Now is an exciting part of the semester: we’ve gotten off to a good start and are ready to explore the world of new literacies and language learning. As Graham Stanley points out in his book Language Learning with Technology, for online learning to work effectively, it’s important to build the right kind of supportive learning community. A good learning community is one that has a sense of team spirit, where the participants have a healthy respect for one another and can take up a range of mentoring roles, becoming teachers as well as learners.

That’s why this first post is all about learning more about each other. Please respond to this post by leaving a comment and introducing yourself (whatever you feel comfortable sharing in a public online space like this one). Please relate: 1) one interesting experience that you have had with new technologies; 2) one question about new technologies that you would like to have answered on this course.

After posting your own comment, you can respond to someone else. Do you think that you have the answer to their question? Remember to be constructive in your comments and critique.

47 thoughts on “Getting started with blogging: Building a learning community”

  1. 1. I watched some videos in Youtube about my favorite animates in English. And I discussed with other people through comments.
    2.how to use online media in English class

  2. 1. I’ve been creating a new multimodal e-book by using “BookCreator” recently. It’s an interesting and collaborative experience.
    2. I would like to know more about the necessary scaffolding needed to conduct different types of e-literacy lessons, as well as ways to promote students’ systematic use of self-directed learning strategies via e-literacy.

  3. 1. An interesting experience with new technologies was my very first Zoom lesson when I started my first course for MAES. At first, I struggled to use the different functions and the whiteboard while my peers seemed to be more well-versed in using them.
    2. One question I have in mind is how technological advances for teaching and learning may change students’ lives five years from now.

  4. One of my interesting experience with new technology is meeting up with new people and exploring different places together.

    One of issues that I want to find out in this course is how to make a balance between traditional teaching method and new literacies approach.

  5. When I looked through the posts I posted during my secondary school years on the weblog app several years after that, I was surprised by the sayings I posted on the app. How to apply the fan fiction net in language teaching lesson, would it be suitable for secondary school learners?

    • Interesting – that’s a key affordance of blogs, the way they allow you to see development over time.

      We’ll definitely have a chance to talk about using fan fiction for English learning. It’s something that you can certainly suggest to secondary school students for independent learning. What do you think are the issues with using this approach for more formal in-class activities?

    • can’t agree more. I feel REALLY uncomfortable about the posts at my young age. kind of naive….

  7. 1. I used to be an English teacher for beginners. Video games was used to practice vocabulary and provoked their interest in English learning.
    2. Is new technologies suitable for exam-oriented courses?

  8. 1. I have been writing some travel diaries on wechat by which I make some new friends.
    2. How to integrate digital tools into a traditional class?

  9. 1. my dad bought iPad for my family in 2010 (I assumed it was in 2010). I was shocked with how a small tablet can display cartoons, play games and even use it for video call.
    2. How to use new technology in the classroom to facilitate teaching properly?

  10. I followed a video to make a meal. The meal looks great in the video. I sticked to the process of the video, however, what I made did not look as good as it was in the video.

    How can students learn a second language through video games?

    • Hahaha, the pictures taken by the photo can sometimes be not as good as the real scene, I’ve been in this situation before, but we can still use video to record the life.

      I think the students can learn through the communication with teammates speaking other languages in the video games.

    • I also follow many bloggers who upload some videos for cooking and eating. Every night I would watch several of them before going to sleep and then I would feel hungry. It’s enjoyable but also suffering at the same time! But I just can’t help doing so every night…

  11. Hi everyone, I am Danielle and this is the fourth month I have been studying here in HongKong. One interesting experience I have with new technologies is that when Wechat first came out I thought it was a bad idea and felt reluctant to use it, and I waited for almost two years before I started using it. Now I can’t live without it.
    I want to explore more about how new literacy can facilitate second language writing.

    • It is an interesting experience. Yes, nowadays, most people, especially Chinese use WeChat every day. We use it to send messages, buy things, watch videos, browse our friends’ moments and we can find many sources by reading articles posted in WeChat. I can say that WeChat is really a wonderful and useful App. It worths your trying.

    • I was reluctant to use it at first too, because I have trouble reading simplified Chinese texts. But then I discovered the ‘translate’ button and it has eased my worries greatly! Thanks, Danielle!

  12. Hi, I am Vickie.
    I took the literature course last semester, and sometimes I found it difficult to understand the theme or content of some literary works, and then I would search for some interesting commenting videos on Youtube about the literary works. In this way, I can understand literary works better.
    I want to find out the most interesting and suitable way to integrate new technology into my teaching in the future.

  13. 1. In this winter holiday, I was invited by my English teacher in high school to make a video about my study and life in Hong Kong and she wanted to upload it online. Actually, this is my first time to make a video uploaded online and I learned how to use the mobile app to make and edit the video.

    2. I wonder how to combine digital literacy with traditional curriculum. I hope I can know what to do in detalis.

  14. Mobile learning has become a part of my language learning. In Weibo or WeChat official account, I can learn flexibility at any time and anywhere. And my question is: How to make mobile learning suitable in the class?

    • I like mobile learning too. The language learning Apps are convenient and effective, especially for vocabulary learning and reading.

  15. 1. I watched some videos in Youtube about my favorite animates in English. And I discussed with other people through comments.
    2.how to use online media in English class

  16. 1. Last semester, we used a website called MIRO in a course, and it’s like a big canvas, which allowed us to create things together, like drawing on it and commenting on each other, and that’s interesting.
    2. How should students’ performance in new literacies be evaluated?

  17. It is my first time to connect the weblog with English teaching and learning, which is really a nice try, Hope I can dig this method deeper

  18. 1,I have used some online tools to teach my students back in maindland, which was unexpetcd when i came to Hong Kong .
    2, how to capture students` attention and keep them focused when the teacher is not around them?

  19. I always enjoy watching short videos about cooking. And I noticed that there are usually some cooking tricks hidden in the comments below videos. So I have formed the habit that checking if there are any useful information from the comments every time after I watching the video.

    • I like to read comments, too! Sometimes people would share their own recipes or feedback after cooking and inform us of some procedures that we should pay attention to and change the ingredients according to different situations. I think the same applies to English learning, commenting on others to support them or help them to solve problems.

  21. There was a group project last semester required us to post our creative work on a website and we also left comments on the website to other groups.
    How to apply new technologies into in-class activities?

  22. It is interesting that everyone is now using digital learning in nowadays society. How is effective to merge the digital learning with the language learning? It is often struggle for me as there are too many resources though and students are too easy to be distracted.

  23. 1. Working together with my colleagues, I once made use of the Applet on WeChat to carry out a vocabulary competition online for junior middle school students. It was so interesting and attracted more than 1,000 participants!

    2. How to make language teaching more interesting with digital technology?

  24. 1. An experience that I had with new technologies before is that I shoot funny videos of my two cats and posted the videos on social media,

    2. My question is that to what extent teachers should apply new technologies, how to make a balance between these new literacies and traditional approaches.

  25. I made several Hong Kong friends before coming to Hong Kong through Instagram. And I gained information from them about renting house and buying transportation cards in Hong Kong. They gave me much help and support. Although we communicated in English, they also taught me necessary Cantonse words. I think it is a great opportunity to learn a new language.

    I would like to explore how to use literacy could promote language learning more conveniently.

  26. This is actually my friend’s experience which impresses me a lot. She is a fan of Korean culture and enjoys watching Korean dramas. So she joined an online community of fan subbing one year ago and has become a volunteer to translate the subtitles of Korean dramas and films. What surprises me is that she passed the Korean language exam by doing these translation activities in the fan community.
    By taking this course, I am willing to know how to incorporate the new technologies into the teaching practices in mainland China.

  27. Last year when I still work for a educational institution, I had special experience of giving lectures online via a platform run by the institution itself with various functions. Although it is an amazing platform with different functions to draw students’
    attention, the outcome was not so good.
    So the question is: How to make online courses as attractive as face-to-face courses?

  28. I have been an teacher in an online tutorial school, and every lesson was performed in a virtual class, where teachers can use some digital tools to teach, like using a virtual blackboard which could be used by both teachers and students. Students could be easily engaged in these digital devices because they can draw and write with teacher, however sometimes they can also be distracted by these digital tools.

  29. 1) Students were required to submit 3 minute videos for teachers. It was interesting to watch those videos and record voice comments for their language learning.

    2) What are the impacts of new technology on English Language?

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