Alan Clarke (E-Learning Skills, 2004, p. 26) made my day today when I read this E-learning does not provide an event at which you are required to take notes. All the content is presented in a form you could save as a file or print out. It would seem that you can capture everything. However, the danger is that, since you can save everything, there is no need to read the material or make any...
Storytelling for Dummies
Fun lovers are sure to appreciate this exemplary story
Learning Tools & Technologies: Implementation Issues
Whenever I come across a book on web-based learning tools and technologies that seems remotely relevant to my current objectives, it talks about tools and technologies that are either as old as the hills and ever so often do not exist any more, or have been replaced by or evolved to to be something completely different. And that makes the whole experience rather painful, because it is certainly...
Techniques to Increase Memory & Stimulate Deep Cognitive Processes
According to MacLachlan (1986) сited by E. L. Criswell (1989, pp 36-39) the following instructional techniques can help the teacher teach and the student learn: Explaining the benefits of the lesson to the student before or at the beginning of the lesson. Memory is increased when the student is paying attention. That’s logical though sometimes easier said than done. The authors do not...
Teaching EFL to Very Young Learners, Part 2
While we were in the middle of exploring Cookie and Friends, I gradually introduced two more CD-ROMs, also by OUP. They are Tilly’s Word Fun 1 & Tilly’s Word Fun 2. Product Description Tilly’s Word Fun 1 – Topics Animals Face Family Food School Toys Tilly’s Word Fun 2 – Topics At home Body Clothes Farm Food Holiday The activities used are 1. Listen 2...
Teaching EFL to Very Young Learners, Part 1
I started teaching my child English when she was 3y8m old. The software that we used was very positively accepted, and the child was required to provide her responses using the computer mouse and clicking. The CD-ROM Cookie & Friends by Vanessa Reilly, OUP, was amongst the very first. Product Description Provides a colouring activity for each of 12 different topics (relating to the Cookie and...
Structure of Human Development: Implications for Instructional Design
Piaget (1964) cited by E. L. Criswell (1989, pp. 35-36) developed the theory that children grow intellectually in stages: From years 0 to 2, children explore their tiny environments, and through physical exploration, learn that objects exist and do not change from day to day. This is the sensorimotor stage. This is a period of motor action. The way I see it, the time can be successfully used for...
Digital Storytelling
A digital story is a personal experience represented in narrative format. The script is amplified by including video, music, still-frame imagery, and the author’s voice. A digital story typically lasts for two to three minutes. Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools p. 43 It must take ages to create such a story, but the idea is interesting anyways. I imagine the teacher has to provide a lot of...
How Many Limited English Proficient (LEP) Learners are There?
According to the US department of Education, there were ca. 5,400,000 ESL students in the USA alone in 2006 and the number is increasing.
ESL or LEP students are US fastest-growing population and are expected to make up one out of every four students by 2025.
Reading From a Computer Display
Have got a copy of Eleanor L. Criswell’s Design of Computer-Based Instruction at last. Here are some important although slightly dated stats People read about 25 per cent faster from text pages than they do from computer displays (Gould et al, 1987, cited by E.L. Criswell 1989, p. 83) In the late 1980s that might have been the case, but now the computer display has evolved and the stats are...