REFLECTIVE commentary on my website

A. Reflection on the process of design and development of my website
Before creating this Christmas Activities Website(http://www.student.ed.qut.edu.au/n6203418/project/index.html), the exercises I desiged in the past were usually multiple choice, true/false items and gap filling. I seldom thought about the objectives of the activities and the pedagogical approaches behind them. However, after taking the unit of CLN 616 (Second Language Assessment and Program Evaluation) and CLN618 (Technology and Second Language Learning), I realize that in order to achieve effective learning, we teachers should match the activities with our learning objectivities (Brown, 2004). Therefore, when designing the activities, I took many factors like my context, the objectives and methodology into account. I also tried to adopt the principles of validity and reliability which I learned from CLN 616 in my activities when I designed them.

In the test design process, I tried to make my website user-friendly and gave the learners clear instruction to avoid confusion. I tried to show my students what to do and how to do through the instruction, and gave them necessary hints to help them complete all the activities. However, I also encountered some problems in the design process. I found it is not easy to write successful multiple choice items to avoid the possibilities of guessing and cheating in the exercises although this test technique has some advantages like the scoring is reliable and rapid (Hughes, 2003). Moreover, I found it is quite time-consuming to search for the suitable readings and related links for the learners. According to Brandl (2002), the pre-screening and selecting process of the Internet sites are the most time-consuming part.


B. Reflection on the feedback from my peers
The feedback from my peers allows me to examine the strengths and weaknesses of my website. From their feedback, my colleagues expressed that I gave my students clear instruction and hints which could help them complete all the exercises. The colors and animations I used also make my website look more attractive to the young learners. Moreover, the reading texts I provided for my students before starting the activities are very helpful and useful.

However, my website has some weaknesses as well. First, in the activity of ‘Christmas Cross’, the clues I provided for some words could help the learners guess the answer for another crossword. For example, the clue in down 3 could help my students find the answer in cross 2. I think these will make my test less reliable because the learners can guess the answers from the clues. Therefore, next time, I will pay more attention to it.

Second, it would be better if I could set the function in Hot Potato to shuffle the order of items each time when the page loads. This function could allow my students to do the activities again and again with different orders of items. I think this is a very good suggestion.

Third, I can add a variety to the exercises which will make the activities more interesting and meaningful. With regard to this point, I think the five types of exercises I designed (multiple choice, gap filling, matching, crossword and ordering the sequence) may be enough for my learners because these activities can reflect the overall objectives of my website: 1) examine if the learners have an overall understanding of the article, 2) if they can look for detailed information and predict the meaning of the unknown words, 3) if they know the key Christmas vocabulary and 4) if they understand the logical sequence of the article about the life of Santa Claus. Although I think these activities may be enough for my learners, my colleagues’ suggestions really give me another idea to think about the design of my activities. I really appreciate that.

The last suggestion raised by my colleagues is that I may need to add some pictures in the activity which may be attractive to the young learners. I think this is a good idea, too.

Through the process of designing my website and getting feedback from my colleagues, I really learned a lot. I found I will never discover the real difficulties and problems with my website until I do it. This hands-on experience is really useful and helpful for me. Moreover, I really appreciate the feedback I got from my peers because all of my colleagues are experienced teachers and they may have different ideas and viewpoints about the same activity. Therefore, it is a very precious experience to know the strengths and weaknesses of my website by getting feedback form them.


References
Brandl, K. (2002). Integrating Internet-Based Reading Materials into the foreign language curriculum: form teacher- to student-centered approaches. Language Learning & Technology. 6(3), 87-107

Brown, H. D. (2004). Language Assessment. Principles and Classroom Practices. NY: Pearson Education, Inc.

Hughes, A. (2003). Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.