Help

Does anyone have the same problem as I do? I can't find the article of "CCCC. Position Statement on Principles and Practices in Electronic Portfolios." at the link. It says link can't be found.

Reading response

The article about computer gaming, sexuality and literacy is an interesting one to read. Especially the concentration on gay gamers and what we should learn from the situation. There are two things that make it difficult for me to understand the notion and ideas of this article. Since I don't play MMORPG or online games a lot, the things mentioned are all new to me. I will never understand why people spent so much time and effort in the virtual world. Some of my former students told me that the game world gave them freedom and joy. The gamers decide what they want to be and what to do. The game world has all they want and can't get in real world. But I still doubt that to what extent this virtual experience is going to have positive effects on the real life. Sometimes even younger players who don't understand the meaning of the words or phrases used in the game, they still learn to play, because most the games follow similar frame lines. I have seen some Chinese boys, who have no English, playing games of English version. They learn from their friends and their knowledge of other games guide them through. The other thing I feel difficult to understand is homosexuality. This is a less mentioned topic in my culture, at least a seldom mentioned topic in my community. Though younger generation accept the idea and there are more homos in China, it is new to most people.

Multimodal Assignment

Finally I decided to use the ELI international students in my class as background to design this assignment. The students are from different countries, and they are all coming here to study English. Sometimes it is difficult for them to communicate not only because their English is limited, but also because they lack the understanding of each other's culture. For example, a Saudi female student will feel offensive if a male is approaching her. Even in class, these female students sit at their corner. I just learned that alcohol is prohibited in Arab countries. Asian students are quieter in class and Saudi students talk more. I feel that the international students will work together better if they understand each other's culture. So, the assignment is for the students to present on cultures of their home country. They have the options of using PowerPoint or other softwares. They have to include in their presentation the following materials: pictures, audio, video clip and necessary words. The students can work in a group if they are from the same country, but each member has to take part in the presentation to introduce some part of the whole project.
In this practice, the students are working on something they are familiar with, and using English to present their work. The project could be used for other occasion when they need to introduce their native culture to foreigners. It is meaning work for students. By searching for the right expression for the part they want to present, the students is learning by doing. It is a learning experience for everyone.

Good technology means good writing class?

I find Hoy's article very easy to read and I really like the way students, teachers and pedagogy are put. The success of writing class with technology depends on the understanding of the students and students' need. The teachers' position is also important to facilitate effective and efficient learning. Traditional classroom attracts the attention of students with little or no help of technology. The focus is on the teacher, and the students have to pay attention or draw attention to the class. Comparing with technology rich classes, the traditional classes are boring and don't get students' full participation in the learning process. On the other hand, technology rich classes offer the teachers new methods to conduct the teaching. Students are exposed visual, audio resources that are easy for them to get interested in. But the control of technology to work for, not against the class objective might be problematic for some teachers. There are times that technology will not work, there are times teachers are not ready to make the switch from the traditional pedagogy to new ones. With all sorts of problems that may happen in the class, it is not easy to say that good technology will guarantee good writing class.