Though it's an exciting experience to have chatted with my group member on line, I don't think I will use it in my class. The reasons are as follows:
1. My class (50 students)is too big to handle if every student chat on line at the same time. I am sure some of them will be distracted.
2. There is a gap between different levels of English learners in my class. Some students have a good command of both spoken and written English, while others have difficulty in communicating in English. .
3. A computer lab is a must. In CUMTB, about 2,000 first-year and second-year students are currently taking English courses. Course schedules will be very complicated if so many students are fit into the two computer labs we now have.
Nice post! I can see you thought critically about chat use in the classroom. What about using chat as a way for students to ask you questions during a specific time window. For example, you could let students know you will be online and available to chat between 9 and 9:30 on a specific day and that you could answer questions during that time. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea. My Students,esp the shy ones, will be eager to ask me questions if I'm on line for half an hour or even longer time once or twice a week. I'll have a try when I'm back in China. Thank you, Nikki!
ReplyDeletezhu, what about use it as a resource for after-class activities? because of the large class size, we can not satisfy every student's needs in the class. anyway, they are at quite different levels. e.g. for the writing part of my class, some faster ones want to improve their style and be more native-like while some others are still struggling with their grammar mistakes. so i just post some articles and links to other helpful resources, even some video lectures on line in my blog and ask them to read and learn by themselves.
ReplyDeletei do think QQ can be a ready tool for us to use in china: it's convenient (both chat and blog) and quite popular among our students (i am sure every of ur students have an account).
I agree with the reasons you've listed above. Chatting and many other means of technologies are truly exciting, but to realize them in classroom meaningfully is still a challenge to many of us. Anyway, I guess to look into the future in a hopeful is much better than to feel desperate about no way out of the current situation!
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion thread!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nikki, Andy and Alice, for your comments and suggestions. Andy, I'm not confident when I use technologies in English teaching. Your ideas are effective. Would you please help me when I come across problems? I'm also wondering if you would like to share some supplementary materials with me?
ReplyDeleteI quite understand your opposition. I think you are a little pessimistic.Though The feasibility is really doubtful, yet we can accept it as a tool to enrich after-class activities. Let we old guys refresh.
ReplyDeleteAcutally i've used QQ to communicate with my students after class for a long time. I really appreciate what they asked and told on line, which a good way to shorten our distance. But i'm really puzzeld if we can adapt chatting system in class.
ReplyDeleteLilian, you can have a try. You feel quite comfortable with technology. My hamsters would not have got their cute house, food and other necessities if you had not done those wonderful on-line shoppings. Besides, Leon is an expert in computer science. He'll give you instant help if any problem arises.
ReplyDelete