Saturday, January 28, 2012

Week 3 - The Delicious Week

violet valentine
Photo on Flickr by Distopiandreamgirl

I have really, really enjoyed Week 3. I have finally relaxed. I have stopped worrying and started having the time of my life. Only when I think about the final task...

I am between terms now. This is inconvenient since I will have no students to work with for the next three weeks. And once the students are back on February 20th, my intermediate group will lose at least three of its original members and there will be some new people there. Simple math: There were eight people in the group. Three are leaving. That leaves 5. Our groups are up to 12 students, which means I can have as many as 6 new students. Six students I need to get to know as quickly as possible so that I can analyse their needs and make a final project that suits them as well.

This too is very inconvenient. But that's the way things are.

This week we learnt how to bookmark using Delicious . Here is my account.

I opened this account back in 2008, but after a while switched to Diigo. Now I have imported all my Diigo bookmarks into Delicious and will be using both accounts from now on.

I feel great about the fact that I have started bookmarking the resources we are using in this course. I am learning so much, on a daily basis. I would like to keep this information somewhere where I can find it after the course is over. Which is why I have created a stack called Webskills Winter 2012 and I am sure this stack is going to be very "thick" by the end of the course.

Social bookmarking is collaboration in its best sense. I know something, others know something, together we know a lot. The fact that we are sharing links on Delicious has brought good mood to the whole group and we are eager to share even more. I was touched by what Orchidia did in her blog. She created a collection of songs from all the participants' countries. She used a tool called Mixpod. I am grateful to Orchidia for her beautiful gift. She is very supportive of other participants and her blog is beautiful.

This week we had a very lively discussion in the Oral/Aural Skills forum. I learnt a lot just by reading other participants' posts. I posted a lot too because there were so many interesting mini-discussions going on at the same time. We discussed virtual language labs, the role of teachers in the 21st century (see Marina's post). Luisa, Sinikka and Robert started a very interesting discussion on which variety of English we should use (have a look at Luisa's blog).

I posted so much this week that I ended up with excruciating back pain. But here I am, still typing. This course is so wonderful, I don't want to lose a moment. I am having the time of my life as long as I don't think about my final project.

Talking about final projects, I have learnt a few things this week. Here is my plan:

1. Don't try to do too many things at once. In Robert's words: " Usually the best projects are elegantly simple."

2. Focus on the problem you have to solve.

3. Focus on the students. Who are they? What do they need? What can they realistically do?

And this is where I am going to sign off this week.

8 comments:

  1. Hi Natasa,

    Yes, it is a "Delicious" week indeed.

    I just bookmarked with Google before. It is wonderful to visit your and other members' "Delicious". There are some webs I have been looking for long, especially about self-teaching Pronunciation and Rubrics, ad I finally found them when I visited your posts.

    I also agree with your on your comments to the final report. Try to make things clear and as simple as possible to the students.

    Have a nice weekend dear friend.

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    1. Hello The,

      I am glad you find my Delicious links useful. As for the final report, I hope that by the time we start writing it, we will all have a clear picture about what it should look like.

      Hope you had a nice weekend!

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  2. Hello Natasa..
    It is indeed a Deliciously delicious week. We have really learnt a lot from our fellow participants. I too am a bit worried about the final project. But after going through your blog, even I have come to realize what I should do.Thanks dear for putting it so simply and yet so effectively. Bookmarking is really an interesting as well as important aspect as we can share the important links with our friends and in turn be benefited with their links. So the whole learning process becomes meaningful..
    Looking forward to read your blog and other posts..
    Nizara

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    1. Hello Nizara.

      I feel that my head is filling up with useful stuff on a daily basis. I am glad my blog post was helpful for you. I was trying to make things clear for myself and, as usual, I was thinking out loud.

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  3. Very nice post, Natasa and thank you for enjoying my blog. This is becoming a really delicious experience. And that picture you posted just made me feel like baking something myself...

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    1. Thank you, Luisa. I am learning a lot from you. You have a lot of experience and useful advice.

      The picture is great, isn't it? And the fact that I can't come and try some of your cakes reminds me we are far away...

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  4. Hi Natasa! Some very nice observations this week, especially about the final projects. I am glad you are "settling in" to the routine, and feeling less worried. This is the time of the course when most people hit that point in their feelings, and you are now there. Great job getting over the hump.
    Robert

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    1. Thank you, Robert. Yes, I have settled in and relaxed. This course is a great opportunity and I am determined to enjoy every moment of it. True, the worrying and the insecurity is not completely gone, but I am capable of dealing with these feelings when they do appear. The routine is very important here, knowing what I am doing and when. And it seems that the right place to reflect further on the final task and the steps towards it will be this blog. I can brainstorm here as soon as an idea occurs to me.

      Thank you for your constant support and guidance. None of us would have been able to get to this point without you.

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