International student orientation

Polling will be used to assess experience and exposure to the U.S. upon this lesson, and help to achieve the objective of allowing students to share information about themselves.

Chat will be very important, as will the audio feature, as this is how the communication will be done. Students will be asked to share information about themselves verbally, while other students will be encouraged to ask questions via chat for the student to answer.
This is a very stressful exercise for non-native speakers of English, who are apprehensive about both their verbal and writing skills, and will require much encouragement and guidance from facilitator. It will, through this non-judgmental and easy going environment, help students begin to earn confidence in e-learning, which will be part of their experience in the U.S.

Students will be able to use the file upload feature if they want, should their technological skills be strong at this early stage. They can include a photo, a link to information about their country, etc. However, in keeping with the objective to introduce themselves to their fellow classmates, this will be completely voluntary.

No PowerPoint will be expected from the students, only the facilitator.

The above features will draw from students’ own experiences and allow them to learn at their own pace, and draw their own conclusions. This will support a constructivist approach, as well as a collaborative environment.