On Implementing an ESL Teacher Education Program Using

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 1

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

I. Background o Elements of a Quality Online Teacher Education Program n n n 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. 3

Background of our Program o o 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. 4

Background of our Program o o o 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. 5

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

II. Course Development o o o 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 7

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

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

o o o 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 10

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

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

n Setting-event combinations o o lectures whole-class meetings small-group discussions informal exchanges 13

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

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

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

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

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

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

Implementation o Language: n informal n humorous (Koetter 2002) 20

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

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

o Three expertises needed n course design n technological implementation n pedagogical understanding 23

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

n Library staff o o online or phone reference desk work library orientation materials 25

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

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

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

n web-conferencing software Elluminate Live!: o o o real-time interactivity application-sharing screen-sharing 29

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

o Comparable Library Resources n multiple full-text databases n electronic document delivery n e-books 31

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

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

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

Reference List o o 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 e. Learning: 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/v 3. 2/frydenberg. html Herring, S. (Ed. ). (1996). Computer-mediated communication: Linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 35

Reference List o o o 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. 36

Reference List o o 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. 37