Tag Archives: eLearning

A research study investigating the student experience on the MA in English Language Teaching: Online

03/03/2016

MA in ELT: Online

This month’s blog post is from Andrew Davey, eLanguages Projects Officer and Specialist Technician in eLearning, and Charlotte Everitt, Teaching Fellow in eLearning, in the Department of Modern Languages, and reflects on a research study looking at student experience on the MA in English Language Teaching: Online.

Context for the study

The University of Southampton MA in English Language Teaching: Online is a 2.5 year part-time Masters programme, which has been run in collaboration with the British Council since 2007. Over 100 students have successfully completed the course and over 90 are currently studying, based in over 25 different countries.

As the programme continues to grow in scale and global reach, the need to develop effective procedures for refreshing, enhancing and supplementing its content and reviewing its design features becomes greater. Ensuring that new developments are grounded in an understanding of the student experience is critical to this process.

Identifying the need for further research

Our most recent round of refreshment saw content and readings updated across four modules of the Online MA. This process included increasing the availability and variety of reading sources, introducing pair and group discussion tasks, adding new audio/video content and replacing old Flash activities with more compatible HTML5 activities.

The process drew on findings from both module feedback and observations of how students and tutors were using the course. However, it also highlighted the need for further research on the student experience to act as a basis for future developments.

The research study

A combination of qualitative and quantitative data related to different aspects of the student experience were collected via a short online survey distributed to current Online MA students. 30 responses were received.

Aspects of the course receiving excellent feedback included:
• student enjoyment of the course (rated 4.5 out of 5)
• quality of course documentation (4.5/5)
• ease-of-use and accessibility (4.4/5)
• task design (4.3/5)

Students also commented positively on the relevance of the content to their learning needs, the selection of reading materials and the quality of tutoring and tutor support.

In terms of improvements, students said that they wanted to see more video and audio resources, improved accessibility and availability of reading materials, and better integration of online tools to enhance interactivity. Additionally, fewer than half of the students had completed the induction materials. A further finding was that although the majority of students felt part of an online community, fewer felt like part of the University of Southampton community.

The next steps

This process of refreshment and subsequent research has provided a useful basis for developments on the Online MA, including a new round of refreshment of the Year 1 modules. We have introduced a BigBlueButton virtual classroom to the platform alongside the existing Moodle communication channels. Further ongoing developments include the creation of a bank of lecture recordings for access by students, and the integration of these recordings into core content. We are also exploring ways to enhance and highlight the induction resources, and to identify ways to help students feel more integrated into the University of Southampton community.

The findings from this project were presented at the 2016 LLAS eLearning Symposium. More information about the MA in ELT: Online can be found on the course website.

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S4B: A new Blended Learning module for students of Business

25/01/2016

S4B: Academic and Professional Skills for Business

This month’s blogpost is by Sarah Winspear, Senior Teaching Fellow and Assistant Director of the Pre-Sessional Programmes for international students in Modern Languages:

The Southampton Business School (SBS) has over 1,100 postgraduate taught students, and developing their academic and professional skills is essential to help students prepare for success in both their studies and future employment.

The large size of this cohort means that a new approach is needed for effective delivery of these skills alongside taught Business modules. A blended learning solution has been developed by the English Language Section in the Centre for Language Study in collaboration with SBS. The new blended learning module ‘Academic and Professional Skills for Business’ (S4B) combines face-to-face and online (Blackboard) delivery and includes self-study activities, videos and interactive presentations built using Articulate Storyline.

Students can choose, and mix and match from:
1. Online learning activities (available at any time)
2. Face-to-face workshops and lectures (places booked in advance online)
3. Face-to-face tutorials (booked in advance online)
4. Practice assignments (graded and with feedback).

2015-2016 is a pilot year during which the module is offered as an option. Initial feedback from students has been very positive, and module evaluation so far is as follows:

1. Online learning activities
These will be relaunched for future deliveries to reflect clearer pathways for students; resource delivery will be time-released to map with student needs (e.g. academic writing in September and exam preparation in December).

2. Face-to-face workshops and lectures
Advance online booking appears to ‘add value’ and encourage participation; session timetabling will be extended to the early evening to meet all students’ needs; further content development is needed to suit home students and the two types of international students with different skill awareness levels (post pre-sessional and direct entry).

3. Face-to-face tutorials
These will be offered as early evening or early morning slots in future to ensure all students have the opportunity to attend; an online booking system is still in development.

4. Practice assignments
Evidence from students who undertook these short assignment tasks and received feedback clearly suggests they benefit considerably; promotion of the benefits is needed to increase student take-up of this part of the module package.

Finally, a fuller evaluation is planned during S4B delivery in semester 2 with the aim of improving the module and providing students with the skills needed to succeed in their studies and in their future employment.

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Using Quizlet, a vocabulary learning app, with Ab-Initio students of Italian

14/12/2015
Quizlet Logo

This month’s blogpost is by Bianca Belgiorno, Teaching Fellow in Italian in the Department of Modern Languages:

The challenge of learning new vocabulary in a foreign language in a short period of time can be difficult. This can be particularly so during the first part of an Ab-Initio course when the students are asked to learn many words and expressions to help them start communicating in class in the new language and to practise what they have learned.

To help my students learn new Italian vocabulary I have been using an app called Quizlet. These are vocabulary flash cards that the students can use with their mobile devices or computer. These aide-memoires (available in many languages) include audio (although sound quality can be a bit metallic) to help students learn correct pronunciation. There are different games that can be played with the same set of cards. I created different sets of flash cards linked with topics covered in class and I added the links to the VLE, Blackboard. Students can also create their own sets of cards to share.

Although the Quizlet app is designed to use in the simplest way with target and students’ first language on either side, see this example, I have been experimenting with these Flash cards in different ways. Here are some examples:
• infinitives of Italian verbs vs. Italian Present tense
• sentences in Italian (with missing preposition vs. complete sentences – basically gap-fill tasks)

They can be added as links to Blackboard and it’s possible to group sets of flash cards for one specific class, allowing students to see all the topics covered in class. These can be used for revision purposes. The app is free unless images are required. Where permission is given, it is also possible to copy sets of cards published by others and then customise / edit them. My students’ feedback has been very positive; many say that this way of learning vocabulary is not as daunting as learning from lists. In class, I see students continue to use the app as their vocabulary improves. Students’ usage can also be tracked through a function in the Quizlet app itself.

The author is happy to be contacted for further information: bba1y07@soton.ac.uk

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TwitTIAMO! Using Twitter with Italian beginners to help develop cultural awareness and communicative language skills

30/06/2015

TwitTIAMO Our first blogpost is by Alessia Plutino, Teaching Fellow in Italian in the Department of Modern Languages:

The pedagogical research project “TwitTIAMO” started in 2013 and is still in use with students of Italian at the University of Southampton to investigate student engagement, cultural awareness and communicative language skills development using the 140-character word limit that is the main feature of microblogging with Twitter.

TwitTIAMO has involved 20 to 30 able linguist students each year from our Italian Accelerated 1+2 Course. This is a fast-paced course for able linguists who pick up Italian from scratch. It allows for just four x 45 minute teaching periods a week, in which there is little time for anything else but language learning! Students expressed a desire for intercultural knowledge to be more integrated into their curriculum and this request had to match my aim, as tutor, for ‘active’ student learning and interaction in the target language outside classroom hours to help prepare them for their oral exam (role play in set scenario).

I found the perfect solution in Twitter, as it mimics the quick succession of comments in a normal conversation, requiring both quick thinking skills and spontaneity. A class Twitter account was set up, with student followers. The tutor acted as guide, suggesting linguistic structures learnt in class for students to mimic and expand creatively. Topics came up spontaneously deriving from students’ interests, and students also surfed the internet, used online vocabulary sources etc., sharing links and pictures and taking charge of their own learning.

The results so far have been very positive, suggesting that:

  • Twitter can help develop fluency in written and oral skills;
  • Students can learn how to focus on what they say better (they can only use 140 characters)
  • Through tweeting themselves, tutors can differentiate and help to reinforce what they have introduced in their classrooms
  • Discussions are more interactive and swift and can also add to metacognitive development, i.e. reflective learning.

(List adapted from Ritchie’s 2009 article in the Times Education Supplement)

Here is some student feedback on TwitTIAMO (using Twitter of course!):
TwitTIAMO Feedback

You can read more about Alessia’s successful project on the Languages at Southampton blog. You can also see a video of Alessia talking about the project on her page on the ILIaD website.

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Modern Languages eLearning Group blog launched!

23/06/2015

Welcome to the blog of the eLearning Group in Modern Languages at the University of Southampton. In our department there’s a great variety of eLearning research and TEL development happening – both in terms of blended learning and distance online education. This includes the TwitTIAMO Project; Get Ready for Languages Scoop.it; free Digital Literacies learning resources, an Understanding Language: Learning and Teaching MOOC; an online MA in ELT programme; blogging from abroad… to name just a few.

In this blog we will be featuring the eLearning projects that our staff are engaged in and reporting on our wide-ranging research and publications in this area. If you would like to be notified of regular blog updates please follow us on twitter @ModernLangs or subscribe to the RSS feed on this page.

Check out our new elearning group digital badge on the left and browse some of the links to more information about our online courses, commercial products and free products before you leave this page. Then watch out for the next blog post!

Julie Watson (Head of eLearning in Modern Languages)

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