Starting from my university, I am looking into the surroundings of using IT in EFL teaching in this environment. There are two lecturers who are active to implement the technology into their English learning and teaching. In fact, we are the first school that bought computers for lecturers to use at work. It was 20 years ago the NU English teachers had access to computers. Eight years ago we had to share computers in teacher labs. Nowadays we all have computers for our own. The school bought a computer server to store basic courses' e-learning data. People who are able to give e-learning will be financial supported. However, more than half of e-learning courses on moodle are not updated. I don't think they would have time to do extra works online. We have est. 4500 new students each year. These first years students are required to take at least 6 English courses within 4 academic years. Unfortunately, there are only 45 in service English teachers to cope with large number of students. The e-learning program being used at this School is Moodle. Moodle is an open source which can be run on Windows. Back in NZ, I remember that Massey lecturers use WebCT. I am now teaching myself to use Moodle and post lessons on the school's webpage. I finally understand why the two lecturers like Moodle because there are lots of activities that support students' language practice and interaction. Both lecturers agree on using technology to promote students' motivation in language learning.
For me, learning to use Moodle by yourself may take quite a while. It's been a long road for them to reach where they are guiding students to practice English in an online environment. They have been standing on their ground encouraging students and coworkers to explore learning through technology. Even though there are a few computers for teachers and students, the two lecturers have modified the web-based instruction to deal with technology shortage.
2 comments:
This is great info to know.
Thank you, nice job! This was the stuff I had to have.
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