quote of the day

actually i’ve gotten this quote not from today, but 3 days ago:

“make an enemy today, we need to deploy our resources today; make an ally today, we make use of their resources today and tomorrow”

words of wisdom (:

the best gift to end the year (:

it’s <4 days to the new year, and we just received news that our article was published on AJET (:

yes, it’s the best year-end gift, and my heartfelt gratitude goes to my teacher, Dr. Tan Seng Chee, for helping to realise this (:

Wishing us “All The Best in 2011!”

Tan, Y. H. & Tan, S.-C. (2010). A metacognitive approach to enhancing Chinese language speaking skills with audioblogs. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26(7), 1075-1089. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/tan-yh.html

Abstract: Situated in the field of computer assisted language learning (CALL), this article reports an instrumental case study on the use of audioblogs for developing students’ Chinese speaking skills. The intervention focused on scaffolding students in metacognitive reflection of their oral performances. The case focused on seven students who completed substantial part of the activities, and the main sources of data came from the oral recordings and interactions in their audioblogs. A significant improvement in the mean scores of pre- to post-test oral performance was found, which indicated the benefits of this approach. The students were found to adopt a systematic approach in their reflection: evaluating –> monitoring –> planning, with greater amount of attention devoted to the monitoring strategy. However, a disproportionate distribution of metacognitive knowledge usage was found in students’ self-assessment. Task knowledge was the predominant metacognitive knowledge used by students, whereas person knowledge and strategy knowledge were neglected by the students. Teachers who are keen to implement a similar instructional approach could develop strategies to focus the students’ attention on the latter two types of metacognitive knowledge.

PDF version can be found here on AJET or the local mirror.

social learning has come to … cars!

saw this post on engadget discussing the ability of Nissan Leaf to compare drivers’ performance in terms of energy efficiency. looks like the competition in schools’ been extended? 😛 i expect other carmakers to follow suit soon. and we’ll probably see facebook integration soon for the total social experience (:

deADlicious, another service entering history

saw this piece of news in a tweet, del.icio.us, a social bookmarking site will be closed down. most likely not profit/revenue generating for yahoo? 😛

edudemic.com has provided 5 alternatives in their posting for exploration while saying bye-bye to my acct. i wonder how many of our teachers have been using this service *hmm*

[acknowledgment of graphics source: http://edudemic.com/2010/12/delciious-bye-bye/]