tarynshae

Finished! I didn’t actually mean to finish it in one sitting however I think I got a little engrossed and powered through it!

To give a brief overview, the course was divided into the following sections:

1) Greetings
2) Introductions
3) About Yourself
4) Buying Drinks
5) Finding Your Way
6) Shopping
7) Booking a Room
Getting Around
9) Ordering a Meal
10) Summer

Overall, I found there to be some really good aspects of the course. For example, while there was no actual online technical support, there were many options to assist you along the way, such as a Pronounciation Guide and Useful Phrase section,as well as Accessibilty Help. You also had the option to translate it to English after hearing it in Protugese.

The layout and design was great, and the use of slideshows, audio and photos from Portugal/Brazil added a degree of reality and authenticity. The only downfall in the layout and design was when you got to the Quiz section of each module, it appeared in a new pop-up box, which allowed you to view the Summary answers on the actual web page. While some people may find this helpful, when you are trying to learn something I found it more off putting.

Unfortunately I found there to be another negative. As this course was designed to be an introductory language course and I am a beginner, I felt that it started off as just words in the Greetings section however it escalated to actually phrases and sentences straight after that. After only having completeod 5 minutes of the course I hardly felt ready for this! By the last module there was a whole conversation in Portugese that you were expected to follow and then replicate.

I’m not sure if my scepticism prior to the course added to my overall view of it or not. But while I did find some negatives to it I do think it is because I was looking at a quite critically and evaluating all the little parts. If you were doing this course as a tool to actually learning the language it may be alot different. While completing the course though, I do have to say it definitely kept me interested and alert, and a lack of support did not bother me as I enjoyed the autonomy of working through something on your own. It was also interesting hearing some words and phrases that I recognised, however I thought I might have remembered more than I did! I surprised myself with my marks (ranging from 50% to 100%) however I don’t think took away too much knowledge from the whole experience!

While essentially the aim of the course is to learn some basic Portugese, I am a little sceptical of how much I will actually learn and retain in such a small amount of time. Through doing this course I am also expecting to gain a better insight into e-learning. Though I have experienced e-learning in the past, I think it will be interesting evaluating this course having now almost completed this subject. I think I will be more aware of the overall outcome as well as the building blocks and foundations of the course.

After searching for a course that would instruct me on how to iron correctly and effectively (I am terrible at ironing and to be honest I really don’t enjoy it but it is one of those things you just have to do!) I didn’t come up with anything that met the needs of the course. There were many tutorials however they were only short and consisted of only instruction and video and didn’t allow any interaction on my behalf. Many of them were directed at men though so I didn’t feel to comfortable with that!

When I realised the ironing course was not going to eventuate, I searched a varied range of online course topics, ranging from cooking to sports skills to make up, however learning a language was always in the back of my mind as something I would love to do. I think it is one of those things that many people would love to do given the opportunity, so I thought well I have the opportunity so why not do it! And it would sure be a lot more interesting than learning how to iron!

I decided to learn Portugese via a short online course on the BBC website:(http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/portuguese/talk/). While foreign languages in general interest me, I chose to go with Portugese as after having a Portugese exchange student during high school I became very interested in the language. The course I am doing is only a Beginner course and is a short ten part introduction to the language covering such things as greetings, directions, travelling and shopping. The course will essentially assess my learning through quizzes and interactive activities.

Since not having learnt a language since the early years of high school I am looking forward to beginning this course!

After completing the online VARK questionnaire (http://www.vark-learn.com) in order to determine the best way I learn. The results I obtained were as follows:

Visual: 8
Aural: 8
Read/write: 4
Kinesthetic: 6

My results indicated I have a multimodal learning preference. This is definitely something I agree with as I tend to incorporate many different styles or options when learning something. In a work context, I feel as though I learn best if things are first explained to me then demonstrated and then I can ask questions. In a personal or social setting, I prefer a quick/brief explanation then try something myself. And then differently again, when teaching or instructing someone else, I like having many different tools or back-up’s to assist my explanation, such as examples, diagrams or activities.

The results of the questionnaire essentially reinforced what I already knew and assumed to be my learning styles. As my results did not vary too much (i.e. my scores ranged only from 4 – this suggests that I am able to adapt to the mode being used or requested. I tend to agree with this as I like to be flexible and feel comfortable knowing that I can and will use a variety of styles of tools to achieve the desired outcome.

This article by Palloff and Pratt discusses the characteristcs of successful e-learners. It raises many interesting issues such as many students have to be taught how to be effective online learners and that most successful e-learners share similar characterstics that allows this such as self-discipline, motivation and a desire to continue learning, and that just because a learner may be successful in a face-to-face classroom situation does not mean they will be a successful e-learner. The article also discusses learning styles and which types align with e-learning. It also covers some very useful information for e-learning instructors and how best to deal with learners who do and do not flourish and succeed in an online environment. From this, I believe it is important for both instructors and e-learners to fully understand the online learning process and the role of the learner in such situations. This article definitely made me realise that there are many things that can effect an e-learner and it is important for instructors to be aware of and able to combat problems.

The article “Preparing E-Learners for Online Success” by Ryan Watkins explores the concept of e-learner readiness. I found it to be a very interesting article that touched upon some issues in e-learning that I had not thought of. For example, the e-learner does not only have to be familiar and comfortable with using the technology required, but also needs to be aware of the correct learning styles and study methods for online learning.

 Watkins provides some helpful tips for e-learning instructors to best prepare students for online learning success. His tips included readiness surveys the learner completes prior to beginning an online course that aims to assist them in identifying their strengths and weaknesses in regards to the study skills they might need to complete their online study. Such surverys would be helpful I think to really make learners aware of areas in their learning that they may need assistance, especially within the e-learning environment where assistance is not always freely available.

 This is an interesting article for both e-learners and facilitators alike and which raises issues that will be ongoing within the e-learning context.