Refreshing in-sessional course provision Centre for Language Study

Refreshing in-sessional course provision Centre for Language Study Southampton University K. Richardson & J. Watson kmr 2@soton. ac. uk jw 17@soton. ac. uk

Overview • In-sessional support pre-2004 • Refreshing the provision • Example of online provision • Preliminary findings • Conclusions • The way forward

In-sessional support pre-2004 • Courses available per semester ü 15 face-to-face courses of 1 hour each ü 1 face-to face workshop of 2 hours ü Individual tutorial help (6 hours per week) ü Self-access language study • Content ü Non-specific EGAP to non-specific groups of students

In-sessional support pre-2004 • Issues § Erratic attendance § Varying satisfaction levels among students (lack of specificity in course content; mixed discipline groups; single session classes; course duration) § Tutor frustration § Timetable clashes

Refreshing the provision • Face-to-face changes: ü non-specific EGAP to discipline specific groups of students ü task specific EGAP to task/context specific groups of students ü ESAP to discipline specific groups of students • Shorten certain courses 6 weeks of double sessions • Introduction of online provision: ü tutored online non-specific EGAP to non-discipline specific groups of students ü non-tutored ‘International Students Online Resources’ (ISOR)

Refreshing the provision Monitoring Face-to-face: Ø level of attendance Ø student feedback Online provision: Ø enrolments, participation, VLE tracking, student feedback

Refreshing the provision Online • 04 -05 S 1: Academic Writing Skills; Academic Listening Skills • 04 -05 S 2: Academic Writing Skills; Academic Listening Skills; Academic Communication Skills • 05 -06 S 1: Academic Writing Skills; Academic Listening Skills; Academic Communication Skills; Academic Reading Skills; Academic Vocabulary Development; Aspects of Grammar for Academic Study • 05 -06: International Students’ Online Resources

Online courses Preliminary findings • 04 -05 S 1: 93 students, 1846 hits, 30%-40% still active at the end of the course • 04 -05 S 2: 67 students, no data available (Blackboard) • 05 -06 S 1: 198 students, 7576 hits after 4 weeks • 05 -06 non-tutored option: 124 students self-enrolled, 1247 hits after 4 weeks

Online courses Student feedback • • • On the 2004 -2005 online courses: … external websites and the comments after each question are particularly useful. By reading them, it helps a lot with my writing. (AWS) very useful learning material, clear instructions (ALS) The quality of the course content is high… the activities cover many important areas of communication (ACS) On discussion boards: Since this online course is very self-learning, therefore, I may not have the time to discuss. However, I think the tutor did a good job and offer help when necessary. The topic of the discussions and activities was quite good and useful for student. I did not benefit much as other course participants did not actively participate in the discussion forum. I'm not confident about my English, that's why I'm not active in course discussion. The better way of discussing is face-to-face . . . people did not visit the discussion board regularly, maybe because of time-constraints. On self motivation & time constraints etc The problem for me was especially the last unit I was very busy and as a result, I could not concentrate on them. Anyway, I read through all of them. It is not because of the content etc. but solely because I just lost and do not follow the activity. Hope we could have longer course duration.

Face-to-face courses Preliminary findings Discipline specific students ESAP MSc Social Statistics MBA Task/Context specific students Non-discipline/task specific students 96% 94% Foundation Year Engineers 94% MSc Operational Research 91% LLM 90% Task specific EGAP Write your Ph. D Non-task Water Engineers 99% specific MSc Management 87% EGAP Socrates 85% 95% Master’s Dissertation 82% Academic Writing 73% Grammar 57% Oral Skills 51%

Conclusions • The more specific the student group, the better the • • attendance The more specific the content, the better the attendance Shorter ‘workshop’ courses do not have as much impact on attendance as expected • Online courses provide a flexible way to deliver • Online is an attractive option for some students • Untutored online resources might suit some students

The way forward • Further research • Improve format and delivery of current online courses and ISOR • More ESAP to discipline specific students? • Introduce online ESAP to discipline specific • students? Integrate online courses with face-to-face courses: blended learning?

Refreshing in-sessional course provision Centre for Language Study Southampton University K. Richardson & J. Watson kmr 2@soton. ac. uk jw 17@soton. ac. uk