Research question

Here is my research question for the end-of-term research proposal:

1. To what extent does using instant messaging as opposed to flash cards (PowerPoint) influence learning Japanese vocabulary?

Thoughts on advances in technology

In class this week, I mentioned that sometimes classes are better left not integrating technology into them because it's either forced, awkward, or not necessary. When Dr. Lomicka asked me which classes I've had in which this was the case, it reminded me of a course I took as an undergraduate at Duke University more than 10 years ago. It was a Spanish course and the teacher, presumably a TA, tried to use powerpoint and overhead projectors perhaps in an attempt to make it easier for the students to read the notes. (Her handwriting was not particularly neat.)

But more often than what should have been the case, there were often tech problems in which the computer running Powerpoint would lock up, the bulb in the overhead projector would need to be replaced, or the actual equipment had been removed and had to be located. All of these problems would result in lost class time.

Because this course was in Spanish literature, it seemed unnecessary to me for there to be such an emphasis on using technology. If the students read their reading passages and books, they didn't need to see the teacher's notes on the board. And the time spent locating missing overhead projectors and rebooting a computer using Windows 95 was time that could have been spent discussing the class material.

Dr. Lomicka reminded me that the mid- to late-90s was the "bells and whistles" phase of CALL. Back then, there seemed to be a greater emphasis on learning how to use the new technology rather than showing how that new technology could actually help people learn. In retrospect, perhaps I should give this Spanish teacher a bit more credit for at least trying to jazz things up a bit. And maybe because technology is a bit more advanced and more reliable now, technology probably would be more likely to enhance (rather than detract from) that class.

Then again, a part of me still thinks that sometimes there's just no substitute for having the students go at it with each other unencumbered by setting up computers and and plugging in wires. But I graduated from college in 1999, so maybe I'm just an old fogey who likes the old way of using technology:



Regarding Powerpoint (PP) specifically, I think it can be quite useful in that students can print out the main notes and not have to spend so much time quickly trying to scribble down what the professor says. However, I really don't like it when professors read their PP slides word for word with minimal elaboration. To me, that makes it seem like the professor is unprepared, doesn't know the subject matter so much, or is lazy. I could easily just print out some PP slides and stay home if the lectures are going to consist mainly of reading PP slides verbatim.

On the other hand, PP can be a useful organizational tool. Most people can type faster than they can write, so this can be a big time saver. And if you use the bullet points in PP as a springboard into other discussions or points of elaboration, I think it's great. The key here is to let the technology assist the teacher, not become a substitute for the teacher.

Thoughts on technology in general

Today we had a chat session in which we had to discuss the role of CALL (computer assisted language learning) and the changes it has undergone throughout history. When I was reading the articles for this assignment, it made me think about how people in the younger generation seem to take technology for granted. I remember growing up with an Apple IIc at home and an Atari 800 in the classroom. The Apple II GS was the fancy schmancy machine that everyone drooled over at the time.

Anyway, I never really thought about how heavily computers had been studied in the context of learning a language. Some of the readings seemed a bit contrived or nitpicky in terms of their nomenclature and I had trouble discerning between the authors being researchers and the authors simply being unfamiliar with the technology they were studying because many of these people likely did not grow up with technology in their lives as we know it now. So reading about theory X and hypothesis Y seemed a bit strange for me simply because I had never really thought about technology in that context before.

In other news, here are a few other links you might be interested in. For starters, I really love politics and spend several hours a day perusing various news and political sites. I maintain a political blog that I started almost a year ago. It's called The 7-10 and has really become a labor of love. My goal is to have that blog give me a bit of name recognition so that eventually I could be called upon to provide freelance political analysis and commentary before ultimately getting hired by CNN or MSNBC.

Some of my favorite political links are National Journal and MSNBC's First Read. You can access other good political links at my blog.

Test post 2

I maintain a political blog called The 7-10. You can access it here. If you can't see a picture, that means I made a mistake with entering the picture code.




This is my pet monster, but you can call him Duke. He's two years old and is responsible for many gray hairs. If you can't see him, that means I made another mistake with entering the picture code.

Initial test post

This is a test post. There is no point to this post other than to allow me to tinker with some of the colors.

Test link #1: CNN webpage

Test link #2 MSNBC webpage