“Skype, Gmail, iPhone, Facebook, and YouTube”
I learned these words the same time as the rest of the world learned them. These vocabularies were a foreign language to everybody at the time.
When I had a
business, these new vocabularies were necessary tools to operate my business. I
was surrounded by teenagers and working holiday overseas workers. Facebook
was the best way to communicate with my youth staffs. I used Gmail because I
could access my e-mail from anywhere without my computer. If I didn’t have
Skype, it was hard to interview an oversea applicant. YouTube
helped me to develop the new menu items. And all these tools, I could manage by
iPhone.
When I enrolled in this PIDP course, I was very surprised
that these technologies also influenced the educational field.
“Seeing Is Believing”
My first meeting
with my professor on Skype, made me feel comfortable and I felt connected to the
course. This Skype interview gave me an opportunity to approach individual issues
without interrupting the other classmates. I've always worried to speak in
front of the group because of my Japanese accent. I don’t want to slow down the
class or interrupt the session. However this individual Skype interview was comfortable. It helped me to become familiar with my professor. He was no longer a stranger to
me.
In as a regular
class, you meet classmates who can become your lifetime friends. I
didn’t have this hope from this online course. It did not seem possible. Before I connected with my learning
partner, Natalie, I was confused, worried and scared. But after I met her, I was so happy. We can share our concerns and our passions like regular classmates.
She is a great support for me to keep going my studies.
“While you
are studying with a partner there are in fact two minds striking the same
problem. Each of them will look at the problem from a different point of view.The other
advantage is that you can learn more of what you didn’t know from your partner”
Malsawmi, Advantages of Studying with a Partner, line 15, Education and Science, January 28, 2011
Malsawmi, Advantages of Studying with a Partner, line 15, Education and Science, January 28, 2011
It was very interesting
to discover that Natalie and I were researching the same topic but were examining different contents. She was researching our
topic in the health and social care environment and I was exploring it ESL classroom management strategy.
"I know that I know nothing”
Like Socrates's quote, conversations with Natalie helped me to realize to know my ignorance but also to explore my knowledge. When Natalie explain to me her research results, it often was totally new to me. I would never have thought about the topic that way. This gave me another angle to see the topic when I was hitting the wall.
Like Socrates's quote, conversations with Natalie helped me to realize to know my ignorance but also to explore my knowledge. When Natalie explain to me her research results, it often was totally new to me. I would never have thought about the topic that way. This gave me another angle to see the topic when I was hitting the wall.
We also compared our notes to make sure we were going in the same direction.We helped each other with any problems we had.
From the web conference I learned the learning partner is extremely helpful for studying process and these social media tools supports the distance learners. Social media is indispensable in many, if not all, field. As future educators, we need to stay current in their use.
Resource from : Malsawmi, Advantages of Studying with a Partner, line 15, Education and
Science, January 28, 2011 Advantages of studying with partner
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