Week 1 Reflection

To learn new thing, whatever it is, you will find it a bit challenging and difficult to deal with at the first place. This is what I think happened to most of us, if not all! For me, introducing ourselves to each other and getting to know more about one another (country, career and expertise) has created a friendly and comfortable environment. Though, we cannot meet face-to-face, I feel that the starting week has already given us a plenty of time to be friends rather than just colleagues. And I am definite that it would be hard to say "Goodbye" at the end of this course!

No doubt, e-mailing us to direct new users gradually (step by step) of what to do was certainly crucial for me. It made my life easy. To be honest, at the very beginning, I encountered difficulty to log in to the websites (Nicenet & U.Oregon Blackboard). I thought I have one user name for both websites. I entered my user name with spacing, but back to instructions and re-read them again helped me recognize the problem. Why do you think I mentioned this problem? Well, because a part of the obstacle was because I skipped some of the instructions at fist, thinking that I am able to do my tasks easily. Yet, I was mistaken! I wasted time struggling in attempt to access the websites. As a result, reading the given instructions carefully is always helpful especially for new users as they (I mean the instructions) are done for a purpose, directing users to the right destination more easily and quickly. So, it would be unfair not to mention the clear instructions given to us by our supportive tutors: Russell and Robert. Many thanks to them!

When it comes to discussion board on Nicenet, I find them good tool to raise innovative ideas, boost critical thinking and share profound insights, thoughts and expertise. As we know working in a team has much to add to our knowledge and understanding than working as individuals.

Bolgs! It is the first time I created my own blog. I've heard about it but I didn't know that we could make use of it in teaching. I would like to implement it in my classes because student will better learn if they reflect on their learning progress. It helps develop self-evaluation since my students would share their feedback of what they learn throughout each unit, for example. Moreover, for those who suffer shyness during the class, they might develop self-confidence as they can express their opinions and thoughtful comments to their classmates' blogs. I will talk about its benefits later during the course to reflect more on how useful I may find it!

At last I would like to say that I am thankful to be one member of this group sharing the same sort of learning progress.