I have been teaching English/englanti at JAMK University of Applied Sciences since August, 2005. During this time, I have had experience working with students in many different degree programs at JAMK. One thing I clearly understand by now is that the need for English language skills is very different for students interested in working in different fields. I have decided to take the time to redesign this course based on what I have learned from my teaching experiences. I believe that for students of JAMK University of Applied Sciences' various degree programs, it is more important to develop English language skills directly needed in the workplace than to practice only/mostly everyday English during a short course of only one study period.
About the course lecturer
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| Jason Stevens |
I am a 40-year-old American. I moved to Finland (Jämsä) in 2001 with my wife and two children. My wife is a Finn, and she graduated from JAMK University of Applied Sciences a few years ago as a Public Health Nurse. My native language is English, but I understand spoken and written Finnish fairly well. In my home, English and Finnish are spoken almost equally. In 2007, my wife and I had our third child, so now we are a family of five. One of my personal life-long goals is to constantly improve my skills in the Finnish language. I am active in studying Finnish, but as an adult learner, I find it very challenging. I think that what has been most helpful to me in learning Finnish is making myself speak only in Finnish with my three-year-old son. He has excellent speaking skills for such a young child, and the relationship I have with him has really changed the way I think about language learning and teaching.
My hope is that you, as a participant in this course, will find a special way to practice and use your English language skills in an authentic way. I truly believe that foreign language skills cannot be given to you by any course, no matter how good the course is. The most useful foreign language course, in my opinion, is one that motivates you to really want to make a commitment to using your skills for the long term.
It is probably true that most of you started studying English in primary school, many years ago. At this point in your life, you probably don’t need to repeat the basic rules and structures of the language very much. Instead, finding effective ways to use the skills you’ve already learned and to develop the specific skills you will need in your future work should be far more useful. I also assume, since you have enrolled for this course, that you have already completed ZZCAE111 AMK-englannin perusteet 1 and/or ZZCAE112 AMK-englannin perusteet 2 or received a high enough score on a language level test at JAMK to enroll directly in this course.
Teaching/learning methods
A variety of teaching and learning methods will be used in this course. For each assignment and project, I have carefully considered which method(s) would allow for the most effective and meaningful experience for the course participants.
Pair/group work
One very important thing to know about this course is that other participants will depend on you and your active participation and support in pair and group work. When I teach contact courses, it is always important for me to make sure that every participant feels included in the group, and that no one feels like a number rather than a person. This is just as important to me in Web courses, and I have done my very best to find ways to design this course in a way that builds a strong sense of community. I want you to feel comfortable in this course, and to have many opportunities to get to know the other participants.
Independent studies
A significant component of this course will be independent studies and exercises. The more time and energy you spend studying and practicing English during the course, the better your learning results should be. In budgeting your time for this course, please keep in mind that a 3 ECTS credit course typically requires about 81 hours of work for the students.
About technology
In order to succeed in Web or mixed mode courses, it is necessary to have a reasonable amount of skill in the use of computers and related technologies. I have tried to avoid making this course overly complicated, but at the same time, the use of certain technologies will be required. In addition to basic skills in word processing and using the Internet, it will also be helpful to have skills in making computer-based audio recordings, strong skills in using Optima, and perhaps most importantly, the willingness to quickly learn how to use certain computer-related technologies.
I will do my very best to make sure that the course materials work properly by testing them on my own computers (a Windows 7 laptop and a Mac laptop with Mac OS X Lion). If you experience technical problems with the course materials, please take the time to try using the same materials on another computer whenever possible. It isn't possible for me to troubleshoot problems with participants' personal computers, so before reporting any problems with the Optima or other materials, it is always a good idea to test the same materials on a JAMK computer. If you still feel that something isn't working properly, you may contact me to describe the problem, but if I am not able to reproduce the problem on my own computers, then it may be necessary for you to report the problem to the IT Helpdesk.
Web browsers
As long as you are using an up-to-date, modern Web browser, you should be able to view and work with the contents of this workspace with little or no technical issues.
However, because of the design of these Web pages, some features such as opening and closing windows, viewing documents inside a browser window vs. downloading the files, media playback, etc. might work a bit more smoothly in certain browsers than others. If you would like to try a new Web browser, my personal recommendation would be for Firefox if you are using Windows or Linux, or Camino if you are using Mac OS X.
Important links
