Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Teaching Practices in Online World Language Courses
Binbin Zheng
Michigan State University Online LCTL Teaching Workshop
May 22, 2015 1
Introduction
2
The Internet has enabled the delivery of instruction at
lower cost than in face-to-face settings (Murday, Ushida, & Chenoweth, 2008).
An estimated 1.82 million students were enrolled in distance-education courses in U.S. K-12 school districts in 2009-2010, and 74% of these were among high-school students (Queen & Lewis, 2011)
Watson, J., Pape, L., Murin, A., Gemin, B., & Vashaw, L. (2014). Keeping pace with K-12 digital learning: An annual review of policy and practice. Retrieved from http://www.kpk12.com/wp-content/uploads/EEG_KP2014-fnl-lr.pdf
4
Picciano, A. G., & Seaman, J. (2009). K-12 online learning: A 2008 follow-up of the survey of U.S. School district administrators. Retrieved from http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/publications/survey/k-12online2008
Missions
5
Expand educational access
Provide curricular choices
Offer high-quality learning opportunities
Achieve administrative efficacy
Teacher quality
6
Teacher quality is one of the most important contributors to online educational success.
Teachers need to be able to design virtual course materials and to engage students using communicative technologies (Davis & Roblyer, 2005).
Interaction and communication are at the heart of language learning
7
Online language teaching
Face-to-face teaching
Teaching practices
Professional development
Online interactions
Context
8
Michigan Virtual School Fulfill graduation requirements, as elective, or for credit
recovery. World language courses:
Picture retrieved from: http://www.mivhs.org/Portals/0/Files/Courses/World%20Languages/WorldLang_2014.offerings_final.pdf
Context
9
Teachers All courses except Chinese: Michigan-certified, highly-
qualified online instructors who have proven proficiency in the language of study as well as innovative skills in engaging online learners.
Chinese: partnership with the Confucius Institute at Michigan State University (CI-MSU).
(Information retrieved from: http://www.mivhs.org/Portals/0/Files/Courses/World%20Languages/WorldLang_2014.offerings_final.pdf)
Context
10
Course content Designed by online instructors
American sign language Chinese
Purchased from another company
Middlebury Interactive Languages (communicative, task-based) Florida Virtual School (traditional, grammar-based) Aventa Learning (traditional, grammar-based).
Context
11
Course format All courses except Chinese: asynchronous and self-adaptive Chinese: daily assignments + lab session (50-minute
synchronous session)
Technology needed: a computer with Internet, headphones and microphone, web conferencing software (Adobe Connect), webcam for recording signing videos.
12
Part 1 Online teaching practices and affecting factors
Teaching presence (Anderson et al., 2001)
13
Instructional design and organization Designing and planning curriculum materials for online courses Organizational or managerial role Technology incorporation
Online videos Discussion boards Collaborative tools (Wiki, Google Docs)
Teaching presence
14
Direct instruction Intellectual and cognitive role Leaders and knowledge providers Change role from “knowledge giver” to “knowledge guide”
(DiPietro, 2010, p. 336)
Teaching presence
15
Facilitating discourse Facilitator: Supporting interaction among the students, teachers,
and the course content. Social role: maintain students’ interest and engage them in
active learning activities Language learning: linguistic interaction is the foremost key
area To compensate for the lack of immediate non-verbal cues:
Use concise and clear writing to communicate with students Provide timely feedback
Online teaching practices
DiPietro, M. (2010). Virtual school pedagogy: The instructional practices of K-12 virtual school teachers. Journal of Educational Research, 42(3), 327-354. doi: 10.2190/EC.42.3.e
Online language teaching practices
17
Communicating effectively I self-monitor my communications to avoid miscommunication.
Guiding students’ knowledge I help students make connections between content and their
lives. Promoting individual learning I communicate with students to provide individualized
instruction. Engaging students with content I use technology to facilitate language acquisition.
Online language teaching practices
18
Maintaining academic integrity I post academic honesty policies.
Keeping the course a safe place I model expectations for appropriate student communication.
Meeting students’ needs I provide students with multiple ways to contacting me.
Scaffolding I adapt course to accommodate students’ self-pacing
Frequency of teaching practice usage
19
4.71
4.53 4.49
4.44
4.32 4.31
4.18
3.94
3.4
3.6
3.8
4
4.2
4.4
4.6
4.8
Teaching Practices
Teaching Practices
Scale: 1-5 (strongly disagree – strongly agree)
20
Guiding student knowledge
Promoting individual learning
Engaging students with content
Meeting students’ needs
Scaffolding
Student-related teaching practices
Communicating effectively
Maintaining academic integrity
Keeping the course a safe place
Environment-related teaching
practices
Differences
21
Student-related teaching practices
(STP)
Environment-related teaching practices (ETP)
M=4.26 M=4.58 ***
* p<.05, ** p<.01,*** p<.001
Factors affecting teaching practices
22
Teachers of Chinese used significantly more STP than
teachers of other languages (p<.001).
Teachers’ education level had a significantly negative effect on their ETP (p<.05)
23
Part 2 Adjustment of teaching practices
Adjustment of teaching practice
24
Successful practices used in traditional face-to-face
teaching do not always translate into successful online teaching practices (Cavanaugh et al., 2004).
Adjustment of teaching practices
25
Classroom management Tend to be easier in online environments
One important factor: higher motivation “In online language learning, students usually have higher motivation,
clear goals, or relevant backgrounds. Students are more self-initiative so I do not need to worry about discipline, which is the biggest difference between online and face-to-face instruction.”
Adjustment of teaching practices
26
Course preparation More time-consuming
Designed on a minute-by-minute basis “I can easily teach for four hours in a traditional class with the content
I prepare for the fifty-minute online session.”
Need to carefully select appropriate technologies Some activities that had been easily conducted in traditional
classrooms needed to be redesigned using specific online technologies.
Adjustment of teaching practices
27
Multimodal presentation
Lack of body language and eye contact Multimodal instructional presentations
PowerPoint with multimedia Slides “should have abundant content and use more multiple media, as you want
to draw students’ attention.”
Audio and video recording Social media (e.g., Blog)
Adjustment of teaching practices
28
Online flipped classroom 2+1+2 teaching mode: 2 assignments for preview, 1
synchronous lab session, and 2 assignments for review Students were required to learn the materials on their own prior
to the synchronous session The purpose of lab session was to provide opportunities for
students to practice and communicate with each other using the target language.
Adjustment of teaching practices
29
Teachers’ role change “Knowledge giver” to “Knowledge guide”
“The content and instruction is available 24-7. As an instructor, I am also freed up because that my position or my role is not delivering of content. It’s already been done. The role is completely different, I see my role as more of a coach … And I take questions and guide them…I am freed up to sit back and watch how they are interacting…From there I can offer some supplemental instruction.”
Adjustment of teaching practices
30
Timely response Students could feel more isolated than in face-to-face
classrooms
Importance of timely response to students’ questions and emails Messages through their learning management system Chat box during their lab session Email communication Phone call
31
Part 3 Professional development
Professional development
32
Less than 40% of all K-12 online teachers received PD
prior to teaching online, according to a 2007 national survey (Rice & Dawley, 2009), and this rate has increased to 87%, over the following two years (Dawley et al., 2010).
Professional development
33
Topics of PD (Dawley et al., 2010) Foundational knowledge of online teaching
Foundational principles, theories related to, and psychology of online learning
Technology tools LMS, communication technologies, multimedia presentation tools, and
troubleshooting skills Facilitation strategies
Promoting student autonomy and independence, active listening, building community within the online classroom, and promoting engagement and interaction
Professional development
34
Topics of PD (Dawley et al., 2010) Online lesson design and development
Subject-matter specific online content Incorporate internet resources into course content Multimedia design principles
Digital etiquette, behavior and assessment Digital etiquette and responsible behavior Authenticity of student work Responsible use of digital materials Choosing appropriate assessment tools
Professional development
35
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
Average professional development received
Effective communication
Technology-based skills
Structuring instructional content
Language-based technologyintegrationOnline classroom management
Content knowledge
Finding high-quality resources
Accomodating different learning styles
Professional development
36
Three areas need additional training in Accommodating different learning styles Finding and evaluating high-quality resources Language-based technology integration
37
Effective
communication
Technology-based skills
Language-based technology integration
Organizing and structuring
instructional content
Online classroom management
Content/language-specific knowledge
Finding and evaluating high-quality resources
Accommodating different learning
styles
Need additional training
Accommodating different learning styles
Finding high-quality resources
Language-based technology integration
Received
38
Effective
communication
Technology-based skills
Language-based technology integration
Organizing and structuring
instructional content
Online classroom management
Content/language-specific knowledge
Finding and evaluating high-quality resources
Accommodating different learning
styles
Need additional training
Accommodating different learning styles
Finding high-quality resources
Language-based technology integration
Received
39
Part 4 Online Interactions
Interactions
40
Online environment changes the fundamental nature of the interaction between the teacher, student, and content (Baran et al., 2011).
Interactions in online learning is significantly related to student learning outcomes (Swan, 2001; Eom, Wen, & Nicholas, 2006).
Types of Interactions
Anderson, T. (2003). Modes of interaction in distance education: Recent developments and research questions. In M. G. Moore & W. G. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of Distance Education (pp. 129–144). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Interactions
42
Three types of interactions (Moore, 1989) Learner-learner
Beneficial for cognitive development, motivational support and Learner-instructor
Essential to successful online learning Learner-content
Learners interact with learning materials or participate in task-oriented activities
Interactions
43
L-L interaction I communicate with my classmates about the course content
through different technologies, such as email, discussion boards, instant messaging tools, etc.
L-I interaction I had numerous interactions with the instructor during the
course L-C interaction Online course materials stimulated my interest for this course
Interactions
44
2.93
4.56
4.19
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
learner-learner interaction learner-instructor interaction learner-content interaction
Scale: 1-7 (1: not very true at all of me to 7: very true of me)
Teaching practice and online interactions
45
Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) Student data nested within teacher data Level 1: Student-level data: three types of interactions Level 2: Teacher-level data: teaching practices Control variables: Teacher education level, gender, years of
teaching, years of online teaching
Teaching practice and interactions
46
Learner-learner interaction
Learner-instructor interaction
Learner-content interaction
Overall teaching practice
n.s.
+
n.s.
Teaching practice and interactions
47
Learner-learner interaction
Learner-instructor interaction
Learner-content interaction
Student-related teaching practice
n.s.
+
+
Teaching practice and interactions
48
Learner-learner interaction
Learner-instructor interaction
Learner-content interaction
Environment-related teaching practice
n.s.
n.s.
n.s.
Implications
49
Use more student-related teaching practices Guiding students’ knowledge Promoting individual learning Engaging students with content Meeting students’ needs Scaffolding
Promote three types of interactions Role change from knowledge provider to knowledge
guide Professional development Language-based technology integration
