SITES M2 Narrative Case Report Structure WEB-BASED DISTANCE LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ARCHIPELAGO SCHOOLS OF TURKU REGION

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1 SITES M2 Narrative Case Report Structure WEB-BASED DISTANCE LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ARCHIPELAGO SCHOOLS OF TURKU REGION PART I: INNOVATION DESCRIPTION DESCRIPTIVE BACKGROUND INFORMATION The innovation discussed in this report involves webbased distance teaching in some archipelago schools of Turku region. Teachers engaged in the innovation come from Turku Teacher Training School, University of Turku, and the students are from the archipelago municipalities of Turku region (Velkua, Askainen, Kustavi, Me rimasku and Rymättylä) in southwestern Finland. The data were collected (2001) from Askainen Primary School which is the only school in Askainen. Askainen is a small municipality with 918 inhabitants. In the school there were 5 students involved in the innovation. These five students were in the 5 t h grade. The overall number of distance students is higher (about 20), but only these 5 students in this school were using NetMeeting and the specific web-based learning environment (Virtual Notebook) designed for distance learning. NetMeeting is a program that allows having meetings through the Internet. In general, various languages are taught through distance teaching in Turku archipelago. However, at the moment only one teacher was using Virtual Notebook and NetMeeting in her teaching. She was teaching German to five students in Askainen Primary School. The aim was to get other teachers to use Virtual Notebook and NetMeeting as well. The innovation teacher and project coordinator were going to train them. SUMMARY OF INNOVATION The innovation started because of the needs of archipelago schools. The small rural schools in the archipelago wanted more opportunities for their students to choose optional foreign languages. Turku Teacher Training School, started to develop outsourcing services to respond the needs. They also wanted to offer opportunities for their student teachers to try different teaching styles and methods. The goals of the innovation were as follows: to guarantee students in the archipelago diverse choices for instruction, to develop pedagogy, contents and learning material of distance teaching as well as develop teachers' capabilities in distance teaching. The innovation received funding from the National Board of Education in Video-conferencing equipment and the Internet 1

2 were taken along in The development and use of Virtual Notebook started in Innovation was started because there was a need to guarantee equal opportunities for pupils in small rural schools to choose optional foreign languages. As the small archipelago schools cannot afford to employ teachers for elective languages, they needed to find a cheaper way. There has been an effort to enhance distance teaching so as to activate students and make learning more learner-centered. Steps to this direction have been taken by developing web-based environments such as Virtual Notebook and using Microsoft NetMeeting. Virtual Notebook is an asynchronous web-based learning platform operating in Lotus environment. Students can login to Virtual Notebook with a user code, which they get from their teacher. Virtual Notebook is a closed web -based environment where students can do e.g. written homework, reading comprehension exercises etc. NetMeeting allows students and teachers to communicate with each other by writing. Students can, for example, do exercises on their computers and the teacher can follow this on his own screen. Usually in distance teaching students have only an audio link to the teacher, but v i d e o-conferencing equipment enables them both hear and see each others. The teacher can therefore better guide the students in their work also from a distance. The innovation has been developed and will develop along teachers' and students' emerging skills and needs. This report presents a case study of one school. In Askainen Primary School the elective subject concerned is German language. It is an extra, voluntary subject starting in the 5 th grade. Students have German instruction 1-2 school hours per week throughout the school year. PART II: ANALYSIS MESO-LEVEL CONTEXT OF THE IPPUT School Background A s k a inen Primary School was built in 1952 and the gym hall was built in In the school building there are 3 classrooms, an ICT room, facilities for technical work, school kitchen, teachers' room and a space students can use during breaks. There are about 70 students and 3 teachers in the school. Students have been divided in three teaching groups (grades 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6). Askainen Primary School is the only 2

3 school in the whole municipality. In some cases a student's school trip can be even 20 kilometers long. Turku Teacher Training School offers distance education for Askainen and other municipalities in the archipelago of Turku. The innovation teacher and the project coordinator work in the teacher training school, which is part of the Faculty of Education of the University of Turku. Being the largest teacher training school in Finland, the institute plays a central role in the training of prospective teachers. There are about 100 teacher trainers, 90 teachers and 900 students. Due to its prominent s t a t us, Turku Teacher Training School has been an active pioneer in developing, testing and implementing new educational methods, technology and curricula. Various specialized programs can be found at the different levels ranging from bilingual education to the arts. The school has been engaged in distance teaching since School Culture Teaching and learning in Askainen Primary School is based on the view that students will learn best by doing and only if they have motivation to learn. Students do several projects in the school. This way the students can influence their own learning. Parents told in interviews that they appreciate that children can do projects by themselves. They found that in this way children learn to be hardworking and active. As one parent said, "I think that it is great that teachers can say, for example, that here is a sparrow, find some information and write about it. I think it is great that this increases student's skill to search and find information independently " (Parents interview). Parents also told that they have complete trust in teachers' teaching and professional skills. Parents' knowledge about the innovation was rather limited. The school principal is very interested and active in developing the school and the entire community. At the moment, however, the archipelago project was the only major project in which the school was involved. The principal had a significant role also in the archipelago project. Parents even attributed this project to the principal's credit. As one parent said, "I think that it [innovation] is connected to our principal here in Askainen " (Parents interview). The parents' interview and observations also revealed that the principal and the entire school had very close and warm relationships to pa rents and students. One parent said that, "relationships are open and you can discuss whenever you want " (Parents interview). Because the school is very small, the principal has also full teaching time. She gives a lot of responsibility to students and also to other teachers. The project is part of the school culture. The principal told that they were ready to pay for it by themselves, so students would have this possibility in future, as well. However, there is a fear that the expenses would rise too high for the school. As the principal put it, "We accept if there are telephone service costs and we accept the operating costs of the equipment. But we are not ready to buy an outsourcing service that is going to cost us more than a teacher's salary " (Principal interview). Teachers at Askainen Primary School can choose the areas of their in-service training by themselves. They can participate in appropriate training, if there is funding available. Also ICT training is voluntary. At the moment one of the teachers was participating in ICT training and he was going to be the school's ICT adviser. 3

4 The teachers collaborated with each other a lot. The school is very small and so collaboration and mutual help and support are a natural part of the schoolwork. The collaboration between the Turku Teacher Training School and the Askainen Primary School was essential for the innovation. The municipality of Askainen supported the school with the innovation granting funding for the computers and other equipment. ICT in the School and Beyond There was no official vision or strategy on ICT in Askainen Primary School. However, they had some ideas as to how they could use the distance teaching equipment beside this innovation, for example, in sharing knowledge and conducti ng projects with other schools. All three teachers of the school use ICT in their teaching to some degree. Students told that they used ICT at school for searching information, for writing and to use CD -ROMs. Parents said that there should be ICT teaching at school, because ICT is used almost in all jobs. It is important that students have positive attitudes and are encouraged to use ICT. As one parent said, "It is going to complicate working, if you don't take it [ICT] open -mindedly " (Parents interview). However, parents also said that there should be a well -grounded rationale for using ICT in teaching. ICT is not a value in itself. Students could use computers quite easily. However, they needed to ask permission for using them. There had once been an incident of misuse of the computers. The situation had been solved and since then no further misuse ha d occurred. There had also been an ICT club in evenings at the school, but not at the moment. Nearly all students had a computer at home. Students told that they use computers at home to play games and to search games, music and information on the Internet. They also used and did their homework with computers. Students also said that they can use computers in the municipal library. There were no local technology plans and policies, which would hinder the use of ICT at the school. Teachers and other interviewed persons thought that it was quite easy to get funding and there was also ICT training available for teachers. However, some of the subjects got more supported than others. Teachers also said that extra work should be paid for. ICT Support Structure in the School In Askainen Primary School there were 8 computers, of which 4 were multimedia workstations with Internet connect ions. There were also CD-ROM drives, a laser printer, a color printer, and video-conferencing equipment available in the school. Available software comprised spreadsheets, word processors, graphics, drills and practice programs, tutorial programs for self -study, educational games, presentation software, and e - mail software. Yet, the school would have needed more computers. One of the teachers was at the moment involved in ICT training. He was going to be responsible for the school's ICT resources and support. Until then the school had used external help (e.g. by ICT firms). When there had been some problems with distance education, the project coordinator from Turku Teacher Training School had helped in 4

5 those situations. ICT training was available for the other teachers in Askainen Primary School, as well, if they wanted. The person in charge of the innovation in Askainen Primary School is the school principal. She had received orientation training for distance education before the project was started. Other teachers in this school were not involved in the innovation. However, it was important that also the other teachers supported and accepted the innovation. For instance, students could sometimes be away from their lessons because of the innovation. From teachers' part, this called for flexibility and support to students. MACRO-LEVEL CONTEXT OF THE INNOVATION National and Regional Policies The Finnish National Board of Education has a program called Information society program. The aim of the program is to develop Finnish know-how in ICT and webbased learning environments. This program sets the frameworks and guidelines for the development of pedagogical use of ICT. Information society program includes a project called OPE.FI. The goal of OPE.FI is to ensure that every school has a strategy for the use of ICT in education by 2002 and to clarify and analyze related training needs (see glossary). THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE INNOVATION Curriculum Content, Goals, and Assessment In Turku Teacher Training School there are several teachers who teach languages through distance teaching, but at the moment there was only one teacher using the web-based environment, Virtual Notebook and NetMeeting. She was teaching German, which was a voluntary subject for these 5 t h grade students in Askainen Primary School. As German is an extra subject, its distance teaching activities might sometimes overlap with some other subject in students' schedule. At this grade level German language teaching is given for 1-2 school hours per week throughout the school year. The teacher assessed students according to their achievement in exams and their activity in lessons. She also read students' virtual notebooks. Students did not assess their own or their peers' works. However, the teach er said that this could be possible in future using virtual notebooks. Teacher Practices and Outcomes There was only one teacher using Virtual Notebook and NetMeeting in distance teaching in this innovation. She worked at Turku Teacher Training School, while her students were studying at Askainen Primary School. 5

6 The teacher prepared exercises for the NetMeeting and Virtual Notebook environments. She also checked and commented students' performance in these exercises. As she told herself, "I can do exerc ises to NetMeeting and then I do contents for Virtual notebook " (Teacher interview, T1). The idea was that the range of teacher's activities increases along with her skills in the pedagogical use of ICT. Teachers develop distance teaching (e.g. how ICT is used) together with the project coordinator. However, this development should happen side by side with the teacher's skills and needs. As the project coordinator put it, "We have started with small steps and taken into consideration teachers' abilities then they [teachers] have noticed that they have new needs " (Administrator interview) In projects like this, it is essential that teachers are motivated. Their ICT skills will develop in due time during the innovation, so there are no special requirements for prior ICT capabilities. It is teacher's task to motivate the students. Teachers should prepare lessons so that they are interesting and students will learn with as much pleasure as possible. The teacher is there to guide students in their work. It is important that students are active; so one aim of the school was to increase learner-centered learning. As one teacher said, "I do my work at home and students work in lessons. I try to talk as little as possible " (Teacher interview, T1). The teacher should also act as an interpreter of the material the class deals with, when obtained from the Internet, for example. Interaction between the teacher and students was different than in other lessons, because the teacher and the students were not in the same place. The teacher was in Turku while the students were in Askainen. They could see and hear each other by using videoconferencing equipment. There were also NetMeeting sessions and exercises, which students made and the teacher could follow on-line. The teacher could also give feedback to students immediately. Students were very attentive and there had not been distractions. As one teacher said, "I think that distance teaching decreases needless contact. Students can ask many times, for example, 'what was the page?' during a lesson. I assume that it [distance learning] decreases that [needless contact] " (Teacher interview, T2) Instructional approaches tend to be quite teacher-centered in distance teaching. But in this innovation NetMeeting and Virtual No tebook allowed students to be more active than usually in distance teaching. In other words, the instructional method was more learned-centered than normally in distance teaching. One of the teachers noted, "Now students can do more than earlier. Earlier the students just listened and talked " (Teacher interview, T1). In distance teaching the teacher needs to think about her teaching methods anew. The teacher has to focus on essential things. In this method teachers will also learn a great deal about ICT. One positive impact is that when teacher's ICT skills develop there is also a possibility to develop working practices. Activities with ICT will increase and the pedagogical use of ICT will develop all the time beside teacher's ICT skills. The innovation teacher collaborated with students, other schools involved in distance education, and various experts (e.g. ICT experts and other teachers). As the project coordinator said, "The teacher is no longer the only one, who controls everything. 6

7 Now teachers need to collaborate more. They must collaborate with the distance school and students. And when there are these web-based learning materials and environments available, the teacher will need help from various experts " (Administration interview). However, the teacher felt that there could be even more collaboration, e.g. with distance schools. One important collaboration partner for the innovation teacher was the project coordinator, who also supported the pedagogical use of ICT at Turku Teacher Training School. He had been training and supporting the teacher during the innovation from the outset. There were no special problems with ICT, because the web-based environment had been designed so that it was quite easy to use. As the innovation teacher said, "The web-based environment has been developed to be easy-to-use. The teacher teaches students to use it by using distance teaching and it has to be so easy that students won't need an adult in the class during distance teaching " (Teacher interview, T1) S o m e t imes there were problems with connections and then teaching could be disturbed. But those problems were decreasing. As students told, "There were problems with connections especially in the beginning " (Students interview) The innovation teacher's vision on teaching and learning was that teaching should be learner-centered. In general, ICT is gaining more ground in teaching e.g. with increasing use of the Internet and computer-supported learning environments. Yet, ICT is not a value in itself. Rather, it is a tool, which allows the students to take more responsibility of their learning and gives them possibility to learn better and in a more pleasant way. It also brings changes to teaching and learning. As the innovation teacher said, "I try to be very learne r-centered. The subject [innovation] is voluntary and students are enthusiastic about it, so I just need to keep them motivated and make the subject matter interesting and fun, so that the students have a feeling that they are actually learning something " (Teacher interview, T1) Student Practices and Outcomes There were 5 students in Askainen Primary School involved in the innovation. They did exercises in NetMeeting and using Virtual Notebook. They worked individually to some extent, but there were als o group works. The biggest difference compared to normal teaching was that there was no teacher physically present in the class. Therefore, students had to operate the video conferencing equipment and computers by themselves (switching them on and off etc.). Students also had to take care that they went to the lessons in time, as there was no teacher to tell them when to go. Quoting the project coordinator, "Students account for the technique. They set the equipment on and have to take care of coming to the lessons in time by themselves " (Administration interview). However, there was always a teacher available on the other class if students needed any help. Sometimes there were problems with connections. Otherwise students thought that the use of ICT was not difficult. Students also said that in these classes they were doing more group works. They collaborated with each other but also with the distance teacher. As the principal said, "Students automatically collaborate more, because the teacher is not physic ally there [in class] " (Principal interview) 7

8 Students did not need any special skills or experience with ICT in advance. They were to learn all required skills during the innovation. Traditional distance learning is quite t e a c h e r-centered. Because of Net Meeting and the web-based learning environment, Virtual Notebook, students' role was more active within this innovation. As one teacher said, "Students are active and I guide and I make summaries and keep the students busy " (Teacher interview, T1) The teacher sought to prepare the lessons in a way that learning would be learnercentered. Students` independence increased because they were themselves responsible for their German lessons (innovation). They also attained quite good ICT skills, which they can use in future. Also their attitudes to technique were positive. Parents found that it is very good that students can have diverse learning experiences. The most important thing was that in this way students got a possibility to learn an elective language (German), which would have been impossible without this innovation since there was no financial possibilities to employ a regular teacher to teach a voluntary subject to such a small group. As the project coordinator said, "Firstly, without this innovation there would not be an opportunity to learn A2 language [Germany] in the archipelago " (Administrator interview). It was central that students did not have difficulties in other subjects, because the innovation activities (German distance teaching classe s) took sometimes place at the same time with some other classes. Otherwise this could have been counter-effective for students' learning. As one student said, "Not all students want to join this [innovation, German studies] and those students whose Englis h studies don't go so well can't join German studies " (Students interview). Accordingly, a student who had the capacity to manage the innovation independently and without causing harm to his other studies could be involved in the innovation in Askainen Primary School. At first there was a fear that there would be disorders in class, because the teacher would not be physically present. According to the interviews and observation there were no disorders, however. Students were capable of collaboration and they behaved in a responsible manner. According to the principal some students could have feelings of insecurity, because there was no teacher present in the classroom. Kinds of Technology and Ways they are used Usually in distance teaching only a u d i o -equipment is utilized. In this innovation necessary ICT resources included video-conferencing equipment, computers, Internet connections, an ISDN connection, a web-based learning platform (Virtual Notebook) in Lotus Notes environment and Microsoft NetMeeti ng. When working with NetMeeting, students can form g r o u p s o f 2-3 persons. However, 8

9 when using Virtual Notebook, each student needs a computer of his or her own to work with. The school had all the necessary equipment to carry out this innovation. However, there could have been more computers to enable students to work with Virtual Notebook more freely. Students did several exercises on the web-based environment, Virtual Notebook. The teacher could ask the students, for example, to draft their school schedule for German studies. The teacher then commented those exercises in students' virtual notebooks. Student also did exercises in the NetMeeting environment during lessons, while the teacher could follow them on-line and give immediate feedback. Compared to traditional distance teaching, video-conferencing equipment enables closer interaction between students and the teacher and NetMeeting and Virtual Notebook environments help students take more active role in lessons. Problems and Solutions Related to the IPPUT There was no resistance against the innovation. Distance teaching belongs to the daily practice in Askainen Primary School and it is a natural part of school life in the archipelago. However, German lessons could take place at the same time with some other subjects and the arrangements required independence from the students. Therefore, only those students who did not have difficulties in other subjects, especially in the English language, could be involved in the German language classes. The municipality supported the school well in this innovation. The only threat was that the costs of distance teaching would rise so high that the school could no longer afford it. Sustainability The main goals of the innovation were as follows: to guarantee students in the archipelago diverse choices for instruction, to develop pedagogy for distance teaching (contents and learning materials), and also to develop the potential of teachers. All these goals were accepted in Askainen Primary School. The teacher from Turku Teacher Training School was highly devoted to the IPPUT and so was the project coordinator. They were going to teach also other distance teachers to use NetMeeting and Virtual Notebook. They also wanted to spread this innovation to new schools. As the innovation teacher said, "We are discussing at the moment with some new schools, especially about these A2 languages for the 5 th and 6 t h grades " (Teacher interview, T1). The municipality of Askainen was supporting the innovation and the school was re ady to continue this innovation, if the costs would not rise too high. Transferability Necessary ICT resources included video-conferencing equipment, computers, Internet connections, an ISDN connection, a web-based learning platform (Virtual Notebook) in Lotus Notes environment and Microsoft NetMeeting. When working with 9

10 NetMeeting, students can form groups of 2-3 persons, but with Virtual Notebook it would be better if everybody had own computers to work with. At Askainen Primary School everybody agreed on the benefits of the innovation and there were no resistance. No special ICT skills would be required from a new teacher, because the innovation teacher and the project coordinator are ready to train teachers to use NetMeeting and the web-based envi ronment, Virtual Notebook. In the beginning a new teacher would need a support person to follow his or her lessons. As the innovation teacher said, "Firstly, we need teachers who are interested in this. You can't force anybody. And then there should be support, so that a teacher doesn't have to remain alone. There should be technical support and someone who knows, if you teach languages for example, something about teaching languages " (Teacher interview, T1). It is very important that there is someone who takes charge of the entire project and who has possibilities to train others. Also teachers have to be motivated and committed to the innovation, as they will contribute to its development. 10

11 Appendix Glossary Distanc e teaching. German instruction is arranged by using videoconferencing equipment and NetMeeting. The teacher and the students are not in the same room, but they can see each other and interact on-line during lessons. Information society program. A program of the National Board of Education in Finland. The aim of the program is to develop the skills of the Finnish people in the use of ICT and web-based learning environments. OPE.Fi project. A project of the Ministry of Education, which offers ICT education for teachers in three steps. At the first stage teachers learn basic skills of ICT. Next they learn to use ICT in teaching and the third step is about extending their knowledge and skills in this area. Virtual Notebook. An asynchronous web-based learning platform in Lotus environment. Students can login to Virtual Notebook with a user code, which they get from their teacher. Virtual Notebook is a closed web-based environment where students can do e.g. their written homework, reading comprehension exercises, etc. NetMeeting. NetMeeting is a program that enables to have meetings over the Internet. NetMeeting allows students and teacher t o communicate with each other by writing. Students can, for example, do exercises at their computers while the teacher can follow that on-line on his screen. Turku Teacher Training School is part of the Faculty of Education of the University of Turku and has two prime missions, which are closely intertwined. Firstly, it plays a central role in the training of prospective teachers. Secondly, it provides school education from the primary up to the senior secondary level. 11