Job Discussion Forums

[islandman]

The possiblities of distance learning are incredible. You and your students talking directly with no middlemen. Can you image the effect this will have on education?
What do you think?
Oz

[ouyang]

I think that there is a lot of potential for distance learning for ESL students, but I'm not aware of any big success stories at this time. I imagine that someday students will be able to use the internet to interact with their peers in foreign countries in a structured manner that will dramatically increase their learning opportunites.

I'm thinking particularly about Voice over Internet Protocol. Students could be matched by age and interests and have moderated discussions in both their first and second language.

Because of time zone differences, the most obvious example would be latin american spanish speakers interacting with north americans. The latin americans would be studying english and the anglos studying spanish.

With the growing interest in mandarin studies in america, I could even see american and chinese students someday speaking cheaply over the internet. Considering what a important advertising demographic students are, I could even imagine sponsors eager to pick up the tab for this relatively cheap technology.

However, anything like that in china would probably work best with some sort of mobile phone component. I know there are big companies investing in this kind of thing. Someday ESL teaching will probably be a very different field, but not anytime soon.