dis/THISConnected

DISTHISconnected

For weeks, the Philippines has been under terrible rains and floods. But from where I was, that is within the University campus residential area, electricity was up and running so I continued on with my usual work of doing online academic advising for a population of undergraduate students. I was THIS connected with work in the midst of heavy rains yet remained disconnected with the rest of my countrymen.

I only realized it too late that I in fact scheduled for a live class at WizIQ with  my bunch of students in a course I teach at the UP Open University. I checked my email for any class registration sent though WizIQ and my Moodle site for any kind of response from my students. I  had only 1 prospective student attendee who confirmed participation as seen in my WizIQ class/course page.  I was uncertain whether to cancel or not. I can easily do that in one click through the cancel class/change class time features of WizIQ, but I held back. At one end,  I figured, 'Was I thaaat insensitive to even push through with a live class?', given that maybe some of my students were flooded, with no electricity, or out in the cold. But then, how are they, really? There I was fussing over a class instead of watching the news.

But I decided to push through, just like always, because that is what it means to teach, especially now that my teaching isn't just about setting up activities and discussion forum at my Moodle course site. Discovering a videoconferencing platform in an eLearning community of WizIQ has given me an  alternative way to teach online and keep myself connected with my students real time, making the whole experience of blended online learning worth doing.

And so, what I expected to be just 1 attendee, surprisingly became 12 =).  9-13 student attendees is the range I have in my live classes on any given day. But in this kind of weather, 12 students is  a wonder!  In what can  possibly be chaotic, for more than 60 minutes or so, turned out to be calm, as we were all together actively learning because lifelong learning simply has to go on. I think more than the idea of  holding a class together, was the real chance to assure ourselves that we shall get through this class alive and get through more days of rains if we have to. This opportunity to be online and live at that, was some affirmation we all needed. The virtual class kept us connected THIS MUCH, and it felt good to be alive.

One time, I was supposed to share a few words on the use of synchrononous platforms and its pedagogical value with the rest of my colleagues in the university.   I was not able to get that chance due to a prior committment. Now should be a good time to explain. Well, for one academics love to do that---find some logical, theoretical, pedagogical (or more '-cals' and '-isms', the better) to justify why we do the things we do, for every little decision we make, every step of the way, as do all in government institutions such as my university. Unlike my fellow professors,  a big part of me is really just about being a teacher. When I know and feel that something is worth trying because it feels right, I go for it, knowing that I have my students in mind. It's enough for me that I can visualize it happening and I don't need to rack my brains for any theory to support it. The cycle of action-reflection is quite intuitive among teachers who are expected to think on their toes and make quick decisions if it means keeping students attentive and engaged.

When I first learned about WizIQ through a live demo session and tutorials available, I immediately tried it with gradeschoolers. It was like having a face to face class--I was present through the chatbox, audio-mic and ppt visuals, and my students were buzzing away on the whiteboard and chatbox.  Then after attending and observing teachers teach in WizIQ, I finally scheduled my first series of live classes with grad-level students at the university. All I can say is that, through synchronous modes such as the WizIQ virtual classroom, I became more connected with my students and myself  as a teacher.  There is value in getting immediate feedback from a number of students whom to me represent the class as a whole.

With ^Anitha Devi at ELT@I,Chennai

On several occasions in my life as a teacher among young learners, the gut feel of things have driven me to experiment, and most often, I get something in return. The returns are more than what I expected or predicted.
 The more-than-what-I-expected or -predicted-part was I found myself pursuing research on teaching presence in synchronous platforms to find  a logical and theoretically based excuse to observe exemplary online teachers and learn from them.  This research experience has brought me places where I can share and network with fellow teachers. In my last out of the country conference at ELT@I Chennai, I had the chance to see Anitha Devi, a co-presentor at the 2012 Free Online Conference organized by Dr Nellie Deutsch of IT4ALL, with WizIQ as our platform to present out papers LIVE.
 Little did I know that Anitha, Nellie and I will be together in 1 face to face conference, and realtime at that, while having Kallol Mukherjee, my WizIQ webstreaming coach, in the same conference recording the whole event, LIVE.

      ELT@I Conference Live Webstreaming through WizIQ, 

c/o Kallol Mukherjee, Coordinator-Academic Liaisons, WizIQ

 
A few days later, there I was at the World Education Summit in Delhi to share my second paper with other professors of the Research Education Forum of Digital Learning.  I had the chance to reconnect with my first WizIQ demoteacher, Mr Kalyan Sarkar, now the Director for Academic Liaisons at WizIQ. All these chance encounters, after 1 year of exchanging ideas online from different parts of the world, are made possible only through technology.

     @the World Education Summit,

with Kalyan Sarkar (L), Director for Academic Liaisons, WizIQ

I must say, in this world when teaching and learning comes with more ease due to advances in technology, getting THIS connected with my students in the midst of calamity, and moreso with folks from other parts of the world, brings me joy. I never thought that teaching...and active learning can get me this far. And in the near future, what more?!

 

Twistwacted: Open HS+BES-LTS+Online Tutorials@WizIQ&Moodle

I was looking at the discussion re Wiki to Speech (by John Graves NZ) started by Nellie at our WizIQ forums when this popped.  Now, I'm pretty much Twistwacted...but only just a bit compared to how I can actually be virtually distracted. I'm am now learning the skill of Disciplined Distraction while on the Net=the capacity to maneuver ones distractions in order to still get things done at the end of the day.  I've allowed myself to get twistwacted for just 30 mintues....only because my Open HS ideas are cropping up every now and then while I'm in the midst of learning from a network of  WizIQ Experts=Nellie of IT4ALL, George of EDUPunk, and Chris '6Geeks& ZDNet and prepping myself to view class recordings for my current paper.

Here it goes:

Doc Nemah H one time at the UPOU Fac Congress told me about a possible UPOU-LTS (=Literacy Training Service)-Marikina Open HS hook up. So with UPOU's prospective undergrad degree on Education, perhaps we can develop modules for Literacy Training Service through which our undergrads can learn how to tutor students of Marikina Open HS using blended online teaching=WizIQ+Moodle.  This is a means to break in and immerse our students in actual online teaching experiences even before they start their actual practice teaching. 

Interesting to study what prior knowledge (=TK+TPK?) UPOU undergrads will bring into this service learning experience of doing LTS. LTS 1=modules to prepare them for online teaching using 2 platforms to include use of social networking to establish rapport and do initial investigation of prospective students from Marikina Open HS. Then LTS 2=Actual Tutorial Experiences and Reflections.

Our Bachelor of Education Studies=BES undergrads can use the upcoming virtual community site  hatched by Prof Sol with the help of Prof Bobby. Then of course, there's  a good reason to start  EPortfolio pages for our BES students with their blogs and hands-on experiences with LTS-Open HS-Online Teaching.

How do I plan to contribute? I would like to co-develop a set of modules and train students to use tools in Online Teaching --facilitation and direct instruction (future product of my current research on Teaching Presence at WizIQ) via Moodle+WizIQ. Then maybe I can be FIC of this LTS, whose job includes bringing in basic ed subject area experts (ex Teacher Vic + Readability clinicians) who can mentor LTS students in terms of the basics of literacy teaching and learning.

Now that I have dumped this here, I shall return to my current priority.

Syn- + chron + (ous): Teaching of the 3rd Kind

It's been a few weeks since the Faculty Congress where I got to share my mini- bag of goodies with fellow colleagues of the University of the Philippines. I'm trying to understand where my apprehension was coming from when I was asked by my Dean to handle this presentation in front of faculty members. I mean, out of all facs, why me? Could it be due to my buzzing about a research colloquim, Moodle Moot Aussie, or my sneak previews of Google sites and WizIQ during a workshop, or am I just the easiest one to bully for a performance of some kind? My portion for the Fac Congress was about "Engaging Learners", a task which I was uncertain of doing since I started my work as an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines Open U. Whenever I hear THAT title, it sounds more like an ASS-Prof since half of the time I feel like I am making an ass of myself while teaching online with all my trials and errors, and more errors.

To date, my work at UPOU is the worst teaching experience I've ever had in my life. If there is such a thing as best teaching practice, this is where the opposite of it happened to me--online. Something about higher ed and U.P. as THE state university, which make people assume that once called a 'Prof', one is an excellent teacher to start with. And so the expectation is great and that rubbed off on me: I too expect myself to be a good enough teacher to start with since I've been teaching for 20 years.

My 20 years was colored by teaching in schools/ set ups with very unique causes in the Philippine context: progressive education=Community of Learners, learning disabilities=Wordlab School, IBO-PYP=The Beacon School, teacher to the barrios=UP Oblation Corps. These were pioneering schools/programs in the Philippines.

Then comes UPOU...one of the pioneering open and distance learning institutions within the residential top state university of the country. Though I do have an agenda in Social Studies and Teacher Education to start with, my bigger cause is for the Filipino learners. I see distance education and UPOU as the university which can accommodate the kind of graduates from the types of thinkers and doers I encounter at the basic ed level. ODL is what my children at the K-12 will get into, a few years from now.

My cause is great and very much in place, but my teaching isn't at all.

How am I supposed to sustain this act...especially in front of an audience who are part of the bigger UP system which haven't fully embraced our presence as their Open University. Residential experts and scholarly faculty members view us with skepticism despite allies who see ODL as an opportunity to further the cause of their field. So the pressure of having to face senior faculty members teaching in the residential mode most of their teaching lives was something to reckon with. I don't think I even have enough experience with teaching online to swing a presentation.


Online teaching when I first taught at UPOU equals asynchronous. The first platform we used was IVLE. It felt like I was a frozen delight the whole time--I had so much warmth to give as an F2F teacher but trapped in some ice cold freezer of a platform. I was simply scheming through my students responses which I liken to responding to some email groupie, only that you aren't chums nor friends with these folks without faces and worse, what you're trying to talk about isn't about life at all. It was like going through the motions of Q's and A's to finally give a grade. It's as frozen as can be because teaching then wasn't an 'experience' at all.

Then came Moodle...but this time, I call my teaching as half baked despite my becoming more in touch with the undergrads under my supervision as Program Chair of Associate in Arts@UPOU. In my undergrad class, I was making gains as the course itself had to do a combination of online and offline activities. It's the blended formula I learned through the UPOU Community Site where I get to socialize with students and do informal consultations for ideas to implement program improvements. This virtual forum served as springboard to organize offline community building activities which facilitated my performance of administrative duties in monitoring and handling a big population of undergrads. When they see me F2F or online, I will always be Prof V, their program chair, ready to give academic advice. But this is not the major responsibility I have. On paper, professor=40% teaching, online teaching that is.

Teaching to grad level students was the part of me I was most dissatisfied with. It took an amount of effort to schedule an F2F with my grad students to let me feel connected in the first place. A common time was hard to find given that weekends are either make up time for catching up with other online classes or make up time with family. My students were mostly employed fulltime and already teachers at that. Sometimes it felt like they just wanted to get over my course in order to earn enough credits to become qualified examinees for teaching certification and licensure. It came to a point when I actually questioned my existence at UPOU and if in fact college teaching is the path for me.

Hence the apprehension to even share about 'Engaging Learners' as I may come across as superficial...well, almost not. Good thing I was able to dig into my bag of tricks as I experimented with WizIQ, a synchronous platform which allowed for things to finally come together for me as an online teacher. It's a kind of teaching I fondly call now as the 3rd Kind, lol. If the F2F was the 1st kind for me, and online ala asynchronous is the 2nd Kind, then going synchronous is teaching of the 3rd Kind!

WizIQ came at a time when I realized that part of me was indeed 'settled' in my job at the university. My recent attempts to do an autoethnography which I presented at Pune was telling of that journey into student support and distance education. I would not even come close to saying that learning about WizIQ was some form of divine intervention..hardly at all, lol. In fact, I learned about this online tool from a UPOU student with troll like behavior over at our virtual site. I tried to pick it up after I had a brief 1-1 finding out at Pune, to be continued via skype conversation and an actual demo. I have yet to be convinced of course. I finally decided to go for premium membership over the summer after reading some blog comparing WizIQ with a dimming Dimdim. I was being my usual self as a gradeschool teacher, fond of seeing a new toy and wondering how I can make functional, practical and crazy use of it.

As I was saying, I did have fun experimenting with my WizIQ toy over the summer. I tinkered with the virtual classroom features first with my gradeschoolers a few days before schoolbreak, like a show and tell session of some neat artifact I found in India. Then come April 2011, I was on a 30 day trial and tried it out with few UPOU forum members and colleagues---still in seclusion thanks to the private class setting. I didn't dare go public yet as it did take time to get myself comfortable hearing my kiddish voice. I patiently went through a few more demos handled personally by the WizIQ Support Team, viewed tutorials and even attended classes as a real student. I lurked in the discussion area of the E Learning Community to get the feel of the other teacher-members. I observed a few classes and I thought perhaps it will still take a length of time before I can give this tool a GO in my classes at UPOU.

As classes finally opened this June at UPOU, I found myself making good use of my toy. One time, this toy felt like a hi-tech gadget when our Moodle was down for almost a week--my class was up and running still at WizIQ while the rest of my colleagues were disappointed with some glitch in our asynchronous platform. Funny even, that when I first met my grad level students online, they commented on me as being approachable and cybergenic, lol--proof of the fact that the video+audio makes the teacher alive thereby making them feel alive enough to say those things about me. These live sychronous classes complement the revamps I was doing in my Moodle with the help of Google Sites and html codes. I had a bag of tricks to share with fellow facs after all :)

Looking back, this WizIQ tool a few months ago felt like a precious Parker pen I'd hardly use for the fear of misplacing....now it's becoming more like a whiteboard marker and my laptop which I can't do without. In the near future, perhaps it may turn into an ordinary ballpen or book I will easily misplace and eventually forget about. Technology, my teaching and I will surely move on.

These days however, I plan to enjoy going synchronous while I still can.
Teaching of the 4th, or 5th kind or whatever new toy will just have to wait. With improvements coming along at WizIQ, slowly but surely, I hope to see it happening more for Open HS and K-12 in the Philippines.

Of A Lost Story and Keeping the Found Ones

Just yesterday, I had about 10-11 students from my course at UPOU: Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS) Ecology Track. I received a yesss from resource persons, namely Kristoffer Ordonez and Anthony Arbias, environmental advocates and volunteers. Kris was a former student of mine who spearheaded the first Ecology Track on Treeplanting@IPO Dam for the CWTS last year while Anthony was referred to me by the UP Mountaineers to be an expert on Philippine Trees. I invited these precious individuals purposely to share their knowledge and experiences about: Watersheds+Reforestation+Philippine Trees+Volunteerism. Of course before their lectures, I didn't see them as precious at all, I only assumed they were down to earth individuals being members of UP Mountaineer, and perhaps a given that they are intelligent folks because they are from UP, the top state university of the country, and therefore can carry a lecture/ sharing session with UP students.

Of course, I label them only now as precious after learning about what they know and willingly share every chance they get through conversations while having treewalks, hikes, major climbs and camp outs. But of course, it quite impossible to set up a hike for busy working students who choose to earn their degree online, and put up with a course on citizenship education to fulfill actual hours of doing community service as mandated by law. This F2F session was meant for students to see the meaning behind a simple but humble act of treeplanting and nurturing as part of the community service of their choice=Ecology Track.

So, I've set up my WizIQ classroom to do its job, record the audio, video the ppt and student engagements with the topics at hand. I sat comfortably with my students cuz there was so much to learn. All this time, I thought the recording was "happening". But somehow the recording via WizIQ didn't capture what we all saw and experienced F2F. I know, I am still experimenting with using the tool to run a videocon ala webinar. I thought I could pull it with my current skills. Somehow it didn't happen the way I wanted and that's like all their efforts down the drain. The failed recording was either due to a shaky internet connection or some technical glitch I wasn't able to predict or my lack of skill and memory to do what I had to do. I feel terrible.

True, the students who arrived to witness the activity F2F brought home with them new found knowledge but how about the rest of my students who could not make it. Yeah, I got the ppt and I can easily upload this as a tutorial over at WizIQ or my google docs then embed the code onto my Moodle classroom. Or Maybe I can ask them to come around and record their talk all over again using my videocam. But no, this will not do at all. Why so....

Kris and Anthony's style was very much like storytelling ala peershare. They were there as simple folks, mountaineers who happen to love what they do and the knowledge they discover along the way. Hence sharing scientific knowledge+anecdotes of bits from here and there would be quite instinctive with hardly a 'script' to follow. This style of knowledge sharing I find hardly intimidating to both teachers and learners--it's what I describe as light but loaded. Kris' creative use of photos, numbers, symbols, maps and data generated from environmental assessments delivered as if he was just narrating a story over a campfire, a style which to my mind works best for this adult-learner population of undergrads. Anthony's aesthetic sense as seen through his choice of photographs (grabbed from friends and his own collection) and intentional use of the Filipino language bore his agenda to widen our knowledge and instill in our memory the taken for granted Philippine Trees. His science was a blend of indigenous knowledge from his actual explorations, studies and conversations with like minded individuals and botanists. Hence, the interaction which transpired all seemed to be an ongoing conversation and flow of ideas among peers, like a narrative in itself which can no longer be replicated. Meaning, that if ever Kris and Anthony would do this all over again to another audience, I am certain that a different set of interactions would take place. It is these types of unique interactions which mostly remain as hidden, and uncodified and now all the more worth capturing and replaying through a tool such as WizIQ.

Though someone has told me WizIQ is just a tool for teachers, in this learning context, it could have been a powerful tool. I am determined to do this better next time!!!

For now, I can only maximize this opportunity to codify the found stories in WizIQ's collection of public classes=interactions happening in the recorded classes of Nellie, Namrata and George...the only ones I can afford to observe and closely examine through my small study given the realities of my time. If I had a co-writer, we would have sufficient time to cover the works of Vinodita Sankhyan, Vijaya Lakshmi, and maybe Sharon Hartle or Sylvia Guinan. Perhaps a part 2 study will do later on.

Not unless...WizIQ for some reason would like to celebrate their latest award by launching an online contest: for teachers and learners themselves to pick 1 favorite recorded live class, blog about it to tell us why!!! Imagine replaying a mash up of all these fave classes in a user conference, wow...I'd love to see inserts of Mr Machlan's EduPunk videos on a wide screen, and a 3D version at that, lol. Wishful thinking, lol.

What remains still, are stories online learners tell others about classes happening for them @WizIQ. Some could be a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. Still some, are meant to be played over and over again.

Google Sites + Moodle + WizIQ= Having my Cake and Eating It, too!

My July 31 blog was about me getting worried about my presentation to a bunch of academicians over at my Unive during our Aug 4 Faculty Congress.
Well, I was able to cook up versions which you can find here:
a) Text Version @Google Sites: https://sites.google.com/site/iteacherguroako/engaging-learners
b) Dry Run recorded version @WizIQ: http://www.wiziq.com/online-class/594358-upou-faculty-congress-session-2-engaging-learners-dry-run

c) Tutorial Version @WizIQ: http://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/159230-UPOU-Faculty-Congress-Session-2-Engaging-Learning


d) Bloglike-After-the-Presentation Version is as follows

I've been a school teacher for 20 years now. I love the idea of fixing classrooms to make it a conducive place where children learn and this includes: posting their works, visual aids and other printed matter; creating spaces for displays; choosing and arranging instructional resources and other materials. Part of the room preparation is visualizing small group and individual activities to make room for both collaborative and independent learning. I am able to think through my lessons when immersed in this kind of environment. The best part of classroom teaching is the fact that I still get to take the kids out anywhere on a trip, or even bring them to the outdoor area to extend their learning then come back to the classroom and learn together.

Hence when I took a leap from basic education to online teaching at the higher ed level, I found my Moodle classroom such a bore. To me then, it felt like a cubicle, with files of folders, a mere storage of documents with a table in the middle for those who happen to drop by and consult. Sometimes, I even felt like I was merely talking to myself and getting guilty for doing such a lousy job at online teaching. If I were just some government employee, I can simply be content with this set up... besides I get paid at the end of the day. I have other lives to live anyways, why bother.

But I am a teacher...I am nothing if I don't see or feel the presence of my students. How do I engage them to be able to deserve my pay? Am I even worth my title: Assistant Professor=Prof V to some? Am I cut out to teach at the higher ed in the first place?!?

Why should I even allow my Moodle course site to limit what I want to do? A good colleague of mine (a favorite in fact) showed me Google sites and it has been my toy for 2 years before I finally decided to set up a supplementary course guide/course site to make me visually engaged as a teacher. Putting my course out there, makes it visible and even open to criticisms but who cares? I want it out there like some poster/display students can view anytime. I take it as a challenge to improve and build on my course every now and then.

I just don't know whether my students find that good--the idea of moving back and forth from Moodle to Google Sites. But then, let them move with me and explore as well. Nothing to lose.

From another good colleague (in my top 5 faves), I learned a few tricks from his Science Tech & Society course site at Moodle when he gave me permission to view his classroom. Of course it made clear to me that he was doing something I didn't so why rest on what I have. Then from a younger colleague teaching Photography via Moodle, I also asked for access, to check whether my course site is as good as his and if there was a trick I haven't learned yet....(yeah, I'm a competitive female!) I mean, who wants to be labelled as an old, boring faculty member. I managed to discover < > = 'toggle html source'. My course now has interesting images and embeds of sorts...like some chocolate cake.

But you see, even as a basic ed teacher, visuals aren't enough. Discussions over at my Moodle DB's can be reliable to some extent, but the slideshow which go with the forum and past F2F lectures still seem static to me. I don't even know what to say over a moodle/google/skype chat as my chatbox is my space for socialization with colleagues and a few students. As for FB, never mind...I'd rather hangout in our Community Site, a virtual forum mounted on phpbb for other purposes which serve the program and the undergrads I'm handling...not my verrry busy grad level students. Besides, running a class in the hallway or some cafe/bar can be too distracting.

At last...WizIQ :) :) :) Here comes the icing+filling on my Google Site/Moodle chocolate cake. Yessss, I can run lectures and share my research finds to students. I get direct feedback and comments, and for once be the one to receive stars=ratings for my teaching performance. I hear student voices and chatter (rooster crowing as well), it makes me feel alive. I review the recorded versions of my classes and I get to examine my facial expressions and oral language. (And boy, I need to practice and so I do pilot tests/ dry runs, lol).


With a few cosmetic touches, I look cute enough to draw attention and sustain it with good content delivery via my powerpoint and screenshare. I get to set the tone and at the same time, sense my students' presence, so I know when it's time to brainstorm and listen to their concerns as I pass on the audio control. When I need to scratch my nose, I turn off my video and the class goes on as usual. They hear me sniffle of course but hey, that makes me more human! And they're free to sniffle back by the way. One time, my son kissed me goodnight and of course I heard an "awwwh' from the background.

Once I tried an F2F, with the live class (like a webinar) for other students who couldn't be with us. In the future perhaps, I should invest in an external mic, or be better skilled with simply switching headsets from me to others in class--that should still do.

During my earlier trial stints at WizIQ, I used the media player to show one of Enrique Iglesia's milder videos so we can listen to the lyrics of Heartbeat for my session on Poetry 4 Beginners, a class I set up with my labrats specifically to test the WizIQ features. Now I get to enjoy entering my class 15 minutes earlier to upload content while I play the music of Ke$ha (hmmm, I can make my own MTV here at WizIQ!!!..if only it can make my video space bigger to occupy the whiteboard space).

Lately, I've been into watching recorded classes of exemplary teachers at WizIQ and learning lots about their teaching styles and how they skillfully manage the WizIQ live classroom features and simultaneously manage their online teaching whilst students manage their online learning.
Recently, thru WizIQ, I learned about IT4ALL=Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learning where I participated in a class to learn more about Personalized E-Portfolios. With classmates from different parts of the world, I got to benchmark what I know and learn additional tools for mounting my own ePortfolio whilst encouraging my student-teachers to come up with their own. I now have research blending with teaching and my own learning. It's making me whole and scholarly, naxxx.

Yes, it is quite obvious I now enjoy having my class at Moodle and adding more apps at my Google Sites and to both platforms actually. Now and even more with WizIQ, it seems that my classroom teaching is complete. This is like me, setting up my class (moving furniture and doing this and that) to engage myself into teaching, and only hope that my students are equally engaging and learning with me.

I'll worry about that later on. For now, I deserve to eat my sweets. Let me have my gggggoogle, mmmmoodle chocolate cake with the WizIQ icing and eat it, too! Online teaching can be as yummmie, you see.

Wanna taste my chocolate cake? I've shared enough so go ahead and make your own with this basic recipe: Google + Moodle + WizIQ. Have funnn :)

Thoughts on WizIQ

After reasoning with myself and making minor changes to my research proposal for this study on Teaching Presence at WizIQ, I finally find myself enjoying the videos of 3 teachers at WizIQ, namely Nellie, Namrata and George. I am simply amazed with what I witnessed in their classes. What I see are three teachers, with different teaching styles in running their classes but all with a common goal-- they are bent to help their students learn English. In each class you get to immerse in a learning culture unique in itself... like watching 3 TV shows with 3 different plots and cast of characters, and the sound of world Englishes as learners find ways to communicate and understand each other. I have the benefit of learning crossculturally from all these online interactions in the virtual classroom. This is just speaking about 3 classes I've seen so far and imagine all other classes which have been going on right inside WizIQ!!! It finally dawned on me what WizIQ meant with its tagline: "anyone can teach, anyone can learn". What surfaces on my screen however, is more to the advantage of the adult learner. It is precisely because in a learning community such as WizIQ a learner gets to choose from a wide array of classes and teaching styles which will work for them--depending on what they need, who they want to be with and when, and most importantly, what suits them best. It's a diverse learning experience at this online learning platform compared to what is possibly happening in other higher education institutions where adult learners have not much choice when it comes to their teachers and their classmates, in return for a piece of paper they call a diploma. At WizIQ teachers and learners from all continents, willingly come together because they want to experience teaching and learning in a way which fits them...pure and simple as that. The platform lends itself naturally to individualized and collaborative learning, in a small class or a bigger one, and participation in a conference is still made possible. Who would have known that education can be this way for most of us who choose to learn online.