Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. It is the day of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem before his Passion. Jesus rode a colt (or a donkey) into Jerusalem. (The colt/donkey symbolizes his peaceful message) The people there lay down their cloaks in front of him, and also lay down small branches of palm trees, as a sign of honour and victory.

St. Patrick's Day celebration

St. Patrick's Day 2004 in Cork, Ireland.

The Chicago River, dyed green with Fluorecein for the 2005 St. Patrick's Day celebration.

2006 St Patrick's Day celebrations in Trafalgar Sq, London

• March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day, a day in memory of St. Patrick (373-403), the patron saint of Ireland. It is a national holiday for the Irish people and a celebration day for the Christians all over the world.

• Interesting stories about St. Patrick are many, like that he raised people from the dead, and that he once gave a sermon on a hilltop to drive away all the snakes in Ireland. It is said that no snakes native to Ireland can be found ever again.

• Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick’s Day has become celebrated beyond the Church now. People today (Catholic or non-Catholic) celebrate it by wearing green, going for parades, picnicking in the open air, and drinking beer.

Week 8: Design of Digital Learning Tasks

The flexibility continuum, “a continuum of openness and closure in learning systems” (Towndrow & Vallance, 2004: 102), leaves me a new light on my own teaching experience, and a new perspective to look at the courses I have taken in NIE.

My teaching experience in China actually ranges from point 4 to point 2, from a ‘closed’ system, to a ‘restricted’, then finally to a ‘liberated’ system.

• Six years ago, when I first became an English teacher in Shandong University, my teaching featured a ‘closed’ system. I planned everything beforehand, and follow the schedule rigidly. Any possible change would leave me uncomfortable, believing that I had not ‘planned’ well enough, and worried a lot about the consequences.
• Two or three years later, I had accumulated some practical pedagogical experience, and given up the idea that the students should follow my pre-planned schedule obediently. I tried to put in some choices for them when planning my lesson, and tried to cope with unexpected situation with a readier mind, taking it as normal. My teaching in this period fell on Point 3 of the flexibility continuum as a ‘restricted’ system.
• In 2005, a teaching and learning experimental project was launched in my university, in which new methods, including integrating IT into classroom teaching, were put into practice. I was one of the first teachers carrying out this project, and got the chance to try out ‘liberated’ learning system in my classes. My students were encouraged to involve actively in the learning process. They are asked to set their learning goals, both general and developmental, for their own learning process, and check the development themselves. Peer evaluation, group projects, teacher facilitating, personal learning interest, major-related learning, etc. are encouraged in my classes.

I wish when I go back to China after this training program in NIE, I will have the opportunity to try out the ‘free’ teaching system. Actually GLT410 has set an example for me. I believe it is possible, and I am looking forward to that day.

Happy New Year again!

Yesterday when I got on the bus from JP back home, the driver gave me a red bag, which printed FU GUI JI XIANG (May you have good fortune and luck in the new year!). In it I found several candies.

Now deep in the night, struggling for the coming quizz, I am savouring the candies which are full of the sweetness of the wishes from a driver whose face I may never remember.

I feel happy.

Happy New Year!

I wish everybody a happy and fruitful new year!

Evaluation of Website 7

http://thibo.ovh.org/

The owner of this website is indicated to be an organization by the domain name (.org) of the web address (http://thibo.ovh.org/), but no further information can be found to verify that with further exploration of the website.

This website is an example of E-portfolio. It is divided into three categories: Class Work; Personal Activities; and Other Information. And each category is subdivided into several sections. On the homepage, there is a brief self introduction of the owner, his/her major, personal information, learning purpose, etc. Files, pictures, can be attached. Viewers can give comments, or leave a message.

I think this is a quite simple example, which is easy to apply in my teaching practice with the help of E-portfolio software, or even simply Blogger.

Anyway, E-portfolios are more designed for the learners to record their learning process, and for the teachers to assess the achievement of the learners with it. It is more important that the learners can use it to facilitate themselves in the process, to retrieve their footsteps, and to reflect, to improve. I wish with its help, my students can enjoy their learning experience, can improve more, and can achieve more.

Evaluation of Website 6

http://elgg.org/

The owner of this website is of an organization, as indicated by the domain name (.org) in the web address (http://elgg.org/). However when the users explore the website for details, they will find that it is designed for commercial purpose. The owner ELGG is a group whose information cannot be found much on the website. This cannot make the users rely highly on the quality of its products.

Like Website 5, this website is also an E-portfolio builder, providing sources about E-portfolio software. The software provided by Elgg is said to be flexible, open to the incorporation of tools to the interest of the users, so the E-portfolio can be individualized. Specific information about the downloading, installing, and managing is highlighted on the homepage, and easily followed, which further shows that this website is designed mainly to sell products. To show the high quality of their product, the website posts the support of some academic institutions.

Besides selling their product, they also try to bring the users up to date by publishing news in related fields, and set up a discussion board to talk about possible problems the users may encounter so that they can find some solution. While the users searching for information concerning E-portfolios, they have to be aware of the strong commercial inclination behind the scene.

Evaluation of Website 5

http://www.digication.com/home/

The domain name (.com) of the web address (http://www.digication.com/home/) shows that it is a commercial website, possibly sponsored by and do advertising for some organization or company.

This is a website for E-portfolio builder. For potential users like me, this website is a practical help. We may have wonderful ideas about E-portfolio, and we wish to put them into practice for our students, but it is impossible for us to realize that without the aid of E-portfolio builders This website is designed to help us with that.

Its purpose is to make the carrying out of E-portfolio easier for the users. It introduces the definition of E-portfolio, what we can do with E-portfolios, the advantages of Digication E-portfolio. etc. Follow it step by step, the users can build up their own E-portfolios easily.

This website is reliable for it provides the address of the Digication Company. Though the users have to buy their product after they find it good and useful, they can freely sign up to try it out at any time. The disadvantage is there are not many links to other websites, which limited its sources. However, this is reasonable when the commercial purpose of the website is taken into consideration.

Evaluating Website 4

http://eportfolio.edutools.info/static.jsp?pj=16&page=HOME

• The question mark (?) in the web address implies that this website may call information from the server or a database, which is verified when the user explore the website per se. More information is given about the links given on the website: ePAC International, Financial Profiles, Boston Research & Communications, and http://www.mnsat.mnscu.edu/programs/compareportfolio/ index.html. People who are more interested in any specific topic can search for more information.

• The original website, Edu Tools, is about education tools, including E-portfolio. EduTools is owned and operated by the WCET – the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications. The license under which the website is operated, and the cosponsor list are to be found at the bottom of the website.

• The website provides independent reviews and side-by-side comparison, and open for consulting. It is subdivided into several sectors, one of which is E-portfolio. This sector introduces the new launched project about the new functions of E-portfolio in education, the latest developments, the product reviews, and the published research results.

• This website is also easy to navigate, since the hyperlinks are all clearly marked. Though it is partially designed for commercial use, it still provides some interesting tips about my topic, and also widens my vision by bringing in more information of the latest developed uses of E-portfolio.

Evaluation of Website 3

https://eduforge.org/docman/view.php/176/1111/ePortfolio%20Project%20Research%20Report.pdf

The owner of this website is indicated to be an organization again like the previous two websites, with the domain name (.org). More detailed information about the webpage per se can be found by further exploring: the author (name, workplace), time of publishing, the license under which the users are viewing the page, the related project, and a list of reference through which one can search for more about the topic. All of these can help to credit to the information given.

The document, entitled A Review Of The Literature OnPortfolios And Electronic Portfolios, is a document of the eCDF ePortfolio Project, composed by Philippa Butler, from Massey University College of Education Palmerston North, New Zealand, published in October, 2006. The project is to develop an electronic portfolio application for the New Zealand tertiary sector of the university; it provides a context for the development of the electronic portfolio application and guidelines for its use, a review of the literature on electronic portfolios and more traditional paper-based portfolios has been conducted.

The document provides a detailed literature review concerning the application of e-portfolio in higher education institutions, which is similar to my purpose of researching this topic. This review is quite helpful for me to get an idea about the tried uses of e-portfolio, and saves me a lot of trouble to find the related papers myself.