A Day in the Life
of the CyberEnglish Scholar

Students used to recheck their program cards when they walked into Room 439. Now they do it in Room 237 The reason for this was that they expected to walk into an English class not a computer room. They never thought of the two going together. Not many folks did or do, but let me assure you it is very natural, actually. Now of course after those early days, students are not in shock when they stroll into Room 237, or maybe they still are.

The CyberEnglish scholars came to class, sat down, brought their computers to life my moving the mouse or hitting a key on the keyboard, (we rarely turned the computers off) put down their bookbag and sat down ready to go. All the time perhaps chatting wit a fellow scholar or announcing something to me or the clas at large. But the general feeling was always warm and business-like. They would do any number of things: read email, begin or continue on a project, go to the menu to see what is to be done. Each day may begin differently for each scholar. I would be in my office or at the door or in the hall or waiting for some scholar. Generally speaking class was ver yinformal, merely a continuation of the last time the scholar was online at home or at work or in school. Everyone was on a different page. Chaos was the rule.

email

email rulez is the rule in the class. email was how I commuicated with the scholars. I used email links on their pages to comment on their work. I used email lists to create various conversations in the class. email was how they communicated with each other. email was how telementors communicated with them.

projects

In this project based constructivist classroom, the design of the project was crucial. Since the scholars would be self directed the directions and expectations had to be clear. One advantage I had was if there were corrections or additions to be made I could do them and instantly they would be available to the scholars. On the syllaweb the scholars had links to many resources that would make their work and research more fruitful.

menu

The main way I would present the scholars with what was to be done was via ToDay's MeNu.

Chaos and Order


© Ted Nellen 2000
email