When Dr. Marohang Limbu (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) used Eli Review for the first time to teach his global, online course, it changed his teaching for the better. Eli offered him information that he couldn’t get anywhere else, even though he was already using popular cloud technologies in his classes.
Dr. Limbu is not a rookie teacher. On the contrary, he is an expert with years of experience teaching writing, at a variety of levels, in several languages. And if that weren’t enough, he’s also an expert in the use of educational technology to enhance learning. In 2013, he published two edited volumes on the subject! So when Dr. Limbu wrote to us recently to say thank you for our “technological and pedagogical innovations and support,” we were flattered and humbled.
Teaching writing 100% online is intimidating even for the experts
Teaching an online section of first-year writing, Marohang confessed that
“Before I started teaching the online course, I was a kind of nervous (that was the reason why I did not go to Nepal this summer, but in December). But I knew I would not fail since I had/have ability to use cloud technologies in networked pedagogical setting.”
Limbu is a technologically savvy teacher, as you might imagine. To reach his students, some of whom were in the U.S. and some in China, he used tools such as a course website (to post projects and a syllabus), blog (to post reading responses), Facebook (to network with class members), email/WeChat (to communicate with Chinese students–some of them were able to use Facebook as well), Google drive (to create inquiry questions, outlines, and drafts), and Eli Review for “almost everything (to post drafts, to do peer review, and to revise, etc.).”
Despite his experience, this would be the first time Dr. Limbu had tried Eli. Why? The answer might sound familiar to you!
“You guys have been talking about Eli for a long time. Since I was using Facebook, Google drive, and a Blog to do peer review, I never used Eli (I was STUBBORN!).”
What Makes a Veteran Teacher a Believer in Eli?
What happened? Here’s what Marohang wrote to us: “Now, I cannot imagine a single writing class without Eli.” We love to hear that! And even more, we love to hear why:
“As an editor, writer, reviewer, and instructor, I truly believe that there is no such cloud tool like Eli (as of today as I know) that not only facilitates students’ writing skills, develops cloud network skills (including critical thinking skills), but also prepares them for how they will be writing as researchers and writers in the near future.”
Dr. Limbu’s words of encouragement are a wonderful compliment, and they also echo our own experience as teachers using and developing Eli as a resource for all teachers, everywhere, using peer learning to help students improve their writing: “I truly believe that if Eli is used well, anyone can grow as a writer.”
- Emerging Pedagogies in the Networked Knowledge Communities: Interweaving and Intersecting Global Communities in the Age of Cloud Computing. Emerging Pedagogies in the Networked Knowledge Society: Practices Integrating Social Media and Globalization.
- Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2013. Global Literacies in the Networked Communities: Mediating Theoretical and Conceptual Epistemic Shifts in the Web 2.0 World. Digital Rhetoric and Global Literacies: Communication Modes and Digital Practices in the Networked World. Hershey, PA: IGI Global , 2013.
