1- Experiences before EVO2009
My experiences with blended learning started in 2005 when, tired of sending emails that bounced, I started a Yahoo Group for 4th Year students in the Teacher Education Programme at a state college.
The description I wrote then ran
It soon grew into something much larger. Towards the end of the year, some of the students enquired about “the future” of the group. I said I intended to remove them to give way to the students in 2006. Oh, no, they wouldn’t hear of leaving the group. True, some never again took a look at it, but several welcomed the new students and from time to time commented on their contributions or added a link or some news they thought we would find interesting.
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The group is still active to date, as you can see from the summary above. We have had forums and polls, students have posted comments, and uploaded files and, as I often tell them, they have been able to practise some essential skills in a sheltered environment.
Another surprise for me was when I asked students to imagine a film version of one of the books we had read had just been made, and to create a trailer for it. Someone asked whether a PPP was all right, and this is one example from 2007.
Also in 2007 I started a similar group for another class, in a private college, but the following year the institution started using a platform, so I migrated to it.
Of course, access is restricted, but you can see some screenshots below
And a sample of one of the forums:
You can follow this link if the presentation does not load properly.
By 2008 I had two Yahoo Groups working (2nd and 4th Year) and two virtual classrooms (at the private college).
In mid-2008 the Ministry of Education made available similar platforms to all state colleges, so I started a classroom for my Literature class in the Translation Programme – who had been neglected so far.
In this classroom I inadvertently left the Chat section open although I didin’t intend to use it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the students were using it themselves, without being directed to it!
An so we get to my Experiences during EVO 2009.
