Educational Technology Ray Schroeder, editor, OTEL - University of Illinois at Springfield |
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News, Techniques and Theories of Effective Use of Technology in Education 
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Monday, June 10, 2002
http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/postfiel.htm Building an Online ESL Community By Dian Post and Joyce Taylor Fields Many online ESL classes have been little more than "some kind of simple key pal (computer pen pal) exchanges"(Warschaurer) that take place between student and teacher with little or no "student to student" interaction. There are several free online courses that follow this format; one example is "Online English." A brief look will demonstrate that there is very little, if any, community building in this type of course delivery..... An ESL class raises barriers to community building. Students not only lack a common, comfortable language, but they also come from different cultural backgrounds. Both of these factors add to communication blocks. To counteract this problem, ESL classes demand well-developed collaborative exercises and high interest discussion threads to foster the creation of community within the class environment....
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