Teaching Practices in Online World Language Courses. Binbin Zheng Michigan State University Online LCTL Teaching Workshop May 22, 2015

Transcription

1 Teaching Practices in Online World Language Courses 1 Binbin Zheng Michigan State University Online LCTL Teaching Workshop May 22, 2015

2 Introduction 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 , and 74% of these were among high-school students (Queen & Lewis, 2011) 2

3 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

4 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

5 Missions Expand educational access Provide curricular choices Offer high-quality learning opportunities Achieve administrative efficacy 5

6 Teacher quality 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 6

7 Teaching practices Professional development Face-to-face teaching Online language teaching Online interactions 7

8 Context Michigan Virtual School Fulfill graduation requirements, as elective, or for credit recovery. World language courses: Picture retrieved from: 8 erings_final.pdf

9 Context Teachers All courses except Chinese: Michigan-certified, highlyqualified 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). 9 (Information retrieved from: 14.offerings_final.pdf)

10 Context 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). 10

11 Context 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. 11

12 Part 1 Online teaching practices and affecting factors 12

13 Teaching presence (Anderson et al., 2001) 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) 13

14 Teaching presence Direct instruction Intellectual and cognitive role Leaders and knowledge providers Change role from knowledge giver to knowledge guide (DiPietro, 2010, p. 336) 14

15 Teaching presence 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 15

16 Online teaching practices DiPietro, M. (2010). Virtual school pedagogy: The instructional practices of K-12 virtual school teachers. Journal of Educational Research, 42(3), doi: /EC.42.3.e

17 Online language teaching practices 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. 17

18 Online language teaching practices 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 18

19 Frequency of teaching practice usage Teaching Practices Teaching Practices Scale: 1-5 (strongly disagree strongly agree) 19

20 Guiding student knowledge Promoting individual learning Engaging students with content Meeting students needs Student-related teaching practices Scaffolding 20 Communicating effectively Maintaining academic integrity Keeping the course a safe place Environmentrelated teaching practices

21 Differences M=4.26 *** M=4.58 Student-related teaching practices (STP) Environmentrelated teaching practices (ETP) * p<.05, ** p<.01,*** p<

22 Factors affecting teaching practices 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) 22

23 23 Part 2 Adjustment of teaching practices

24 Adjustment of teaching practice Successful practices used in traditional face-to-face teaching do not always translate into successful online teaching practices (Cavanaugh et al., 2004). 24

25 Adjustment of teaching practices 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. 25

26 Adjustment of teaching practices 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. 26

27 Adjustment of teaching practices 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) 27

28 Adjustment of teaching practices Online flipped classroom 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. 28

29 Adjustment of teaching practices Teachers role change Knowledge giver to Knowledge guide The content and instruction is available 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. 29

30 Adjustment of teaching practices Timely response Students could feel more isolated than in face-to-face classrooms Importance of timely response to students questions and s Messages through their learning management system Chat box during their lab session communication Phone call 30

31 31 Part 3 Professional development

32 Professional development 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). 32

33 Professional development 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 33

34 Professional development 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 34

35 Professional development Effective communication Technology-based skills Structuring instructional content Language-based technology integration Online classroom management Content knowledge Finding high-quality resources Accomodating different learning styles 0 Average professional development received 35

36 Professional development Three areas need additional training in Accommodating different learning styles Finding and evaluating high-quality resources Language-based technology integration 36

37 Received Effective communication Technologybased skills Language-based technology integration Organizing and structuring instructional content Online classroom management Need additional training Accommodating different learning styles Finding high-quality resources Language-based technology integration Content/languagespecific knowledge Finding and evaluating high-quality resources 37 Accommodating different learning styles

38 Received Effective communication Technologybased skills Language-based technology integration Organizing and structuring instructional content Online classroom management Need additional training Accommodating different learning styles Finding high-quality resources Language-based technology integration Content/languagespecific knowledge Finding and evaluating high-quality resources 38 Accommodating different learning styles

39 39 Part 4 Online Interactions

40 Interactions 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). 40

41 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 ). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

42 Interactions 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 42

43 Interactions L-L interaction I communicate with my classmates about the course content through different technologies, such as , 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 43

44 Interactions 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) 44

45 Teaching practice and online interactions 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 45

46 Teaching practice and interactions n.s. Learner-learner interaction Overall teaching practice + n.s. Learner-instructor interaction Learner-content interaction 46

47 Teaching practice and interactions n.s. Learner-learner interaction Student-related teaching practice + + Learner-instructor interaction Learner-content interaction 47

48 Teaching practice and interactions n.s. Learner-learner interaction Environment-related teaching practice n.s. n.s. Learner-instructor interaction Learner-content interaction 48

49 Implications 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 49

50 Contact Binbin Zheng Michigan State University binbinzheng.com 50