Report on Academic
Specialist Visit to Malaysia:
June 7-18, 1999
By Heidi Shetzer, University of California-Santa
Barbara
About the Specialist
Heidi Shetzer is an instructor and
teacher trainer at International Programs, University of California,
Santa Barbara. She designs and teaches a variety of courses that
combine English language learning and computer/Internet training.
Ms. Shetzer did her academic training at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign where she earned a Master's degree in Teaching
English as a Second Language. At the University of Iowa she earned
her BA degrees in Linguistics and Spanish with honors. Her recent
projects include co-authoring the book Internet for English
Teaching to be published in 2000, and authoring several book
chapters and articles about using the Internet in education.
Visit
Heidi Shetzer's web page
Areas of Specialization
Computer-assisted language learning,
web page creation and management, teaching with technology, computer
applications training, curriculum and course development, curricular
change and innovation theory
Trip Report
I conducted four workshops titled,
"Creating Online Materials to Teach Literature" during this trip
to Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, Banting, Kuching (Sarawak) and Kota
Kinabalu (Sabah).
All workshops had the following four
objectives:
- To learn about traditional and
new approaches to teaching literature with the Internet
- To create original activities
and lesson plans for teaching literature
- To create basic instructional
Web pages using Netscape composer for online and offline use
- To understand where to store Web
pages on the Internet
In Kuala Lumpur and Banting I worked
with the Secondary Education Division of the MARA group using
USIS's Patchworks literary anthology. In Kuching and Kota
Kinabalu I worked with teacher trainers at Maktab Perguruan Batu
Lintang and Maktab Perguran Gaya (teacher training colleges) using
USIS's Being People literary anthology.
Participants in all settings worked
in small groups to create collaborative web sites to teach a story
from the literary anthology of their own selection. They created
web sites that integrated text and graphics and some put their
pages on the Internet. Many of the Web sites were detailed lesson
plans to share with other teachers. Each participant received
a diskette with a list of useful literature links and an assortment
of papers related to teaching with technology.
The teachers and teacher trainers
I worked with had varying degrees of knowledge about the Internet
and its potential value for their own professional development
and for the professional development of their students. Some were
highly experienced while others signed up for their first email
account during our workshop. I tried to stress that teachers need
to learn first how to make use of the Internet for communication,
research and publication for their own professional development,
and then they will be able to think of more creative ways to integrate
technology into their teaching.
There is a tremendous push to integrate
the Internet and the use of technology into educational processes
in Malaysia, as in other countries, but decision makers and administrators
need to keep in mind that teachers need to have adequate access
to technology themselves in order to devise creative ways to integrate
technology into their practice. Facilities need to be provided
not only for students in the form of networked computer classrooms,
but also for instructors for the preparation of their classroom
materials and plans.
Internet access in Malaysia (especially
in Borneo) was not entirely stable. In two settings there were
constant hiccups in the phone connection, which required that
you continually reconnect to the Internet. This provides challenges
for doing research on the Internet and in using online classroom
packages like Nicenet (http://www.nicenet.org),
which was of interest to many participants. We discussed the various
things that can be done without a live Internet connection such
as creating Web sites and composing email messages offline. We
also talked about using offline browsers such as Teleport Pro
or Web Whacker (both can be found at http://www.download.com
for the display of Web sites without a live Internet connection.
Moreover, we discussed ways that students could be exposed to
the Internet and its role in the global economy even in classrooms
and schools that don't have any computers. Teachers can develop
awareness-building activities by printing out key web sites to
share in such settings (assuming they have access at home or through
an Internet café, which existed in each city I visited).
Not only did I stress that the Internet
is a tool for teachers to create activities to deliver to students,
but I also emphasized that teachers can use the Internet to create
activities and lesson plans that encourage the students to create
multimedia Web sites, conduct research, and participate in global
cross-cultural exchange projects. These exchange projects might
involve writing, research, collaboration, and the exchange of
US and Malaysian literature.
Recommended
Links
An Electronic Literacy Approach to
Network Based Language Teaching
By Heidi Shetzer & Mark Warschauer
http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html
Heidi Shetzer's New Tierra Web Site
http://www.newtierra.com
Heidi Shetzer's UCSB Web Site
http://www.xlrn.ucsb.edu/~hshetzer/
American Literature Links
Project ELLSA
Online American Literature Activities & Materials
http://www.rdlthai.com/ellsa_index.html
Literature and Culture of the American
1950s.
Reading list of 50s literature
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/home.html
Voice of the Shuttle Literature,
University of California, Santa Barbara
Alan Liu’s collection of literature links through the ages
http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/shuttle/english.html
O'Conner's American Literature Online
Chronological list of American lit links
http://web.missouri.edu/~engmo/amlit.html
Literature Online Home Page
Searchable library of English & American Literature
http://lion.chadwyck.com/
A Student's History of American Literature
chronological list of American lit links
http://www.bibliomania.com/Reference/Simonds/SHAL/
American Studies Web
Comprehensive site about American literature, culture & history
http://www.georgetown.edu/crossroads/asw/
Writing Black
Literature and History by and on African Americans
http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/as/Literature/amlit.black.html
USIA Outline of American Literature
Online book
http://www.usia.gov/products/pubs/oal/oaltoc.htm
Black American Literature Forum
Searchable literary journal
http://www.jstor.org/journals/01486179.html
WWW Resources for English and American
Literature
Comprehensive guide by Indiana University Library
http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/pwillett/english-www.html
American Literature Association
Professional association Web site
http://humanities.byu.edu/ALA/
American Literature on the Web
Online texts and indices by Akihito Ishikawa
http://www.nagasaki-gaigo.ac.jp/ishikawa/amlit/
Electronic Poetry Center Home Page
SUNY Buffalo’s resource collection
http://wings.buffalo.edu/epc/
African American Women's Literature
Articles and Web site listings about African American Women’s
Literature
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/aaw_literature
Documenting the American South
Bibliography by Professor Robert Bain
http://metalab.unc.edu/docsouth/southlit/southlit.html
Early American Literature 1600-1900
K-12 Resources
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/amlit.htm
Native American Authors
Search for North American authors by Author, Title, or Tribe
http://www.ipl.org/ref/native/
African American Literature
Links to online readings
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/multicultural/sites/aframdocs.html
Asian American Literature
History, Classroom Use, Bibliography & WWW Resources
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/asialit.htm
Native American Web Sites
Eclectic collection of online resources
http://www.jammed.com/~mlb/nawbt.html
Children and Young Adult Books by
Native Authors & Illustrators
Short stories, novels, biographies and more
http://homepage.interaccess.com/~cynthias/newnatlit.htm
Yahoo's Literature Section
A compendium of links and resources
http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/
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