Computers and English Language Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Computers and English Language Teaching - Essay ExampleThus students in one country can and do take classes in another.Before dealing with the details of computer aided article of faith of English as a foreign language and teacher training, it will be utilizable to consider briefly the online education environment in general. The online teaching environment may be divided into two basic different types synchronous courses and asynchronous courses. A synchronous course occurs in real time, i.e. the instructor and the students atomic number 18 logged on to the internet at the same time and atomic number 18 within the online course, perhaps exchanging IMs or with a lecture occurring on a live whiteboard program. However, the best use of online education is in the asynchronous mode, in which lectures are on hand(predicate) on the course website as P.Points and/or audio-visual files, students take part in threaded discussions and assignments are submitted to a digital drop-box (Kear sley, 1999).Some of the major advantages of online teaching are the ability of students in remote geographical areas to take classes, introduce new types of pedagogy to the classroom and create a more reflective atmosphere for students. One major feature of online classes is that the dominant personalities that are found in all physical classrooms can no commodiouser dominate all class discussions. More start students who are likely to be silent and even unnoticed in the live classroom are heard from in the online situation. Thus there is an equalization and a democratization of the student learning system that cannot occur in the actual classroom. This perceive of equality comes at what some have seen as a sizeable price. Bender (2003) poses a question that is difficult to answer, but which the online teacher (and especially the online teacher instructing language) must considerStudents generally like to have a sense of belonging.When they attend a class on campus, they become familiar with the room in which the class is held . . feeling included in a group is an all-important(a) factor forencouraging the true potential for learning taking adorn . . . but is it possible for a class that doesnot occupy spatial coordinates to belt up generate afeeling of place . . . does the association ofdistance and learning constitute an oxymoronAfter all, education is surely about the meeting ofminds, not their separation.(Bender, 2003) These are difficult questions that have yet to be answered because online teaching is still in its embryonic stage. As the Internet itself develops, and as bandwidth speeds increase to the point where real-time teaching and complex audio-visual materials will be available as easily as television is today, then a real test of whether there is a place within the online teaching environment will be set. As it is, all the signs seem to be that a sense of place can occur, as long as the teacher has a sound knowledge, both of her subject an d also of the special opportunities and challenges of the online teaching environment.The Blackboard online platform is currently one of the most utilise within the world of online teaching. It offers the teacher a number of different teaching possibilities and strategies. These include the inclusion of lecture notes (often Power Point