constructivist learner collaborations” are also addressed. This article is published in 2006, and the author, Vance Stevens, is a Lecturer in Computing at Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. He has extensive experience with courseware and course development in both stand-alone and online environments, directed at students, teachers, and teacher-trainers. He is currently "On the Internet" editor of the TESL-EJ.