C. Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Let's imagine a citizen's ordinary day at work. The morning probably starts with a cup of coffee/tea, followed by greeting the colleagues. Then comes the inevitable, which is log in the computer. For many of us the third step has become an automatic behavior and it dominates the rest of our work day, receiving and sending dozens of emails.
An e-mail is an electronic mail. It is a computer-aided way of exchanging digital text messages from a sender to one or multiple recipient/s. E-mails operate through a network of computers linked by the Internet. There are commercial server agencies such as Yahoo, Gmail, Ymail, Hotmail, etc. that accept the text message from the sender, forward it and deliver instantly to the digital mailbox of the recipient. If the recipient is not online, the message is stored and delivered later when the recipient is online. It works instantly just with the click of your mouse. It has been a powerful communication tool in modern life.
Questions
1. What is an e-mail?
2. How do e-mails operate?
3. How do the commercial servers serve in the process of an e-mail?
4. 'It has been a powerful communication tool in modern life.' Explain the statement.
5. How do e-mails affect our daily work schedule?
D. Work in pairs and discuss the steps of your normal days, weekends, etc.
E. Pairwork. Read the following e-mail exchanged between two friends. Like an informal letter, an e-mail to a close one is casually written. Identify the mistakes in the main body of the message, discuss with your partner, and correct them.
Subject: Details of Dhaka Tour
FROM: Alexa Dowson
TO: Moutushi Laboni
Monday, 21 May 2012 6:20 AM
Hi Moutushi!
Thanks for your mail. I'll fly from Ottawa on 7:36 hours local time on 13 July with Qatar Airlines via London-Doha and land Dhaka on 15 July around 13:41 hours local time. Wish to stay 2 days in the Cox's Bazar and 1 day in Khulna. Return flight on 21 July at 3:04 hours local time.
Keep in touch and stay fine. Hope to see you soon!
Alexa
F. Pairwork. The e-mail in section E is a reply by Alexa to Moutushi's previous e-mail. Imagine what Moutushi might have written to Alexa. Write that e-mail.
# বহুনির্বাচনী প্রশ্ন
Can you think of a classroom where there is no blackboard or desks? Do you believe that you can be a student without a printed book or a writing pad or even pen/ pencil? Are you not thrilled to imagine that you have asked a question and your tutor is answering it while flying in a Boeing from Dubai to Dhaka? These are all possible in a 'virtual campus' in the system of e-learning. No kidding! For quite a long time, educationists have been utilizing the advantages of computer technology. The social networking services have a huge potential to help educationists in this sector. They have access to millions of people worldwide. Educationists have noticed that a large number of social network users come from young generation who especially belong to student community. So side by side with computer assisted teaching-learning software, online education programmes are evolving fairly rapidly to assist conventional education system. Is that e-learning?
We may confuse distant education or computer-based learning or computer-assisted training or even online education programmes with e-learning. But we should be cautious about the mix-up. What happens in an online education programme? Maybe you get some materials online from your tutor. Maybe you submit your assignment through e-mail. Or even you may take your test online. But there must be some conventional campus, a department/institute from where your certificate will come. But in e-learning, as said by global e-learning guru Dr Badrul H Khan*, every step, such as, registration, admission, classroom entry and exit, class wo, attendance, discussion with course mates, feedback, exams and finally certification must take place electronically through computer and the Internet technology in a virtual campus.
Everything is digitized and conducted by a system called Learning Management System (LMS). So online education programmes blend various components of e-learning.
The revolutionary concept of e-learning is already in its practice phase in many parts of the world. Professor Khan has developed a framework and important literatures on e-learning which have been praised by pundits worldwide. Professor Khan is especially enthusiastic about the prospect of e-learning in Bangladesh.
How would you feel if Bangladesh contemplates establishing South Asia's first virtual university? Won't it be a pioneering step for us in the world of e-learning? Let's keep our fingers crossed.
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