Archive for May, 2009

How to Improve Language Learning

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Many people love learning languages or would like to learn a language and use their language skills in a job. In today’s global economy the demand for language skills continues to grow as governments, businesses and organisations build relationships with foreign interests.

1 MAKE THE FULLEST USE OF YOUR MP3 PLAYER.

If you have one and you’re not using it for language acquisition, you’re losing an opportunity for gaining in fluency. You can record snippets of vocabulary or grammar instruction whenever you have a few moments of free time, or pages and pages worth when you’re at your leisure. Then, during times that would otherwise be wasted – washing up, lying dozing in bed, going for a walk – you can play it back and simultaneously be improving your language skills.

2 DUAL TEXT BOOKS

What a wonderful thing dual text books are. Often novels or short stories, these books have one facing page in, say, Spanish, and the other in English. This speeds progress through the book and aids idiomatic comprehension enormously. Sadly the stock of dual texts is limited. However the same effect can be achieved by obtaining two copies of the same book, one in your chosen language and the other in English. It takes a little more juggling this way, but can still have a very beneficial effect on reading comprehension.

3 GET YOURSELF A NATIVE SPEAKER PENPAL

In the age of the internet this is something that’s increasingly easy to do. Check out Livemocha.com or one of numerous alternatives currently available. Your French/German/etc. improves, your penpal’s English improves, everybody wins.

4 SIMULATE LANGUAGE IMMERSION AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE

‘Immersion’ is the catchphrase, the most popular concept amongst language course providers and teachers at the moment. And it’s a good one: the trouble is we don’t all have the money, time or resources to dump everything and go live in our country of choice for six or eighteen months.

5 USE YOUR HOLIDAYS TO THE MAX

This is another point related to the ideal of immersion. Often when learning a language we will book a holiday in the relevant country, and think hopefully of all we will achieve in terms of language acquisition as a result. As you may know, this does not always pan out!

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Technology Trends in Higher Education

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

With such an explosion of growth and need, the use of technology has not always been positive. Problems have plagued the use of technology in higher education classes throughout the country. Many people within the system see five major trends that will affect the future of technology/distance learning. The following is a list these current trends in higher education:

•Growing population of students enrolling combined with inadequate infrastructure (faculty, administration, buildings, etc.)

•Changing student needs (lack of time and need for flexibility are foremost)

•Instruction altered to more student centered, non-linear, and self-directed (needed in order to meet the diverse academic needs of students)

•Necessity of lifelong learning classes

•knowledge and competency of students in the use of the Internet

All of these trends can be traced back to distance learning. Higher education institutions need to take action now, in order to enhance their distance education programs.

There are ways in which schools can meet the current trends through distance education. One way is to provide more help through Student Services. By encouraging the use to of help desks at schools, students will have their needs assessed and met. Some campuses have found the creation of a centralized website for the school to be beneficial.

The website has given future and current students access to information quickly. The majority of the states have become a part of statewide coordinating board or consortium of distance education learning programs. These boards/consortiums have provided support, financial sources, evaluation procedures, and the establishment of clear missions for distance learning education courses throughout the states. All of these efforts work toward the goal of implementing valid distance learning programs.

The key to the future of education is online distance learning, but only if continued research and the development of quality programs persist. By examining current trends, campuses will be better equipped to meet the needs of today’s student.

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