E-learning Goals Reflection

BLOGS
1.  This year, students didn't manage their blogs well.  Many didn't take responsibility for remembering their passwords, and Blogger was not always reliable - sometimes just wouldn't work - this problem dimming the enthusiasm for students who were having login issues.
2. It may be a problem that blogging isn't new anymore, so students weren't that excited by it.
3. Nevertheless, Fishy and Gaby persisted.  The Year 9 classes used blogs for uploading their Noumea journal.  Unfortunately, there were organic problems with the Noumea unit this year - we tampered with it, hoping to improve outcomes by placing the Adjectives unit first, thereby allowing students to better describe their hypothetical experience, as well as writing their profile.  Sadly, with the short first term, as well as the many interruptions to the classroom time due to extra-curricular activities, there was a lack of continuity that really impacted on student learning and enthusiasm.  So the blogs were half-heartedly done.
4.  Year 10 classes blogged their Hypochondriac journal and their Region Research task - these were more or less satisfactory, because students were able to redraft, and revisit earlier journal entries in order to extend ideas and grammar.  What doesn't work anymore is the online FEEDBACK comment system.  Previously, the teacher could look back on comments and see how students had addressed issues and improved drafts.
5. In light of the above problems, Fishy and Gaby are looking into the use of Edmodo - an educational online social networking platform - which may solve the feedback problem.  Also, Edmodo should never be blocked by DEECD, as Blogger was at the beginning of the year.  Because it's more like Facebook, students may relate to it better.  Lastly, there's provision for posting and loading homework assignments and education-related activities.
CHATROOMS
1. We used these with Year 9 to check learning - eg weather terms.  They were also able to prepare and practice with their partners for their speaking assessments.
2. In Year 10, similarly, students were placed into chatrooms to converse about organising social occasions and to discuss health issues.  We used chats as a formative assessment to monitor their progress in the Unit.
3. Students are required to respond quickly in remembering and using essential vocabulary and expressions.

Last Speaking Assessment

Students were required to work in pairs to prepare a speaking task in which each introduced their partner to the class.  Criteria included content: likes, dislikes, general qualities of the other; and grammar: connectors, adjectives, avoir expressions, and anything from the year's learning.  They were given 25 minutes to prepare and then taken into the auditorium, where we all sat in a teardrop formation, so cues on the board could be seen by everyone.  Students were not permitted to use notes or any other supporting material - thus showcasing their memorised learning for the year.

The Auditorium was a fabulous space, setting the mood for a performance; it was spacious, relaxing, and students had fun.  They were all attentive to each other's performance, and it was great that even the weaker students could understand the presentations - all had arrived at a good level.  Everyone had a sense of how far they'd come over the year in being able to speak reasonably fluently with good accuracy on familiar topics without support.  There was a real sense of everyone being supportive of each other and being appreciative of each other's efforts.  It was a great concluding task, really a celebration of the year.

Writing

We decided that the students should spend 5 consecutive periods on building writing skills - they were required to produce 3 texts, 1 draft and 1 final copy of each.  Previously we have allowed students to write on computers, but we have become concerned that they are too reliant on Internet resources rather than the learning acquired throughout the year and the judicious use of dictionaries.

The majority of the 5 periods were spent in L7, with access to L6 for typing and printing only.  The desks were all very close together, but this proved conducive to them working hard rather than talking.  In addition, and most importantly, this allowed Gaby and Fishy to work with all students as required, giving us an overview of the larger class and how all students were faring, providing a kind of unofficial moderation opportunity. Once again, students had the benefit of working with two teachers.  A student (native speaker) also joined us and was very useful in giving extra advice to students.

Having done this, Gaby and Fishy wish they had required students to work in this way throughout the year.  It was successful from both teacher and student perspectives; students were able to access immediate advice on structure and progress, and we seemed to see more students individually in the time allotted than when we worked with single classes. Why this is, we don't know.