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Using Learning Objects to Design Self-Paced Online Language Courses

Using Learning Objects to Design Self-Paced Online Language Courses . Delphine Renié Canadian Foreign Service Institute. Language Training at CFSI. Main language training programs involve full-time and part-time, short-term and long-term classroom teaching

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Using Learning Objects to Design Self-Paced Online Language Courses

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  1. Using Learning Objects to Design Self-Paced Online Language Courses Delphine Renié Canadian Foreign Service Institute MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  2. Language Training at CFSI • Main language training programs involve full-time and part-time, short-term and long-term classroom teaching • Computer-based products are used but mostly offered as self-learning tools • Teachers are not sure how to use and integrate them in their teaching MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  3. Online Language Training at CFSI • Still a marginal program, but expanding • 8,000 potential learners • Over 500 registrations per year • 50 online courses in 10 languages • Mostly for intermediate to advanced levels • Asynchronous, insctructor-led • Built with a CMS developed internally 6 years ago MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  4. Blended Learning • Government employees encouraged to be in charge of their learning. Autonomy. • Employees are busy travelling or attending meetings. Flexibility. • Growing demand for blended learning as well as completely web-based learning (from employees as well as management) • Classroom part-time courses for absolute beginners to be replaced with online introductory courses MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  5. Open Learning • Classroom and online learning activities to enrich and complement each other • Student-teacher and student-student interaction will continue outside of classroom via use of a forum and other collaborative tools • Teachers will monitor learning thanks to LMS like Moodle • Ultimately, division in training programs will disappear MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  6. The Course Development Process • Our objective has been to establish a common development process for 7 online beginner courses • Courses focus on daily communication • Topics are universal: Greetings, Introducing myself and my family, Shopping, Ordering a meal, Asking for directions, Making a phone call MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  7. A Generic Template • Generic template was sent to the teachers, who all work remotely • Teachers were also asked to browse through existing online courses (found using MERLOT but also Google) • This triggered questions on their parts about the length, depth and interactivity of the courses MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  8. Good and Bad Surprises • Adding audio and video components is easier and faster than ever • Even though Moodle is web-based, we cannot expect our teachers to build a course from scratch unless we train them • The main question has been to decide which document format to use, since Moodle allows virtually everything. MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  9. Our First Moodle Courses:Introductionsto German / Japanese / Mandarin • 7 modules, each about a different topic: • Dialogue • Vocabulary / Glossary • Grammar • Learning Activities • Matching sentences. Fill-in-the-blanks. Etc. • 1 review module • Downloads: • All audio and video files grouped here for learner to save MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  10. PDF Files as Learning Objects • PDF files are convenient for learners who like to print learning content. • PDF files produce elegant Chinese characters • They are easy to create, save and send. • They can have embedded sound files in a variety of formats. • Audio recording of student classroom performance can be embedded in PDF file and used in e-portfolio. MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  11. What about re-usability? • Why did we not re-use existing beginner courses instead of building new ones? • We aligned our template with existing course plans developed internally • Having teachers design online material triggers their interest for online teaching • We can use a same resource with different purposes MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  12. From Moodle to my video iPod • Video segments in Moodle can be downloaded on the teacher’s video iPod and re-used in a classroom setting with a new purpose • In this example, the video can have different functions online and offline: • Online, it adds a human touch and triggers curiosity • Offline, the teacher can use it to work on phonetics, vocabulary comprehension, sociolinguistic aspects, etc. MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

  13. Thank You.delphine.renie@international.gc.ca MERLOT 2006 - Ottawa, Canada

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