Week 0: Introduction, expectations and objectives
Currently, I am a lecturer at Nanyang Technological university teaching communications courses. I started teaching here in 2018 as a part-timer and only got converted to a faculty member last month. Previously, I taught semantics and pragmatics as well as language and literacy at Singapore University of Social Sciences for about two years. I started my teaching career as an educator teaching English to students with special needs with the Ministry of Education (Singapore). I spent six years in this role before leaving to pursue my first master’s degree.
I obtained my MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language acquisition in 2017 from the University of Oxford. My undergraduate degree is in English and Literature. I also have two pre-university specialist diplomas in Teaching of English Language and Teaching and Learning. Additionally, I completed my CELTA certificate in 2014.
Having dedicated the last decade to the study of language and language teaching, I decided to embark on a new adventure – the exploration of the digital space. Over the years, I have dabbled with technology in my teaching but I wonder if what I have been doing is merely transplanting my real-life teaching practices. I am not entirely certain that an online tutorial on Zoom (at least, one that is conducted by me) is that different from a face-to-face one in a traditional classroom. Therefore, my objectives are to try to find out what works and hopefully improve my own online teaching practices by better manipulating and exploiting the digital space.
Moreover, I believe that I cannot fully understand my students’ experiences (and frustrations) of having to navigate the digital space if I have not undertaken the same journey. Hence, I signed up for this course to gain some end-user experience, which would definitely be helpful when I design my own blended courses. I am particularly looking forward to working with the diverse community of students of this course online. My initial interactions with the other participants have generally been positive. One observation of mine is that I tend to lose motivation with asynchronous discussions because of the delayed replies. It is quite difficult to remain in the zone whilst waiting for a reply. On the other hand, I also noticed that I tend to be less combative because of this.
Lastly, I foresee this blog to be symbolic of my digital education expedition. My knowledge of digital education is made up of personal observations and experiences, readings from largely non-academic sources and informal discussions with colleagues. This is clearly reflected in my writing. I expect my posts to be more formulated and formalised. I would also like to dedicate some posts to my learning and thinking processes. It is likely that these would be messier and more experimental.
Welcome to the course Illyas. I look forward to working with you. I understand what you’re saying about delayed responses being demotivating. It’s hard to dip in and out of conversations and pick-up your train of thought. But it’s also an opportunity to go away and reflect on a topic and formulate a more intelligent response. You’ll encounter a lot of theory on this course, this time to reflect will be useful.
Hi Huw,
Thank you for the response. Your comment on taking the opportunity to reflect and formulate a more intelligent response got me thinking.
I must agree that the delay does afford the student time to reflect and research. I would say this allows for a more measured response. Speaking from my own experience and observations of my students, it is quite possible for a student to overthink and overread. One possibility is the student’s own original thoughts could be supplanted by the views presented by sources. This may not necessarily be a good thing for freshmen, especially in Singapore where the education system has been heavily criticised for not doing enough to develop critical thinking.
From an egalitarian perspective, a discussion board activity may be a good equaliser as it benefits students who need more processing time, those who are stronger in writing or students with special learning needs. The would prevent some students from repeatedly dominating conversations. I remember having a brilliant Chinese classmate who just could not get a word in because she was not as proficient in English as the rest of us. In contrast, the removal of the spontaneity of responses can be detrimental for those who are able to grasp information more quickly and relish a more dynamic learning environment. They could be less motivated to participate or perhaps, not perform at their best.
Lastly, as you’ve pointed out, discussion boards do aid in developing certain 21st century skills but both groups could potentially lose out as an asynchronous discussion does not give them opportunities to develop necessary communication skills. One goal of education is to prepare students for the professional world. Hence, students need the classroom as a practice ground for presenting, thinking on their feet and dealing with pressure. A similar example I can think of is the call for schools to abandon or at least reduce the emphasis on examinations and instead replace them with other forms of assessment such as project work. But, I would argue that there are many situations where professionals are required to draw upon the knowledge they possess, critically assess a problem and solve it under a pressure-cooker setting. I understand this leads us to a whole new discussion on selecting the right digital tools.
Ironically, I was only able to come up with this reply because of the non-real time nature of a discussion board (or blog in this case). I thought I’d share my thoughts because feedback tends to open up other avenues of discussion for me.
I do find the course interesting so far. I’m also definitely looking forward to reading your feedback on my posts.
Illyas