Took a class at UNH yesterday to learn how to use Blackboard, a "comprehensive and flexible e-Learning software platform." It's like the system I used at Ritsumeikan, but I get to decide how I want to use it. There is no Japanese interface for the program itself in the version used at UNH, so all the menus and text will have to be in English until they upgrade to version 6 next semester, but I can post documents in PDF and .doc formats for homework assignments and reference materials.
So far I know I will have the class syllabus, review and reference handouts, homework assignments, links to Japanese learning sites and probably a discussion room on my course's site. I think online teaching tools are so cool but I wonder what the students think. Is it just something they expect? Is it no big deal? Sometimes in teaching now it's easy to get lost in all the technology.
I have no idea what to expect of my students. They will definitely be different from the kids I taught in Japan and probably also different from the students I taught in Hawaii eight years ago. School doesn't start for another month and I'm already starting to get psyched about it. Basically I am such a school-loving geek that I had to become a teacher.
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