Project Task 5

In what follows, I am going to write down my reflections on the first steps of implementing my project. I meet my Theories of Language Learning class once a week for three hours (Sundays 2P.M. – 5P.M.). In the second week of the class (October 27^th, 2013),  I started the implementation process of my project by collecting background information about the participants  and their access to the internet  via a closed ended questionnaire consisting of 13 items. Table (1) below presents a brief summary of the most relevant results obtained via the questionnaire.

Table (1): Relevant Data about the Participants

Item	Yes N= 10	No N= 10
Do you teach in the morning?	6	4
Do you have a computer?	9	1
Do you have an internet connection at home?	4	6
Do you use the internet café?	5	-
Do you have an e-mail account?	10	-
Do you have a Facebbook account?	8	2

On (November 3^rd,  2013), I exchanged e-mail addresses with the students and I gave them a brief idea of the project. At home I created a class blog on Blogger and sent its URL http://mohammad-abdu-al-mekhlafi.blogspot.com/ to the students via an e-mail inviting them to visit the class blog  and to do two tasks. The first task asks the students to write down freely their own perceptions and views on this new technological tool (the class blog). The second task  asks them to write down their reflections on what they learned in class and during the week. I expected high participation, but unfortunately only 2 students (20%) wrote their reflections on the first task. Concerning the second task which asks them to write down what they learned during the week only 7 students (70%) did this task.

On Sunday November 10^th, 2013, I met them in class and asked them about  the blog. 3 students expressed their support of the new tool and the other three were skeptical while the other four expressed their dissatisfaction with the blog because they did not have free time to spend in the internet cafe. One of them pointed out that some commercials containing photos that are not suitable for a conservative society like Yemen were displayed on the blog . I explained to them the advantages of the project and promised them to do something about the commercials. I also stressed the importance of the continuity that electronic communication can create for them between class meetings. To solve the problem of commercials, I decided to create a course page on Nicenet. Again I sent them an invitation to join our course via e-mail. Till now 9 students (90%) have registered themselves on Nicenet.

It might be worth noting that my first plan was to implement the project with the undergraduate students, but I expected many problems. Therefore, I decided to first implement the project with the graduate students instead because they are grown up and they have facilities like computers and access to the internet. I also expected their full cooperation and that they would show a positive attitude towards the integration of such technological devices.

When I feel that the students have fully accepted the class blog and Nicenet and they are comfortable using it, I am planning to introduce Delicious and using the websites  (Next week).