In what way can e-learning contribute to the independent learning skills and motivation of your students in Malaysia?
Prepared by:
Tan Sui Chee
The Oxford Dictionary defines e-learning as “Learning conducted via
electronic media, typically on the Internet.” It further adds that “successful
e-learning depends on the self-motivation of individuals to study effectively.”
As technology advances at such a rapid pace, new electronic media and devices,
and ways of using them can add new meaning to ‘e-learning’. Technology has not
only changed the way we and our students learn, but also how we communicate. It
is thus important to understand how our learners use technology for
communication and information, and what motivates them, so that we can tap into
their wired world to help them become better and more independent
learners.
One of biggest challenges faced by teachers in Malaysian polytechnics is
getting our students to use English outside the classroom. Students who have
difficulty in using English tend to come from social and home backgrounds where
English is not required for communication. While some of them may attempt to
use English in the classroom, they are limited by the contact hours per week.
There are only 3 contact hours for the teaching and learning of English. While
this may appear to be bad news for the teaching and learning of English, it
does present a good case for the use of e-learning.
Most of the polytechnic students are in the age group of 18 – 20 years
old. They are the 'Tech Comfies' who are at ease with using electronic media
such as the Internet, and digital devices such as tablets, smart phones and
laptops. However, being tech-comfy does not make our learners tech-savvy, i.e.
able to use technology effectively for learning. This is where teachers can
play a role.
One of the most useful e-learning tools is the smartphone. In small
groups, students can be asked to use their smartphones for making video or
audio recordings of discussions and role plays which can then be played back
for self-review and reflection. As an individual task, students can record
monologues of their daily reflection, keep an oral diary, do drilling practice
for pronunciation and fluency etc. Once recordings have been done and dated,
students can check their progress over a period of time. The teacher can help
by monitoring their progress and suggesting suitable activities for them. When
students see improvement in their fluency by comparing their more recent
recordings with the early ones, it can be a source of motivation for
them.
Another way of using e-learning for independent learning is through the
use of websites and apps our learners can connect with. One such website is
http://lyricstraining.com/. This website lets users select the music genre they
like, and play gap-fill games of lyrics of songs. The user has to listen to a
song and type in the missing words of the lyrics. As most polytechnic students
are teenagers who enjoy listening to music, this is a great website for helping
them to do something they enjoy and at the same time improve their listening
skills. As the website allows users to select a game mode ranging from
‘Beginner’ to ‘Expert’, it can cater for learners with different levels of
proficiency. There are many other similar websites and apps that can contribute
toward developing independent learning skills and motivation.
There are two important developments in technology that have made a huge
impact on learning. The first is the exponential expansion of the Internet as a
source of information and a means of communication. The second is the
increasingly affordable use of technology, in particular the decreasing cost of
both using data and the mobile devices that consume the data. This is a
critical development because it allows developing countries like Malaysia,
where income levels are still relatively low, to tap into using technology for
learning. What this all means for teachers is that technology will be an
integral part of the teaching and learning process. The use of technology for
communication is authentic. We as teachers, therefore, are obligated to
continually upgrade ourselves to keep pace with the development of technology
in order to embrace it as our ally.
How might authentic materials motivate
learners? Write some guidance for a less experience English Teacher including
how to differentiate tasks when using/ adapting these materials.
Prepared
by:
Marina
Abu Bakar
“Outcome –based education is an educational
philosophy that believes in student-centred, results-oriented and was founded
on the belief that all individuals can learn.” (Towers 1996)
The transformation of polytechnic requires
lecturers to stress on the achievement of learning outcomes. Lecturers have to
consider using authentic materials to ensure comprehensible materials are given
to students. Content matter that students are familiar with, will give them the
confidence to speak on the topic and reduce the use of their mother
tongue.
Just as we have different activities to cater
for the different learning styles, lecturers should also consider
differentiation when adopting and adapting materials, to cater for the
different proficiency levels. One of the common complaints is that materials
development is time consuming and lecturers are overworked, hence, they take
the easy way out. Lecturers should not be using the one size fits all concept,
when preparing materials. They should be considering the strategies and
relevant and authentic materials to be used for an effective teaching and
learning session. In most cases, lecturers spent a lot of time modifying and
simplifying the reading text, whereas, lecturers should be considering adapting
the task and not the text. When providing tasks for differentiation, lecturers
must be careful and subtle, to ensure students are not embarrassed or feel
de-motivated due to the differentiated tasks that are provided.
There are two possible options to doing differentiation.
Firstly, in a mixed ability class, different tasks can be assigned to different
students to ensure the tasks are of the right level to support or challenge the
students. When designing tasks for the less proficient students, it is
important to consider language support, such as glossary or language structure.
These language structures will provide the frame for drilling or parallel
writing. For example, when teaching reading comprehension, a pre-reading
activity that highlights difficult vocabulary, helps students to understand the
text. Furthermore, a glossary with an additional column for L1 can also
be included as a backup for the less proficient students. Furthermore,
scaffolding can help provide a form of differentiation, where exercises are
graded and arranged from simple to challenging. For example, a reading task can
start with a pre-reading activity such as, predicting a related picture and
brainstorming ideas about the topic. This will mentally prepare the students to
expect certain vocabulary and content. This can then be followed by an activity
(the word rose, glossary or other vocabulary activities) where the difficult or
ambiguous words are highlighted and explained, to ensure understanding during
the actual reading task. Next, filling in the blanks, true or false statements
or information gap can be used to check the understanding of the less
proficient students, while the more proficient students can be asked to answer
subjective questions. Finally, extended activities can be carried out to
challenge the students with both elementary and intermediate tasks provided and
students are allowed to decide which exercise they feel comfortable doing.
Moreover, in carrying out lessons, lecturers should not be too quick to provide
information for the students. To trigger higher order thinking skills (HOTS),
the use of different types of questions, especially open –ended questions to
elicit answers, should be considered. This will challenge the students’
critical thinking skills, regardless of their proficiency level.
Secondly, lecturers can choose to provide a
range of authentic exercises and activities that have been scaffolded, but all
students are given the opportunity to answer all the questions. The more
proficient students may be able to complete all the tasks or questions within a
shorter time, while the less proficient will do the questions based on their
capabilities. Scaffolding activities can be seen as a form of motivation, as
the less proficient students will gain the confidence as they start with simple
exercises and gradually move on and attempt the more difficult ones. However,
very often, due to time constraints, lecturers tend to use the latter option.
Regardless of which approach is taken, lecturers should take into consideration
differentiation when adopting and adapting materials.
Due to constraints and workload in the
various institutions, one may opt for the second option of differentiation to
lighten the burden of the lecturers, but at the same time provide some form of
differentiation in the exercises. Management can lighten the burden of
lecturers by conducting materials development workshops during semester breaks
and lecturers designed materials of different levels and compiling these
materials in a file ready to be used and shared by lecturers in the department.
References:
Sampa Elias M. (2014). Forging a philosophical foundation for
Outcomes-Based Education.
International Journal Of
Education and Research Vol.2 No.6 June 2014, page 8, 2.1.3 Third
hypothesis: OBE embraces a
subjective epistemology. Retrieved from website:
www.ijern.com/journal/June../42.pdf
In-text reference :
(Towers,1996)
Seligson, Paul (1997). The Mixed Ability Group, Richmond Handbooks For
Lecturers, Richmond Publishing. London
How might authentic materials motivate
learners? Write some guidance for a less experienced English teacher including
how to differentiate tasks when using/adapting these materials.
Prepared by:
Prasanna Kesavan
One of the most challenging tasks frequently
faced by language teachers is how to attract the interest and stimulate the
imagination of students so that they will be motivated to learn. One method is
by using authentic materials in the classroom. Among the authentic
materials used in many classrooms are newspapers, magazines and brochures.
These materials are interesting enough to motivate learners to learn the
language.
Nunan (1999) defines authentic materials as
spoken or written language data that has been produced in the course of genuine
communication. He also stresses that they are not specifically written for
language teaching purposes. These materials are excellent resources for
introducing the real-world to the learners.
Lin (2004) claims that authentic materials
have a motivating effect to learners. These learners see authentic materials as
being more interesting and stimulating. When the interest of the learners
towards a material is established easily, they are more willing to participate
in classroom activities. As learners carry out real- world activities in their
classrooms, they could see the relevance of the activities in their daily life.
When they complete the task successfully, they get a sense of achievement. This
in turn motivates the learners to actively take part in the class.
Authentic materials such as brochures are colourful
and pleasing to the eyes. In contrast materials produced by teachers are
usually in black and white. The attractive fonts and colour in the authentic
materials attract learners to be involved in the classroom activities.
Authentic materials also offer a plethora of
communicative elements that learners could relate to. As the final goal of any
learner studying language, is to communicate effectively, authentic materials
provides a platform for them to practice in context.
The length of the text is one of the
considerations that need to be looked into when adapting materials. As a rule
of thumb, for intermediate level lessons, the length of the article should be
around 1.5 A4 page. If the original article is very long, a teacher could
shorten it to suit the class activity. However, the teacher need to ensure that
there is continuity in the article. A disorganized article would not only
confuse the learners but reflect badly on the teacher.
Apart from the length, the topicality of the
text also needs to be considered when selecting materials. Teachers should
focus on topics that would interest the learners and attract them to contribute
actively in class. For instance, in a Tourism and Hospitality class, teachers
could use menus and travel brochures as teaching materials. In this instance,
learners could relate to the text and activities that teacher wants them to
carry out. Thus, these learners would be able to complete the task successfully
as they are familiar with the materials used.
Teachers also need to realize that there are
learners with various competencies in their classrooms. These learners might
not be able to complete their tasks successfully as their competencies differ.
An activity that might be easy to student A might be difficult for student B.
In this situation teachers could use the same materials but provide graded
exercises to learners. This would allow students who are good to complete more
exercises compared to weaker learners. Teachers should not penalize those who
are only able to complete minimal number of exercises. Differentiating tasks
such as this allows learners to work at their own pace and motivate them to
stay onboard in their journey of language learning.
In conclusion, using authentic materials in
classrooms would certainly motivate students to learn a language. When students
see the relevance of learning a particular language, it would motivate
them to take part actively in class activities. Teachers however, need to
select the materials carefully. In addition, teachers need to ensure that they
exploit the materials fully in order to teach all the four skills. Using too
many materials and underutilizing them defeat the purpose of using authentic
materials in a classroom.
References:
Lin, Y. (2004). The effect of authentic
materials on motivation and reading achievement of EFL
learners in Taiwan.
Nunan, D. (1999). Second Language Teaching
and Learning. Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers
In what way can e-learning contribute to the independent learning skills
and motivation of students in Malaysia?
Prepared by:
Noorasmawati bt Shafee
E-learning has becoming popular in Malaysian education system as it is
believed to be able to promote independent learning. Even though it is still a
new concept but people has started to welcome it and slowly applying it in the
teaching and learning process.
There are many ways that e-learning can contribute to the independent
learning and encourage motivation among students in Malaysia. As the new
generation are born into the world of technologies, using Information
Technologies (IT) in education is not something new to them. Thus, having them
to learn online is like an added enjoyment to the process of learning.
Moreover, e-Learning also will enable the students to keep with the fast
changes of using IT in today’s society.
Most students nowadays have at least one gadget and have been exposed to
different types of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
many others. Thus, teachers can manipulate these social networks into platforms
of continuous and independent learning. Besides, there are also e-learning
platform such as Curriculum Information Document Online System (CIDOS) prepared
by the Ministry of Education for the teachers to promote e-learning to the
students.
Even though there are students especially from rural areas that are not
be kept up-to-date with the technologies but this scenario cannot be made as an
excuse of why these students are not able to experience learning online. As
e-learning might be something new to these students and it might excite them
and at the same time set challenges for them to explore leaning in new
dimension. This will later will encourage autonomous learning and motivate the
students to expand the learning process on their own with the supervision and
guidance from the teacher.
Although the main idea of having e-learning is to promote autonomous
learning but the role of the teachers are not neglected. In order to make the
e-learning a success in arousing students’ motivation in setting their own pace
of learning outside the classroom, they need to be scaffold at the very
beginning. Once the students are able to keep their own track in learning, then
they would be pushed to their zone of proximal development. Students’ need to
be challenged so that they will become more motivated in their leaning and
become more independent students.
It is believed that e-learning will enable the students to set their own
speed in learning and the teachers to provide differentiated activities and tasks
that suit with the proficiency level of the students. The advance students may
challenge themselves to do more difficult tasks while the weaker students may
slowly start at the beginner level. This will definitely put the weaker
students at ease as they do not need to compete with the advance students. But,
if they do, then they will be motivated to struggle harder to reach to the
higher levels.
Furthermore, e-learning also sets non-threatening learning environment
and also breaks the constraints of classroom and school restricting learning.
Weaker students might not want to be visible in the classroom as they are shy
or not confident enough in the presence of more advance students. So, by
learning online, they may shine in their own way and the teacher can provide
immediate and private feedback on the tasks that have been completed by the
students. This will make the weaker students to be more comfortable as they
know that they not only get the attention and support from the teacher but also
they do not have to feel left behind.
In addition, e-learning also open doors for the students to access to
rich source of materials that are related to their field of study. The students
are let to decide on which learning materials that they like. Nonetheless, the
roles of teachers are not ignored. The teachers play major roles in deciding
the suitable materials for the students, providing differentiated activities
and tasks and also in determining the kind of interaction that should be
applied in completing the tasks. In other word, e-learning promotes guided
independent learning.
As a conclusion, e-learning does contribute to the independent learning
skills and motivation of the students. Nevertheless, it always takes two to
tango. The teacher is always needed to guide from afar as to make sure the
students are independently and continuously learning on the right track. Even
though, there are still challenges that need to be faced in making the
e-learning in Malaysia a success but with a great determination from all
agencies and departments, it will become something that will be proud of soon.
In what way can e-learning contribute to the independent learning skills
and motivation of students in Malaysia?
Prepared by:
AIDA FAZLIN HISHAM
E- learning is not the uncommon world in education world today.
With the growth of technology, the e-learning expands as well since they
are inter related. It has changed the learning styles for the young
generation because e-learning promotes independent learning skill.
What is e-learning actually is? According to Wikipedia e-learning is the
use of electronic educational technology in learning and teaching. Does
it promote independent learning skills? Definitely, it is a yes. E
learning contributes to the learning skills in many ways. Let’s look
closely how e-learning makes it possible for independent learning skills and
motivates my students in Malaysia.
It is every teacher’s desire to develop their students into independent
learners. As a teacher, I realized long time ago that creating independent
learners is no easy task. However, thanks to e-learning, it becomes
easier nowadays. E-learning provides students with the ability to work
independently, at their own pace. Students can be in charge of their own
learning under teacher’s minimum supervision. E-learning provides opportunity
to students to explore more in their learning areas. They are not
confined to a certain boundaries, hence they have greater chance in becoming
more knowledgeable as compared to what teachers can supply them with in the
traditional classroom.
I strongly believe the key word in e learning is flexibility. Normally
students, especially for teenagers, they are full of freedom and spirit, and
can be rebellious too. Often, in the classroom they tend to lose focus
because of various reasons. So, what is better way to educate them other
than giving the flexibility in their learning? There is one important
question here though. How can we, as the teachers be sure that our
students are being independent learners if we are not closely involved with
what they are doing? Ultimately, we cannot be completely certain. We must have
some faith (if not completely) with students, after series of motivations and
encouragement, of course.
Besides, the accessibility to online learning materials also contributes
to the independent learning skills. Apart from getting information
online, students can also share their thoughts and materials and having
interactive discussion with people all over the world. This enables them
to be more creative and critical in their thinking. Apart from this, by
having online discussions, students can help each other through the learning
platform. Not only does this allow them to find answers quicker, it also allows
students to control their own learning experiences by filtering out the answers
most relevant to them when reading over fellow students’ comments.
I think the greatest source of motivation for students studying online
is to compete with their friends. There are elements of competition in
e-learning. Those who are hardworking and explore wisely, would be able
to gain more, maybe more knowledgeable than the teachers themselves (a scary
thought though). Refused to be left behind, students need to keep up with
the latest information with regard to their studies and this is indeed a very
healthy competition.
Creating independent learners through e-learning is a long-term project.
It is about instilling students with the belief that they can do it. Once
this this infused, the rest is easy. There are many advantages to e-learning,
and it is a great loss to students if we, as the teachers, do not make use this
opportunity to the fullest to bring out students potential.
In what way can e-learning contribute to the independent learning skills
and motivation of your students in Malaysia?
Prepared by:
Mohd Fadzli Bin Zulkeflee
One of the main principles in teaching and learning of the vocational
sector is that knowledge and skills taught in the programmes should apply to
practical life within a context i.e. the core subjects. In order to link the
language studies with the job market, students must study the language
(English) if the language is used across the subjects the students are
learning. This involves the integration of English language into the subjects
which in Malaysian context is the vocational and practical subjects.
In order to develop and empower students to be excellent in the
technical subjects and at the same time English, we need to be able to
facilitate the students with the available strategies which are current and
also close to the students especially the teenage and young adults. Therefore,
it was assumed that the best way to achieve the latter is by integrating a
proper tool and that is the technologies. Hence, the most likely tools that can
be used are the e-learning and e-portfolios.
If the students were to become more autonomous and engaged in
independent learning skills, it is very crucial for the teacher to create and
come up with scaffold activities that the students can work from and at the
same time benefit from them. There are several potential reasons for opting to
use the scaffold activities as part of the pedagogical framework such as;
first, e-learning makes it possible for the students to have autonomous
learning as they can work on their own outside of the classroom. Secondly, it
will be easier for the students to enter the job market as some of the
potential employers out there are really emphasising on the digital and
technological skills and this is somehow considered as an added value for the
students.
Another aspect of learning that can be incorporated is through the usage
of e-portfolio where all the students learning experience can be digitally
accessed and stored. This online space caters the students' needs for to
reflect on their experiences. They are also able to demonstrate abilities and
at the same time the teacher can monitor and evaluate their achievements
through the e-portfolio. “The e-portfolio is the central and common point for
the student learning experience... It is a reflection of the student as a
person undergoing continuous personal development, not just a store of
evidence.” (Geoff Rebbeck, Thanet College).
Overall, technology integration such as e-learning and e-portfolio did
actually promote the autonomous and independent learning skills. In Malaysian
context, students can obtain better computer skill and become more digital
literate. Students can work and learn more independently outside the classroom
by accessing through their computers, tablets or smart phones. But still, to
make this a success, the e-learning must be made as compulsory or otherwise the
students will not be responsible for their learning process and will not have
gone ahead with the learning.
How might authentic materials motivate learners? Write some guidance for
a less experienced English teacher including how to differentiate tasks when
using/ adapting these materials.
Prepared by:
Roslan Bin Mamat
What are authentic materials? From my reading and understanding,
authentic materials are those produced by native speakers intended for the
usage and consumption of other native speakers. The common sources of authentic
materials are books, magazines, newspapers, television, radio, videos, DVDs and
course books. There is no thought taken into account for the non-native
accessibility. For some people, this fact is quite demotivating. They refuse to
use authentic materials due to the fact that they might end up not
understanding these materials.
However, this opinion should not be considered as a factor for not
opting for authentic materials. This is because there are many advantages in
using authentic materials that are able to motivate learners. Authentic
materials bring learners into direct contact with a reality level of English.
The constant usage of any authentic materials will ensure the learners get used
to them and this can help the learners immerse in the language. When they feel
comfortable with the language style, this will indirectly motivate them through
the integrative motivation when the learners get closer to the native speakers
through the language, understand them better and take part in their lives.
There is some guidance for less experienced English teachers to adopt
authentic materials in their teaching. In adapting authentic materials, one
must bear in mind that differentiation in tasks must also be integrated. This
is due to the fact that most of our learners come from different levels of
abilities and achievements. Thus, we as the knowledge providers must take this
into account so that we are able to meet the different and various needs of our
learners.
There is some guidance for us to adopt authentic materials in our
teaching and learning. One option is by adopting them as found. By doing this,
we actually need minimum preparation and the appearance of the materials really
reflects the native speakers. However, there are drawbacks if we choose to
adopt as found. We might end up with the Procrustean issue whereby one size
does not fit all. Next, the contexts might be too generic and Anglo-centric
that the learners might find difficulties understanding the materials.
To avoid experiencing the problems in adopting the authentic materials
as found, we could actually make some adaptations to the materials.
Nevertheless, we must always bear in mind that we don’t adapt the authentic
materials, but we adapt the tasks.
Since we do not adapt the materials and use them as found, we must
firstly prepare a vocabulary list to support our learners to understand the
materials. Then, we adapt the tasks by taking into account the different levels
of the learners, their cultures and backgrounds. Another way to adapt the tasks
is by incorporating various learning styles that suit the interests of the
learners based on their different levels of understanding. This would promote a
better understanding and effective learning on the learners’ part.
These tasks should be well instructed so that each learner would be able
to meet the requirements of the tasks. In addition, it is advisable to make the
tasks more personalised and more suited to curriculum requirements including
class and individual needs. In preparation of differentiated tasks, we must
always remember to start off with an easy task and then extend it to make more
challenging for higher achievers. Tasks must also be created to meet meaningful
exchange of information.
In conclusion, adopting authentic materials and adapting the tasks using
differentiation approach are very useful and beneficial for both teachers and
learners in order to achieve a higher standard in quality teaching and
learning.
HOW MIGHT AUTHENTIC MATERIALS MOTIVATE
LEARNERS? WRITE SOME GUIDANCE FOR A LESS EXPERIENCED ENGLISH TEACHER INCLUDING
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE TASKS WHEN USING/ADAPTING THESE MATERIALS
Prepared by:
Ooi Kien Bee
Materials development has always intrigued me
from the day I entered the teaching profession. As we are surrounded by an
abundant of authentic materials, how do we choose them to make a lesson
successful? I have pondered over this question over and over again. After
attending courses on selection of materials over the years and with my own
teaching experience, I think I could share my success and pitfalls in materials
selection with the junior lecturers.
Before I go further, what then is authentic
material? According to Vivian Cook (1981), authentic materials contain
language used in the real world and not reproduced or designed for classroom
use. With this understanding, I would like to share with a junior teacher on
three areas in materials selection namely content of the text, language
exploitation and differentiated tasks for the materials.
Firstly, in the context of Technical and
Vocational Education & Training (TVET), the content of the materials
selected should be related to their field of studies. The students need to see
the real use of the language to be motivated. To be able to use the language required
in their workplace, the materials would thus be a great motivator to the
students. However it is not necessary for all the materials to be only related
to their workplace. Some of the materials could be related to the interest of
the students, hence providing them the motivation e.g. their favourite
celebrities. The students should find relevance in the topics presented in the
materials and the tasks be personalized to their needs.
Furthermore, the content of the materials
need to be as recent as possible. For example, in the field of computer, new
terms are often coined and some terms become obsolete. Not only is the content
changing, the language is changing too. The students would also have their own
knowledge to be brought to the classroom. They would only be motivated if they
could relate to the lexis found in the text. If the text contains terms such as
“mainframe” and “diskette” which the students could not relate and use in
recent time then they will lose their interest in the materials. They would see
the need to further explore the text.
Secondly, the teachers need to analyse the
language found in the text and decide on the lexis and grammar structures that
need to be exploited. They have to adapt the authentic materials to suit the
needs of the learners. The length of the materials could be adjusted as well as
the key language elements could be simplified and or given more explanation if
the teacher feels that the text might be a difficult for the students. A long
text could be broken into parts which could be revealed one after another. Some
ideas could be pre taught by focusing on the earlier parts of the text. Some
tasks working on the key lexis could also be assigned earlier of the lesson. A
key point to note here is that the text is not to be edited and graded as it
might lose its authenticity. The most important element is to grade the
tasks according to the students’ abilities. However the materials should
be used in accordance with students’ level of knowledge and proficiency or of a
slightly higher level to challenge the students.
Finally the tasks given should be
differentiated to stretch the better students and challenged the weaker ones.
Both groups of students should feel a sense of achievement in completing
the tasks. Many teachers are reluctant to employ this method because of the
additional workload. Heitler (2005) provided some samples of tasks that needed
little preparation and proved that it is not as tedious as some teachers would
have thought. A single worksheet which comprised of tasks which get
progressively harder could be prepared. Stronger students could advance to
later questions while the weaker ones can concentrate on grasping the
essentials.
No doubt authentic materials can motivate
learners and bring real language to them. However without proper use and
utilization of the materials the outcome of the tasks would not be the one that
we desired. Instead of gaining confidence in using the language during such
activities, students would on the other hand be demotivated. Thus the teachers
need to be very careful in their material selection and in designing tasks that
cater to the different proficiency levels of the students. Most of the English
Language practitioners vouch for the use of authentic materials but the success
of these materials depend very much on the teachers themselves.
References
Cook, Vivian (1981): Using authentic materials in the classroom
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/Writings/Papers/AuthMat81.html
Heitler, David (2005): Teaching with authentic materials
http://www.pearsonlongman.com/intelligent_business/images/teachers_resourse/pdf4.pdf
www.intelligent-business.org © Pearson Education 2005
Lansford, Lewis (2014): Authentic materials in the classroom: the
advantages http://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2014/05/authentic-materials-classroom-advantages/
Oura, Gail K (2014): Authentic Task- Based Materials: Bringing the Real
World Into the Classroom http://www.jrc.sophia.ac.jp/kiyou/ki21/gaio.pdf
In what way can e-learning contribute to the
independent learning skills and motivation of students in Malaysia?
Prepared by:
Gurminderjeet Kaur a/p Kartar Singh
E-learning is an important aspect in the Malaysian education system.
Although there are terms such as web-based learning/training, learning objects
or distance learning, e-learning can be best defined as applications, programs,
objects, websites and so on that provides a learning opportunity for each and
every individual (Moore, Deane & Galyen, 2011). The 9th Malaysia Plan
(2006-2010) highlights seven strategies of the development of Malaysia. One of
the strategies includes building world class human capital via e-learning. The
increment of the usage of e-learning has increased tremendously due to Internet
and borderless knowledge.
Students in Malaysia especially Community College students should make
full use of e-learning. E-learning can promote autonomous learning amongst
students because students take charge of their own learning. Students could
look up the web and do search on topics that has or hasn’t be taught by the teacher
and complete some pre or post homework. Besides that, students do not need to
be IT savvy in order to participate in e-learning. Teachers play an important
role in facilitating the students towards e-learning. Students not only could
access the internet but also learn on the go. Students are able to learn
anytime and anywhere. Based on my personal observation, students in community
college are provided with free wifi and teachers (content based teacher as well
as language teachers) should take this opportunity to incorporate the use of
ICT in their lessons.
In Gavin’s workshop on digital literacy, I found there are many websites
that can be used to make our lessons more interesting such as
www.film-english.com, www.wordle.net, www.lyricstraining.com and many more. I,
personally love using websites like Present.me, YouTube, Facebook and many more
to encourage my students to submit their assignments and presentations or
simply use it to just show them something. The Community College doesn’t not
have a system like CIDOS or MOODLE to help facilitate teaching and learning in
Malaysia. In my opinion, systems like MOODLE can help promote independent
learning skills because students are able to download the notes and tasks for a
particular subject. Students can learn something before coming to class and
teachers could benefit in a flip classroom environment.
E-learning could also be a form of motivation because it incorporates
certain features for that purpose. Learners generate intrinsic motivation and
do not have to rely on others to help their learning (Maher, 2014).
Intrinsically motivated students are more likely to complete their e-learning
tasks and achieve their learning goals. When talking about e-learning or other
technologies, two questions always pops up in my mind ; ‘How long do we stay
motivated using these technologies’ and ‘How do we maintain our motivation?’.
In my opinion, both teachers and students should collaborate and make
full use of e-learning to benefit them.
Overall, e-learning promotes independent learning skills and motivates
students to learn English or any other subjects better. I would use e-learning
in my class so that students can take charge of their own learning and do not
depend so much on me. I always encourage my students to search for information
online or submit their work online to me. E-learning provides a more structured
outline in learning and promotes learners autonomy.
References
Moore, J. L.,
Dickson-Deane, C. & Galyen, K (2011). E-Learning, Online Learning,
and Distance Learning Environments: Are They the Same? Internet and
Higher Education 14: 129-135.
Maher, T.
2014. Intrinsic Motivation in Adult E-Learning.
How might authentic materials motivate learners? Write some guidance for
a less experienced English including how to differentiate tasks when
using/adapting these materials.
Prepared by:
Rozalita Saupi
Have you ever heard of one size fits all? That is what most of all have
been doing, including me when it comes to task or material selection for our
students. Guilty as charged! What do you think of that? Does it OK to have one
size fits all task, or we should have different tasks for different students'
level.
We can't afford to separate every level of students in different
classes. Our classes are usually cramped with more than 30 students and of
course, they are different levels in terms of English proficiency. That is why;
we need to have different tasks for different level. However, the good news is,
we can have the same materials. I can see smile on everyone's face now.
What kind of materials are we talking about? Have you ever come across
authentic materials? Authentic materials are materials that you select or
create by yourself. Examples of materials are; articles from magazine,
newspapers, advertisements, brochures, from internet and etc.
Everyone loves to talk about things that they know. Same goes to our
students! They maybe don't have the proficiency in English, but they know about
things that we choose to discuss. Here comes the big word, MOTIVATION. This is
one of the key to open our students' mouth to talk, communicate, and
participate in our classes. Find something that they know. Find something that
they like. Not what the lecturers like. Now, it needs to be changed. We as
lecturers should not look at how we teach them, but how they learn.
You must be wondering how we come out with different tasks for different
levels with the same material. It is called differentiation. I was in your
shoes once. So, no more worries. For young or less experienced English
teachers, here is some guidance for differentiation:-
1. Learning outcomes
We should have 3 learning outcomes where it includes few keywords ALL,
MOST and SOME. Learning outcomes for ALL students are referring to the task
that everybody can complete, including the weak ones. Learning outcomes for
most students on the other hand are for average and high proficiency level.
SOME refers to the students who have high proficiency level that can complete a
challenging task.
2. Drawing from students
Diversity, individuality and personalization should always be in
teachers mind. Ask students to share their own ideas in the classroom. They
already have the ideas and they just need to use the language. It does not
matter if they don’t know some words because with our help, they will learn new
vocabularies that they need in order to convey the messages across and share
their ideas. Don’t just give them everything or spoon-feed them. That was in
dinosaurs’ era. We should move on. It will motivate them to learn more.
Everybody loves to share things that they know, sharing is caring. When they want
to send the right information, the learning happens.
3. Scaffolding a task
In order to complete a challenging task, a weak student will need help
from their teacher. A teacher should so step by step task so that they can
complete it. They will definitely happy when they can complete the task and it
will motivate them to learn more. On the contrary, if they find it too hard for
them, and they don’t get support, they maybe will think that it is too hard and
they can complete it. They will be demotivated. Here goes the lesson to the
drain.
4. Buddy study
These students need help. The best part is not only their teacher can
help; they can also get their peers to help them. Teacher can come up with a
pair work activity where these students will teach each other. If possible,
pair them with a better proficiency level than them. Here, teacher can play a
role as a facilitator, not a teacher.
There are few more ways that we can use in order to get our students’
interest and build up their motivation. They should know their scenarios and
what kind of world that they are going to face in the next 10 years. Because of
globalization, most probably most of the companies will be using English as
their medium of communication, unless it is a small shop in a village. In the
next 10 years, everything will be different. Those who are strong, brave to
venture into new life, will be shine in the new millenniums. On the other hand,
those who are weak, afraid to venture into new era will be left behind. Be
prepared for the new millenniums.
How might authentic materials motivate learners? Write some guidance for
a less experienced English teacher including how to differentiate tasks when
using/adapting these materials.
Prepared by:
Kalaimagal KSS Nathan
In the process of teaching and learning English language, authentic
material is essential to make the lesson effective. What is authentic material?
There are many definitions of this term but amongst that stand out to me is by
Rogers (1988). He defines it as ‘appropriate’ and ‘quality’ in terms of goals,
objectives, learner needs and interest and ‘natural’ in terms of real life and
meaningful communication. Peacock (1997) describes authentic material as
materials that have been produced to fulfil some social purpose in the language
community.
What are authentic materials? These are materials such as written, audio
and visual aids which are not produced for teaching purposes. For example
newspapers, brochures, songs, advertisements, catalogues, magazines and the
list never ends.
One key issue in getting students to learn the language is to get them
motivated. One way of getting them motivated is by using authentic materials in
the teaching and learning process. The use of these materials has a positive
effect on a learner. The learner needs to be taken away from the monotony of
textbooks and worksheets. They need some fresh and original material that can
revive their interest in the language. Three important aspects of using
authentic material is to be able to adopt as found, to make your own or to
adapt as needed. Adopting material is using what you have as they are. No
changes are done to simplify or to make it more challenging. Tasks should be
designed based on what you have. This may minimize the scope in creating your activities.
On the other hand, your preparation time is less. Your material is suitable
with the topic taught will certainly captivate students’ attention.
Making your own authentic material is a task that requires careful
planning, creativity and originality. By doing so, you will be able to create
material that is suitable for your students’ needs and ability. You are able to
consider issues such as background, culture as well as learners’ L1. Drawbacks
in creating your own will be the ability for it to motivate learners. Will it
be attractive enough for learners to want to learn?
Adapting authentic material is for me the best way in using it for
teaching. This is because we do not have to take it wholesale but instead only
use part or section which is relevant to learners. This is where differentiated
practices can be carried out. The beauty of adapting materials is the fact that
we can pick and choose what we want, how we want it and why we want it.
Differentiating tasks when using authentic materials is how a teacher
creates task to enable her whole class to work on. Classes are never balanced
with learners of the same ability. We have the extremely poor ones and the
extremely good ones on the other end. To keep all these learners working and
learning, they need to be able to work on their task. The task for a
material like a brochure, selling a local product can be differentiated. A
basic task would be to create a brochure of similar description with the
information given to the learners. For the average students, the task may be to
change adjectives in the brochure with their synonyms. Whereas, for the good
learners, they may be asked to come up with a brochure selling a product of
their choice. To administer this task, the teacher has to know her learners
ability. Managing the classroom is important when carrying out differentiated
tasks.
As a teacher the ability to choose the suitable material in the teaching
and learning process is vital. Teaching materials is like what a saw may be to
a carpenter. It helps to enable a teacher to achieve goals and objectives in a
lesson. This would produce students who are able to comprehend and use the
language taught. Therefore, it is an undeniable fact that authentic materials
used effectively in the classroom are able to captivate learners’ attention and
motivate them to be better learners.
References:
www.readingmatrix.com/articles/berardo/article.pdf
www.htlmag.co.uk/oct12/mart02.htm.
In what way can e-learning contribute to the independent learning skills
and motivation of your students in Malaysia?
Prepared by:
Aliza Abdul Razak
E-learning is definitely the way to go when it comes to motivating
students to carry out independent learning. No matter how one may try to
resist it, it is here to stay and in its own way, it is expanding and
spreading. In polytechnics, for example, it is now compulsory to include
e-learning in carrying out lessons in addition to the regular classroom lessons
with students. A minimum of 30 percent of the lesson for the semester must be
carried out online. This, however, is not only the request of the
administration, but students have asked for it too. Many times have students
written in their lecturer's evaluation form that they wished lecturers would
incorporate some kind of technology in class or to use powerpoint slides or the
computer in their lessons. And why not? E- learning contributes to the
independent learning skills and motivation of students in various ways. Among
them are it takes away inhibitions towards learning, allows students to take
control of their own learning and keeps students interested.
It is human nature to worry about making mistakes. For teenage learners,
among the things that worry them is embarrassing themselves in front of the
whole class. This would inhibit learning as they worry that they may give the
wrong answer and fall flat on their face. E-learning can save them from this.
Students do not have to worry about giving the wrong answer as it is just
between them and the pc. It saves them the possible classroom embarrassment of
giving incorrect answers. Having put their inhibitions aside, it would
encourage them to explore more and test out their ideas. With little to worry about,
students may venture from one task to another and it all happens in cyberspace.
Furthermore, the best thing about it is that students can start over. If they
are not happy with their achievement, they can try again and again until they
are satisfied with their progress.
Apart from allowing students to explore, e-learning allows students to
take the rein and have control of their own learning. E-learning is something
that the students can do at their own time, whenever and where ever. The
teacher may set a certain time for a task to be completed, but within the
stipulated time, students may choose when they learn best to complete it. Some
students learn better during the day, some learn better during the night. If
the connection provided at the campus is not sufficient, they could do their
learning at home where the connection could be better and in an environment
that they are more comfortable with. E-learning gives them this flexibility to
decide on their own learning. It also encourages sharing among the students.
Again, they decide on what they want to share, how much they want to share and
whom they would want to share it with.
Back to the students being teenagers, technology is definitely a thing
of interest to them. Many spend countless hours on their personal computer and
gadgets. Technology motivates them. If there is anything that could keep them
interested, it is technology. E-learning allows the students real-time access
to various materials that are authentic, relevant and refreshing. The teacher
plays an important role in selecting materials, but probably half the battle is
won with e-learning. The generation of learners today are mostly visual
learners who prefer using images, pictures and colours to organize information
and communicate with others. They absorb and recall information best by seeing.
E-learning would have that extra edge in keeping them motivated in their
learning.
E-learning is an effective tool which could produce great results and
keep the motivation level high. It is important that the teacher is able to
guide the students through the process while the students take charge of their
learning and explore the possibilities.
How might authentic materials motivate learners? Write some guidance for
a less experienced English teacher including how to differentiate tasks when
using/adapting these materials.
Prepared by:
Anita Mary
In today’s world, with the advancement of science and technology,
authentic materials are very visually appealing to attract readers. Consider
posters, magazines, and leaflets - They are almost always in colour and
accompanied by graphics. This visually-pleasing aesthetics is an added bonus
for using authentic materials in class as it would be able to attract students’
attention. Not to mention the fairly obvious benefit which is creating a link
between the classroom and students’ real world. Students would be more
motivated because the lesson involves using materials that the students use or
encounter in real life. Therefore the lesson becomes contextualized and
students would be inclined to pay attention.
However, teachers have concerns using authentic materials in class. The
most common problem is that the authentic materials do not match the students’
level of proficiency. Therefore teachers have to adapt the authentic material
and this is a laborious task for teachers. As such, it is proposed that
teachers differentiate the tasks accompanying the material to fit the learners’
need instead of making changes to the authentic learning material. There are
two ways to go about doing this either through altering the level of difficulty
of the tasks or by adding additional tasks at the end of the worksheet.
Before the tasks are differentiated, the learning outcomes of lessons
should be differentiated. In creating differentiated learning outcomes, the
main lesson outcomes should be achieved by all students. However, the better
students should be involved in extension activities to stretch their abilities
further. An example of differentiated learning outcomes is as such:
1. All students would be able to use target vocabulary on
bullying.
2. Most students would be able to define keywords after the initial word
learning activity and be able to peer teach words to other learners.
3. Some students would be able to give peer feedback.
Next comes differentiating of the tasks. As previously mentioned, the
first way is altering the difficulty of tasks. For instance, in an information
gap activity, the better students could be given more empty blanks than the
weaker students. Additionally, the weaker ones could be given a list of
options to help them fill the blanks. This method might require more time and
effort as teachers have to prepare two worksheets. In that sense, the following
method might be more feasible for teachers.
The next method involves placing additional tasks at the end of
worksheets. Teachers could start off by asking closed questions such as “Where
did this event take place?” and “How many types of events are there?”. Although
these questions require lower order thinking skills, they still require
students to read the text and extract relevant information, which is an
important reading skill. These questions could be followed by more
open-ended questions such as “What do you think…?”, “Suggest…”. With tasks like
this, all learners start from the same questions and do as many questions as
they can within the stipulated time. To motivate learners to do as many
questions as they can, prizes (positive reinforcement) could be given.
Early finishers could also engage in other activities. For example, they
could create a quiz or word search/letter square for words that they have
learned. Through these activities, teachers would be able to kill two birds
with one stone. Students consolidate their understanding as they would have to
review their learning and teachers would be able to add resources to their
material bank.
After students have finished their tasks, it would be useful to provide
the printed answer key and have students check their own work. This is because
students who have done less questions would not be interested in discussing the
questions that they have not answered. Alternatively, when discussing
open-ended questions, the weakest students could give their answers first and
other better ones could add their points to the list.
To conclude, there are a number of ways to differentiate tasks in the
classroom. These methods provide an avenue to cater to different abilities in
the class and so, teachers can choose the best way to suit their context.
How might authentic materials motivate learners? Write some guidance for
a less experienced English teacher including how to differentiate tasks when
using / adapting these materials.
Prepared by:
RADIKA SUBRAMANIAM
Language learning is believed to take place effectively when the
environment exposes learners to the use of particular language extensively.
According to Widdowson (1990:67), “nowadays there are recommendations that the
language presented should be authentic”. Thus, one of the ways to create the
needs for learning English language is by using authentic materials in
classroom. Studies have shown that the use of authentic materials in teaching
and learning the receptive skills (i.e., reading and listening) especially,
brings a lot of difference in learners’ productive skills (i.e., speaking and
writing) (Lingzhu & Yuanyuan, 2010; Melvin & Stout, 1987; Tamo, 2009).
This is due to the real life language use where the materials have not been
altered or written for educational purposes. The exposure to the real
environment of the language use gives learners more opportunities to see the
importance of the language in a broader perspective.
Gebhard (1996) suggests that authentic materials can be classified into
three major categories which are authentic listening-viewing materials (i.e.,
TV commercials, news clips, songs, documentaries, etc.), authentic visual
materials (i.e., photographs, paintings, wordless street signs, postcard
pictures, etc.) and authentic printed materials (newspaper articles, movie
advertisements, astrology columns, tourism brochures, etc.). There are plenty
of internet resources which offer these materials to be downloaded for use in
any context. However, the question is, how do these materials motivate
learners? Listening to BBC news and reading news reports or advertisements from
the BBC Skillwise although to some extent challenge the non-native speaker
learners, the needs to understand and interpret the issues may motivate them.
Likewise, the urge to learn the target culture closer may also serve as a
source of motivation for these learners.
Looking into how these materials can be used or adapted into our own
teaching and learning process in the classroom, instead of providing a reading
text which is not meaningful to the learners, perhaps a more related text to
their own field of study would be useful. For instance, when teaching reading
skills (i.e, skimming and scanning) to Hospitality and Catering learners,
skimming and scanning for information in a recipe or menu card could create
interest among the students as they learn both the language skills and content
vocabulary simultaneously. In this situation, the use of recipe and menu card
for reading skills create a more meaningful atmosphere in learning and these
learners would definitely be motivated as it is what they need in their real
life work situation. This would be more engaging instead of presenting language
structures which have been contorted purposefully for the classroom use. Apart
from that, food visuals or relevant food pictures from magazines would also
serve an exciting learning environment. As a picture is worth a thousand words,
it would definitely be fruitful to encourage speaking among learners. In
addition to speaking skills, learners could also practise appropriate language
structures to describe products and services by looking at the picture. For
teaching listening skills, perhaps these learners can be introduced to recipe
segments which are aired on BBC Radio and some questions can be given to check
their listening comprehension skills.
Undoubtedly, these authentic materials serve the best teaching and
learning aids in English language classrooms to improve learners’ proficiency.
However, these materials need to be adapted to fit in the learning context. In
other words, teachers own great sense of responsibility to personalise the
materials to suit learners’ needs and their level of proficiency. Perhaps the
same reading text could be tweaked to cater for different levels of learners.
Otherwise, the tasks can be simplified for weaker learners using the same text
or material. Difficulty level of questions could be varied and students could
be asked to choose the ones they could answer best. Other differentiation technique
that could be brought here is by mixing different levels of learners together
using the ‘teaching others’ technique. This may give the opportunity to weaker
or average learners to ask or seek for more information from learners who have
good command of the language. Otherwise, weaker students could also be put to
work together in one group by providing more language support for them to
complete the same task.
To sum up, authentic material exploitation in language classrooms,
especially for non-native speaker learners may vary according to their needs.
Adaptation and personalisation are two key principles that should always be
taken into consideration before testing the materials on the learners. I
believe, the use of authentic materials in English language classrooms would
bring a lot of difference in students’ motivation to learn the language in
order to use it appropriately.
REFERENCES
Gebhard, J.G. (1996).
Teaching English as a foreign language: A teacher self-development and
methodology. Ann arbor: The
University of Michigan press.
Lingzhu, J., &
Yuanyuan, Z. (2010). The use of authentic materials in teaching EFL Listening.
Humanising Language Teaching, 12(4).
Melvin, B. S., & Stout,
D. F. (1987). Motivating language learners through authentic materials. In
Rivers, W. M., Interactive Language Teaching. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Tamo, D. (2009). The use of
authentic materials in classrooms. Linguistic and Communicative Perfomance
Journal, 2(9), 74-78.
How might authentic materials motivate learners? Write some guidance for
a less experienced English teacher including how to differentiate tasks when
using/adapting these materials.
Prepared by:
Charles W.K. Cheng
Currently, there are several viewpoints associated with how English is
taught to non – native speakers, especially those who are learning English to
fulfill specific needs such as for employment, higher education et cetera. Some
are of the view that English is to be taught solely through grammar rules (Hwang,
2005) while Widdowson is of the opinion that the language used should be
authentic (Widdowson, 1990).
This article will discuss several advantages of using authentic reading
materials in classrooms as well certain considerations that should be taken
into factor when authentic reading materials are to be used in classrooms. In
addition, this article will also look at how authentic reading materials may be
adapted to create differentiated tasks for mixed ability classrooms.
Creating language tasks around authentic reading materials confers
several advantages towards learning, chief among them is that authentic reading
materials allow learners (adults especially) to discover immediate relevance
between what they are doing inside classroom and they do outside of it (Brinton,
2001). Secondly, authentic reading materials provide learners with the
opportunity to make meanings through non – linguistic clues as well as allowing
learners to deal with small amount of materials that contain meaningful and
complete messages (Brinton, 2001).
There are several considerations a teacher must take into account if
authentic reading materials are to be used for instruction. For the purpose of
adapting an authentic reading material, a teacher must take into account its
suitability, exploitability, readability and the way it is presented to a
reader (Berardo, 2006). Figure 1 below explains in detail how these
considerations can be further utilized in selecting and adapting an authentic
reading material.
Suitability
· Does
the text interest our learners?
· Is it
relevant to our learners’ needs?
· Does
it represent the type of material that our learners will use outside of the
classroom?
|
Exploitability
· Can
the text be exploited for teaching purposes?
· For
what purpose should the text be exploited?
· What
skills/strategies can be developed by exploiting the text?
|
Readability
· Is the
text too easy/difficult for our learners?
· Is it
structurally too demanding/complex?
· How
much new vocabulary does it contain? Is it relevant?
|
Presentation
· Does
it “look” authentic?
· Is it
“attractive”?
· Does
it grab our learners’ attention?
· Does
it make our learners want to read more?
|
Fig. 1: Important Factors in Choosing Authentic
Reading Materials (adapted from Berardo, 2006)
Apart from that, a teacher must also consider the diversity of any
classroom that he/she will encounter as these classrooms are most likely to be
populated with learners of wide – ranging abilities. A task created around an
authentic reading material must be able to engage learners of all abilities as
well as promote desire for improvement among learners.
Dixie (2011) states that instead of grouping learners according to their
ability and providing a “one size fits all” lesson, effective differentiation
can be achieved in any single lesson by formulating different learning outcomes
that can be achieved by groups of distinct abilities. Through this,
a lesson should possess several tasks of differing difficulties while modelled
around a single reading material. This concept is usually known as “one text
several tasks” model.
Through this model, a teacher may use a reading material to create one
task that “all learners” can do, another one that “most learners” can complete
and one more task that “some learners” can do (Dixie, 2011). Learners
should attempt to complete these tasks in increasing difficulties, stopping
when they are unable to complete the more difficult ones. A major concern of
using this model is that learners might only do what they are comfortable with;
as such teachers need to create appropriate incentives to encourage learners to
challenge themselves and through this teachers may boost active usage of
cognitive skills among learners. Other activities such as warmer activities and
plenary should be included as well to promote co-operation.
The “one text several tasks” model offers several benefits for learners;
while only some of the learners are able to complete all tasks, all the learner
will at least achieve the “must know” components of the lesson. Next, teachers
can ensure the more able learners are constantly engaged (Dixie, 2011) while
providing support to those who need it, thus eliminating bored students’
symptoms and maximizing instructional time.
To conclude, teachers need to be constantly aware that the instruction
of language must be done in purposeful context and engage all learners with
authentic materials. Only then the learners can recognize the connection
between what they do in classrooms with what they need to do in the real world
and take full responsibility of their own education.
In what way can e-learning contribute to the independent learning skills
and motivation of your students in Malaysia?
Prepared by:
Ros
Hana Ariffin
One
of my biggest anxiety as a teacher is to embark on the e-learning bandwagon. A
person needs to be at least 30% computer savvy in order to design such lesson
for my students. However, e-learning has become an important element in
teaching and learning, to fit to the needs and interest of my students.
E-learning has many benefits and it is an essential tool for today’s
education.
Would e-learning be relevant for my students in the small town of
Temerloh? The students who are in the full time courses are in the age range of
18 to 45, while short courses are open to all with no age limit. It is
essential and perhaps should be every teacher’s aim in teaching to produce
independent learners who have the right skills to live their daily lives.
Teachers should also aspire to motivate their students so that what they learn
is meaningful and purposeful so that they are more informed, sophisticated and
be a part of a healthy society. There are several ways to do this, and perhaps
e-learning is one of the ways that can promote and contribute to students’
motivation while acquiring independent learning skills.
What is e-learning? E-learning, says www.oxforddictionaries.com, is
learning conducted via electronic media, typically on the Internet. However,
e-learning would heavily rely on the teacher to facilitate and guide learning,
which formalizes the lesson and behavior that takes place in the virtual world.
If anything, using the internet is very challenging as it features several
problems as we don’t see the person face-to-face and users of internet tend to
have a different persona when online.
Therefore, e-learning is very important, especially to young adults, as
it has a more formal approach to using the internet. In general, almost
everyone aged 10 and above has started using technology offered by the computer
and smartphones for its multi usage. People are able to make calls, send
messages, play games, and use appropriate applications for daily usage and also
for banking. What most people do not realize and that even in the virtual
world, one must maintain good behavior as if living in the real world. With
e-learning, the teacher will be able to emphasize correct skills especially
when using the social media. There are rules to abide by eventhough each person’s
presence is not “real”, but rather as data who leaves a footprint in the
virtual world.
According to Quality Education Support and Training or QuEST, four main
groupings of independent learning skills are social skills, thinking skills,
self management skills and information skills. It is important to know and
understand these skills to be learnt by students in the e-learning methodology.
Teachers must aim to train students to have the right social skills when
they can work, learn and recreate collaboratively with others and also has
several other skills such as contributing in speech and action in group
situations, working with others, group leadership, conflict management and
conflict resolution. A real life relevant situation is motivating for anyone,
let alone students who should be able relate their personal experiences
socializing online.
E-learning promotes thinking skills among learners. An effective thinker
has a wide range of skills that help them to create meaning, gain
understanding, make judgments, make good decisions, self analyse and reflect.
They would also formally learn how to identify purpose for reasoning, identify
distortion and bias which is the ability to recognise the factors that cause
distortion and bias such as emotion, background, experiences, culture and
perspective. Students can also learn how to evaluate evidence to support
claims, recognise and evaluate evidence offered to support claims, identify
inferences and the presence or lack of appropriate supporting evidence, identify
assumptions, identify opinions and the chain of evidence, inference,
assumptions and biases that may be involved, develop and critique arguments to
promote, defend or critique a point of view. E-learning can also contribute to
the practice of making decisions, generating and assessing solutions, ask
relevant questions, simplify complex situations while avoid
oversimplifications, make connections into other context, clarify relevant
language, clarify issues, develop criteria for evaluation, evaluate credibility
of information & sources, make and recognise generalizations, narrow or
broaden a focus as appropriate, recognise inadequate information or evidence
and weigh evidence. The internet offers a lot of opportunities in authentic
setting, situations where students can learn to practice this skill.
One of the most important skills which may be learnt through e-learning
is self management skills, whereby a person who is an independent learner can
manage themselves as an individual or in group situations. They will have
specific skills such as goal setting that is realistic, relevant, challenging
and manageable; time and resource-management and as Gavin Dudeney mentioned in
his talk in Digital Literacy, focus on the task in hand and work through distractions.
A person who is an independent learner has a range of information skills
that empowers him as a learner and enables him to recognise his own lack of
knowledge and the need to obtain further information or deepen his
understanding, ask relevant questions, validate information, locate relevant
information from a range of resources, recognise and select appropriate
sources, identify bias, identify prior knowledge, reflect and evaluate, use a
variety of sources, and apply information to meet the original need, build
appropriate understanding or solve the initial problem.
Another motivating element on the internet are creative websites where
young adults could express themselves. These are websites such as photofunia,
wordle, and youtube. Having lessons through e-learning would certainly be
motivating to students as it is an established understanding that young adults
nowadays feels more comfortable doing “things” on the computer, especially when
connected to the internet, as stated by Bhattacharya.
So I guess, after considering all the benefits of e-learning to my
students, I really should make the leap of faith and join the
bandwagon real soon. By Ros Hana Ariffin
References
Moore, J. L.,
Dickson-Deane, C., & Galyen, K. (2011). e-Learning, online learning, and
distance learning environments: Are they the same? The Internet and Higher
Education, 14(2), 129-135.
Chelsea Academy,
Independent Learning Policy. Retrieved 4/12/2014 from
http://chelsea-academy.org/docs/policies/curriculum_and_assessment/independent_learning.pdf
Whiting, Ken, Five
principles for motivating today's young workforce, Reliable Plant. Retrieved
4/12/2014 from
http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/13082/five-principles-for-motivating-today's-young-workforce
Bhattacharya, S. (n.d.).
Inside the Inventive Mind. Retrieved 4/12/2014 from
http://ibmblr.tumblr.com
In what way can e-learning contribute to the
independent learning skills and motivation of your students in Malaysia?
Prepared by:
Nurazmira Ab Wahab
JISC defines e-learning as “learning facilitated and supported through
the use of information and communications technology. It can cover a spectrum
of activities from the use of technology to support learning as part of a
‘blended’ approach (a combination of traditional and e-learning approaches), to
learning that is delivered entirely online. Whatever the technology, however,
learning is the vital element.”
From the definition above, I am 100% sure that my students will be
motivated to implement this independent learning. This is mainly due to the
fact that they are the Generation Z or the ‘digital natives’ as they are
nicknamed. They are the ones who have lifelong use of communication and media
technology. Having all the knowledge, I personally believe that e-learning will
be the best tool to enhance independent learning skills among them.
E-learning is beneficial because it allows students to assess and
measure their self-directed learning. Often in e-learning activities, there are
levels to be completed from beginners to advanced. They have to complete the
activities in every stage in order to proceed to the next level. This also
gives a sense of challenge to students as they do the activities. They feel
excited to continue doing because they want to reach the highest level. Being
able to monitor their own progress and the challenge to accomplish all levels
encourage students to do independent learning. For example, lyricstraining.com
is a very good site for students to practice their listening and spelling
skills. It is entertaining and obviously students’ would love to do the
activities outside classroom hours because they love singing so much. This
promotes independent learning.
Besides that, e-learning enables students to get access to information
quickly. They don’t have to go to the library and browse through rows and rows
of books anymore. This is very time consuming. With e-learning, information is
at the tip of their fingers. So if teachers give them a task, they are happy to
do it because they can get information easily and quickly. Thus again motivates
them to learn independently.
Not to forget, students love multimedia projects. If we were to compare
the speed of them doing a multimedia task and a normal task in class, obviously
the multimedia will get more effort and enthusiasm from students. They will go
all out for multimedia projects. This is solely autonomous learning. They do
best when they love the things they do.
Most importantly, e-learning eliminates the barrier between students and
teachers. Students tend to feel more comfortable to share their worries with
teachers if the communication is non-face-to-face. Whatsapp, twitter, facebook,
email and so on are widely used by students nowadays. So why don’t we make use
of the technology and do what our students like doing the most? So when the
barrier is gone, it will be much easier for students to ask for clarification
from teacher. They can easily ask their teachers at any time without having to
wait till the next time the teacher comes to class. In face-to-face situation,
this rarely happens. Usually students shy away quietly and resulted in not
understanding anything. But with e-learning, it helps to build good rapport
between teacher and students. When students feel a sense of belonging,
definitely they are willing to do better and better.
In addition, with e-learning, there will be no more issues of time
constraints because we can always continue doing the tasks virtually and check
students’ progress online. We can also upload handouts online and it can be
easily accessed by students. So if students skip school, they still can get the
materials online. This also helps to encourage independent learning if we ask
them to do a pre-task before lessons starts.
In conclusion, I am really thankful to the technology that we have now
as it helps to create e-learning to be more effective especially in encouraging
independent learning among students.
REFERENCES
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/elearning
In what way can e-learning contribute to the independence learning
skills and motivation of your students in Malaysia?
Prepared by:
Mohd Azmiruddin Bin
Mohammad
There are many definitions of e-learning and for the purpose of this essay;
the definition given by Derek Stockley will be adapted. He defines e-learning
as “the delivery of a learning, training or education program by electronic
means. E-learning involves the use of a computer or electronic devise in some
way to provide training, educational or learning materials” (Stockley, 2003:6)
In other words, e-learning simply means the delivery of education by means of
electronic gadget such as a PC, notebook, tablet and smart phones. When one
discusses about e-learning one cannot deny the role played by the internet. The
internet boom, boosted by the availability of fast internet connection via
broadband and the gradual decrease of the price of computers in recent years
have made more people able to experience the internet revolution.
The internet revolution has created a huge impact on how things are
managed and done in all aspect of life. With this IT revolution, everyone have
to shift to a higher gear or are left behind. There are suddenly vast resources
available to both educator and learners alike. The internet has simplify
material selections through world wide web and made it available digitally.
Having said this, the internet really got off when it becomes mobile with the
advent of wireless access. Suddenly, the vast resources the internet has to
offer is no longer tied to the fixed phone line.
The introduction of phones that can surf the internet termed as ‘smart
phone’ from this point forward have further enabled more people to be connected
and social media networks such as Facebook, Ning, Myspace, and the like blooms
like mushrooms after the rains. The fierce competition and innovation of mobile
phones companies have pushed the price of such devices quite competitive
globally. A similar trend is experienced in Malaysia. The influx of cheap smart
phones from China in recent years has made the smart phone ever more accessible
for the masses. It has made smart phone affordable even to an average
Polytechnic or Community Colleges students in Malaysia. With this background,
it is truly a ‘crime’ if the lecturers or teachers in Malaysian Polytechnic or
Community Colleges shun this powerful tool in their classes.
Lecturers in Polytechnic and Community Colleges have always complain
that they do not have access to ‘smart classroom’ - classroom equipped with LCD
projector, weak or no Wifi facilities, a large number of students in the class
and a high number of teaching hours. This limitation does restrict the
lecturer/teacher but if they make use of the students’ smart phones and
maximizes the phones’ capabilities it will ensure a more engaging and
meaningful activities in and outside the classroom . The e-learning facilities
and tools built in the smart phone could make the students more independent and
at the same time motivate them . The lecturer/teacher could for instance set up
a twitter account for the class and thus information can be shared almost
instantly among the group member using the smart phones. It can be used as a
scaffolding tool to help students in the learning process outside the
classroom. In terms of learning, students can post their questions online and
the lecturer/teacher can respond to those questions. The lecturer/teacher can
also post a topic to be discussed online and the students have to give their
opinions or debate on the matter. This could create an interactive discussion
among the group, while the teacher acts as a facilitator to ensure that the
discussion is on track and everyone in the group would get instant feedback
either from their peer or the lecturer/teacher.
The lecturer/teacher could also use other social media like the Facebook
to post assignment or notes for the students to view both before or after class
and if they have any question regarding the lesson they could post it online
using the Facebook platform. This would make the students more responsible
toward their learning.
Twitter and Facebook are just two examples of social media that the
lecturer/teacher could utilise using the students’ smart phones to ensure a
meaningful, engaging and authentic interaction. There are a lot more teaching
and learning tools and applications that the lecturer/teacher can use and
manipulate to encourage independent learning and at the same time motivate
their students.
REFERENCES
Stockley
D.(2003) E-learning Definition and Explanation [Online], Training, Learning and
Performance Consultant: http://derekstockley.com.au/elearning-definition.html
(2003)
In what way can e-learning contribute to the independence learning skills and motivation of your students in Malaysia?
Prepared by:
Alfred V. Bakrin
Technology is a major force of change. In today’s world, we are
witnessing a significant impact of information, communication and technologies
(ICT) in all spheres of work and life. In the early part of its
introduction in the education system, ICT was just playing a small role in
supporting the teaching and learning process but as technologies advanced and
used widely, it is fast becoming a core structure in the education system.
Terms associated with the use of ICT in the education are coined by experts and
many are interested in doing research on the effectiveness of ICT in the
education. E-learning is an example of term used in the education system, and
has become an integral part of education in many parts of the world.
The curriculum of TVET education in Malaysia is shifting towards blended
learning where the emphasis is more on student-centred learning. E-learning is
essential because it exploits interactive technologies and communication
systems to improve the learning experience. E-learning can be defined as
learning facilitated and supported through the use of information and
communications technology (www.jisc.ac.uk).
To begin with, the use of e-learning can definitely promote
independent learning skills and motivations of students in Malaysian
polytechnics. The potential of e-learning in contributing independent learning
skills is limitless providing that it is used effectively. The key ingredient
in independent learning is the shift of responsibility for the learning process
to the students. E-learning enables students to acquire an understanding of
their learning environment, motivate them to learn and provide a platform for
them to collaborate with teachers to structure their learning environment.
Instead of being the focus of attention in the classroom, being the source of
knowledge, teachers can scaffold students learning through the use of
e-learning. Teacher and student are not limited by classroom contact hours.
Students can learn anytime, anywhere and at their own pace. This is very useful
especially in the Malaysian polytechnic context where the class is big and
teachers have difficulties in giving personal attention to students (giving
feedback and monitoring their progress).
The speed of access of information on the Internet means that teachers
and students can engage in a fast and meaningful communication that benefits
both parties. Applications such as padlet can be be used to monitor students’
progress, posed questions prior to a lesson, collect opinions on matters
related to a lesson and the list goes on. The use of an education website such
as Moodle in e-learning provides the opportunities for easy assessment and
measurement of self-directed learning. Teachers can upload differentiated tasks
and lesson of the day for the students and the students can log on and do the
exercises according their level, revisit activities that they want to improve
and also check on any activities that they have missed. To sum up, the use of
e-learning to promote independent learning skills of students in Malaysia is a
practical idea that need to given a serious consideration.
Moreover, e-learning can also be used to promote motivation of students
in Malaysia. E-learning promotes autonomous learning and by giving students a
choice, whether it is a big or small, we give the, the sense of control and
motivate them to learn. Generally, students feel appreciated and that is a big
motivation for them to learn more. E-learning engages students simply because
the materials are authentic and relate to what today’s generation are
interested in. Being digital babies, today’s students spend a lot of time
surfing the Internet and are passionate of technologies; Malaysian students are
not excluded. E-learning feeds creativity, critical thinking, and a source of
varieties of authentic materials for teaching and learning process. Students
can be use the online application (or apps) to do classroom projects and search
information online to develop critical thinking. Malaysian students generally
have access to the Internet and this is something that teachers can tap to help
students to generate ideas, bring them into the class, and motivate them to
learn in the classroom. Malaysian students need to encouraged and exposed to
e-learning because it can help to motivate them to learn.
In conclusion, technology has already made significant changes to
society and education. The pace of change is accelerating and we need to
embrace the use of ICT positively and exploit its potentials in improving
teaching and learning process
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