Louise and I had arranged to meet at the Technology Learning Centre at L4 J block at MIT to join the teleconference organized by Bronwyn on Wed., 25th August 2010.

We arrived a bit early and Oriel gave us proper directions on how to set up the necessary tools for the teleconference. Oriel also gave us some useful tips in connection with certain e-learning applications. As a matter of fact we were too early and we waited for more than an hour for the others to join the conference on time. Therefore, we had plenty of time to discuss our assignment. We knew very little about the requirements of the assignment. We retrieved the instructions and realized that we needed further guidance and instructions from Bronwyn. Time was passing very quickly. We did not realize that our microphones were on and people could listen to our conversation. Indeed, Bronwyn had joined and tried to talk to us but we had not put the headphones on and we could not hear her.

It was 6:30 already and Veronique joined the teleconference. She was the first to join after Bronwyn left the session temporarily. Later Jon, Liz, Katie, Kevin, Alex joined the session.

Bronwyn started to archive the session and kindly asked us to type our concerns and questions as regards to the assignment. I was not quite certain about what to ask. Louise and I had agreed on the type of evaluation we were going to do, effectiveness evaluation. The students asked a number of useful questions. Bronwyn wanted to know more about what we were doing. Louise talked briefly about her previous project, preconception development, an eMIT course she had designed last year for her BN1 students. I mentioned that I was going to evaluate my “special topic by negotiation” for my graduate certificate in e-learning. My topic is about a few online lessons about cellular basis of life utilizing the blackboard on eMIT. The materials included in these online lessons examine a general overview of a “typical living cell” in terms of structure and function. Students will have a better understanding of the various parts of the cell and how the various organelles interact with each other to maintain best possible living circumstances of the cell and to provide optimal requirements of the various activities the cell performs. 

Later I mentioned that I wanted my students to remember the cellular basis of life permanently and Bronwyn thought I was joking. As a matter of fact I was not. I tried to explain that cellular structures and related topics can be really confusing and can be really hard to comprehend especially by those BN students who have no or limited science background. I also mentioned that some BN students had dropped out already. I thought that developing an approach to these lessons to enhance students learning would largely assist them to develop confidence and keep being positive. The principal idea of the lessons is to do a step by step activity I named it “the smiley face approach”.

Later Bronwyn asked us again to type our main question on the screen specified for this purpose. I asked how well students will be able to remember the online lessons. Bronwyn had certain concerns and asked me to elaborate on my question.

Later Louise elaborated more about my concerns (as she had seen my eMIT website and she thought that it was great) while I was trying to display some screenshots of my lessons.

I retrieved an image and the smiley face I retrieved seemed really ugly, but it was not my face.