Weekly Reflection (Wk 6)

In today's lesson, I learned about the following:

1) Analysis of survey on Internet Tools & Services (Done in Wk 2)
2) Concepts of Synchronous & Asynchronous Communication

3) Hands-on activity in creating a web page and uploading it to NIE myDisk

From point no.1, we learned that the top three Internet Tools & Services which we had voted were:
1) Discussion Board (87 percent)
2) World Wide Web (60 percent)
3) Web Blog (60 percent)

Mr. Woo noted that many of us were not in favor of using Internet Conferencing, SMS Services, Internet Chat Rooms or Instant Messaging etc as teaching tools. Some of the problems we foresee using these tools are as followed:

1) Internet Conferencing: There may be a problem with bandwidth as not all students have access to Broadband Internet. There may be delay in audio/video transmission, resulting in jerky videos and lagging conversation. However, one of the advantages of Internet Conferencing is that the software is provided by MS windows free of charge.

2) SMS Services: Limited by the number of characters (160). Communications through SMS tend to be casual and some people may be put off by the use of improper English through SMS.

3) Internet Chat Rooms: May have risks for students as the identity of the communicators are usually not known. Communications through Internet Chat Rooms tend to be casual and unregulated.

For Instant Messaging, we were encouraged to explore for ourselves in this lesson and decide whether it is a suitable tool for teaching. We were provided with an Instant Messaging script to be included in our web page. We learned that Instant Messaging could increase connectivity and interactivity between teachers and students. If students have doubts while reading our web pages, they can click on the Instant Messaging button in the web page to reach us. Instant Messaging is meant to be synchronous but can be used asynchronously as well; if the teacher is not at home, students can always leave messages and the teacher could respond to them at a later time.

From point no.2, we learned about the following:

1) What kind of web-based communication tools (Synchronous & Asynchronous) are available on the Internet?

2) Which ones are more suitable to use in teaching? (Some can be used but with caution)

We learned that synchronous refers to real-time communication. The tools that fall under this category are: Chat, ICQ, Messaging and Windows Netmeeting etc. Asynchronous means that communication is not done in real-time, there is a delay between send and receive between the parties. Some of the tools are: Email, Discussion Boards/Forums and Blogging etc.

We learned that there are caveats in using tools such as Chat or ICQ. ICQ means “I Seek You”; people may have ulterior motives when they use such tools. Hence they must be used with extreme caution and consideration. We were also guided to compare and contrast synchronous and asynchronous communication and we concluded the following:

1) Asynchronous communication (e.g. Email) gives learners time to think and reflect about their work. It also provides permanent records for archiving (with the exception of Instant Messaging)

2) Discussion Board: Some students may have anxiety when using Discussion Boards, as they express their conversation differently; these students may require more hands-on or visual aids in their learning.

From point no.3, we had hands-on in creating a web page and uploading it to NIE myDisk. We discovered that one of the disadvantages of myDisk is there is no preview button for viewing the webpage before publishing it on the Internet.

What I learned most from this lesson: It is not feasible to use the same teaching tool for all students. As teachers, we should use different tools for different students, so as to maximize their learning potential.