Time flies. I hardly believe that it has been nearly three months since the beginning of this semester. Well, it might be a good time to examine what I’ve learned about CALL during this period. There are many dimensions that designers should take into consideration while designing CALL materials, such as learners’ individual differences, the goal of the course, the arrangement of syllabus, the applicable teaching methodologies and principles, available facilities and whether the design scheme at local level accords with wider environment. Using computer to assist teaching seems to be an unavoidable trend. This emerging field requires experts to cultivate and to make better integration between computer technology and pedagogy reality. Meanwhile, the drawbacks of computer technology shall be clearly identified before a efficient language learning course and environment can be created.
Besides, many web sites and e-tools presented by the classmates are practical and interesting. I am particularly impressed with Tony’s “Puzzle Maker” and Sharon’s “Yahoo! Pipes” presentation. Puzzle Maker can be used to generate quite a few fascinating vocabulary-spelling puzzles that undoubtedly enhance students’ interest and motivation in learning. Yahoo! Pipes, on the other hand, is a marvelous and revolutionary new tool with the power of customizing one’s own homepage. Users can design the pipe map and draw preferred feeds to render a tailored webpage that contains only the information of interest. Wow, it really made me eyes wide open!!
11.20.2007
CALL Research Journal Entry #7
My Experience of Using Blackboard System
I have to admit that I don’t log in Blackboard very often due to the following reasons. First, few teachers are using it as an assistant course tool. The phenomenon makes Blackboard detached to its expected purpose, to manage various kinds of materials related to the subjects we take. Furthermore, the design of its user interface is confusing. For example, the icons “Communication” and “Tools” are duplicated in the left-hand side column. Besides, there is a “Calendar” function in Blackboard system. In my point of view, “Calendar” should function as a “Reminder”. After all, it is why we count on a Calendar application, to remind us beforehand in case we inadvertently forget the pre-scheduled event. So it seems ridiculous to me that the “Calendar” in Blackboard System has no such function. The edit function of Blackboard is even a greater disappointment. The format can’t get right each time I tried to copy the content from Word into our Blackboard. The item symbols are either missing or misplaced. In the end, you have to waste a lot of time modifying the layout of the copied content. Deficient though Blackboard may be, its value and intention of trying to integrate institutional-wide learning resources shouldn’t be disdained. To ensure the life-span of Blackboard, I think it is very important that the school could arrange periodic evaluation as soon as possible. No design is born to be perfect, it is crucial to have a good and sound evaluation system to detect the potential and existing problems so that the designers could tweak the design bit by bit. Here I’d like to point out several things that might be useful in improving our Blackboard System. The “Calendar” feature should allow users to set the reminding function. For instance, I could ask the system to remind me 3 days before a pre-scheduled event by sending me a notice to my email box. When teachers post important announcements or require students to join a discussion, the system could check in every few days and automatically send a reminding message to those students who haven’t logged in to respond. In addition, I think it is a good idea that Blackboard could integrate with our library system. All the books I borrowed are listed in my blackboard account with deadline beside. Whenever there are new coming books related to the ones I ever borrowed, Blackboard system could show such information which, I believe, would be quite beneficial to graduate students in conducting their researches. Blackboard should strive to accommodate and manage various aspects of the school learning environment to truly become a dominant LMS on campus.
I have to admit that I don’t log in Blackboard very often due to the following reasons. First, few teachers are using it as an assistant course tool. The phenomenon makes Blackboard detached to its expected purpose, to manage various kinds of materials related to the subjects we take. Furthermore, the design of its user interface is confusing. For example, the icons “Communication” and “Tools” are duplicated in the left-hand side column. Besides, there is a “Calendar” function in Blackboard system. In my point of view, “Calendar” should function as a “Reminder”. After all, it is why we count on a Calendar application, to remind us beforehand in case we inadvertently forget the pre-scheduled event. So it seems ridiculous to me that the “Calendar” in Blackboard System has no such function. The edit function of Blackboard is even a greater disappointment. The format can’t get right each time I tried to copy the content from Word into our Blackboard. The item symbols are either missing or misplaced. In the end, you have to waste a lot of time modifying the layout of the copied content. Deficient though Blackboard may be, its value and intention of trying to integrate institutional-wide learning resources shouldn’t be disdained. To ensure the life-span of Blackboard, I think it is very important that the school could arrange periodic evaluation as soon as possible. No design is born to be perfect, it is crucial to have a good and sound evaluation system to detect the potential and existing problems so that the designers could tweak the design bit by bit. Here I’d like to point out several things that might be useful in improving our Blackboard System. The “Calendar” feature should allow users to set the reminding function. For instance, I could ask the system to remind me 3 days before a pre-scheduled event by sending me a notice to my email box. When teachers post important announcements or require students to join a discussion, the system could check in every few days and automatically send a reminding message to those students who haven’t logged in to respond. In addition, I think it is a good idea that Blackboard could integrate with our library system. All the books I borrowed are listed in my blackboard account with deadline beside. Whenever there are new coming books related to the ones I ever borrowed, Blackboard system could show such information which, I believe, would be quite beneficial to graduate students in conducting their researches. Blackboard should strive to accommodate and manage various aspects of the school learning environment to truly become a dominant LMS on campus.
11.05.2007
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Do you have trouble finding where in hell you put your favorite web sites??
Use this fascinating tool, and you will see how easy it can be!
1. Create an account
2. Add a link
3. Edit Category
4. That's it!!
CALL Research Journal Entry #6
From page 22-26 of Chapter2, the authors explain how the CALL tutors are different from the CALL tools. A CALL tutor would analyze, evaluate the learner’s response and give feedback based on its analysis result. ILTS (Intelligent language tutoring systems) can be seen as a breakthrough of this technology. This kind of system is capable of analyzing the grammar errors made by the learners and generating individualized feedback. Tutor Assistant is an authoring system that could aid the designers in creating ILTS materials. However, unlike other simple authoring tools (Hot Potatoes), which can be used to produce exercises very quickly, designing CALL materials with ILTS is a time consuming task. According to the study done by Toole and Heift, it shows that time-efficient authoring of ILTS can be achieved if the design is well planed ahead. On the other hand, a CALL tool is a device that facilitates the use of computer technology. The authors particularly bring up an electronic tandem resources (ETR) Web site, a CMC-based CALL, designed by Appel and Mullen. Through this tool, the authors present the importance of how the language-learning effects of a CALL tool can be enhanced by properly modifying it both pedagogically and technically.
From page 27-35, the authors reveal the improvements of the design of CALL materials over the last few years. Designers become more aware of the multifaceted nature of CALL and therefore accommodate different theories, pedagogies, and best practices in their design. Two important integrations – Horizontal and Vertical integration, are then discussed in three different perspectives. First in the perspective of the Language Teacher, the integration of CALL and curriculum is the first concern. The authors suggest that the language teachers see a curriculum as a guide or template rather than a prescription. In this way, the curriculum could provide the teachers with flexible room to adjust the activities introduced in the classroom while not deviating from the main learning goal. As for the Language Learner’s perspective, teachers, also as designers, shall keep an eye on the learners’ individual differences so that the appropriate technologies and supplementary training can be leveraged. Employing CALL materials with concerns for the learner’s individual differences in the technical background and expectations of using technologies can be referred to as horizontal integration. Yet, to view from the Institution’s perspective, the integration expands in a vertical direction. It means that designers should examine the compatibility between the technology used in the local side and the wider environment. The congruence between both contexts could greatly lengthen the life span of the CALL materials. At last, the authors call our attention to the trend toward a narrow consistency in hardware and software applications. It brings about the problem that the resources available for CALL designers are more and more limited. What’s more important for designers is to fully understand the drawbacks of the application or system in use and then to design effectively within the limitations.
From page 27-35, the authors reveal the improvements of the design of CALL materials over the last few years. Designers become more aware of the multifaceted nature of CALL and therefore accommodate different theories, pedagogies, and best practices in their design. Two important integrations – Horizontal and Vertical integration, are then discussed in three different perspectives. First in the perspective of the Language Teacher, the integration of CALL and curriculum is the first concern. The authors suggest that the language teachers see a curriculum as a guide or template rather than a prescription. In this way, the curriculum could provide the teachers with flexible room to adjust the activities introduced in the classroom while not deviating from the main learning goal. As for the Language Learner’s perspective, teachers, also as designers, shall keep an eye on the learners’ individual differences so that the appropriate technologies and supplementary training can be leveraged. Employing CALL materials with concerns for the learner’s individual differences in the technical background and expectations of using technologies can be referred to as horizontal integration. Yet, to view from the Institution’s perspective, the integration expands in a vertical direction. It means that designers should examine the compatibility between the technology used in the local side and the wider environment. The congruence between both contexts could greatly lengthen the life span of the CALL materials. At last, the authors call our attention to the trend toward a narrow consistency in hardware and software applications. It brings about the problem that the resources available for CALL designers are more and more limited. What’s more important for designers is to fully understand the drawbacks of the application or system in use and then to design effectively within the limitations.
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