Two years ago, I was asked to teach an 8 week "student elective course" called "Surfing the Net" in Georgetown University's Intensive English Program. Although I had never taught such a course, I had been using computers for word processing and e-mail for several years, and so I didn't hesitate to agree to teach the course. During the 8 sessions that I have taught this course, over 120 students have graduated from "Surfing the Net" and I have learned considerably more about the Internet. Most importantly, if there is one constant in teaching a course which uses electronic technology as its base, it is that "things change". This course has been exciting and stimulating for me and my students - sometimes almost more exciting than we would choose, and so I would like to help you in setting up your own N et class by telling you about some of the things that my students and I have discovered. But before I begin, I should warn you that one thing that will change when you teach a technology based class is your English! Before you know it, you'll find yourself using words like RAM and ROM and saying things like "UNIX-based", " systems upgrade" and "emoticons" and even thinking that everyone knows what you are talking about!
In setting up an Internet class, it is essential to first assess the facilities available to you and your students. On my campus, we have 5 different e-mail systems, and the one designated for faculty use employs a different mail software program tha n the one that is designated for student use. And so, when I first began to teach my course, where I had been used to using a VAX mail system, I now had to learn a UNIX-based system with a Pine mail reader. Fortunately, e-mail skills are readily transfe rrable, and the Pine system is more user friendly than the VAX, so the switch wasn't difficult to make, but it did require some initial re-learning on my part, in order to keep a step ahead of the students. As I have adjusted to the Pine system, Georgetown's Academic Computing Services - our campus facility that supervises the computing facilities - has continually upgraded the system, making it more powerful, more user friendly and adding mo re for me to learn as I go along. For example, in the Fall of this year, there were 5 options on the main menu of the mail reader. When I returned from Christmas break and logged onto the system, there were 6 options - a new option had been added and I needed to change my lesson plan! Software upgrades often occur without being announced, and so I, like my students, am constantly amazed at how frequently and quickly things change.
Aside from changes involving new software additions and modifications, there can also be changes in platform (IBM PC verses Apple MacIntosh) as well as changes in policy. (Are the campus labs readily available to all students, or are they reserved for use by degree program students only?) If your institution has limited lab space and technical support, you might find yourself and your students out in the cold as far as lab usage because of the budgetary infrastructure of the institution. So, if the ESL students' tuition does not support the use of technology on the main campus, you may need to purchase your own machines and set up your own departmental computer lab, provided there is a spare room at your institution to house these machines. And the n, after you set up your lab, there is the question of technical support - which may mean that you spend many extra hours puzzling over the fact that last night one of your networked computers had 14 icons on the screen and this morning when you booted the machine it only has 4 (don't worry, this might be a simple problem - just check all of the cords and make sure they are firmly in place - sometimes you get lucky!). When you are ready to go on-line, technical support is essential, consequently it is extremely impor tant to know first of all where your technical support comes from ("Who you gonna call?") and also, how soon will someone be able to fix the problem. Once you've located your technical support, it's a good idea to post both the telephone number and the e-mail address of your helpdesk in a highly visible location in your computer lab so that help is really just a phone call away.
Finally, after you have addressed all of the technological aspects of setting up your course, you should consider what type of textbook, if any, you will use with your students. This provides faculty with a new dilemma. Since the essence of the Inter net is the use of "on-line" technology, and you are indeed teaching the students English, as well as the new skill of navigating the Internet, what approach should you take toward using a textbook? Most of the on-line applications have excellent on-line help components as well as interactive tutorials to instruct even the most inexperienced cyber novices. So, does teaching a net based course require a new approach to teaching - do you indeed need to purchase a textbook and support more traditional methodology as well as learning styles, or should you go for the gold and incorporate the use of on-line help as an essential element of your course? I have used the computer center's guide to computing (real life English), xeroxed handouts that I have written which simplify the instructions in the computer guide, used textbooks written for native speakers about the Internet, and also used on-line tutorials and help, and have found that each of these has met the needs of individual students, but the most important skill of all, reading the screen and following the computer's prompts can only be learned through reminders and practice, and so I favor the "on-line help and tutorials" approach for the students, while I myself, rely on a combination of text and practice to keep ahead of the students. Thus my classes consist of activities which i nclude: reading the screen, reading a message from me that instructs the students about important materials brought up in class, class discussions, and oral instruction on what to do to accomplish specific course goals. Of course, since this is an ESL course, all of these activities involve the use of English, and rely on the students mastering the tasks at hand through the use of their English.
This leads me to a discussion of things to consider when opening the registration to your course. What level of English language proficiency is necessary in order to participate in an on-line course? If a minimal level of English has not been reached by the students, the progress of the class may be hindered, and the students may revert to merely punching keys and clicking their mice and not really advancing in their English language skills. Although students at lower levels of English language prof iciency can develop internet skills, I recommend that if it is your intention to advance the students' knowledge and use of English, that your students should have at least an Intermediate level of English language Proficiency.
The next question that comes to mind concerns what level of computer proficiency the students need as a prerequisite. Should the students entering the course have a working knowledge of word processing? Should they be able to type and know the keyboard? Should they be admitted by Instructor's consent only? I have found that those stu dents who have no keyboarding experience and are unfamiliar with basic word processing skills make slower progress in the course, but they do reach some level of e-mail proficiency, and usually enjoy themselves while doing it. Recently our program invested in a typing tutor to help those students w ho needed advancement in the area of keyboarding, and this has seemed to be a good solution for some students' keyboarding problems.
After addressing the initial considerations, it is time to get down to the nitty gritty of the content of the class. In my class, I spent about 50% of the time covering e-mail, which included such Internet basics as logging on and off of the system, c hanging passwords, students checking their mailbox daily (before class), basic e-mail commands (send, reply, forward), mailbox management (creating folders, deleting files), netiquette (No spamming, SHOUTING, or flaming), and basic text manipulation (down loading, uploading, saving to a disk, and printing).
The rest of the course was devoted to other resources on our Sun microcomputer, such as the Finger command, Talk, Internet Relay Chat, the text browser GOPHER and text-based Web browser LYNX, and of course, the Netscape Web browser (we don't happen to have MS Internet Explorer on our machines) and various Search Engines. As the students progressed through the mastery of these Internet skills, they invariably practiced their English language skills. They were obligated to read e-mail messages from me everyday before class began in order to find out what content the class would cover and what the class assignment for that day would be. In response to my daily e-mail messages, the students were mandated to write back to me and on several occasions, students were assigned the task of summarizing what they had found on the Interne t and mailing their summaries to me. In class, students often discussed new "cyberspace" vocabulary and concepts, read and watched videos about the development of the Internet, followed oral instructions and demonstrations of a particular Internet Application, and generally had a lot of fun while they were learning English and, oh yes, Internet skills.
Finally, there are the added benefits of teaching an Internet-based class. I personally have enjoyed teaching my "Surfing the Net" class because it has allows me to observe more closely the learning strategies of my students. Aside from this, some students who would not normally participate in class orally because of cultural constraints, excel because they are being asked to communicate in writing. Furthermo re, because students frequently need help when working on a class project, they cooperate more and communicate with each other more as they struggle to master the computer.
In my class, I encourage my students to explore the Internet and if one of them discovers something new on the system, I ask her or him to demonstrate the discovery to the class (in English, of course) and so the students gain confidence in their abili ty to use both English and the Internet, and the class experiences two way teaching rather than top down, teacher-centered teaching.
Additional benefits include the ability to develop a close relationship with your students through the exchange of e-mail messages, few attendance problems (everyone wants to work on the computers!), less paper to carry around because all of your pape rs are sent electronically (almost a "paperless" class!), and longer classes because almost all of the students like to stay after class and work on their assignments on-line.
Your comments are appreciated. Please send them to:
Michelina Bonanno