Education

Sunday September 21, 2008

English on the Web

By KAREN CHAPMAN

THE Online Resources for Learning in English (MyLinE) which was specially created to help UTM students improve their language skills, has proven to be a hit. It’s been so popular that the website has been extended to students in the country’s 19 other public universities.

First launched in the first semester of 2006/2007, MyLinE is a platform for UTM students to learn and practise their English language skills in their own time and at their own pace.

By the second semester, the MyLinE website already had 158,192 hits.

Mohamed Khaled (seated) having a go at MyLinE as UTM English Language Unit director Assoc Prof Dr Khairi Izwan Abdullah explains the system to him.

UTM vice-chancellor Prof Tan Sri Dr Mohd Zulkifli Mohd Ghazali said the website is part of the university’s English Language Support Programme (ELSP) for students.

Other components under ELSP are peer support, one-on-one support and short taught courses.

“The main aim is to develop a culture of responsibility for self-directed learning (among students) and nurture a community of learners who will take charge of their own self development,” he said.

MyLinE offers a variety of activities and learning resources to improve language proficiency, which include academic reading, writing, speaking and listening, study skills and grammar.

The MyLinE website had caught the attention of Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, when he visited the UTM campus in June.

“Realising the potential for wider use, the ministry decided to provide administrative and financial support of about RM4.5mil to UTM so that MyLinE could be extended to students in other public universities,” he said after launching its extended use at the UTM city campus in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday.

He said MyLinE had been made available unofficially to students from other public universities for the last three days.

“As of 8am on Tuesday, there had already been 30,915 hits,” Mohd Khaled said, adding that the ministry would continue to monitor the usage at each university.

He stressed that this did not mean online resources would replace conventional teaching as the ministry would continue to provide support and encourage teaching in innovative face-to-face classroom teaching.

UTM, he added, would continue to develop and maintain MyLinE.

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