Blog 4- Learning Environments

 

After reading about Learning Objects and Case-Based Reasoning environments, and experiencing the Cognitive Flexibility approach, I believe that the ideas behind creating and using learning objects are the most suited to foreign language teaching.

The Cognitive Flexibility Theory has an interesting theoretical basis with its focus on “real-world complexity and the ‘ill-structuredness’ of knowledge” (Fitzgerald, 50), but it does seemed more suitable to medicine or teaching.   Students need strong language skills to complete the activities and must have more than a basic knowledge of the subject in order to reach meaningful conclusions to the questions.

Case-based learning is also very useful in certain contexts, such as law schools or corporate training, but in other classes it would have to be modified.  It is not a new way of structuring knowledge and has been used for many years in these environments.  It makes sense for law schools to study how cases were presented and review what the strategies were used by the lawyers and judges, however, it does not have obvious applications to other types of classes which are not just about asking students to solve problems.      

Language teachers frequently turn websites, databases, videos, presentations, and news items in learning objects. Thus, an object that could be used in different ways for different courses seems ideal.  Several universities are creating repositories which can be easily accessed by teachers in different disciplines. Also, as textbooks evolve into a digital format they will include more activities based on learning objects on the web.

Here are some of the activities I have done in class that have objects which could also be used in other disciplines:

 

1.      Students plan a trip using travel websites and other resources which describe the sights and cultural activities in the city they want to visit.  They learn about the culture and local customs as they try find to restaurants, museum hours and understand how the public transportation system works.  Studying public transportation systems could also be part of City Planning or Public Policy Class.    

2.       Students use Craigslist in Spanish to find the price of certain items that they would need to complete their projects.  It would also be a fun way to talk about culture and local economics. Students could collect data on what is being sold and the prices of the items. 

3.      Movie clips and trailers can also do more than teach language skills. Last week in class, we watched a movie about the problems in Bolivia about indigenous people and water rights.  This film could easily fit into an Environmental Studies or History class.

Some of the drawbacks to using this kind of realia in the classroom include ads with incorrect grammar, broken links on websites, and out-of-date resources, however, as long as students are given reliable resources from government and educational organizations these problems will be avoided.   Also, it was mentioned that ideally context would be removed from the learning objects to make them more versatile.  I think that would be a mistake in most cases since context also gives these things meaning. 

 

Some databases:

movies:

http://www.acu-adsum.org/jlb.periodicos.esp.html

newspapers:

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/SpanishFilm/principal.html

art works:

http://www.spanisharts.com/

craigslist in Spanish:

http://elpaso.es.craigslist.org/

tourism

http://www.interpatagonia.com/turismo-aventura/

http://www.aptae.org/

http://www.amtave.org/

 

Tools:

google docs

prezi.com

Finding and Creating Real and Meaningful Context

I was taught the importance of contextualized learning as a graduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. My professors felt that in traditional language classes there was too much focus on grammar and lexical structures. Teachers designed worksheets which had great examples of the structures being studied, but the sentences lacked meaning because they were not connected thematically.  These days, teaching language in context is more of a mainstream idea and most textbooks have paragraphs that provide students "real-life situations", but I feel that we can still do more.  Language teachers need to create contexts that are real and meaningful.  We can't just give students a prompt and expect that them to talk- we have to give them a reason to communicate.  It is a complex process since there is a diverse group of students, who are pursuing different majors, but it is not impossible. 

One of the easiest ways of creating meaningful context is using current issues, but it also means that course content will have to be revised frequently. I often use materials from BBCmundo http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/, el país (from Spain) http://elpais.com/, CNNespañol http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/ and Univision http://www.univision.com/ for U.S. and Latin American news. I choose stories which encourage students to express their opinions, practice new vocabulary and contain the grammar/structures we study. Of course, very often the news changes while I am teaching it.  In fact, a few weeks ago in class we were talking about Hugo Chavez’s illness in class and when we finished my student looked at her phone and said, “He’s dead”.  Beginners are sometimes slightly intimidated the first few times they encounter real life materials, but with guidance and practice they can understand them and they have the satisfaction that they are learning “real” Spanish.   When I finish my lessons I often have students tell me that discussed the same topic in their public policy, economics, or anthropology class and I have come to understand how much this interdisciplinary model increases learning.   

Of all the models we have seen the MOST method seems the most applicable to foreign language teaching, since it focuses on ¨natural learning¨. We try to mimic the ways in which students learn their first language in the classroom.   The description of the method reminded me of the basis for one of the most successful Spanish textbooks, which was called Destinos.  It was based on a series of videos and stories about people travelling in different Spanish-speaking countries and gave the student the feeling that they were watching a telenovela. The creators of the MOST methods would recognize its basic principles of promoting literacy and the text which was used in high schools across the U.S.    

Goal-based learning, the Star Legacy method, and Anchored Instruction also deserve a prominent place in the foreign language classroom, especially in the higher levels where students have enough communication skills to solve the problem in the target language.   These scenarios, which give the students a “mission”, “goal” or “challenge”, emphasize the idea that meaningful context improves retention and lets the student use their knowledge and practice their skills. 

Of course, none of these methods will be effective if are context is false or too complicated for the level we are teaching.  I realized this in a recent conversation with a friend whose daughter is in fifth grade.  He child was given a party scenario in order to practice fractions.  She was in charge of making a party mix which called for four fifths of cup of marshmallows and three twelfths of a cup of M&M’s. In the article written by Schank, Berman and MacPherson, they note that in goal-bases scenarios the mission “must be somewhat realistic” (163). Since no one measures or buys M&M’s or marshmallows in those amounts, the assignment lacked the realism necessary in to make it meaningful.  It was also lengthy and the steps were not described in a way that a fifth-grader could easily understand.

                Next semester, I will be teaching my service-learning course. The benefits of service-Learning for the students and the professor are numerous and the service activity provides a ready-made context for students.  My students will volunteer in ESL classes in Durham-public schools and in a student-run organization which helps English learners improve their skills.   We will discuss how race, gender and language issues form one’s identity and they will meet Latino/as in the community who are experiencing difficulties as they navigate these issues in North Carolina.  Duke supports Sakai as our learning environment and I will use it to organize course readings, blog entries, and discussion boards.  For next semester, I have applied for a grant to get Ipads for the students and hope to use livebinder http://www.livebinders.com/   so each of them can create a portfolio. 

 

Unit 2-Collaborative Learning

The recent “Harvard cheating scandal” brings to light some of consequences of not providing students with guidelines of when collaborative learning is acceptable and expected and when it is not. The controversy began a few months ago when students in a government class were given a take-home final exam. According to the university, the instructions clearly stated that students could use notes and outside sources, but collaboration was not allowed. However, many of the implicated students say that the instructions were unclear and they even reviewed some of the questions with the TA’s.

Here are some interesting articles about the scandal:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/harvard-cheating-scandal-_n_2600366.html

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/argolinkroundups/morning-roundup-harvard-cheating-scandal

Here is a John Stewart video. It is not too informative, but very funny. It is worth noting that Stewart is shocked that students can use the internet to do their final exam.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/12/jon-stewart-on-harvard-cheating-scandal-in-u-s-government-class/

Students at Harvard are understandably upset about the uproar, since many are being harshly penalized. It is surprising that a class would create a dynamic of collaboration and, then, when it comes down to the assignment (which is most likely represents a significant portion of their grade) the professor would ask students to work alone. As one Harvard student points out in an editorial for the school newspaper:

The definition of collaboration has become increasingly nebulous, and the difference between acceptable and unacceptable collaboration even more so. Take home exams in particular have become uncomfortable gray areas in which both spheres often overlap. It falls on the university to articulate the boundaries of student collaboration; only through greater clarity can we hope to avoid an incident like this in the future. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/9/4/harvard-cheating-scandal/

The author of this article makes a valid point. Collaboration in an academic setting (where grades are the outcome) needs specific guidelines in order for students to know what is expected of them. The syllabus, the exam, and the exact nature and course content of the class have not been released, so it would be unfair to pass judgment on the professor or the student behavior. It has been confirmed that it was a large class (with more than 200 students) and there were several TA’s, and some the class notes can be found on the web.

Undoubtedly, there are professors who still use the traditional lecture/exam approach; however, I believe that this professor probably utilized collaborative learning for certain types of assignments. There is a general consensus that collaborative learning creates a more effective learning environment in the classroom. Most professors would agree that collaboration allows students build on existing skills by providing them with a common goal and that the teacher’s role is to encourage students to take charge of their learning.  However, this problem of the “nebulous nature” of collaboration is often true in college classes. If a class structure encourages collaborative work throughout the semester and then gives a final exam which does not allow students to work together, students may be confused. Professors frequently allow/encourage students to work together for participation grades, but when it comes to designing written assessments they often take the more traditional route. Consequently, most final exams and papers are individual projects.

Since the students were allowed to use outside resources the exam probably had problem-based questions. If the professor was letting them find data from the internet, library and use their notes, why did he/she draw the line at collaboration? Apparently, the incident began when a TA reported seeing a series of similarly phrased responses to the exam questions. The students must have been aware that the TA’s would notice and were not afraid of repercussions because they thought they were completing a project the way that had been instructed.  

Cooperative learning, as defined by Johnson, Johnson, & Smith in “When Cooperative Learning Returns to College: What Evidence Is There That It Works?” brings the idea of collaborative learning one step further because group assessment is an intrinsic part of the program. In a cooperative learning environment, “students must believe they sink or swim together” (5). Thus, in this context, students would be correct when they assumed the exam was collaborative and working together would be the only way to successfully complete the exam in the allotted time. The exam questions would also encourage the kind of discussion, analysis and critical thinking that takes place during class and group work.

My own face-to-face classes always function better when students are given time to become friendly and talk outside of the class because they feel more connected and try to help each other succeed. This idea of connectedness is one of the goals in almost all the articles they we have looked at in this unit. In that Harvard class, students felt connected enough to share information without being afraid of their own grade being lowered, so the professors and the TA’s had created a what Millis would call a “non-threatening context for interaction”(1). This “scandal” could be viewed as natural consequence of promoting dynamic connections that students make in class. Professors and TA’s should consider themselves successful if students feel comfortable enough work on exams together.

Teaching a class online changes the dynamics of the student’s relationship as well. It makes the casual discussion from a chance meeting on campus impossible, but chatrooms, hangouts, and facebook give students a variety of ways to interact and hopefully form a group of learning communities that work together. In an on-line class environment a professor must make an even more concerted effort to create community by using online forums and web-chats (skype).  For brainstorming and communicating with the teacher the students could use a program called PrimaryWall ( sticky note tool  which people to work together in real-time).If a teacher creates community effectively, there will be a “risk” that the students won’t be able to stop collaborating. Of course, if we give them the right kind of tasks, we will not want them to.

 

 

Unit 1 blog-individualized learning

Personalized Systems of Instruction and Audio Tutorial Approach

 

Students in 2012 differ from those of 10 or 15 years ago because of the amount of interaction they have online and the time they spend on their computers/tablets/smartphones.  There is no doubt that this affects how they learn.  Designers of Personalized Systems of Instruction and those who are redesigning the Audio Tutorial Approach to take advantage of the variety of web-based activities can learn from the success of the many programs and video games that have people glued to their seat in front of their screens.   Comparing the content of university classes and video games would not be useful, but some the basic elements of the PSI design incorporate what game designers have known for years.  A successful video game includes clear objectives, levels that become more difficult as the user progresses, immediate feedback, and the ability advance at one’s own pace.  Interactive games are also designed to solve the problems of student isolation that can occur in the Audio Tutorial Approach.  

                I don’t play video games much, although, I do enjoy the occasional stress release I get from playing Angry Birds on my telephone. Its simplicity and clear objectives are integral parts of the game. I know I have failed when the pigs snicker at me. Also, when a new kind of bird is presented a short video is shown demonstrate what the bird can do.  Thus, I instantly understand what I must do to conquer the pigs.  In a similar way, students succeed when they are informed of the objectives of the class at the beginning of the semester and before each module.  

                In all courses, students need feedback before they can move to the next module and online quizzes can give them this same satisfaction.  In Angry Birds, levels are unlocked as one successfully takes out the pigs and their structures. The modules of PSI’s and ATA course require that students satisfactorily complete a level before they go on to the next one.  Several years ago, I read an article about the reasons why video games are so addictive.  One of the important elements was giving the user a sense of mastery. Games were designed to just be difficult enough for a player to feel a sense of accomplishment when he/she passed a level, but not so difficult that he/she became too discouraged to continue playing. This is another important lesson to contemplate as modules are being conceptualized.   Students should be given different activities to understand the materials and memorize the important facts just as players are given different types of birds. Mastery of the level comes from figuring how to utilize each one.  Of course, video games are self-paced.  Sometimes I need 30 tries and other times the destruction of the pigs’ and their dwellings is achieved much more quickly.   

                As Beth Montelone pointed out, one of the main complaints about the Audio Tutorial Approach was from students who as “sat alone in their carrel”(224) .  These days, students often sit in front of their computer and post on Facebook instead of speaking to their peers (who are often sitting right next to them).   There are also many chat room applications that could be used to avoid this problem. Such programs also solve the difficulties of teacher “presence” which Koen grapples with in his article. Interactive role-play games have been creating virtual communities for many years.

                Another thing that game creators often do well is create games that appeal to many different cultures.  In Yusuke Morita’s article, they explore the cultural barriers to creating an appealing course and course format to learners in Japan and the U.S.  Perhaps these social programs and games will give us clues on ways of navigating the potential pitfalls of teaching to a culturally-diverse audience that we may not know.    

                Since Duke is only just beginning its investment into on-line classes. I probably will be using these learning modules that we create as tutorials or extra practice for my students and I hope I can put the content into a format that holds their attention and allows them to practice vocabulary and structures in a more creative way.