COURSE INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

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~MY TEACHING TECHNIQUE~

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                                My name is Gary Rowley. My previous academic background is a Bachelor’s degree in International      

                                Business Administration and a Master’s of Education with an emphasis in English as Second Language 

                                (ESL). I am currently finalizing additional graduate work in Career and Technical Education (CTE). I am not a conventional instructor.

 

I consider myself a conversational coach who uses CTE course subjects for conversational context. My technique for teaching English as a Second language will not involve the usual classroom setting of teacher-to-student lecture because the primary classroom for my students, especially those taking an online course, should be each student’s own Private Learning Environment (PLE). To better understand the PLE concept and other concepts taught in this course, it (they) should be searched on the student’s preferred search engine. The key to this entire learni process will be the student’s individually motivated self-study within an individually created PLE.

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I will provide an immersive language environment by not changing the way I would normally write or speak. Students are encouraged to have an online dictionary bookmarked and to make extensive use of the Microsoft learning tools mentioned in the second note above so they can listen to and study the unfamiliar words they will most likely encounter in this course. I also provide suggested guided activities and study resources which can be used by students to prepare for group interactions (classroom and online) and for their one-on-one conversations with me.

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I do not give formal exams. My only means to assess student learning will be the pragmatic handshake we are able to negotiate in our privately scheduled conversations. The students will be able to grade themselves (and me) according to the degree of increased conversational and written confidence they obtain as result of communicating with me and others about the things taught in this course. I will coach their learning process by reviewing the documents or recordings they submit, as well as through individually scheduled phone conversations.

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Students in a formal classroom setting at a brick-and-mortar institution can use my course/website as a resource for scholarly comparison of notes and ideas with peers, or to come together in group or team configurations for the online simulation challenges which I sponsor.

 

In order to provide individual progress assessments, I will use the bulk of my daily six-hour office time conducting one-on-one conversations with my students around the seven business concepts presented in this course.
 

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