Hi everyone!

Hi everyone! I'll be the moderator for the Sunday live sessions in the Adode Room. I'm here to help, and I'm looking forward to learning and sharing with you.

Just this week, I was reminded that my first "online" or video-conferencing class I did was around 2003-4 in a language school in Japan where some students bought a system that worked through their TV. My first Skype student, however, was about 10 years later - a friend's wife who needed her IELTS for a visa to go to the UK, but at that time, I just thought of a Skype lesson as being the next best option since we couldn't meet face-to-face.

Whilst completing my MA TEFL/TESL by distance learning with various elements online, I met Steven Herder who'd set up a Skype MA study group. Pooling ideas and resources with others, we collaborated via Skype and with Google docs, etc to organise events, conferences and online courses from 2007 onwards. Then in 2009, I became a tutor on the MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL programmes and have been further supporting online teacher development as a volunteer Mentor for iTDi since 2012. In February this year, Steve and I launched The Teachers Room so I've been using Adobe Room weekly since February and now Zoom in recent months.

I've also introduced Zoom to my recent online students as an alternative to Skype and the results have been very positive. So, with the rapid advances in technology and more students opting for online lessons, plus having taken online courses myself, I see more and more doors and windows of opportunity opening - and so I hope that we may all find and create new paths and dreams whilst learning together and supporting each other.

https://itdi.pro/itdihome/the-teachers-room/