Angel Progress

So much has happened in the last 10 days and unfortunately there's no time to blog. Two friends in Al Ain have the twitterbug - both wrote to say they've created their accounts and are just waiting to find someone to tweet with! A perfect example of how friends on SNS's grow. I continue to learn a lot about Angel, albeit on my own. I made a voice clip using Sound Recorder and have uploaded it. Made a quiz and a crossword to accompany the listening. Also figured out how to hide the content that I link to on another content page. I put everything in a hidden folder! It's working. Am having trouble inserting .wmf images. I can't see them. Struggled for two days to find the button to press to get to the html code and finally found this unassuming little icon! The poll feature is working really well - students like it. They wanted a poll as to whether to have more virtual classrooms and not come in on Tuesdays! The tally was - 92% in favour, 8% not. The problem with the virtual classroom is that I didn't conduct it as well as I should have. Sedef Uzuner writes about the quality of online conversations. He quotes Gilbert and Dabbah (2005) in referencing what protocols and criteria should guide online discussions on meaningful discourse. Vygotsky (1962) states that 'productive and generative conversations hold the key to collective knowledge building.' A review of my transcript shows there was too much bantering and needless interruption during my facilitation. The window was scrolling too quickly for some students to read what I was writing. One student's comment was "It was just too much for me." From my observations, the same students who do not participate in class discussion didn't participate in the virtual classroom, even when I asked "Are you there?" There was also the problem of their window not scrolling and someone said she couldn't see what she was typing."

Have been getting lots of emails from students - it seems as if they are using the Angel site moreso than they used the Web CT site last semester. I think they like the crossword puzzles and the little humourous bits.

I spent the weekend training on Teraview - the land registration software used in Ontario. It was boring - no sound, no flash, no social interaction - just click here, click there. I fear I'm expecting to be entertained when I'm learning now.