WEEK 2: ABCD Learning Objectives and search engines

Hi

Wow! What a week.

I've learnt that there is more planets out there besides Google. NoodleTools was a revelation! Deborah's, article , Better Web Searching was great. If any of you are stuck with web terms, try this article; htt://www.uoregon.edu/~dhealy/techtips/june2009.html

What I liked about noodletools.com was that it presents specific searches that makes finding specific information much easier and faster. I've learned about Clusty a search engine that presents information in a refined narrow way pertaining to the topic requested.


I tried Clusty, Surfwax and Twurdy. I looked for summary writing guides. I found a lot of useful sites like http://www.englishdaily626.com/summary.php.013. On Surfwax I found a great blog site, that I plan to use; http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2008/10/animayed-efl-esl-writing-prompts.html
This blog contains embed –a new pc word for me-codes to have animation talk. Imagine that!
Twurdy was a great revelation too. I liked how it graded the text according to ease of reading. One search showed a harder passage at 597 points, an easy passge at 381 and an easier one at 140. It was all clearly color-coded.

In addition I've learnt the ABCD Learning Objective Framework.
The A-presents the audience, my students. B—that which I expect my students to accomplish and C- the tools or materials I’ll give to my students and the D- refers to the expected mastery of the learning. A sample objective might be; Given the opportunity to listen to and participate in a lesson on summary writing[C] the student [A]will be able to summarize passages of 300-400 words[B] correctly including 80% of the main points in the passage[D].
The article, Planning for Instruction, Classifying Objective, presented a summary of the Revised Taxonomy. The list was great in helping to create measurable objectives. The article, Tech&Learning, even had Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, helping us correctly create objectives for the technological components of our work.

The best thing about this week was that I could present a picture of my class.

1. Overview
The Polytechnic of Namibia, main campus, is situated in the capital city, Windhoek. The other 12 regions have centers to accommodate distance students. The Institution celebrated 15 years of transformation, innovation and capacity building. The Poly is expanding rapidly. Depending on government approval, the Polytechnic will in future be known s the University of Science and Technology. This year more than 11000 students, of a national population of about 2 million, registered at the Polytechnic. The Communication Department is one of several service departments. The Department offers 6 different levels of English service courses and 3-degree programs. I serve as the coordinator of LPB, the 3rd of 6 levels. Our aim is to bridge the gap between secondary and tertiary education expectations. Language in Practice B has a NQA level 5, intermediate level. English is the official language in Namibia and the medium of instruction. At the beginning of the year all first year students must write a placement test to test their English proficiency and accordingly placed in 1 of the 6 levels. Currently LPB has about 520 students, 14 full-time and 7 part-time classes/ groups. There about 500 students on distance mode. Each class has about 30 students. I teach 3 groups. Fortunately, I share the teaching responsibilities with 6 other lecturers. We use a course workbook that is revised every 3 years. LPB focus on all 4 skills. A lot of emphasis is placed on enhancing reading and writing skills.

2. My students
My students come mostly from the various regions in Namibia, and some from Angola and even Botswana. These students have very diverse cultures and educational backgrounds. Many of them speak 3 to 4 languages. We have 4, 1-hour classes per week. There are fairly even male/ female ratios in my classes. All service courses last 1 semester. Their ages range from 18- 25 and older, especially in the part-time classes. The majority of my students are first year students, fresh from high school.

3. My classroom
The English Department has classrooms 1 to 6 in the Auditorium building. However due the high number of students we also have classrooms in the other buildings; Engineering, lecture block and Science and Technology building. The later is the more modern fancy classrooms. My class can easily accommodate up to 34 students. There are desks and chairs for all students. There’s a central air conditioner, big windows, tv-video, white screen and power supply plugs. There’s a overhead projector with the door security.

4. Levels of IT skills
All students must do a semester course on PIS, Principals of Information Science before they graduate. Since my students are fresh from school, their IT skills vary. There are those who had never used a pc to those who have their own pc at home. In addition the students following different programs are mixed. The IT students advance faster than some of the other students.

5. Technology
At Polytechnic each staff member has a pc and printer. The Internet speed depends on the number of users at a time. Students are given email accounts upon registration. In addition they mostly use wireless connection. There are a quite a lot of them who have a laptop or notebook. The English Department has 3 computer labs and 1 audio lab. We are blessed to have our own IT technician supported by the Computer Service Centre. In addition students have access to the computers in the library. The capital city is littered with Internet cafes. About 35%+of the students have a pc at home or in their dorms. I have a Mac at home, which I seldom use, opting to let my children use and learn on it.

It was indeed an eye opener week for me.
Now I just need to figure out why my blog does not show the new template I'd selected. The struggle continues!

Regards
Juliet