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The University Circuit

Job cuts, an unprecedented funding crisis, universities turning students away - higher education in the UK faces a number of challenges. Conversely, demand for a UK education from overseas students increases the opportunities within the sector for EAP teachers. However, for many, it is a difficult time to get a job at a university. If you are an ambitious young teacher, teach abroad.

It's so much easier to have a career in EAP abroad than it is in the UK. Many universities are opening campuses overseas. Liverpool has one in China. Nottingham University has a campus in Malaysia and there are others, too. The quality of these institutions is high. Young and ambitious teachers could "work the circuit" in these institutions, getting university teaching experience while living abroad and earning money. Compare that to the job market in the UK. It is almost impossible to break in to full-time EAP teaching in the UK. Almost all advertised work at universities is sessional and the only full-time positions are at private international colleges of questionable reputation and quality. 

The international market is a lucrative and growing market. It is also highly specialised and teachers need expertise in intercultural practice, language and subject knowledge. There are plenty of opportunities to study, develop professionally, to earn money and see the world. 

Udutu

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I don't know how to pronounce it, but udutu is a great online authoring tool. And best of all, for some reason, it's free. I've found it suits my needs extremely well and I can have complex learning objects ready in a short amount of time.

Their rationale is to get people using the software and then they may (or may not) pay for extra services. Since I already have access to an online VLE, I have no need to pay for their services, which makes me feel extremely guilty at using their software for free. Because it's great.

The forums are good too. Even if I have had a simple question, it has been answered promptly and politely by their admin team.

I really see no weakness. I have a couple of gripes about not being able to embed HTML in assessment pages (though embedding HTML is not a problem on normal pages) and there is no way to create gap fills. However, these are small issues and in the big picture, Udutu works much better than many expensive and more well-known tools.

I could not recommend this highly enough.