My name is Paula Poodwan. I am originally from Bangkok, Thailand. Travelling and learning different cultures and languages have always been a passion of mine. I was fortunate to have an opportunity to move to Vancouver, the city of multiculturalism and diversity, and have lived there for 10 years. However, my desire to experience other parts of the world still kept me moving. I moved to Mexico two years ago and I am now teaching English and learning Spanish in a small town 60 km from Guadalajara, the second biggest city in Mexico.

I have a B.A with the major in Thai and minor in English. I had taught Thai and English at a secondary school in Thailand before moving to Canada. I learned and taught English through grammar explanation, a traditional approach of teaching languages. After several years of learning and teaching English in Thailand, I was still unable to communicate or be understood in the first few months I was in Canada.
The best way to learn an additional language is to live in a country where the target language is being spoken, however, not every learner will have that opportunity.

Technology can make language learners reach their goals faster, and can help make learning easier, less painful, and more engaging. Technologies, especially computer and internet play an integral part in providing students with valuable language experiences. Learners have a chance to listen, write, read and even speak the language in real life.
After completing the MET program, I am planning to apply for an online teaching position at a university in Thailand, where I hope I can offer an English online course to university students and at the same time I can keep my passion of travelling the world.

My goals for taking the MET program

• I should have a better understanding and knowledge about the role of technology in education, and how to effectively integrate technologies into language learning and teaching.

• I should have a firm understanding and good knowledge about online learning philosophies, theories and pedagogies, models of online learning, online learning development and research in the field.

• Being an online student at a reputable university like UBC, I should have firsthand experience with the most well planed and organized online courses in the industries. I should have a firm knowledge of how well designed online courses and the way online teaching should be, and that should help guide me when designing my future online course.

My goals for taking ETEC 565A:

• Create a sophisticated, highly interactive, and easy to navigate online course through the moodle, also to have a necessary knowledge of their site maintenance, hopefully to become a moodle specialist.

• Learn some techniques of website design. For instance, html page, splash page, interface design, Dreamweaver, CSS, Cgi Script, and Java Coding.

• Learn how to embed websites into the moodle site, where the learner will access the content area through the multimedia website and participate with the class in the moodle site.

• Learn some theories and frameworks to help me select technology for my online course design in the near future.

I find that taking ETEC 565A almost at the end of my MET journey is more beneficial for me. I can combine all knowledge from previous courses to build my first solo online course here. (In previous courses, we designed the courses in the moodle as a group project). I am planning to design my LMS assignment for ETEC 565 A, for the non-native English teacher in Thailand. The objective is to help them gain confidence when using English in their classroom. I am also planning to propose this online course to the Teacher Training Institutions in Thailand, hoping it will be an alternative option for the teacher development program. During this course, I can share my project with the instructor and peers, hoping to get lots of feedback, this will be a good opportunity for me to have when working on designing my very first online course.