TSL641 (CALL/CALLT Website Evaluation)
Vivianna Rozanne Ang
2004106317
U8A
Websites: http://www.eslpartyland.com/ and www.englishforum.com/00/interactive/
1. Who are the users the website/websites is/are targeting?
The websites are basically targeting both teachers and students who want to find extra exercises that can help to improve in their teaching and learning. Both websites offers very good and interactive exercises for students of the beginner and intermediate level, but quite few exercises for the advanced. The websites are also very helpful for teachers to share ideas on teaching ESL.
2. What sorts of things are the application users expected to do with regards to learning and using (or even manipulating!) the content?
Both websites are basically focusing more on the written exercise compared to listening and speaking. For http://www.eslpartyland.com/ , the website do offer some listening, speaking and reading exercises which are limited to sing-along and completing lyrics. However, the exercises are very easy to follow and students are able to find out their marks and the correct answers of the exercise. The http://www.englishforum.com/ even gives students proper explanation of the answers for the quizzes. The users can choose exercises that requires them to answer fill-in the blanks, multiple choice questions, scrambled sentences, matching or crosswords.
3. What sorts of computer skills are the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?
The websites are quite user-friendly; teachers and students can easily follow the given instructions which require very basic computer skills. However, some exercises or program requires real-player or java software, so if the computer that students use did not have these software, they may not be able to access to the exercises unless if students know how to install or download these software.
4. While you are “playing”/”accessing”/” assessing” the websites, does it remind you of anything you do (or have done) in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?
Most of the forms of exercise in the websites are similar to what I have learned in a normal classroom as well as learning at home, which is fill-in the blanks, multiple choice questions, matching or crossword puzzles, except without the technology. We use to learn grammar and vocabulary using textbooks and workbooks which are often considered ‘the more pictures it has, the more fun it is to learn’. Compared to using the internet, learning using the technology is much more fun because of the animation and all, and we get faster answers and explanation.
5. What setting will the websites best used in: independent study lab with no teacher available, lab associated with a class, a teacher-led class with one or a few computers?
In my opinion, since both websites focus more on beginner and intermediate users, the websites should be best used in the lab associated with a class. Teachers will usually deals with a class with students of different levels. Some may not need the teachers help, some may occasionally do and some may need the teachers to give them step by step instructions.
6. Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?
I think the learning and teaching using this application are more of experiential learning where students learn from doing it on their own. Yes, they may get limited or minimal guidance from teachers, but from choosing the exercises, answering it and understanding it; students learn all that from exploring it themselves.
7. How well are the Vygotsky’s constructivist theory or learning and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence theory applied to the chosen websites?
Constructivism as a description of human cognition is often associated with pedagogic approaches that promote active learning by doing. Learning independently through this websites allows students to study at their own pace and the teachers act only as facilitators. Students’ linguistic intelligence can be improved better when they learn through mistakes that they discover on their own, compared to constantly being told of which is correct and which is not. Since the websites offer interactive exercises and not just the usual notes, students not only learn to read the theory but to apply it and learn at the same time.
8. In 1980s and early 1990s, there was a major debate on ‘whether the computer was “master” of or “slave” to the learning process (Higgins and Johns, 1984). In relation to your evaluation – is the computer a replacements for teachers, or merely an obedient servant to students?
Although the computers have all the instruction for the users to follow, however, the computer is not a replacement for teachers. This is because; the users are the one who give ‘orders’ to the computer. Compared to teachers who will ask students to do something and students choose to do it (or not), we as users choose what we want from the options offered in the program, and the computers will ‘give’ us what we want, without any objections. In this sense, the computer is the obedient servant to users.
9. Would you like to use the websites yourself in your future work?
Yes. I would use and recommend this websites to others because the websites offers very good exercises which are useful for both teaching and learning with very limited guidance. The printable and sharing options offered are also useful for students and teachers to share the lesson and their ideas with other people. Learning and teaching will be much more easy and fun at the same time.
10. Suggestions/Recommendations.
When teachers want to use online source in teaching, teachers should be aware of the program or software required for the websites so that proper and effective learning can take place. The devoted individuals who manage these educational sites could have the websites updated more often and as much as possible to make the learning/teaching material to be as interactive as possible to make it more authentic.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
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