Internet Addiction

After having created this blog and participated in an online discussion forum, I find myself checking these two sites on a daily basis.

Does this make me an internet addict?

The popularity of the internet has created a big community of internet users.
Some students use the internet to the degree that it interferes with other aspects of their life (social and academic). Some colleges provide 24-hour internet services for the students.
Students in the college where I teach are always sitting quietly at their computer desks “studying”. They attend classes for twenty hours per week, but they are not allowed to leave the college between classes. The rest of the time is their own: they spend it searching the internet: chatting, playing games or reading news.

Can this big invention of internet turn ugly? Can students get addicted to internet? Is this addiction real?

If you use the internet daily, would this make you an internet addict? Try this test:http://www.netaddiction.com/resources/internet_addiction_test.htm

Online participation in course discussions

In the last couple of weeks I noticed that some of the students are adding their postings to old discussions just to fulfill the assessment criteria: I find this extremely disturbing, because I thought that participation is part of collaboration and the construction of knowledge and that “regular contributions to online discussions are integral to the determination that a student is keeping pace with the learner-centered activities and achieving the outcomes of the course.”

This makes me think whether participation should be assessed only for the quantity and quality of postings or is there another dimension that should be added which is a factor of time - timely participation is very important because the course was divided into weekly chunks that include activities that should be done during that period.

Would blocking a discussion thread be an option or would this hinder the continuity of the discussions? Should students work within a specific timeframe for participating in a discussion?

References
Edelstein, S. & Edwards, J. (2002). If You Build It, They Will Come: Building Learning Communities Through Threaded Discussions. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume V, Number I, Spring 2002. State University of West Georgia, Distance Education Center. Retrieved April 10, 2007 from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring51/edelstein51.html

Reflection on collaborative activities

The experiences in this course (EDU 5471) and the new knowledge motivate me to explore online pedagogy further in terms of collaborative activities and the technological tools used; and this will enable me to apply it in my own context of teaching interior design by assisting me in:

* Carefully designing the collaborative activities, taking into consideration the diverse cultures and backgrounds of students, and the sociability factor needed for the creation of the learning community.

* Assigning enough time to enable online collaboration when designing a course (which was great in this course).

* Deciding on the structure of the collaborative activity: instructor-controlled or student-controlled, while emphasizing a student-centered approach. (this course allowed for students' control over the activities as long as they fulfill a certain quantity and quality criteria).

This course is giving me the chance to discover the importance of the collaborative project-based activities, and how ‘teachers should support the learners in reflecting on the strategies for learning as well as what was learned’ (Schon, 1987. cited in Savery & Duffy, 1995, p.5)

References
Savery J. & Duffy Th. (1995). Problem based learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework. Retrieved March 28, 2006, from http://crlt.indiana.edu/publications/duffy_publ6.pdf

Asignment 1 - Item 1

I just finished writing the first part of assignment 1: I found this a good exercise as I reflected on all the discussions that happened in the forum. It felt like a journal and I found out that I really gained a lot from this participation. As I mentioned in my assignment: “using the medium builds skills and confidence in further using the medium”.

Progress Report

Hi,

I think that this week I managed to catch up with all the readings required, participated in almost all discussions and forums, and decided on the electronic tool I am going to discuss in assignment 1: Blogs, because I found them quite easy to use and a good way to keep my reflections.

Language and how it might impact the learning experience

I am writing about language because in the last week I found it really hard to understand some of the humour, vocab ad slang words used in the discussion board, especially that English for me is a third language (Arabic and French come first).

Language may have a signigicant impact on the learning experience especially when it aggects people's perception of the online learning environment.

Although “English has become the common language of communication for knowledge networks within both management and project teams” (Willard, 2001, p.8), but there are many varieties of English, because people who use English as their second language often read and write English differently from native English users.

The linguistic difference manifests itself in the level of English (native / non-native), communication styles (formal / informal), and status of the written text (vocabulary, use of humour, short / long messages, inviting tone, and slang).

I'll explain more about this in another posting, and hopefully by then I'll have a clearer idea on how to solve this problem.

References
Willard, T. (2001). Crossing Cultural Boundaries. In Helping Knowledge Networks Work.
Xu, Y. (2005). Creating social presence in online environment. http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/creatsp/index.htm

Confused

This week was not a very good week for me. I found that the discussion boards are quite messy and the titles misleading: there were personal chatting under serious discussion threads instead of the coffeeshop, and I couldn't cope with the amount of postings, keeping my blog alive, participating in an external discussion forum, and keep up with the readings.

In addition, I found out that lots of people jump from one thread to another, while I am trying to follow the study schedule, by the time I reach the required topic, I find it already full of posts, so I can't reply to them in a timely manner.

Hope next week will be better.

Activity 1.1 Historical Figure

What an interesting activity!

Now I know more about the others and what are their inclinations (on a more personal level).

I might try this with my students, or I can try something like this:

Colour is everywhere in our daily life – A blue sky, a red roof, a yellow school bus, green leaves, etc.

I like blue, because it reminds me of the sea and good weather.

What is your favourite colour? And why?

Possibilities of blogs

I never tried a blog or skype before in any of my online courses: I was always up to my ears trying to keep on schedule, learn how to do this online and collaborate.

But now that the opportunity came (not by choice but as an assignment int he course) and after reading Blogging and RSS (assigned reading), I find myself thinking about the different possibilities of using this type of communication for my students in future: "the colaborative aspect of weblog" (Richardson, 2004, p.1) and the empowerement that will be given to the students "to determine what, how, and where they would like to learn, rather than forcing them into a one-size-fits-all mode" (Tu,2002, p. 21)

It's just food for thought.

References:
Richardson, W. 2004. Blogging and RSS - The "what's it?" and "How to" of powerful new web tools for educators. Vol 11, No 1. Retrieved February 28, 2007, from http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan04/richardson.shtml

Tu, C.H. 2000. Strategies to increase interaction in online social learning environments. Society for Information Technology& Teacher Education International Conference, Vol 1-3, 1662-1667. Retrieved September 4, 2006, from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2/content_storage_01/0000000b/80/22/7d/6c.pdf

My First Experience with blogging

This is the first time I try blogging, and I thought it would be simple and user friendly. Unfortunately this did not happen: Creating the blog was the easiest step, but trying to post was really frustrating and annoying.

The problem was that I couldn't understand where was the mistake (and I am normally good with software and computers), and the I tried to follow the step by step help instructions but it didn't work. Finally I managed to post two items by trial and error.

Does this sound familiar? Would you like to share your blogging experience?

My Masters in Online Education

I am curently registered in the last two modules of the Masters Degree in Online Education from USQ. One module is EDU 5471: Computer Based Resources; I am hoping I can use the information from this course to add technology in my class. For the time being, computers are used in my subjects as a source of information from Internet search, but I need to integrate more in the design projects so that students can dicuss their project briefs.

As for the second course: FET 8660: Masters Project I, I am in the middle of preparing a proposal for this project that relates to my teaching context. I'll keep you informed of the progress, once I get the approval.

Me and My Family

I am of a Lebanese origin, and I came to UAE 18 years ago. I graduated as an architect and worked in the industry for 7 years, then I moved into the education sector. I am currently teaching a diploma program in interior design. Married with two lovely boys: Thomas who is 13 and Patrick who is 10. We also have Charlie who is a desert dog. (see the attached photo)

Interests

Painting, reading, and swimming.

Favorite Movies

My favorite movies are: Click and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Favorite Music

I like all types of songs as I hear them from the radio, but I don't like the predictibility of a CD or an ipod where all the songs are pre-arranged.

Favorite Books

I love children's books and my favorite is Anne of Green Gable.