I'm sitting in at the TESOL online conference in Alado, with a free passs for invited Webheads. As a virtual meeting space, Alado works smoothly and easy going; it is some time since I was in an Alado session last time. 48 people are participating from all over the world. We're listening to a lecture by Margo Gottlieb on language arts standards and assessment in the US school system. backstage with Daf, in YM, we are agreeing it is a bit surprising that text chat is mute, even for private chats. This session is announced like this: ..."addresses the tensions that currently exist for teachers and administrators in this era of accountability countered against the classroom reality that our students face. Come join us for a lively discussion of the issues surrounding large-scale assessment and effective instructional assessment strategies for balancing the potentially detrimental effects of testing." So far, the discussion has not been very lively as we have seen dozens of slides, and only once been encouraged to answer a pretty closed question; the text chat was open for two or three minutes about halfway - and then closed again for more talking.
This is indeed the sage on the stage model transported into the virtuel environment with a nice audience. now five more minutes left, not much expectation for a lively dialog. In last minute, another question is raised, and a few repsonses are given, but as our professor has another ten slides she will move on quickly, but encouraging after session dicsussion talking about National Language Proficiency Standards. Some good advice is given. Talking about collaboration...
A thought provoking experience.
