Most popular web-based survey tool -Surveymonkey

The Web 2.0 tool SurveyMonkey (http://surveymonkey.com/), claims to be the world's most popular web-based survey tool. It can be used to write successful and effective survey questions, create survey flow and layout, gather responses, calculate response rates and do intelligent results analysis. It targets at users from different areas and fields.

As ESL/EFL teachers, we can use it to design quiz and tests, do course evolution online by gathering students' feedback on the English course, and do academic research in the area. It can save one much time and energy and make the survey work simple and effective. Best of all, it is free!

The 2010 GloCALL Conference

GloCALL conference 2010 will be held in Sabah, Malaysia, on December 2-3. It is now inviting proposals for papers, workshops, symposia and posters in this area. The submission deadline is June 15. The event is jointly sponsored by PacCALL (The Pacific Association for computer Assisted Language Learning) and APACALL (Asia-Pacific Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning); both are academic organizations with good standing.

I personally am a member of PacCALL and attended the 2006 conference in Kunming, China. It was an exciting experience. It was at this conference that I learnt about software such as "Moodle" and "Hot potatoes", made acquaintance with CALL expertise from other universities. Besides, I really enjoyed the beautiful scenery around the city.

The event will be well organized for it is the 4th time since 2007. The event location, Sabah is a well-developed tourist city in the country. The traffic, accommodation and food are not expensive in Malaysia. So why not take this marvellous opportunity, leave the cold 2010 winter in Alberta behind for a while and take a break in the warm sunny Asian city and learn some good stuff about CALL?

If you are interested, check out http://glocall.org for details.