pls go to this page for a research on Blended-Learning-at-MNU https://www.facebook.com/pages/Student-Satisfaction-on-Blended-Learning-at-MNU

ދަރިވަރުންގެ ޝުއޫރުތަކުގެ އަލީގައި ...

ސެންޓަރ ފޮރ އޮޕަން ލާރނިން (ކޮލް) އަކީ ދިވެހި ރާއްޖޭގެ ގައުމީ ޔުނިވާރސިޓީގެ ދުރުންދޭ ތައުލީމު ފޯރުކޮށްދޭ މަރުކަޒެވެ. މިސެންޓަރަށް ފަނަރަ އަހަރު ފުރުމާއިގުޅިގެން މިސެންޓަރުގެ ވެރިންނާއި އިންސްޓިޓިއުޓްގެ ހުރިހާ ލެކްޗަރާއިންނަށާއި ދަރިވަރުންނަށް މަރުހަބާ ދަންނަވަމެވެ. އަޅުގަނޑުގެ މިލިޔުމުގައި މައިގަނޑުގޮތެއްގައި ހިމަނާލައިފައިވާނީ ސެންޓަރ ފޮރ އޮޕަން ލާރނިންގ އިން ތަފާތު ކޯސް ތަކުގައި ކިޔަވަމުންދާ ދަރިވަރުންނާއި އެދަރިވަރުން ކިޔަވަމުންދާ ކޯސްތަކާ ބެހޭގޮތުން ފާޅުކޮށްފައިވާ ޚިޔާލުތަކާއި، ޝުއޫރު ތަކެވެ. އަދި މި ޝުއޫރުތަކުގެ އަލީގައި ކޮލްގެ މުސްތަޤްބަލް ބައްޓަން ކުރުމުގައި ވިސްނުންބަހައްޓަންވީ ގޮތާމެދު ބަލާލަމެވެ. މިސެންޓަރުން ވޭތުވެދިޔަ 15 އަހަރު ތެރޭގައި ވަނީ ވަރަށްގިނަ ކުރިއެރުންތަކެއް ހޯދާފައެވެ. އޭގެތެރޭގައި ދަރިވަރުންނަށް ތަފާތު ގިނަ ދާއިރާ ތަކުގެ ކޯސްތަކުގައި ކިޔެވުމުގެ ފުރުސަތު ހުޅުވާލުމާއި، ސެންޓަރުގައި ކިޔަވަމުންދާ ދަރިވަރުންގެ އަދަދު އިތުރުވުން ހިމެނެއެވެ. މީގެއިތުރުން ކިޔަވައިދިނުމުގެ ވައްޓަފާޅިއަށް ގެނެވިފައިވާ ބަދަލު ޚާއްސަގޮތެއްގައި ފާހަގަކޮށްލަންޖެހެއެވެ. މިގޮތުން ޒަމާނީ ޓެކްނޮލޮޖީގެ ވަސީލަތްތައް ބޭނުންކޮށްގެން ދަރިވަރުންނަށް ބޭނުންވާ 'ފްލެކްސިބިލިޓީ' އާއި 'އެކްސެސިބިލިޓީ' ލިބިދެވޭގޮތަށް ކޯސްތައް ފަރުމާކޮށް ހިންގައެވެ. ދަރިވަރުންނަށް ސްޓަޑީގައިޑް ފޯރުކޮށްދިނުމާއެކު ފޭސް-ޓު-ފޭސް ބުލޮކު ކުލާސްތަކާއި އޮންލައިން މަސައްކަތްތައް ހިމެނޭގޮތަށް 'ބްލެންޑެޑް މޯޑް'ގައި މަތީތައުލީމުގެ ކޯސްތައް ދިވެހި ރާއްޖޭގައި ހިންގާ ހަމައެކަނި މަރުކަޒަކީ ސެންޓަރ ފޮރ އޮޕަން ލާރނިންއެވެ. މިމަރުކަޒުގެ ކޯސްތައް 'ބްލެންޑެޑް މޯޑް'ގައި ފޯރުކޮށްދޭން ފަށާފައިވަނީ 2008ގައި ލާރނިން މެނޭޖްމެންޓް ސިސްޓަމެއް ބޭނުންކޮށްގެނެވެ. މިލާރނިން މެނޭޖްމެންޓް ސިސްޓަމް 'ޖެމް' ބޭނުންކޮށްގެން ދަރިވަރުންނަށް ކިޔެވުމުގެ ގިނަމަސައްކަތްތަކެއް އޮންލައިންކޮށް ކުރަމުން ގެންދެވޭތީ، ރަށްރަށުގައި ދިރިއުޅޭ ދަރިވަރުންނަށް މަތީތައުލީމު ލިބިގަތުމަށް ހުޅުވާލެވިފައިވާ ރަނުގެ ފުރުސަތެއްކަން ދަރިވަރުން ފާހގަކުރެއެވެ. ތިރީގައި މި ހިމަނާލަނީ މިގޮތުން ދަރިވަރުން ފާޅުކޮށްފައިވާ ޚިޔާލާއި ޝުއޫރުތަކެވެ. "މިއީ ވ. ރަގަޅު ކޯހެއް. ހުރިހާ ދާއިރާ އަކާވެސް ގުޅުންހުރިކޯހެއް. ކޮންމެ ސެމިސްޓަރއެއް ނިމޭއިރު ސޯޝަލް އިޝޫސް ތަކާދޭތެރޭ ވިސްނި، މިހާރު ހުރި ޕޮލިސީތަކާއި އެޕޮލިސީތައް ހަރުދަނާ ކުރެވޭނެގޮތްތަކާދޭތެރޭ ވިސްނެއެވެ. ކޯހާ ދޭތެރޭ ވަރަށް ހިތްހަމަޖެހޭ. I feel like a new person at the end of every semester. I feel like I can make a positive difference after I complete this course.” (Aishath Shabana, Librarian/ MNU Library/ Master of Social Policy Course Student Batch 1, 2014) "މިކޯހުގެ ސަބަބުން ދިވެހި މުޖުތަމައުގައި ހުރި އިޖުތިމާއީ މައްސަލަތަކަށް ހޭލުންތެރި ކުރުވިއެވެ. މިފަދަ މައްސަލަތައް ދިމާވާ ސަބަބުތަކާއި ކަމުގެ ހައްލާބެހޭގޮތުން މައުލޫމާތު އިތުރުވެ ކަމާގުޅޭ އިލްމީ ފައްނީ ޤާބިލްކަން ލިބިގެން ދާކަމަށް ޤަބޫލު ކުރަމެވެ. އަދި ކޯހުގެ ސަބަބަުން އިޖުތިމާއީ ޚިދުމަތްތަކެއް ދިނުމުގެ ފުރުސަތު އަޅުގަޑަށް ލިބޭނޭކަމަށް އުއްމީދު ކުރަމެވެ. މިކޯހަކީ މިވަގުތު ރާއްޖެއަށް ވަރަށް މުހިއްމު ކޯހެއް ކަމުގައި އަޅުގަނޑު ދެކެމެވެ." (ފަތުހުއްﷲ އިސްމާއީލް މާސްޓަރ އޮފް ސޯޝަލް ޕޮލިސީ ކޯސް، 2014) “I am a lawyer and it is difficult for me to do a professional course full time. But COL has made this possible by opening opportunities for the students to study at distance.” (Abdulla Zahir/ Assistance Council/MMA/ Diploma in Judicial Administration) “This faculty helps us to build our future career” (Mariyam Noora/field Officer/ Villa International Airport) "ރާއްޖެތެރޭގައި ވަޒީފާ އަދާކުރާ ކުދިންނަށް ފަސޭހަކަމާއެކު ކޯސްތައް ހެދުމުގެ ފުރުސަތު 'ކޮލް' އިން މިވަނީ ހުޅުވާލަދީފައެވެ. 'ކޮލް' ގައި ކިޔަވާދެއްވާ ލެކްޗަރާއިންނަކީ ކަމުގެ ތަޖުރިބާހުރި، އަދި ކުދިންނަށް ފަސޭހަކަމާއެކު ވިސްނޭ ފަދަގޮތަކަށް ކިޔަވާދެއްވާ ލެކްޗަރާއިންނެވެ." (އަހުމަދު ނަޒީރު/ށ. ނަރުދޫ މެޖިިސްޓްރޭޓް ކޯޓް/ އެޑްމިން އޮފިސަރ/ ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ޖުޑިޝަލް އެޑްމިނިސްޓްރޭޝަން ކޯހުގެ ދަރިވަރު 2014)(އަހުމަދު ނަޒީރު/ށ. ނަރުދޫ މެޖިިސްޓްރޭޓް ކޯޓް/ އެޑްމިން އޮފިސަރ/ ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ޖުޑިޝަލް އެޑްމިނިސްޓްރޭޝަން ކޯހުގެ ދަރިވަރު 2014) "ވަޒީފާގައި އުޅުއްވާ ބޭފުޅުންނަށް ކުރިއަށްދެވޭނެ ދޮރެއް ކޮލްއިން ހުޅުވާދީފައިމިވަނީ" (އަބުދުއްﷲ ރަފީއު/ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ހައިކޯޓް/ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ޖުޑިޝަލް އެޑްމިނިސްޓްރޭޝަން ކޯހުގެ ދަރިވަރު 2014 ްް) 'ކޮލް'އިން މިފަދަ ފުރުސަތެއް ހުލުވާލަ ދެއްވުން މިއީ މީގެ އެތަކެއް ދުވަހެއް ކުރިން އަޅުގަޑު ދެކެމުންއައި ހުވަފެނެއްގައި ކުލަޖެހުންކަމުގައި ގަބޫލު ކުރެވެއެވެ. މިކޯސް ކުރިއަށްގެންދާގޮތާމެދު ވަރަށް ހިތްހަމަޖެހެއެވެ. އަދި މިކަމަށްޓަކައި ކޮލްއަށް ޝުކުރުވެރި ވަމެވެ."/ ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ޖުޑިޝަލް އެޑްމިނިސްޓްރޭޝަން ކޯހުގެ ދަރިވަރު (އަލީ ރަޝީދު/ ރ. ހުޅުދުއްފާރު ، މެޖިސްޓްރޭޓް ކޯޓް/ ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ޖުޑިޝަލް އެޑްމިނިސްޓްރޭޝަން ކޯހުގެ ދަރިވަރު 2014) 'ކޮލް'ގެ ސަބަބުން އިލްމީ ޤާބިލްކަން ހޯދުމަށް އެދެމުންދިޔަ އެތައްބަޔަކަށް އުމުރުގެ ތަފާތު ކުރުމެއްނެތި އުގެނުމުގެ ފުރުސަތު ލިބިގެން ހިގައްޖެއެވެ. އިލްމީ އައުބާބެއް ފެށިއްޖެ އެވެ. 'ގޮބޮޅި ކާއްޓަށް' ވުމުގެ ފުރުސަތު ލިބި ދޮރުތައް ހުޅުވިއްޖެއެވެ. މިއީ 'ކޮލް'އިން އެތައް ދިވެހި ދަރިންނަށް ހޯއްދަވައި ދެއްވި އަގުނުކުރެވޭނެ ފުރުސަތެކެވެ." (އަހުމަދު އަލި ފުޅު/ރިހިތަޅާގެ. ރ. ކަނދޮޅުދޫ/ ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ދިވެހި ޓީޗިންގެ ބެޗް 5 2014ގެ ދަރިވަރު) "'ކޮލް'އަކީ ކުރިއަށް ދިއުމަށް ހުރަސްތަކެއް ކުރިމަތި ވެފައިވާ ފަރާތްތަކަށް އެފުރުސަތު ތަނަވަސްކޮށް ދިނުމަށް ވަރަށްބޮޑު އެހީތެރިކަމެއް ފޯރުކޮށްދޭ ތަނެކެވެ." ( ހަސީނާ މޫސާ/ ދިވެހި މުދައްރިސެއް/ ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ދިވެހި ޓީޗިންގެ ބެޗް 5 2014 ގެ ދަރިވަރު) " މިކޯހަކީ އަޅުގަނޑުމެން ކަހަލަ މާލީ ހާލަތު ދަށް މީހުންނަށް ވަރަށް މުހިއްމު ކޯހެއްކަމަށް ގަބޫލު ކުރަމެވެ. އަދި މިފަދަ ފުރސަތެއް ދެއްވި ކަމަށްޓަކައި ކޮލްގެ އެންމެހާ ބޭފުޅުންނަށް ޝުކުރު ދަންނަވަމެވެ. އުއްމީދުކުރަނީ މުސްތަޤްބަލުގައިވެސް މިފަދަ ކޯސްތައް އިިތުރަށް ތަރައްޤީކޮށް ހިންގާނެ ކަމަށެވެ." (ހަސަން އާދަމް/ޤުލްބަކާގެ/ތ. ދިޔަދޫ/ ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ދިވެހި ޓީޗިންގެ ބެޗް 5 2014 ގެ ދަރިވަރު) " ކޮލް' އަށް ކިޔަވަން އަންނަން ނިންމީ ރަށުގައި ވަޒީފާގައި އުޅެމުން، ދަރިންބަލަމުން ކިޔެވުމުގެ ފުރުސަތު އަދި ހަމައެކަނި އޮތީ ކޮލްގައި ކަމުގައިވާތީ" (ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ދިވެހި ޓީޗިންގެ ބެޗް 5 2014 ގެ ދަރިވަރެއް) "ވަޒީފާގައި ހުރެގެން ކިޔެވުމުގެ ފުރުސަތު ތަނަވަސްވެފައި އޮތުމަކީ، އަމިއްލަ ދިރިއުޅުމެއް ފަށާ، އާއިލާއެއް ބަލަހައްޓަމުންދާ ފަރާތްތަކަށް ނުހަނު ބޭނުންތެރި ކަމެކެވެ. މިގޮތުން ކޮލްއިން މި ފުރުސަތު ތަނަވަސް ވެފައިވާތީ ކޮލްގެ ވެރިންނަށާއި މުއައްޒަފުންނަށް ނިހާޔަތައް ޝުކުރުވެރި ވަމެވެ. (މާފަރު ހަސަން/ ލީޑިންޓިޗަރ/ ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ދިވެހި ޓީޗިންގެ ބެޗް 5 2014 ގެ ދަރިވަރު) "ކޮލްގެ މަސައްކަތަކީ ތައުރީފު ކުރުން ހައްްޤު މަސައްކަތެކެވެ. ކޮލްގެ ސަބަބުން ޓީޗންގެ ރޮގުން ކުރިއަށް ދިއުމުން މަހުރޫމް ވެފައިވާ އެތައް ފަރާތްތަކަކަށް ކުރިއަށް ދިއުމުގެ މަގު މިވަނީ ފަހިވެފައެވެ. އަޅުގަނޑުގެ މިކެރިއަރ ފެށިގެން މިއަދާއި ހަމައަށް އައިސްފައި މިވަނީ ކޮލްއިން ލިބުނު ފުރުސަތުގެ ސަބަބުންނެވެ." (މުހައްމަދު އަލީ/މޯރނިންސްޓަރ/ދ. މާއެބޫދޫ/ ޑިޕްލޮމާ އިން ދިވެހި ޓީޗިންގެ ބެޗް 5، 2014 ގެ ދަރިވަރު) ދަރިވަރުން ފާޅުކޮށްފައި މިވާ ޚިޔާލު ތަކާއި ޝުއޫރުތަކާ މެދު ފުންކޮށް ވިސްނާލަމާ ހިންގަވާށެވެ. މަތީ ތައުލީމު ހޯދުމަށް ތިބާގެ އަނބިދަރިންނާއި އާއިލާ ދޫކޮށް ދިގު މުއްދަތަކަށް ރަށުން ބޭރަށްދާން ނުވަތަ ރާއްޖެއިން ބޭރަށްދާން ތައްޔާރު ހެއްޔެވެ؟ ތިބާގެ ވަޒީފާ ދޫކޮށް 'ފުލްޓައިމް' ދަރިވަރެއްގެ ގޮތުގައި ތައުލިމު ހާސިލުކުރެވޭފަދަ މާލީ ތަނަވަސްކަން ތިބާގެ އެބަހުރިހެއްޔެވެ؟ ރާއްޖޭގެ މަތީތައުލީމަށް ބޭނުންވެފައިވާ އާބާދީގެ ތެރެއިން ކިތައް % މީހުން މިދެ ސުވާލަށް އާއެކޭ ބުނާނެހެއްޔެވެ؟ ވިސްނާލުން މުހިއްމު އެހެންނޫންތޯއެވެ. ދަރިވަރުން ފާޅުކޮށްފައިވާ ޝުއޫރުތަކަށް ބަލާލާއިރު މައިގަނޑު ގޮތެއްގައި ކޮލްގެ ކޯސްތަކަށް ދަރިވަރުން ބޭނުންވެފައިވާ މިންވަރު ދޭހަވެއެވެ. އަދި ދަރިވަރުންގެ ޝައުގުވެރިކަން މިކޯސްތަކާދިމާއަށް މިސްރާބު ކުރުވާ ސަބަބުތައް ކަމުގައި ވަޒީފާ އަދާކުރަމުން، އާއިލާއާއެކު ހިތްހަމަޖެހިގެން، ރަށުގައި ދިރިއުޅެމުން މަތީތައުލީމުގެ ފުރުސަތު ފަހިވުން ހިމެނެއެވެ. އަދި މީގެއިތުރުން ތަފާތު އެހެނިހެން ސަބަބުތަކާހުރެ ކޮންމެ ދުވަހަކު ކުލާހަށް ހާޒިރުވެގެން ކިޔަވާ ކޯސްތަކުގައި ކިޔެވުމުގެ ފުރުސަތު ހަނި ވެފައިވާ ފަރާތްތަކަށް ކޮލްގެ 'ބްލެންޑެޑް މޯޑު'ގައި ކިޔެވުމުގެ ފުރުސަތު ލިބުމުން ދަރިވަރުންގެ އުފާވެރި އިހުސާސްތައް ހާމަވެއެވެ. ކޮލްގެ ކޯސްތަކުގައި ކިޔަވާދެއްވާ ލެކްޗަރާ އިންނާއި އަދި ކޯސްތަކުގެ ފެންވަރާ ގުޅޭގޮތުން ދަރިވަރުންގެ ހިތްހަމަޖެހުން ހާމަވެގެންދެއެވެ. އަދި އިތުރަށް ވިސްނާލަމާތޯއެވެ؟ ދިވެހި ރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްލަ އާބާދީގެ ތިންބައިކުޅަ ދެބައި ރާއްޖޭގެ ރަށްތަކުގައި ދިރިއުޅެމުން ދާއިރު މަތީ ތައުލީމުގެ ފުރުސަތަކީ ދަރިވަރުން ހަމައެކަނި އެމީހުންގެ އަމިއްލަ ތަރައްޤީ އާއި ކުރިއެރުމަށް އެދެމުންދާ ކަންކަމެއްނޫނެވެ. މިކަންތައް ގުޅިފައިވަނީ ގައުމުގެ ތަރައްޤީއާއެވެ. ގައުމުގެ ފަރުދުންގެ ތަރައްޤީއާއެވެ. ޤައުމެއް ތަރައްޤީވެ ކުރިއަރައިދާނީ އެގައުމެއްގެ ފަރުދުން ތަރައްޤީވެ ކުރިއެރި މިންވަރަކަށެވެ. އެހެންކަމުން ރަށްރަށުގައި ދިރިއުޅޭ ރައްޔިތުންނަށް މަތީތައުލީމު ލިބިދެވޭ މިފަދަ ފުރުސަތުތައް އިތުރަށް ފަހިކޮށް ފުޅާކުރުމަށް ކަމާބެހޭ އިދާރާތަކުން ވިސްނުން ބަހައްޓަން ޖެހެއެވެ. ދުނިޔެއަށް މިއަންނަ ބަދަލުތަކާއި، ޓެކްނޮލޮޖީގެ ކުރިއެރުންތައް އެންމެ އެދެވޭ ގޮތުގައި އަޅުގަނޑުމެންގެ މަތީތައުލީމުގެ އޮނިގަނޑު ތެރޭގައި ހިމަނައި ޓެކްނޮލޮޖީގެ ފަސޭހަތައް ދަރިވަރުންނަށް ލިބިދިނުމަށް އިތުރަށް ކަންކަން ފަރުމާކޮށް ބައްޓަން ކުރަންޖެހެއެވެ. އަދި މިހާރު ސެންޓަރ ފޮރ އޮޕަން ލާރނިން އިން 'ބްލެންޑެޑް މޯޑު'ގައި މަތީ ތައުލީމު ފޯރުކޮށްދިނުމުގައި ދިމާވާ ހުރަސްތައް ހޯދައި އިތުރަށް ތަރައްޤީ ކުރުމަށް ބޭނުންވާ ތަފާތު ވަސީލަތްތަކާއި، އެންމެ އެކަށޭނަ ޓެކްނޮލޮޖީގެ ވަސީލަތްތައް ފަހިވުމަކީ މިސެންޓަރަށް މިވަގުތަށް ވަރަށް މުހިއްމު ކަމެއްކަމުގައި ދެކެމެވެ. އަދި މިއީ މިފަދަ ކޯސްތަކުގައި މިވަގުތު ކިޔަވަމުންދާ ދަރިވަރުންގެ އިތުރުން މުސްތަޤްބަލުގައި ކޮލްއިން ކޯހެއް ފުރިހަމަ ކުރުމުގެ ހުވަފެން ދެކެމުންދާ އެތައް ދިވެހި ރައްޔިތުންގެވެސް އުއްމީދު ކަމުގައި ނުވެ ނުދާނެއެވެ.

ICT integration at Maldives National University, MNU

UNESCO Resource Training and Distribution Centre Regional Seminar 9-11 October 2013, Universiti Sains Malaysia Institution Report, ICT Integration in The Maldives National University (MNU) By Roza Ibrahim Background: The Maldives National University (MNU) is the first university established in the Maldives, inaugurated on February 15, 2011. It was previously recognized as the Maldives College of Higher Education (MCHE) which was founded on January 1, 1999. This was the result of restructuring all government-run post-secondary institutions in Maldives under one umbrella, MCHE. During this formation of MCHE, Allied Health Services Training Centre established in 1973 also became a faculty of MCHE and was later named as Faculty of Health Sciences. At present, MNU is the only public degree-granting institution in the country offering a range of master’s degrees, bachelor’s degrees, diplomas, and certificate level courses. These courses are in fields of engineering, sharia, Islamic studies, health science, education, tourism, management, computing, arts and linguistics. In addition, MNU has launched PhD programs in November 2012. The average enrollment at MNU is around 4,500 students in long-term programs, and around 2,000 in short-term courses. (source: MNU Yearly Report 2012) Vision: The Maldives National University will perform and be acknowledged as the outstanding academic institution of the nation and one of the finest in the region. (Source: www.mnu.edu.mv) Mission: The mission of the Maldives National University is to create, discover, preserve and disseminate knowledge that are necessary to enhance the lives and livelihoods of people and essential for the cultural, social and economic development of the society so that this nation shall remain free and Islamic forever. (Source: www.mnu.edu.mv) Faculties: There are 12 faculties offering courses from different fields and their infrastructures except CMS are located in the capital Male’. Also, MNU has established three Campuses and three Outreach Centres which are located in different areas of Maldives in order to escalate the opportunity of higher education for the dispersed population of Maldives. In addition, MNU offers courses in distance mode through Centre for Open Learning. At present, the centre offers courses in blended mode (online and distance) using modern technology and provide access to good quality higher education across the country. • Faculty of Education- FE • Faculty od Shari-a and Law-FSL • Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Studies-FHTS • Faculty of Management and Computing-FMC • Faculty of Arts-FA • Faculty of Islamic Studies-FIS • Faculty of Health Science- FHS • Faculty of Engineering Technology-FET • Faculty of Science-FS • Faculty of Science • Centre for Maritime Studies-CMS • Centre for Open Learning-COL Teacher Training MNU offers teacher training through two faculties, Faculty of Education (FE) and Centre for Open Learning (COL). Faculty of Education (FE) is the main hub of teacher education in the Maldives. Since the establishment of the Institute for Teacher Education (ITE) in 1984, which later transformed into Faculty of Education, teacher training and teacher education was the responsibility of the institute, ITE. It has trained and is still training teachers for the schools of Maldives as a requirement of the government. Most of the teachers working in the schools are graduates of FE or ITE. Although recently some private teacher training colleges and centres are established, still Faculty of Education is the leading trainer of teachers in the country. The institution offers 20 courses from advanced certificate level (national qualification framework level 4) to master’s degree including five bachelors course. The Student enrollment is more than 1100 in 2012. Centre for Open Learning (COL) offers online and distance courses from certificate level to masters’ degree throughout the nation. COL, before the establishment under the umbrella of MCHE, was known as Tertiary Institute for Open Learning. With a request from the Ministry of Education to train temporary/untrained teachers, COL started with a distance course called Advanced Certificate in Primary Teaching (ACPT). At this beginning stage, the course was conducted using printed material and face-to-face study blocks. By the end of 2008, 567 students graduated from this course which bridged these temporary teachers with diploma level courses conducted at Faculty of Education. At present, with the advantage of modern technology the institution conducts blended mode of learning with online learning and face-to-face block mode tutorials. Now there are 11 courses out of which 6 are teacher training courses. The teacher training courses include Diploma in Early Childhood Education, Diploma in Dhivehi Language Teaching, Diploma in Teaching Islam, Bachelor of Education, Post Graduate Certificate in Education (both in English/Dhivehi medium). The institution’s student enrollment rises above 1200 in 2012. ICT Integration The Maldives National University has taken several initiatives to expand the current level of ICT aiming to excel in all aspects of learning and teaching so that it is recognized as the best in the Maldives and the preferred destination of the highest calibre students. Initiatives: IT Courses IT courses offered by Faculty of Management and Computing are indirectly assistsing ICT integration by providing lecturers and students the opportunity to improve their IT knowledge and skills. The institution offers courses in the field of information technology from advanced certificate to bachelor’s degree. Infrastructure: All faculties are equipped with computer labs (with necessary software) and high speed internet connection. A central IT department deals with technical/ technological issues and some large faculties get the assistance from their own IT support staff. The University’s website (www.mnu.edu.mv) provides information about the university, including information regarding the courses which are necessary for current and future students. The University’s student email is the official channel of communication with students. MNU is using a student management system called PowerCampus with a module known as “Self-Service” to administratively manage the students. This provides students with ‘anytime anywhere’ access to key information and data such as their enrolment and financial status. It allows real-time access to academic records, like students’ final results and getting a temporary transcript. This year students are allowed to do online re-enrollment/registration though this system. MNU library is also integrated with technology. The library catalogue containing documents, books, and electronic journal articles can be browsed and searched. Other than the physical collection, the library holds subscriptions to online journal databases EBSCO, HINARI, LEXIS, and NEXIS, which students can access online. The online learning management system, GEM (Gateway to E-Learning at MNU), provides opportunity for the students to access module contents, interact with peers and lecturers, submit assessments and receive feedback online. Pedagogy: There is a requirement of MNU to integrate ICT during the designing process of all courses. This is a requirement of the Maldives National Qualification Authority (MNQF). Training is conducted for lecturers and students to develop their ICT skills to foster effective pedagogies and create a better learning environment for students. MNU’s distance education was previously conducted with printed materials and face-to face tutorial blocks. These distance courses due to the need and availability of broadband internet led to the integration of ICT making it more flexible and effective for the learners. In 2008, Centre for Open Learning, (MNU’s distance education centre), transformed the distance courses into online and blended mode of learning. It was with a successful implementation of an Open Source Learning Management System (MOODLE) under the name Gateway to E-Learning at MNU (GEM) as a platform for online learning. This platform connects students, lecturers and fellow course-mates to discuss their studies online. Using the LMS, students can access the learning materials from anywhere, weekly online chat sessions from each module and forums to discuss course materials. For students using this platform, submitting assignment and receiving feedback is done online. The Learning Management System has also been enhanced with the ability to use multi-languages namely the local language Dhivehi and Arabic. In-service Teacher Training MNU is not formally offering any in-service or professional development activities at the moment for the teachers who are working in schools. The institution CCE, Centre for Continuing Education, was responsible for the in-service training of all the teachers until last year. This institution is now merged with EDC, Educational Development Centre, to form NIE National Institute of Education under Ministry of Education targeted for teacher training as well as in-service training. Although MNU des not formally offer any in-service training, MNU’s students include teachers who are working at schools and studying part time. These teachers can enroll in block class or evening class to advance themselves and for their professional development. Teacher Training to Promote ICT Integration The lecturers of MNU are given training to integrate ICT in education. This is enhanced by the implementation of GEM, at Centre for Open Learning. COL conducts training programs for the lecturers of MNU to assist them integrate ICT into teaching and learning. This trainings has resulted an increased number of courses on GEM with students from other faculties having opportunities to utilize ICT in their learning. COL conducts regular GEM training sessions at the beginning of every semester the part time lecturers. This is essential because most of the lecturers at COL are working part time and some of them need knowledge and skills regarding distance and online teaching. During these training sessions lecturers are taught to use the online platform for discussions, accessing content and assignment marking. These are introduction training sessions which follow individual tutorial sessions conducted by course coordinators. Staff at MNU gets the opportunity to join and collaborate in national and international conferences and workshops dealing with integrating ICT in education. For example, Virtual University for Small States organizes “Boot Camps” to develop distance and online learning materials in which MNU staff have participated in the past years. Other than the skills the participants acquire through these VUSSC conferences, the contents of the courses developed are available through the Internet for use by the universities of the Commonwealth nations. In addition, under a Ministry of Education MoE and COL initiative, VUSSC “Boot Camps” in 2009 was held at The Maldives National University. Challenges in promoting ICT Integration A number of significant steps have been taken to implement ICT in education at The Maldives National University, however for further expansion MNU needs to identify and overcome obstacles that hinder the efficient utilization of ICT. The constraints include: • The lack of clear institutional policies which will encourage the lecturers to proactively work in the integration of ICT. • Finance is another issue hampering the progress. • Continual upgrading of infrastructure with the most recent ICT tools. • Continual university wide staff training is crucial in the process. • Better coordination among faculties and departments will stimulate pedagogical integration of ICT for enhancing course delivery in a proactive manner. Conclusion The Maldives National University (MNU) offers a range of programs including master’s degrees, bachelor’s degrees, diplomas, and certificate level courses in different fields. As ICT integration has become a crucial component, MNU has established measures to equip students and lecturers with modern technology for effective and high quality education. Also, MNU conducts blended mode (e-learning) courses bridging the digital-divide and empowering the islanders and working professionals by providing the opportunities to escalate in higher education. References: Priorities for Excellence, Strategic Plan MNU (2013-2017) http://www.mnu.edu.mv/images/the_uni/officialpublications/sp/2013-2017.pdf The Maldives National University Yearly report 2011 http://www.mnu.edu.mv/images/the_uni/annualreports/2011.pdf The Maldives National University Yearly report 2011 http://www.mnu.edu.mv/images/the_uni/annualreports/2011.pdf The Maldives National University website www.mnu.edu.mv Survey of ICTs for Education in India and South Asia, Country Studies. 2010 http://www.infodev.org/infodev-files/resource/InfodevDocuments_880.pdf University’s Duveli, The Maldives National University, August 2012, (3) http://www.mnu.edu.mv/index.php/the-university/56-information-about/the-university/official-publications/360 University’s Duveli, The Maldives National University, November 2012, (4) http://www.mnu.edu.mv/images/the_uni/officialpublications/dhuveli/2012/4.pdf 2014 MNU courses PPT

A Teacher's Day Note

Dear Teacher, You are the best teacher ever! You paint the little minds with knowledge and care You light tier path with inspiration and dedication. You stimulate their every little effort with encouragement and reinforcement You make the lesson fun and teach them to be gentle and kind You see their potential and believe their little minds I appreciate you and your hard work with gratitude and appreciation Happy Teacher's Day!

Regional Seminar for UNESCO Resource Distribution and Training Centres

Regional Seminar for UNESCO Resource Distribution and Training Centres USM Campus, Penang, Malaysia, 9-11 October 2013 more information On behalf of Maldives National University, MNU, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to UNESCO and USM for the opportunity to participate in this seminar for RTDCs. I met great people with wonderful innovative minds in the conference and got lot of ideas on the 21st Century learning which I hope I could make use of to make my learning and teaching more interactive, interesting and meaningful for the students. Also, I am enthusiastic to start the workshops here in Maldives. As I work in the distance and open learning center and with blended mode of courses, I believe the information I gathered from the seminar are of immense use. Thank you for accepting me for the seminar and hope to attend more of those. UNESCO Bangkok ICT in Education has inaugurated its official TEI network, that is the UNESCO Resource Distribution and Training Centres (RDTCs) who will serve as national/local focal points to promote the pedagogical integration of ICTs. The year’s Regional Seminar was co-organized with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang, Malaysia on 9-11 October 2013. The RDTCs expected to become full-fledged partners of UNESCO in cascading UNESCO-designed capacity building programmes locally, utilizing the innovative pedagogical approaches and various CD resources developed by UNESCO. RDTC focal points had the opportunity share relevant cases on ICT integration in education at institutional and national levels during the Seminar. Country cum institutional reports were requested from RDC focal points to share a general overview of ICT in Education, Teacher Training practices to promote ICT integration and the challenges and lessons learnt. RDTC representatives participated in the planning session of the RDTC activities to further identify areas for support and prioritize the needs for the annual gathering. As for the inaugural year, the RDTC focal points will be trained on developing pedagogies for enhancing student 21st century skills incorporating the 21st Century Learning Design (21 CLD), a global professional development programme developed by Microsoft Partners in Learning.

Week 10 A Final Word

Since I work as a coordinator/lecturer of distance and online courses, this Webskills course has provided me with appropriate knowledge and information regarding most modern technology tools which can be used for developing different skills students need and how to incorporate those tools in the lessons. It also has given me the opportunity to practice the knowledge and use the tools to find out how much it fits to my students and the environment. I have already been using technology and will be using most modern and most appropriate tools for my teaching and learning in the future.

Many thanks to the Webskills course for accepting me and giving this opportunity and my appreciation goes to Robert for guiding and assisting me with his invaluable comments during this journey to complete this course. Also, I thank all my course mates for sharing their experience and for their encouraging and constructive comments which helped a lot in my improvement and completion of the course.

Good Luck to us all and THANKS.

Week 10 Final Reflection

What topics were most successful or most useful for me?

The following are the main topics we have discussed during the ten weeks of the Webskillls course.

Week 1: Introductions; creating an Academic Blog (New to me and most interesting and consider most successful).
Week 2: The ABCD Learning Objectives Framework and Effective Web Searches (Not new to me and I have been using it before. However, some new search engines were introduced).
Week 3: Skill-building Websites for Oral/Aural Skills and Saving Bookmarks with Delicious. (Very good websites for Oral/Aural skills and creating bookmarks is another interesting and useful thing).
Week 4: Skill-building Websites for Reading/Writing Skills and Technology-enhanced Lesson Plans. ( Reading /Writing websites are very important for me and also learning how to incorporate them in the lessons as well).
Week 5: Project-based Learning, WebQuests, and rubrics. (project based learning is not new. However, Webquests and Rubrics are new and those two are very useful).
Week 6: Creating Student-centered Classes and Interactive PowerPoint (Both topics not new and power point presentations are normally used in the classrooms. However, there are new features learned in this course. eg the action slide and blank slide when making presentations).
Week 7: Learner Autonomy and the One-computer Classroom. (This is also a new topic and from this Webskills course we have got quite useful information when there is a difficulty having access to enough resources).
Week 8: Teacher Resources Online. (I did not get time to explore this. This could be of immense use for teachers and I will try and refer back to the information given in week 8 regarding this topic).
Week 9: Learning styles - technology connections. (Before this course I have got some information regarding learning styles).

I consider creating an academic blog as the most successful and useful topic as this can be integrated for any subject, topic and for different types of activities and in this course we have been doing posts on it several times every week and I love it. Also, I am going to start blogging with my students and use it in my lessons. WebQuests, are the second most useful for me regarding teaching and learning as students will be actively involved in the activities in a WebQuest. Websites for Oral/Aural Skills and Reading/Writing Skills are the next most important for me as a teacher. These websites are full of resources I can use while practicing those four skills especially like Randall's Cyber Listening Lab and I am really grateful for this Webskills course and Robert for introducing these to me. Delicious.com and rubrics are also two important things ad a teacher. Delicious.com allowed me to bookmark all the important websites we have explored in this course and creating rubrics using websites like rubistar is a really helpful and time saving tool for a teacher.

Which tools I will use in my classes.

I am very much determined to use the following tools, and integrate them in my lessons.
•Blogs
•WebQuests
•ANVILL
•Voicethread
•Google survey forms
•Google maps
•Nicenet.
•Interactive PowerPoint
•Web searching
•Project-based Learning (PBL)
•Websites for Oral/Aural Skills and Reading/Writing Skills.

What other tools might we have covered or would you suggest that we could have looked at?
•Hot potatoes
•Prezi - presentation software
•Moodle - course management system
•Voicethread - collaborative slideshows
•Storybird - collaborative storytelling
•Edublogs - educational blogging tool
•kubbu
•ClassTools.net
•xical.org

Week 10, Discussion: Advice to Future Participants

Today a friend of mine called me and said she got a chance from this course. ( in fact I shared the link with lot of friends and requested them to apply.) So I have already started advising her on what to do and what not to do.

Do's
Decide a time specially for this course work and do it daily.
Have a good internet connection.
Try to explore the tools which are emphasized in each week.
Try to connect the tools to your teaching.
Always participate in the discussions and share your experience.
Remember the good manners when doing posts on the discussions.
Give yourself time to do all the necessary readings.
Do lot of research on the internet.
Download the readings on a separate folder.
Keep all the links where you can find easily (like delicious.com).
Be careful with the time difference if there is any synchronous discussion.

Don'ts
Do not wait until the last moment.
Do not skip the readings.
Do not try to be over confident.

Week 10, Levels of Technology Integration (LoTI) at COL

The LoTi Framework focuses on instruction, assessment, and the effective use of digital tools and resources to promote higher order thinking, engaged student learning, and authentic assessment practices in the classroom. These are vital characteristics of 21st Century teaching and learning.

The LoTi Framework is catagorised into Seven levels and each described in details. The levels are:

LoTi Level 0 - Non-use
LoTi Level 1 – Awareness
LoTi Level 2 – Exploration
Level 3 – Infusion
Level 4a – Integration: Mechanical
Level 4b – Integration: Routine
Level 5 – Expansion
Level 6 - Refinement

I believe my institution, Centre for Open Learning, falls in infusion level, level 3. At a Level 3 (Infusion), the instructional focus emphasizes student higher order thinking (i.e., application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation) and engaged learning. Digital tools and resources are used by students to carry out teacher-directed tasks that emphasize higher levels of student cognitive processing relating to the content under investigation. Teachers are using power point presentations for each lesson, with different URLs and audio and video clips. Students do research, explore some issues and do their own individual and group presentations and online chat sessions. Also, students write to forums and complete online exercise and activities. These activities are teacher directed.

The centre now has to focus on Level 4A Integration: Mechanical, in which students are engaged in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

Blog: Course Reflection

When I look back to the nine weeks I have spend with this course, not only my knowledge on technology tools have improved but I have done some practical work with them and I realized the potential of those technology tools and how to incorporate them in my teaching and learning. For this, I thank the Webskills course for giving me this opportunity and Robert for assisting and guiding us towards the correct path. Also, my heartfelt thanks to all my colleagues who has shared their valuable experience with me and commented on my work, which provided encouragement and enthusiasm to continue.

These are some of the article I have read regarding technology.
• Blogs and ESL class
• Web searching
• Digital Bloom's Taxonomy
• How to Write Clear Objectives
• Teaching aural/oral skills
• Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials
• Speaking lesson plans
• Multi-skill websites
• Reading/vocabulary
• Articles about using CALL in writing and reading activities
• Technology-enhanced lesson plans
• Rubrics and Alternative Assessment
• Project-based Learning (PBL)
• WebQuests
• Engaging Students - Technology
• Interactive PowerPoint
• Large Classes
• Learner autonomy
• One-computer classroom
• Make exercises online to use online
• Make exercises to use online or offline on a computer or to print out
• ANVILL
• Learning Styles/Multiple Intelligences
• Learning styles
• Voicethread

These are some of the tools I have tried
• Create my own blog at www.blogger.com,
• Completed a need analysis survey using Google survey forms
• Used Google maps to show where my place is and added some information regarding my country.
• Created a Social Bookmarking site on Delicious.com
• Create a rubric using rubistar
• Create a technology-enhanced project or WebQuest
• Created an Interactive Power Point Presentation
• Created ABCD Objectives for a lesson

These are also some of the tasks I have completed during this course.
• Continuously writing weekly reflection and updating the discussions I do on Nicenet.
• Preparing a technology-enhanced lesson plan
• Assessment, rubrics and project-based learning
• Create a sample lesson for a one-computer classroom
• Create an online course site or an exercise to use online or offline
• Contributed to the discussions on Ground rules for discussion on Nicenet.
• Participated in the discussions - comparing rubrics
How will I integrate what I have learned

I have already thought of integrating some of these tools in my lesson. For example, I have been using PowerPoint presentation for nearly all my lessons. However, there are features like blank slides and action slides which I have learned in this course and I will use that in my lessons. Also, I have created Voicethreads for my final projects and some students liked it very much, although many of them did not get time to comment. I plan to use those threads for my future lessons. Blogging and Nicenet are my favourite tools and I will use them for improving students writing skills and communication skills. Webquest is another tool I plan to use to enhance my students’ presentation and writing skills. In general, I plan to use all the tools, however, the ones mentioned about will be used most with the students.

I will continue to learn about these tools through the internet and through different Websites which gives information about technology and teaching.

Week 9 Discussion: Learning styles

http://www.open2.net/survey/learningstyles/

Technology can be used to enhance different learning styles in a classroom. There are different technology tools, gadgets and online learning materials. Teachers need to be active, creative, and innovative and determined to look for the most appropriate materials and tools and dedicated to use them in the class. The following list includes some o the technology tools I believe would work for me for different learning styles.

For verbal linguistic
Voice thread for Story-sharing creation, poems, essays, letters and for discussion and commenting. I have created some voicethreads for my final project and I liked it very much. I realized the potential of that for language learning and I believe it can be used to discuss, stories poems and essay. I will use this tool for discussion.

Story sharing sites- http://www.storywrite.co.uk/storyassessment.htm
Students can get instructions, share their stories and get others opinions. This would create interest and enthusiasm and would improve students writing skills.

Nicenet is also such an excellent tool for discussion. I have already been using the discussion forum and chat functions in Moodle. However, I found that when using chats in Moodle every response is on a separate thread. That means if you say yes to somebody, there is no way others would identify to whome you are saying 'yes'. You cannot response to that persons thread. But in the nice net it is like that. So, Nicenet has this function well built.

Bodily/Kinesthetic
Video production - skits, dances, sports, role playing, demonstrations
Animation - Macromedia Flash

I believe these two are interesting; however, I do not have much information on them.

Logical/Mathematical
Spreadsheets- is a software I have been using for a long time and gives a lot of ease to lots of small calculations when doing marks sheets and lists etc.

Power point presentation- this is the most important and most used software for me. it is immensely useful for our block tutorials when we need to present so much information within a short period of time and to keep students attention and interest on the topic.

Online data collection. I have known Survey monkey for some time and from this course I have learned and used Google forms to crate survey to collect data. these online forms are make your work so much easy and it can automatically illustrate the data and information on graphs and charts which saves lot of time.

Webquests. I got the opportunity to use Webquests in this course and I found it also an interesting strategy to use in my lessons.

Interpersonal
Blogs- I have created my very first blog during this course and I like it very much. I found blogs a very appropriate tool which will enhance and improve students writing and researching skills. I will be using it in my teaching in the future.

Comments are welcome!
Regards,

Week 8 Summary

This is the busiest week for me this year. I have been doing exam paper marking and marks finalization day and night. So, I am not able to give my best effort to the tasks assigned for this week.

After I have chosen my partner Deep to work on the peer-reading task, I have handed in my draft and am going to comment on his draft. Sharing and commenting on the partners project drafts can be a very enriching and a good learning experience which we could practice in our teaching as well.
Then I have shared the online tasks I have created on Voicethread for my final project. However, it seems that it is private and cannot be viewed. But I am trying to make it public. Here is the link:

http://voicethread.com/#u2113378

Pls. let me know if it works.

I have also created a survey form which I will use with some editing at the end of my project.

Here is the link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/gform?key=0AlIDTa5Eb4T4dExROHl3VlFZNlkzNENILThHTmFzTEE&hl=en

I have also learned about ANVILL this week and I have created an account in this site but not able to explore much as I am really busy this week. This is a wonderful tool that would fit my students’ needs and I will also try to create some task on it as well. I am also happy that I was able to join the webinar we has with Jeff. It was also a good experience which gave us the chance to speak to our course mates and instructors. It seems that time flies when you are busy with something and with all these interesting activities this course is coming to an the end.

Voicethread for online teaching and learning

Here is a very interesting Voicethread about using Voicethread for online teaching and learning

http://voicethread.com/#q.b908650.i4963751

Week 8 Task: Create an online course site or an exercise

I have created these online tasks for my final project.

a) What tool you used (please list the website) and what you created?

I have used Voicethread and created five threads for the students to comment using voice and writing. The address for my Voicethread is: https://voicethread.com/?#u2113378

c) The type of students who would use it?

These threads are created for my Study Skills students who are advanced level and need to improve their communication skills.

b) How you will use it in your teaching - please be specific?

These threads are used to improve my students communication skills. These also can be used for improving writing skills as students can communicate by writing and I have used the topics from the unit outline of study skills which are; note taking, referencing, essay writing, giving an introduction and exam preparation. So, they can be used to teach these skills as well. Some of these can be used in other grades/levels as well.

As my students are studying online and block mode they will do the work by themselves. They will listen to or read the instructions, go to the given websites, get information about the topic and tell the answer to the given questions using voice or if they are not able to do voice comments they can write the comments and other students and I can continue it as a discussion.
For those who have normal face-to-face class, these threads can be used as class activities or extension activities and also as homework.

d) How you will encourage learner autonomy with this tool?

As students will be doing this in their own time and by their own it encourages learner autonomy.

Websites used as resources.
Essay Writing: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/03/
Note taking Skills: http://www.esl-lab.com/tips/rent-apartment.htm
Referencing : http://gem.mche.edu.mv


Please try this link if you cannot sees the Voicethread.
http://voicethread.com/share/2311297/

Week 8 Discussion: Teaching with Online Tools- Moodle

At Centre for Open Learning, Maldives National University, we are using Moodle for our courses which are conducted in blended mode. These courses include two face-to-face tutorials sessions for each subject and all other works are online. All the learning resources are made available online through this system and students do most of their studies online. We also have synchronous and asynchronous discussions and assignment submission and giving feedback through the system. I love the LMS as it has got a user-friendly interface and there are varieties of feature you can use. Also you can embed other tools if you want.

What is Moodle? Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS) / Learning Management System (LMS). It has become very popular among educators around the world as a tool for creating online dynamic web sites for their students to manage and promote learning. Many institutions use Moodle as their platform to conduct fully online courses, while some use it simply to augment face-to-face courses (known as blended learning). it It can be used to make activity modules (such as forums, databases and wikis) to build richly collaborative communities of learning around a subject matter (in the social constructionist tradition). It can also be used to deliver content to students (such as standard SCORM packages) and assess learning using assignments or quizzes.

The above mentioned activities can promote learner autonomy and to use Moodle you need to install it on a web server somewhere, either on one of your own computers or one at a web hosting company. If there is any problem, Moodle Docs is a great place to start, especially the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) pages.

The Moodle demonstration site is a full Moodle site with some sample courses that you can try as a teacher, student or even an administrator.

Demonstration site: http://demo.moodle.net/

Week 8 Discussion

This week’s discussion is on ‘Teaching with Online Tools’. We were asked to explore different tools and exercises and share our ideas on how the use of these tools might change the way we teach and/or the way that our students learn.
We have Jeff Magoto, the director of the language center at the University of Oregon, (and a very experienced EFL/ESL language teacher) with us this week. With Jeff we are going to have a synchronous chat session On ANVILL. Here are some information related to ANVILL taken from the discussion.

ANVILL was initially developed for K-12 foreign language teachers in the U.S. But now it's used by teachers all over the world, and EFL/ESL teachers are the second largest group of users (after Spanish teachers).
ANVILL tries to provide language teachers with a speech-based toolbox. The kind of toolbox where teachers and learners feel as comfortable working with speech (and other media) as they do when they word process, blog, or use a wiki or a ning. While our tools lack the pizzazz of commercial offerings, they have two advantages: 1) they're designed for language teachers/learners (in an Internet age, and 2) they're free.

ANVILL tries to have something for every language teacher, but it's probably of most use to teachers who want (and are able to) extend or enhance opportunities for spoken language practice.

For some teachers that means they use it as a space for student audio and video recordings, much like Voicethread or Wetoku. Others use ANVILL as a course website, that is, primarily as a container for other web-based resources (like those at CLEAR) or elsewhere. And, finally, other teachers (such as the two teachers mentioned in today's video below) use it a use it as a space for audio-video cultural exchanges or collaborations.

Wow! I need to try this!

Week 7 Summary of Discussion on Learner Autonomy

This discussion on learner autonomy has immensely benefited all of us. We have been motivated through the collaboration, reading and discussion and due to that our students have been motivated as well.

The following is a list of activities gathered from the readings and discussion by Courtney.

Activities that enhance learner Autonomy
* implementing daily/weekly diaries, journal entries, and/or blogs
* in class pair and group work where students interact doing jigsaws, teaching each other, making decisions, solving problems, interviewing, and having discussions
* class debates on different topics
* students creating and presenting power points
* students searching for information analyzing it, and presenting it to the class
* providing students with authentic English listening resources such as T.V. programs, movies, and news broadcast among many others
* incorporating music
*having students make their own vocabulary flash cards

I enjoyed the discussion and lets always be be autonomous teachers!

Week 7 Reflection

There are four tasks this week: a Discussion, a Project Task, and a course Task that I did on Nicenet, and reflective post on the blog. Week 7 was also busy and through discussion and reading I have got many ideas and strategies to use when teaching a class with only one computer and to encourage greater autonomy in my students.
Discussions:
Discussion 1: I read about learner autonomy (Thanasoulas, Sheu, Interconnections) and discussed what I have already been doing and what I could you do to encourage greater autonomy in my students, with and without technology. Then in
Discussion 2: Then I participated in the forum as I am using one computer in their classes, to describe how I use the computer in my lesson how it benefit all the students.
Task: Create a sample lesson for a one-computer classroom
I have created a sample lesson for a one-computer classroom on the topic writing summaries for Advanced Certificate level students (they have got this topic in their syllabus). I have posted this on the Nicenet and waiting for my colleagues comments.
Project Task 6: Suggest a partner for peer review
For peer review I have got Deep as my partner and when we complete our report, we will share it through the link give by Robert and comment on each other (draft report is due to the partner by Wednesday, November 16).
Blog: Weekly Reflection
I have been uploading most of my postings, comments and other work on my blog and commenting of a friend’s blog as well as this is something we have to do each week.

Week 7 Task: One Computer Lesson

My Lesson for One Computer Class

Students: Advanced Certificate level 20 students.
AGE: 20-35 years old.
Topic: Summary Writing (an article)
Duration: 1.30 hours
Resources: one computer, multimedia projector and texts for summary writing
Links:
Summarizing http://www.tnewfields.info/Articles/sum.htm
Sample Summaries: http://www.tnewfields.info/Articles/sumE.htm
Summary Ball: http://wvde.state.wv.us/strategybank/SummaryBall.html
Passages for summaries: http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Reading%20Comprehension.htm

ABCD objectives:
After listening the teacher explaining about summary writing (using the projector) (Condition) the students (Audience) will play the game Summary Ball (Behavior) and each student state at least two points (Degree).

Students (Audience) in groups will discuss and note down (Behavior) at least five points (Degree)they want include in their summary by looking at the text given to them(Condition).

Students (Audience) in groups will go online in the specified time for the group (Condition) read the sample summaries, and type their summaries (Behavior) and complete it in the given time (Degree).

Activities:
The teacher explain about summary writing (20min)using a slide show and then after that students play the game summary ball where the teacher throws a soft ball to one of the student and that student tells two points which are important for summarizing. (This will be for 10 min).Then students are divided into groups of 5. Each group is given a text of 400-500 words and they work in groups to note down the important points. A schedule is given to students the time for each group to go on the computer for reading the sample summaries and typing their own summaries. Each group take turns and use the computer and finish their summaries in the given time. (Each group gets 15 minutes total 60 minutes to use the computer).

Your comments are welcome!