Recently I attended two Tapped In online conferences. One is “Climate Change ─ What Can We Do about it?” It belongs to environment group. And the other one is “Special Education Forum – Assessment.” The first topic is close to our life, so I opt to attend it. As for the special education forum, well, it’s just because I am free at that time. Yet, I think I get a better hang of online discussion in the second time.
In the first Tapped In meeting, somehow, the participants are really few. It has just about five people at most. And no people greet me or ask me questions except the moderator Maggi. She is friendly and appreciates my first participation; therefore, I am so elated. Most of the participants are sophisticated teachers from different countries, such as Germany or America. I think they are all very enthusiastic environment protectors, and they urge other people to protect our environment as they do. For example, one participant says that there are few people in his campus willing to recycle garbage. And his campus also does not take recycle work seriously. So he states this with somewhat anger (I guess, from the words he types.) He urges his students to do recycle work. Another participant thinks that trucks are the primary contributing factor for the serious air pollution. And he even seldom drives cars in that it may cause air pollution. What impresses me most is the ample links provided in their group pages, so that you can find various kinds of information, links, pictures, data, films and so on if you want. They are indeed good tools for people to get a better understanding as to environmental protection. But there is a weird situation. That is, sometimes people keep talking rapidly and respectively so that you do not know which content you should respond or follow. Sometimes, however, all people fall into fully silence so you may wonder does this discussion still exist. Ha! That’s somewhat funny and strange, isn’t it? Consequently, I have a mixed feeing towards this online discussion.
In respect to the second Tapped In online conference, well, I think I am more in the situation compared with the first one. There are about eleven participants so that the discussion is intensive. I like this feeling. Even though the moderator, Paul is late for about fifty minutes, BJB breaks the ice and provokes the participants’ discussion successfully. Whenever it falls into silence for a few moments, BJB just asks questions to keep everybody talking. For example, “What is the purpose of assessment?” “What would some solutions be to providing individualized curriculum?” are all questions asked by BJB. Due to this discussion, it dawns on me that in special education, it takes different ways to teach students according to each individual. To my big surprise, two participants in this discussion have ever been a student in a special education class. Nonetheless, it does not mean that they are intelligently inferior to other students. It simply means they have difficulty in writing, reading, speaking or listening aspect, so they join special education class to improve their ability. One participant also shares a website (http://help4teachers.com/) with us for the purpose of helping us become excellent teachers. It seems that I have a better feeling in this discussion, for the participants are strongly willing to express their opinions. Also that BJB is enthusiastic about helping new participants may be another reason. What I admire Tapped In most is it helps people from different countries interact with each other. People from different cultures can present their diverse ideas to a question simultaneously. Overall speaking, I obtain an authentic learning experience outside textbooks, and this experience is definitely invaluable and fresh for me!
No comments:
Post a Comment