A Change of Direction

I have said before that the goal of reflective blogging for language learning is not to be a perfect student, but a self-aware student. KoreaKast is a case in point, since I cannot claim perfection, although I am very satisfied with what I have learnt.

Unfortunately my Korean adventure had an abrupt conclusion less than a week before my planned departure. En route to the embassy to collect my visa, my future boss called from Seoul to say my placement had been delayed by six months. Having been a middleman in public education myself, I understand that these things happen. Since I want to be working, though, I have accepted a position elsewhere. This means that learning Korean is no longer a priority, and I am discontinuing the blog.

So has KoreaKast fulfilled its purpose?

In the Name of Science, KoreaKast has been a pilot experiment in how online language learning resources can be harnessed using Web 2.0 applications. It has been an itinerary of my journey navigating the Web and making sense of the resources, the new language and my own learning process. It has been an example of how a blog can be exploited as a personal, reflective learning diary - whether by a learner or a teacher.

Although KoreaKast has merely scratched the surface of what is possible with blogs specifically, and Web 2.0 applications for learning generally, and has left endless possibilities untapped*, I do feel that it has been sufficiently successful. As the secondary aspect of the Teachers as Online Language Learners (TOLL) project, it has certainly served its purpose. The Survival Language Kit (SLK) that forms the core of TOLL proved effective and was well supported by the blog.

Where KoreaKast has served a greater purpose, is in the way it helped to develop my ideas about TOLL itself. By undergoing the very experience of being a Teacher as Online Language Learner myself, my understanding of other TOLLs' needs has deepened. I have, indeed, had the opportunity to practice what I preach before the sermon begins. This has refined the nature and scope of materials I hope to make available online for the project, and, I believe, given the project greater validity and credibility.

As KoreaKast concludes, I believe that with it I have met a vital criterion of good research: I have failed successfully. The metacognitive process at the very core of the TOLL concept is what makes this possible.

*While the reflective and synthesising aspects of blogging were well explored, the interactive aspect was not even touched on. This is an important consideration as the project continues, since TOLLs can benefit from experiencing the social dynamic of communities of interest - in their own learning as well as understanding how it impacts on their students.