LoTi Framework

After reading the LoTi Framework at

(http://loticonnection.com/index.php/resources/publications/20-loti-framework), I came to know about different levels of LoTi Frameworks like

LoTi Level 0 - Non-use

LoTi Level 1 - Awareness

LoTi Level 2 - Exploration

Level 3 - Infusion

Level 4a – Integration: Mechanical

Level 4b – Integration: Routine

Level 5 - Expansion, and

Level 6 - Refinement.

Then I came to realize that I'm in Level 1 - Awareness. I usually make use of computer or the Internet in my teaching activities to expose my students to real world situation. I also make them listen accent of native speakers, conversation between two, and I also make them sit with myself to watch video clips or movies which are related with developing English skills of the students.

I know this level (1 Awareness) is not the level where I should be. I want to reach each level one after another quickly so that I could do something innovative in my limitation using all the resources that I have.

Last email of Robert

Hi everyone,

The last email from Robert has really made me sad like you all. It was really very nice experience learning from you all. We all learnt a lot from Robert. I would always be grateful to him for his support where it was a bit difficult situation for me.

I believe 'learning is a life-long process'. We, being teachers, also need to be updated all the time so as to update our students. Therefore, I would like to request you all to be in touch via Blogs.

I've also created a group 'Webskills 2011 Robert-Friends' on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/groups/286161174762115/).

I request you all to join the group and be in touch if possible. It would help us know each other a bit more.

I will really miss you all. Being together for 10 weeks has really made us emotionally attached. Thanks for being supportive.

Dipendra Prasad Kanu (Deep),

Nepal

Advice to the future participants by Dipendra Prasad Kanu

Hi Robert,

Everybody has already given their precious advice to the future participants.

5 pieces of sound advice of Avraham Roos, website addresses of Roza Zhussupova with nice suggestions, list of what Elmira Ilizarova has learnt and the do's and don'ts of Elmira Ilizarova, ten tips of Masafumi Kosaka, some important points of Johanes L. Taloko, six tips of Mun Sim Jeon, addition to the do's and don'ts tips by Roza Ibrahim, 11 tips by Yariela Cantarero and lots of useful tips by other friends have said much but I also want to share something from my side.

1st: Spare enough time for your learning.

2nd: Have cool mind to study with no pressure at all.

3rd: Keep the deadline and topics in mind even if you're offline.

4th: Write comments or your views on the first reading of the text, because you'll not have time for second reading.

5th: Keep in continuous touch with your international friends and share on their blogs.

6th: Bookmark all the useful sites which you may need later.

7th: Keep in touch with your instructor.

8th: Don't give up. Look back sometimes to see you are ahead of at least someone.

9th: Integrate technology in your teaching right after you learn. Don't pen down for tomorrow.

10th: Be informed of what is going on all around like Nicenet, google-sites, Jupitergrades, blogs, delicious.com pages of friends, Wikis, Inbox (emails), comments of others on your comments, etc.

11th: Save passwords and usernames of the accounts you make during your learning at various places like diary, notepad, email draft, etc.

12th: Be ready for much more learning next week than this week.

13th: Keep the list of class members with their emails.

14th: Print all the important information that you may need every week.

These are the things that came out from my mind for the future participants. Had I known about these suggestions, I would have done much better than this.

I've used some color so that it's easy for you to read but if it disturbs, I'm sorry for that.

Deep, Nepal

Advice to the future participants by Tatsiana Senina

1. Start treating the course as the part of your everyday life from the very beginning. 10 weeks is not so temporary. It's nearly 3 months.


2. If you want to do your best, start planning and scheduling when you do what.


3. Follow instructor's advice how things should be done: the way the posts are written, templates, etc.


4. Be yourself, don't be afraid to speak up or express a different point of view.


5. Copy straightaway all the links and material you find especially interesting and useful, otherwise you can lose it or just forget where it was easily.


6. Interact with your groupmates.


7. Be "present" as a lot of interesting discussions can be missed.


8. Be yourself, don't be afraid to speak up or express a different point of view.

Advice to the future participants by María Eugenia Balderrama Rocha

Hello everybody,

My coursemates have already given wonderful pieces of advice. I am sure new participants will have a wonderful time if they take the wise advice. I can mention some that worked well with me or may have helped me even more:

1. Read the instructions carefully before working on a task.
2. Focus on the topic(s) or activity.
3. If you have any questions, don't feel afraid to ask them. You are not supposed to know everything and we are all learning new things.
4. Have a file where you keep the most important information and links related to this course.
5. Ask for some pieces of advice to administer time and work on the different tasks more wisely at the very beginning or when you feel the need.
6. Do not wait until the last minute (unless it is an emergency or you really lack of time).
7. Take this course when you have a vacation. It is even more fruitful when you have enough time to work on the different activities and read the material.
8. Enjoy every activity. It is unique!

If I had to go back in time, Nº 3, 4, and 5 would help me a lot.

Warm regards,
Genny

Advice to the future participants by Yariela Cantarero

My advice to future participants

1.   Never say never: Sometimes we face issues we think they are imposible to reach, but believe me, it is not true. You must try and give a second and even a third try and you will get it.

2.   Organize your works, it is better to have everything in your computer or i-phone right there on hands in order to change or do something faster. For examples: links, webs, notes, tasks to have a reminder of what you have to do next.

3.   Read and search. Not only stay with what the course offer. Also, try to look into books or articles from other authors, it will help you a lot in clarifying concepts you may see confusing to understand.

4.   Be critical with yourself before sending any task.

5.   Learn from your classmates. Wow! I learned a lot from others.

6.   Be open to changes.

7.   Try to avoid typing right on the wall or net you were assigned to send your works. I kept everything in my cellphone and laptop with links and notes. So I can have a backup just in case of any accident.

8.   Remember that this should facilitate your work as teacher not to stress you up more, so be positive and enjoy whatever you must do every week.

9.   Be creative and yourself whenever you have to do something here in the course. It helps you more in the sense that your tutor can have a better idea of what you do and what you learn and what you need to improve.

10.   Feel passion for what you do everyday so people can feel it when they read a task you do here.

11.   Remember that whatever you learn here is not only for your own benefit but for all the community you belong to.

I feel glad and happy with the team I worked with. Thanks guys.

Regards,
Yariela

Advice to the future participants by Mun Sim Jeon

I would like to just add some more to help future participants.

1. Look whole contents all around and grasp the flow of the course. It makes you predict what you will do and prepare it.


2. Keep in mind ground rules and rubrics. They will tell how you can make it.


3. Make a plan for your tasks. The course is usually consists of three parts:
Two posts on Nicenet, one or two tasks, reflection (blogging), plus, final project writing by week 9. Especially, to keep up with two postings per week, planning is important.


4. For review and future use, make a folder of each week and save useful articles.


5. Manage your favorites saving useful websites. (Use 'Delicious'.)


6. Access a provided 'Blog Roll' and visit your course-mates. You can see lots of ideas and insightful reflections. 

Regards, 
Alex

Advice to the future participants by Masafumi Kosaka

Below are ten tips to do well and get the most out of this class from my experience.
Probably I would add some more if I think of.

1.   Check the whole content of this course before you start week 1.
You can see "learning object of this week" of week 2-10. This helps you overview the whole course like looking at first contents of books.

2.   Use a draft of your blog to take memos.
You will have some keywords, your thoughts, and so in reading materials, discussion posts and task during the week. Keep them in a draft of your blog. It helps you write your weekly blog, and you can easily write your weekly blog in short time.

3.   Keep every website you access in "Delicious" and put a tab.
You will have your original list at the end of this course. Make sure to make your own tabs, and write some comments if necessary.

4.   Make a folder of each week, and keep articles in it.
You can easily "go back" to the former articles without on-line. Do try to take memos or underline in articles on the computer, not print them out. Please be environmentally-conscious. 

5.   Use on-line dictionaries for your reading and writing to enrich your vocabulary.
This course is also a good opportunity to enrich your vocabulary. Some grammar checking websites would help you write in English. 

6.   Check posts on "Nicenet" at least once a day.
You can keep up with the latest topic in the discussion and get hints to start your posts. Your instructor's posts often give you good seeds to think more deeply about the topic.

7.   Make good use of tutorials on "Youtube" if you are not so skilled in some tools.
If you think you are not skilled in some tools like PowerPoint, "Youtube" has numbers of "tutorial movies" that help you.

8.   Refer to e-classmates' "Task" and add your originalities and ingenuities.
Especially when you are not skilled or familiar with the task, do refer to your e-classmates' tasks. Their tasks are surely full of helpful suggestions, hints and clues.

9.   Keep your posts or comments short and simple, especially in "Nicenet"

10.   Exchange your opinions, thoughts, and what you learned not only within e-classmates but also with your co-workers and friends.

It gives you opportunities to get more thoughts, and make it much easier to have a trial class or lesson at your schools. 

Best regards
Masa

Do's' and Don'ts of Elmira Ilizarova

For future participants:


Do's
•   Plan and manage your working hours/timetable
•   Find the right balance between working on- and off-line
•   Start working as soon as you get the week tasks
•   Mind the deadlines
•   Make a draft in Word format, save and after rereading copy-paste into the Discussion Forum
•   Print out the materials for reading, highlight the main points and then start writing the posts
•   Give comments to your classmates' posts and blogs
•   Be Positive, Respectful, Prepared, Responsible, Patient and Helpful 
•   Remember that Learning online is both challenging and beneficial
•   In case of an emergency, let the tutor know about the problems
•   Save all the tasks and posts for the Discussion Forum in a separate Folder on your desktop

Don'ts
•   Put off everything till the last moment 
•   Hesitate to ask questions
•   Miss the tasks
•   Forget Netiquette rules

If I had another chance to take the course again, I would definitely take it in summer, during my holidays. I would have had more free time for studying. 
The advice that would have helped me is: "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience" - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Elmira.

5 pieces of sound advice by Avraham Roos

For future participants:

1. Read all articles and take notes while reading them
2. Save all Internet links you like in a place you can easily find them back (e.g. Delicious.com)
3. Avoid procrastination. Don't push off to tomorrow what you can do today.
4. Sometimes you learn more from your fellow students than from the course materials. Make sure to read what others write.
5. Have fun!!!

Reflection

Hi Robert and friends,

Everything that starts must come to an end. I really feel bad to know that this is our final week.
Honestly speaking, I wanted to learn many things from the course but it's my misfortune that I couldn't walk with the pace of time. I missed so many chances where I could have done better but things did not go as planned. I had thought that the classes would be of webinar types and we would listen to lectures and make notes about what we would learn. I was really surprised to know the way we were taught and trained picking from various parts of the globe.

It was almost impossible for me to continue the course due to much busy schedule but it was Robert who heated me guessing the potentiality that I have. Many times came when I didn't like to post comments looking others' comments similar to mine already there on Nicenet. When the topics are same, the possibility of similar comments goes up.

I thank to 'delicious.com' for keeping my website addresses save for my future learning. I feel that this life is not enough for me to study all the materials or links that I got during this course related with ELT. If one doesn't believe, they can visit my delicious page once at http://delicious.com/dear_deep where I have saved  195 links till now and I hope they will go up and up every week.

Deep