Comment Re:The needs of the many.... (Score 1) 193
Preach it brother. It took the Dutch, the most apologetically direct people in Europe, to say it like it is.
Congresswoman and Staff Gunned Down 2166
tkprit writes "What a shame that a Congresswoman makes herself available to her constituents and she and six of her staff were gunned down for the effort. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot, along with members of her staff, for trying to hear the concerns of the people she represents."
CNN reports that at least 12 people were shot by the gunman. According to NPR, "The suspect ran off and was tackled by a bystander. He was taken into custody. Witnesses described him as in his late teens or early 20s." Update: 01/08 20:07 GMT by S : Other sources are reporting she's still in surgery, and early reports have been amended to list Congresswoman Giffords in critical condition.
Comment Do's and Dont's (Score 1) 332
I work for a large, multinational organisation which teaches English in every country of the world. My last posting invovled establishing a showpiece teaching centre in an Asian capital city with a fairly large budget to spend on ICT. This is how we spent the cash
1) Interactive whiteboards in every classroom with good internet connectivity - we ripped out the old whiteboards to give the teachers no option but to use the new technology. IWBs are fantastic language teaching tools, allowing teachers to get away from their keyboard and mouse and work from where they are most comfortable, near the board. The wealth of authentic, real examples of language available via the Internet is endless: video, audio, flash-based animation, text, chat bots and simulated environments all act as valuable and authentic input into a lesson. This variety of input caters to different learning styles and unlike the low quality, pavlovian CD ROMs with their dull grammar exercises and inauthentic language, present real contexts for language work. Teachers kicked up a storm about the change at first but very quickly warmed to the creative possibilities invovled and made good use of other functionality - saving and reviewing board work, integrating sound and video seamlessly in their classes (without the usual TV, OHP, video recorder set up). Fabulous teaching tool
2) We ditched the awful language lab in favour of sets of wireless laptop computers which could be wheeled from classroom to classroom, to allow for language work in pairs and groups. The work being done on screen which acted as a stimulus for oral communication and written practice in pairs and groups, could be pulled onto the IWBs and corrected on the spot. Fabulous.
3) Moodle is very popular but the design of these sites leaves me cold. They look and feel like 'school' rather than feeling as is the participant is engaged in a real, communicative project. Students rarely manage to master all the features and simple act as forum fodder - that is to say, they are participants in a site, rather than the creators of it. This is very de-motivating. Personally think a well designed blog/community website, along the lines of Slashdot is a far better tool, which hands power over to the users (students)and leaves communication in their hands. A considerable body of research is emerging to support this feeling. The blog site was exceptionally 'sticky' especially when teachers uploaded board work from the lessons and used it for review at home and when students themselves cretaed stories and mini-projects online.
d) don't invest in CD ROMs - I've rarely seen a goodone (except for dictionaries) and everything you need is already online.
e) Provide a cafe style area for students to use those old PCs in - relax with a cup of coffee and complete tasks done in class.
Just my thoughts.
1) Interactive whiteboards in every classroom with good internet connectivity - we ripped out the old whiteboards to give the teachers no option but to use the new technology. IWBs are fantastic language teaching tools, allowing teachers to get away from their keyboard and mouse and work from where they are most comfortable, near the board. The wealth of authentic, real examples of language available via the Internet is endless: video, audio, flash-based animation, text, chat bots and simulated environments all act as valuable and authentic input into a lesson. This variety of input caters to different learning styles and unlike the low quality, pavlovian CD ROMs with their dull grammar exercises and inauthentic language, present real contexts for language work. Teachers kicked up a storm about the change at first but very quickly warmed to the creative possibilities invovled and made good use of other functionality - saving and reviewing board work, integrating sound and video seamlessly in their classes (without the usual TV, OHP, video recorder set up). Fabulous teaching tool
2) We ditched the awful language lab in favour of sets of wireless laptop computers which could be wheeled from classroom to classroom, to allow for language work in pairs and groups. The work being done on screen which acted as a stimulus for oral communication and written practice in pairs and groups, could be pulled onto the IWBs and corrected on the spot. Fabulous.
3) Moodle is very popular but the design of these sites leaves me cold. They look and feel like 'school' rather than feeling as is the participant is engaged in a real, communicative project. Students rarely manage to master all the features and simple act as forum fodder - that is to say, they are participants in a site, rather than the creators of it. This is very de-motivating. Personally think a well designed blog/community website, along the lines of Slashdot is a far better tool, which hands power over to the users (students)and leaves communication in their hands. A considerable body of research is emerging to support this feeling. The blog site was exceptionally 'sticky' especially when teachers uploaded board work from the lessons and used it for review at home and when students themselves cretaed stories and mini-projects online.
d) don't invest in CD ROMs - I've rarely seen a goodone (except for dictionaries) and everything you need is already online.
e) Provide a cafe style area for students to use those old PCs in - relax with a cup of coffee and complete tasks done in class.
Just my thoughts.
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We all agree on the necessity of compromise. We just can't agree on when it's necessary to compromise. -- Larry Wall
