A reminder to submit a brief proposal to WebCT before this Thursday’s class. It is not a formal proposal, but a paragraph outlining the project you wish to do for the term paper. So just keep it informal. Use point-form if you wish to. This is to compel you to start working on the project soon. Otherwise if you run into difficulties, you may not have enough time to adjust your direction. If you have read about my Lai Chi Kok project blog, you will know what I mean.
I can understand that for those of you teaching in a primary school, you may not be able to do something which is highly student-initiated. You may find that your project is more about how YOU use technology in your teaching, rather than how THE STUDENTS use technology for learning. This will be especially the case, if you have only lower grade levels to teach. This is OK.
Be realistic about the scope of your project. You may be very ambitious and wish to do a very big project. But this will require a lot of time, planning, and preparation. At the end of the day, it is how you present your work in the term paper itself that counts the most. What I mean is, allow enough time for the writing up. This means that you should strike a balance between the scope of the project and the time you need to write it up.
If you are not teaching now, you may either (a) evaluate a computer-based/online learning package (e.g., Tense Buster), or (b) choose a topic related to computer-assisted language learning and write a conventional literature-based paper.
If you need clarification, do not hesitate to email me or talk to me in class.
