Reactions, etc.

As can be easily seen in my past posts, I'm pretty interested in technology, and I have been finding this TIFLE class very enthralling. It has also helped me to develop some preliminary ideas for studies that might be able to add a lot to the current research in this field. I've found the readings we've done so far to be very enlightening, not only in seeing how far we have come in the field, but also in seeing how far we still have to go. I think that the people of our generation (especially) are in a really good position to elaborate and expand on what is already known: we have been able to experience first-hand the development of many great technological tools and we have daily dealings with another generation who is intimately involved with current advancements in technology.

That's right, sometimes it's okay to not only teach our students, but to learn from them too.

I've been thinking a lot about the first mini-project and what kind of activity I want to do, as well as the final project. I'm very interested in Processing Instruction (VanPatten), so I would really like to see how technology could possibly be incorporated into such teaching methods, although I'm not sure how easy it would be to apply it to a single CMC activity. Still, I think if it were applied correctly, and planned well, it could yield some very intriguing results.

So my thoughts (so far) on the two projects are: (1) a type of second language book where the students could collaborate via email with native speakers (or possibly other language students) and then publish their books online in a sort of "showcase" (similar to the project done at Thornwood Elementary in Canada with the collaboration of Jim Cummins), and (2) a series of focused listening activities that require the students to follow specific instructions given by the native speaker through a series of podcasts, or another sort of variation on this idea, which is basically what I'm working on for the final project (see the BBC Languages page for really good listening activities that could maybe serve as a sort of inspiration). I had another idea, but at the moment I can't seem to find it in my brain....I think that might be called cognitive overload...

As far as page elements in the blog, I think there are many that could be really interesting in a pedagogical sense, especially the poll widget. Of course, I totally love the comment capability, which I have previously used to conduct a blog in a Spanish II class that I taught a few semesters ago. I personally think a blog is a great tool when teaching, and the ability to embed videos and photographs makes it so culturally and communicatively relevant.