Introductory Letters

Dear class,
since we will start the e-mail project next week already, you should write 'introductory letters' to your partners in Cakovec. I thought that you could just use your homepage in stud.ip and provide information about youself (e.g. interests, hobbies, why you study at the PH...). It would be great if you could upload a photo of yourself. If you don't have a digital photo, you can bring a paper photo to class and I will scan it.
Furthermore, you should prepare some questions to get to know you partners better and about the educational system in Croatia. You are supposed to ask these questions later in the chat.
Your preparation will help us to get the project started smoothly.

Master Thesis

I wrote my master thesis about the use of weblogs in the EFL-classroom. I have put it into our folder in stud.ip. One aspect of the thesis is student choice and a comparison between students who chose blogs as a reading journal and students who wrote paper journals. You might be interested to browse through it. Feedback is always welcomed!

Students who don't like computers?

Dear class,
when browsing the seminar blogs I came across an interesting issue concerning new media literacy. How should we deal with students who don't like working with computers? In my opinion this is a very complex issue. First I think there is a general need to develop (new) media literacy with students, no matter how experienced they are or what their likes and dislikes might be. Since the new media is increasingly important in terms of globalization and the world of work, we have to prepare students to be able to participate in that growing online discourse community.
However, I think that using computers and new media is not always a must in teaching situations where computers could be used but another media would fulfil the same purpose to a similar degree. For instance the blogs of my students, which you might have read, were created as reading journals. However, the students could choose between creating a blog or doing a handwritten reading journal. Some students chose the handwritten form because they didn't like to use a computer or they simple didn't want to publish their work to an online audience. Other students were highly motivated through the online audience connected to weblogs. In that case student choice is important and can increase motivation for different student groups.
What do you think about that issue? You can react with comments or write a post about it.

Blogs II

Dear class,
I have added your blogs in my sidebar linklist. This makes it easier for everyone to browse through the blogs. You could use my blog as the 'entry', check any news and then dive into the blogosphere.

Blogs

These are the blogs of your fellow students:

Jessica Rihm: www.entweder.blogspot.com
Silvia Rojo: www.silvia-new-media.blogspot.com/
Tanja Seeberger: www.tanjas-weblog.blogspot.com/
Nassim Aiff: www.ph-nassim.blogspot.com/
Miriam Kimmig: www.ph-miriam.blogspot.com/
Tina Truckenmüller www.tinatruckenmueller.blogspot.com/
Ilka Neun www.ilka-diary.blogspot.com/
Sascha Bohnert: www.sascha-newmedia.blogspot.com/
Stefanie Egly: www.phstef.blogspot.com/
Simon Röckel: www.simonblogsthespot.blogspot.com/
Manuel Romahn: www.mad-mao-23.blogspot.com/
Michael Walter: www.ph-michael.blogspot.com/
Britta Werner: www.ph-britta.blogspot.com
Judith Gieser: www.ph-judith.blogspot.com

Reading for May 2

For preparing the session on May 2, please read the following online article about the use of weblogs in the EFL-classroom: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Campbell-Weblogs.html

First task - creating a blog

Dear students,
now it is your turn. You are supposed to create your own weblog. Here comes your task:

Purpose
You will learn how to create a blog and use it as a reflective learning journal. This will give you the experience and the skill to use this medium in the classroom in your future teaching practice.

Product
Your personal blog for personal reflection.

Process

1. Check other blogs. Below I have provided blogs of students from a grade nine I had done a literature project with. They had to keep a reading journal in which they had to reflect on the reading of a young adult novel. You can browse through the blogs to get an idea of how to keep a weblog.
   www.mariaB-9b.blogspot.com
   www.sarah-9b.blogspot.com
   www.alena-9b.blogspot.com
   www.jule-9b.blogspot.com
   www.mona-9b.blogspot.com
   www.katharina-9b.blogspot.com
   www.anne-9b.blogspot.com
   www.cara-9b.blogspot.com
   www.yvonne-9b.blogspot.com
   www.lena-9b.blogspot.com
   www.jasmin-9b.blogspot.com
   
2. Go to www.blogger.com and create your own blog. Your blog us supposed to be a learning journal in which you reflect on the things you have encountered in the seminar. After creating the blog, please write an e-mail telling me the address of your blog.
3. Write your first post about your expectations on the seminar.

Welcome

Dear students,
welcome to my seminar blog. In this blog I will provide you with the latest information and news you will need to make the most of the seminar. During the course of the term I will explain the tasks you will have to carry out. Furthermore, I will give general feedback from time to time and I will bring in my own reflections on the learning process we will be going through as a class.
However, as with every blog: you can't explain it, you have to find out and experience it by yourself.
I am looking forward to learning and working with you.