E-Learning with the help of the school website

In this blog I move from the general to the specific and focus on one rather innovative way in which a grade 9 English Language Arts teacher tries to integrate e-learning into his English teaching curriculum.

Mr. XX is a teacher at American Prep International. All of his students come from Thai speaking homes. Mr. XX  has been thinking for some time how he could make English writing assignments come alive for his students. He wanted to give his students the feeling that they are communicating in ‘real world’ situations and not merely churning out a few sentences or paragraphs on what they did during the summer holidays.

It is then that the idea came to create a School Facebook Group and to let his students post on it. Posts could include their opinions on certain current political debates, or reviews of their favourite  games, cars or even skin care products.

These assignments were enthusiastically accepted by his students and even the least studious student did not need much prompting to start posting. Of course, some class time were spent teaching the technicalities of accessing the Facebook Group and how to actually do the posting. This project is now about three weeks old and is still on-going.

When asked to assess the educational value of this project up to this point in time Mr. XX mentions the willingness and relative enthusiasm of the students to participate in these “writing” exercises. One negative observation, however, is that some students quickly latched onto the idea of finding an article or post from another site and to just post it as is. The end result is thus that they still do not actually do any significant writing – they only regurgitate writing that has been produced by someone else. In this sense teacher XX feels that he has not yet made any real progress in getting his students to “write”.

E-Learning with the School Website

Enter the school website, and more specifically the website blog or the “Directors Blog” as it is known in this particular school. When teacher XX first introduced the school website to his class he discovered that most of the students had never heard of a “blog” and most did not even know that the school had a website! It took a few class periods to introduce these concepts and to discuss what blogging is about. The teacher also explained carefully that modern blogging makes it possible for someone who reads the blog to “comment” on what is written.

Then came the assignment: “Scan through the blogs on the school website, choose one and read it carefully and then write a comment in your own words that relate to the content of the blog”. The reasoning behind this assignment was that it would now serve as a comprehension exercise (anchored in the “real world” of the school) and that it would “force” the student to write down his/her own ideas.

What is the educative assessment, or outcome of this assignment? Well the final word has not yet been spoken on this. In a future blog we will focus in greater detail on the outcomes of both of these approaches.

E-Learning as preparation for modern living

The main point of this particular blogpost is that e-learning must not be too narrowly defined. The innovative teacher should survey which digital media he has access to and then find ways to incorporate them in his teaching practice. In this way he not only prepares his students to cope with the electronic media that they will encounter in the modern world, but he (the teacher) will also practise e-learning and e-teaching in its broader, and possibly, its more relevant and applicable scope.

E-Learning at American Prep

American Prep International School has positioned itself as the trend-setting e–learning school in Thailand. This is a major claim for a school that is barely one year old! The purpose of this blog is to elaborate somewhat on what the school means when it makes this claim.

E-Learning is not “distance”- education

• The first point of clarification is that “e-learning” at APIS should not be understood as “distance” or “correspondence”-education. In other words, the students at American Prep do not live away from the school while pursuing their their studies by means of online- or e-learning. 

E-Learning tools at American Prep

• Teachers in the Middle School make use of e-learning tools such as Edmodo or Moodle to support their normal face-to-face classroom teaching. Certain aspects of the curriculum are  taught using either of the above platforms and students can work independently at their own pace and place. Classroom instruction is not replaced, but is supplemented with online learning outside the confines of the school building.

Laptops and E-books at American Prep

• E-Learning at APIS further means that all middle school students have their own laptop computers and all their text-books are “e-books” rather than printed books

Other digital tools

• E-Learning at APIS also implies that teachers use a wide variety of internet tools to compliment traditional teaching. This includes: integration of YouTube, Thinglink, Digital Story Telling as well as frequent internet research, into daily teaching activities.

Skillful blending of many digital tools

From the above it is clear that e-learning at American Prep International is not a single concept or methodology but rather the skillful blending of modern e-learning tools and digital/social media to enhance traditional teaching and thus to provide a quality education that prepares and equips young people with skills and attitudes that will help them live meaningfully and responsibly in the world of the 21st century and beyond. A practical example of this type of integration is described in the blogpost: Your School Website as an e-Learning Tool.

Dr. Phakdee Mangmiwatthana, the owner and co-founder of American Prep International School, recently visited our school campus to assist our local management team with strategic planning for the next few years. During his visit he also found the time to give an inspirational talk to the school staff. In this talk he told a story of how the hunters of an African village had to join forces in order to move an elephant that was hunted far away from the village closer to the village. The moral of the story is that a big task cannot be performed by one man only. It is only when a group, who has a common goal, finds ways of working together and supporting one another, that the goal can be achieved. This is very wise counsel and was really appreciated by the staff. After Dr. Phakdee’s departure the staff of the school unanimously voted to adopt the slogan: “Let’s Move the Elephant” as our school motto for the year. With this motto in mind and with the commitment to
implement it, we know that great things will be achieved at American Prep International this year!