Challenges of creating web-based activites in Sally Morrison” Interactive lanaguge Learning on the Web”

According to Sally Morrison, there are five challenges of creating web-based activates:

1)   teachers do not have the knowledge and  technical skills to create web-based activities.

2)   Many teachers lack the basic tools to create web-based activities.

3)   Teachers do not have time to learn the skills of creating web-based activities.

4)   The students are variable in their access to computers and the type of browser and the connection speed they use should be determined beforehand.

5) There is a need not to ignore the students with disabilities or special needs. There must be web pages that meet their needs.

    

         As a Saudi teacher, I agree with the above mentioned obstacles for creating web-based activities in addition to some local obstacles. I agree with the writer that change is an evitable thing and the surrounding world is changing as an accomplished fact. But, there are students who have not exposed to technology and the internet due to demographic and economic reasons. These students still need the traditional means of instruction and address their traditional learning style.

  Also, most of the students here lack the technological resources that help the teachers to design their own web-based activities or to seek the help of a supervisor to assist them in the designing of web-based activities. In addition, most studnets still look at the technology as a matter of luxury in the class and do not dedicate sufficient attention to it in the class.

     Moreover, many teachers are reluctant to use technology in their teaching as they were taught according to the traditional methods of instruction and they need to teach their studnets in the same way. Teachers also are overloaded with their teaching classes and they have no time to design or even to learn how to design such tools. Teachers also assume some administrative tasks in addition to their teaching tasks and they will be forced to be away from innovation in their teaching.

     Contextually, the local curriculum is still lacking the integration of the technology in the instructional material. Teachers do not know how to design their classes using the technology. Furthermore, school directors are not encouraging and monitoring their teachers in the best manner in order to integrate technology in the class.