Perhaps being so eager to start the course and absorb as much new information as possible was a hefty thought. The first day, I went through all the materials until my eyes couldn't take it anymore. I fell asleep only to spend the whole night dreaming of Instreamia and having new words floating at me from all directions! Luckily, I slowed down a bit and now the information has had time to soak in!
I guess what I like most about Instreamia (from what I can see on the demo and what was presented in the EdLab video) is the information that is given to students when they are writing that is catered to their learning experiences. There is automated feedback. For example, check the gender, conjugate the verb, etc. These are things that I try to teach f2f students but it takes so much time to get them to have an inner voice when proofreading (if they actually take the time to proofread). Being able to have this 'help' pop up to guide the students, in my opinion, would be very helpful to making them be a bit more independent. If it provides a simple explanation as to why it needs to be corrected, it should also help them to gain a better understanding of the grammatical concepts.
I have taken some time to play around in the demo course but I need to do a little bit more to see if I can find all the hidden gems. My husband was watching me one night (and doesn't understand Spanish) and his reaction was: "Wow, that is fast. How am I supposed to learn that?" I let him watch over my shoulder and sure enough, after about 10 stops, he was able to pick the correct words.
We'll see what week 2 brings and what new insights will find themselves floating through my mind in the middle of the night.
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