Beyond the essay Students’ multimedia projects: teaching and assessing a diverse MA group Cornelia Tschichold Applied Linguistics Excellence in Learning and Teaching Conference Swansea University 2 June 2009 The context • module on CALL • group of about 20 students – taken mainly by students on the MA TEFL – a few MA Translation students • diversity on several levels – nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender (China, Taiwan, Poland, UK, Saudi Arabia, France, Iran, India, Greece, Italy, Oman) – level of English (ranging from IELTS 6.5 to native speaker) – ICT knowledge and experience One student’s view of IT: A personal nightmare • I shuddered at every thought of the CALL module ever since I realised what this abbreviation meant. In hindsight I should have unscrambled that it was ‘Computer-Assisted Language Learning’ before I applied for the TEFL course. Over the whole high school period I was persistently avoiding IT classes as my technological abilities were always rather poor. This time, however, it looked like there was no escape from any computer-based work as the CALL module was obligatory and worth as much as 20 credits. Information in the academic handbook about CALL seemed really daunting to me. It was clearly stated that the work throughout the module would involve dealing with ‘word-processors, CD-ROM-based material, HTML’ and many other things that I had no idea about. The CALL module • theoretical and practical aspects • overview of software and tools for language learning and teaching – – – – – – – word-processors CD-ROM-based material internet, search engines, HTML basics discussion forum, wikis (Blackboard) electronic dictionaries, corpora, concordancing authoring (HotPotatoes) audio (Audacity), podcasts CALL assignment • assignment consists of – a CALL project – a presentation – a written report describing the project done in groups of 3 done individually • designed to give students the opportunity to create their own multimedia teaching material • allows them to put some more theoretical aspects into practice Major steps in the project • collect material for the individual words – dictionaries – concordancers – audio and visual material • create exercises • create structure for presentation and practice • implementation using mostly – PowerPoint – Hot Potatoes for the exercises – Audacity for audio elements • testing and revising Previous projects Forming groups • Before term starts – ICT questionnaire – self-evaluation via a short questionnaire on Blackboard • at the beginning of term – mixed groups formed (no self-selection) – as far as possible, each group has one expert for English, one for ICT and one for theory • rest of term – live with cases of drop-outs and/or groups splitting up Instructions to students • For the CALL project, you will be given a set of 10 words, to which you add 10 words of your choice. • The aim is to develop a multimedia project containing all the material to teach your set of words to learners of English and to provide them with practice material. • In the report, you describe – your work – why you have chosen to teach the words in the way it is done – the pedagogic rationale behind the method chosen – how you expect learners to work with your material – what your individual contribution to the pair project was Project: marking criteria • Content • Didactic approach – sufficient presentation, repetition, variety • Use of multimedia – audio, pictures, animations, etc. • User friendliness – easy to follow, creative, innovative 25% each – grammatically, semantically, stylistically correct? Report: marking criteria • Is the description correct and coherent? • Does the report show evidence of the student’s involvement in the project? • Are plausible reasons given for the decisions that were taken in terms of … – – – – content didactic approach multimedia user friendliness ? • Are these reasons supported by relevant literature? A simplistic example According to Author-Ity (2009) the background colour chosen for the slides is conducive to learning on screen. The background colour was chosen because of its good contrast with the focus items. 70 65 60 55 We chose the colour scheme because it was Christmas time. [sample screen] I chose the background colour because I like it. 50 45 Advantages Disadvantages • student involvement generally high • possible group tension • creativity is encouraged • proportion of time spent on group project not reflected in the 40-60 split of the mark • students learn from each other • more interesting to mark than essays • generates ideas that help to keep the module up-to-date • more complex to mark than essays An extract from a project • group of three students – Chinese, Italian, Polish – all female • software – PPT 2007, HotPotatoes, Voice Recorder – more than 250 files • target words embedded in a story – all marked in red Play the Movie Instructions Scenes Selection Help Exercises Loch Ness– legend Student’s report • “The plot is constructed in a way that not only allows the learner to identify with the main character – in this case a foreign individual within a primarily English-speaking country – but also revealing some strategies other learners use while travelling abroad. For example, the learner can observe methods to ask for help, request repetition and negotiate meaning. Another important factor supporting the idea of creating a non-native speaker character is the fact that, thanks to his foreign status, he can naturally ask for explanations, clarifications and characteristics of particular vocabulary items. Thanks to this procedure, presentation of new words is twofold; first it occurs in conversations, then it is repeated in separate definition slides. Given the need for vocabulary recycling, this strategy has been applied throughout the story. As Nation (2001) noted: ‘Repetition is essential for vocabulary learning because there is so much to know about each word that one meeting with it is not sufficient’ (2001; 74).” slightly edited/shortened by CT CHEEKY (ADJECTIVE) IPA To be rude in an amusing or an annoying way. Giving Hilary a cheeky smile, he asked his mother, “Can I go down to the village?” He tried talking but the teachers wouldn't listen and thought he was repeating words like a parrot or just being cheeky. Synonyms : mischievous and bold. Antonym : respectful. One student’s view of IT: A personal nightmare, cont. • However, shortly after the lectures started all my initial fears were alleviated. [...] I was incrementally equipped with extensive knowledge on how to incorporate power point presentations with hot potatoes software to the best benefit of a learner. I believe that over time I have become a confident computer user as the module provided a great number of practical exercises in addition to theory. Now I am absolutely sure that in the near future I can blend the multimedia elements into the standard classroom teaching. Undoubtedly, my students will be grateful for keeping them entertained. After all, it is such an entertaining supplement to conventional lessons. Advantages Disadvantages • student involvement generally high • possible group tension • creativity is encouraged • proportion of time spent on group project not reflected in the 40-60 split of the mark • students learn from each other • more interesting to mark than essays • generates ideas that help to keep the module up-to-date • more complex to mark than essays
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