EFL537 - Day 5

Hello and Happy Friday! Congratulations, you have survived Week#1 of EFL537. and I just wanted to take a few minutes to talk to you now since we're almost half way through the course, about few different things I've noticed that in some of your reflections that some of you are feeling very stressed and overwhelmed which makes me sad a little bit, because, I really want this course to be fun journey of learning. and not this SERIES OF TASKS that you MUST COMPLETE and DON'T SLEEP and JUST WORK and... Yes, I realize there's a lot of content But the important part for me as a teacher is that you experience what's out there that's my goal - to show you what's out there to have you try to use them I don't expect you to master these tools I'm very aware of the limitations of the lack of experience that some of you have and the lack of access to the internet after the class each day so, whatever I can say to try to help people be less stressed I would like to say because I think learning happens best when people are comfortable and relaxed so again, please try to know that it's going to be OK and I do realize that this is a very challenging course for a number of reasons of course because I am far away and this is an online course that makes things more difficult in many ways. I'm sure there are many times when you have a question or a problem, If I was there, I could say oh, do this and do that. Click here, click there. and it's frustrating for me also when I've tried to prepare materials to help you step by step but sometimes people don't find the answers that I hope they will find in those guides. So, that's challenging, but I also want to point out that in a way, this is how learning happens in the 21st century. what you had to do to survive this week was to find the information you needed and to work with other people to accomplish your goals and I think that is the way that education is evolving It used to be that, OK for this course we're going to learn this material and we're going to start here and we're going to finish here. This is the knowledge I am the teacher, you are the student, LEARN THIS! and I don't think that is how learning works these days. There's so much information. So many resources with the internet and other opportunities that it's not about learning 'this much' knowledge It's about seeing what's out there and knowing how to find what is useful and meaningful for you. so I want you to think of this course also as an opportunity to experiment with this different kind of approach toward education. and that's pretty much what we're going to do for week 2 in week 2 what I really want you to do is focus on the parts of CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) that will be most useful for you or that you're most interested in. So far, Week#1 we've all done the same readings, worked on the same skills Week#2, I want you to start focusing on your interests. Threre are no 'required' skills for Week 2. All of the skills listed for Week2 are OPTIONAL I provide thise guides so you can learn about them if you want but you don't have to So, some people might focus on these skills other people might focus on other skills Readings - I want you to find readings that are interesting to you and finding those readings is a big part of the assignment. because, that's one of the big challenges these days is finding what is useful for you in today's small group discussion the questions I ask you are about what has been useful so far and what else you want to learn more about I'm really in hearnig those discussions and answers because from here on out, the content of this course will vary depending on what you want to learn. My job is to help you get there. So whatever your learning goal is for week2 my job is to help you get there. help you find what you're looking for, help you overcome the technical obstacles you will encounter and I just want to say 'please use me'. I'm here to help as much as possible There are a number of tools we can use so I can see your computer and you can see mine. and I realize that some people are probably hesitant because of the language difference and trying these new methods but I really want to encourage you to try becasue as a teacher I want to do as much as I can to help you achieve your learning goals So that's all for now I do want to say 'Have a good weekend' Please, try to get some sleep. Play with your children or your friends. Take a little bit of a break because I know if you have this constant pressure hanging over your head of 'Oh No! Another skill! I have this other assignment! It's stressful. I do know that. but try to catch your breath a little bit and really try to focus on what you want to learn So, I hope everyone has a good Day#5 and a good weekend and.... I will very much look forward to continuing this learning journey together