Announcing Critically Minded Podcast

[David Allen Gann]

Well, it's not actually brand new, but it did start just last semester. I am interested in teaching students critical thinking skills at a variety of levels and from a variety of approaches. This year, I became Program Chair of our new Critical Thinking JALT (Japanese Association of Language Teachers) SIG. I am beginning an M.A. in Educational Technologies and TESOL at the University of Manchester from this September 2010. I hope that my interest in teaching critical thinking skills and my enthusiasm about virtual learning environments will fit in to my M.A. program.

[Nergiz Kern]

Hi David

Glad I could help make you feel a bit more comfortable with the MA. You'll see that once it has started, you'll feel better. We'll all meet in the "Common Room" on the Universities's Blackboard soon.

Thanks for sharing those links!

[David Allen Gann]

I'd also like to announce the formation of our new JALT (Japanese Association of Language Teachers) Critical Thinking SIG of which I'm the Program Chair. You may access our Facebook Page at: JALT CT Facebook. We also have a blog for our SIG at: JALT CT blog. We are currently campaigning to gather enough members to qualify for official establishment as a solid SIG, so if any of you out there are JALT members and are searching for a worthy SIG, look no further. To make it easy for you, here's the page to sign up: Sign Up for JALT CT SIG. Well, that's quite a few urls, so I'll close here for now.

[David Allen Gann]

Neither have I included the location of our site in SL. It is: Critically Minded Podcast/JALT CT SIG HQ.

[David Allen Gann]

I realized that I did not include the url to our Critically Minded Podcast blog, so here it is:

[David Allen Gann]

Hi Nergiz,

I felt a flush of human connection when I received your comment. I wanted to thank you for your warm welcome. It means a lot, especially as a new Distance Program student with as of yet no contact with anyone else in the course. Feeling a little at sea over here in Japan with no fellow students to bounce ideas off of. Maybe that will change as a result of joining this SIG. Please drop into my SL VLE anytime.

Kind regards, David

[Nergiz Kern]

Hi David!

I'm in my second year of the MA in EdTech & TESOL.
Nice to meet you this way.

You'll find that the tutors share both of your interests.

Best

Nergiz