On Implementing an ESL Teacher Education Program Using Information Technology

1. On Implementing an ESL Teacher Education Program Using Information Technology Andreas Schramm aschramm@hamline.edu Ann Mabbott amabbott@hamline.edu Hamline University St. Paul, Minnesota

2. Overview I. Background II. Course Development III. Course Support IV. Course Delivery V. Conclusion

3. I. Background • Elements of a Quality Online Teacher Education Program • Interaction among students and between the professor and the students is central. • Education is student-centered and constructivist in nature. • There is an emphasis on practical application as well as a strong theoretical background.

4. Background of our Program • MA in ESL with teacher licensure located in Minnesota • 3 separate tracks for teachers of: a. K-12 students in the US, b. Immigrant and refugee adults in the US, and c. overseas learners of English.

5. Background of our Program • Most of our students are practicing ESL teachers by the time they finish, if not before. • Most are adding the MA in ESL to previous credentials in teaching or applied linguistics. • Students live both close to and far from campus.

6. Competencies Included in the ESL Teacher Education Language as Content (21 credits) • Teaching Methodology (14 cr.) • Research/MA Thesis (8 cr.) • Practice Teaching (1-10 cr.; not online)

7. II. Course Development • Must be planned and deliberate within theoretical framework • We conducted initial analysis to identify theoretical framework • There are similarities and differences between traditional and online courses

8. Differences: • access, • medium, • interaction amount, • learner control, • interactivity (e.g., Herring, 1996; Warschauer, Shetzer, & Meloni, 2000), • expanded teacher roles, etc. (Bennett & Lockyer, 2004)

9. Similarities • motivation, • setting designed for learning, • language communication, • visuals, etc. (e.g., Brumfit, Phillips, & Skehan, 1985; Herring, 1996)

10. Web course developers tend to focus on differences • We focus on similarities (see also Bennett and Lockyer, 2004) • This facilitates envisioning teaching and learning online

11. Two parts to a successful theoretical framework: • student-centered constructivist educational philosophy(Mezirow, 2000, Bennet and Lockyer, 2004) • courses as communicative situations(Hymes, 1972)

12. Similarities revealed by ethnographic analysis of course communication: (Schramm, 2005; Schramm and Mabbott, 2005) • Setting-participant communication components • public vs. private • student-instructor • student-student

13. Setting-event combinations • lectures • whole-class meetings • small-group discussions • informal exchanges

14. Implementation • Lectures: • public, instructor-student one-way communication delivered • statically as Web page • as slideshow-sound combination • synchronously via web-conferencing

15. Implementation • Whole-class meetings: • public, instructor-student, student-student multi-directional delivered • dynamically via bulletin board or • via chat room • synchronously via web-conferencing

16. Implementation • Small-group meetings: • public, instructor-student, student-student multi-directional delivered to student subset • dynamically via bulletin board or • via chat room • outcome collated collaboratively via Wiki

17. Implementation • Informal exchanges: • public, student-student, multi-directional delivered • dynamically via bulletin board, chat room, or web-conferencing to students only • pair-share tasks via text boxes and immediate student-initiated text feedback

18. Implementation • Off-to-the-side & Office hours: • private, instructor-student & student-student implemented using • individual email • web-conferencing

19. More similarities detected by communicative ethnography • forms and topics: • language & humor • content • visuals

20. Implementation • Language: • informal • humorous (Koetter 2002)

21. Implementation • Content & Visuals kept intact: • speech sounds in linguistics via streamed sound files • streamed educational videos • video-taped ESL teaching techniques • Jeopardy game slideshow for syntax review • Flash exercises, e.g. drag-and-drop

22. III. Course Support • Course recreation takes two phases • course design • program planning and coordination

23. Three expertises needed • course design • technological implementation • pedagogical understanding

24. Additional Staffing Needs • Faculty need more time • higher discussion participation • assessment items handling • Staff • adminstrative, e.g. orientation, student questions • tech support

25. Library staff • online or phone reference desk work • library orientation materials

26. Instructional Technology Staff for • re-creation of course activities, materials • electronic preparation of additional materials (audio, video, orientation, etc.) • identification and implementation of instructional hardware

27. IV. Program Delivery • Main program objectives • deliver course content • allow interaction with material • facilitate learning interactively • address multiple learning styles • advise on academic theses

28. Comparable delivery • Learning Management System Blackboard: • classroom • video • audio • handouts • slideshows • images • illustrations • exercises

29. web-conferencing software Elluminate Live!: • real-time interactivity • application-sharing • screen-sharing

30. Other Software • Flash animation, e.g. pair-share exercises • Wiki for collaboration on documents • digitization software for preparation, delivery of video and audio materials

31. Comparable Library Resources • multiple full-text databases • electronic document delivery • e-books

32. V. Conclusion • Frydenberg (2002) lists nine domains of quality are the basis for setting course standards. Today we addressed the first two: • design and development • instruction and instructor services

33. Others need to be addressed as well: • executive commitment • technological infrastructure • student services • program delivery • financial health • legal and regulatory requirements and • program evaluation

34. Program Evaluation • Program evaluation and continual improvement more challenging than for campus programs • but necessary to ensure program quality.

35. Reference List • Bennett, S. & Lockyer, L. (2004). Becoming and online teacher: Adapting to a changed environment for teaching and learning in higher education. Educational Media International, 41(3), 231-244. • Brumfit, C., Phillips, M., & Skehan, P. (Eds.). (1985). Computers in English language teaching. Oxford: Pergamon Press. • Frydenberg, J. (2002). Qualitative standards in eLearning: A matrix of analysis. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 3 (2), Retrieved February 21, 2003, from http://www.irrodl.org/content/v3.2/frydenberg.html • Herring, S. (Ed.). (1996). Computer-mediated communication: Linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

36. Reference List • Hymes, D. (1972) Introduction. In C. Cazden, V. John, & D. Hymes (Eds.), Functions of language in the classroom (pp. xi–xvii). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. • Kötter, M. (2002) Tandem learning on the internet. Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang Publishing. • Mabbott, A. & Schramm, A.(2005).Course quality in online English-as-a-Second-Language teacher education. In M. Bigelow & C. Walker (Eds.), Creating teacher community: Selected papers from the Third International Conference on Language Teacher Education. Minneapolis, MN: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition.

37. Reference List • Third International Conference on Language Teacher Education. Minneapolis, MN: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition. • Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning to think like an adult: Core concepts of transformation theory. In J. Mezirow (Ed.), Learning as transformation (pp. 3–33). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. • Schramm, A. (2005). Making online students connect: Ethnographic strategies for developing online learning experiences. In B. Holmberg, M. Shelley, & C. White (Eds.), Languages and distance education: Evolution and change. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. • Warschauer, M., Shetzer, H., & Meloni, C. (2000). Internet for English teaching. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.