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:
newspapers:
art
works:
craigslist
in Spanish:
tourism
Tools:
google
docs
prezi.com
