For millions of people today, distance learning provides a compelling, convenient, and enriching experience that, until recently, was not feasible. Fueled by technological advances that have made profound changes in teaching and learning possible, distance learning continues to expand as its applications and advantages to business, education, and everyday life become widely known and appreciated.
A project “TVenglish Online School – Watch TV and Learn English!” is motivated by the fact that learning a foreign language at a distance is rapidly becoming a preferred choice of many adult and adolescent learners all over the world. One of the reasons for that is a paradigm shift from the Teacher-Centered traditional model of education to Learner-Centered individualized instruction that “strongly promotes active learning, collaboration, mastery of course material and student control over the learning process” (Simonson et al, 2012, p. 123).
This document’s aim is to provide a high-level overview of the entire training solution for the online school TVenglish™ and serve as a major quality assurance checkpoint.
In this document we will consider the following questions in order to produce an instructional strategy:
• What course materials will allow achieving learning outcomes?
• How will course materials be grouped and sequenced?
• What instructional methods and tactics will be used to present material?
• How will assessments measure a learner's success?
Materials for instruction will be represented by a variety of contemporary text, audio and video content delivered via Web 2.0 technology.
1. The course will be built around an English course pack New English File™ (Basic, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate and Advanced) It is a four-skills English course with engaging lessons, digital resources and strong online support. Resources include iPacks and iTools, DVDs, MultiROMs, popular websites, plus Online Skills Practice material – completely new for 2011.
2. TVenglish online school also suggests using learning materials based on popular TV shows and cartoons as a means of engaging students and providing them with an opportunity to master skills of understanding conversational English in a situation close to real life.
3. Students will also be encouraged to use the power of Web 2.0 tools to achieve their learning goals through:
• joining online language learning communities;
• downloading ESL podcasts;
• reading and listening to e-books on their computer, iPod™ or a similar device;
Content is grouped and sequenced according to the European Language Portfolio that describes “the levels of proficiency required by existing standards, tests and examinations in order to facilitate comparisons between different systems of qualifications.” The six levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) are an interpretation of the classic division into basic, intermediate and advanced. Each level is built around a corresponding course pack and video course, suplemented by additional online resourses. The students will be placed into levels after passing a placement test and completing an Online Orientation course delivered through a Course Management System.
The delivery mode of the course is blended with most of the content delivered in asynchronous mode: reading, writing and listening. However, speaking will be essentially face-to-face and synchronous to ensure that students are engaged and have an opportunity to master their skills in a live communication with a native speaker or a Russian speaking tutor.
Students will interact with the content, instructors and faculty using the following tools:
• Skype™;
• Course Management System CourseSites™;
• Interactive whiteboard TitanPad™.
Another issue we consider is assessing the progress of learners. Assessment will be conducted in a form of informal examinations – every 6 months students will be offered an opportunity to take a mock international language exam that corresponds to their proficiency level. They will also be asked for a permission to record one of their Skype™ lessons for an academic progress report to be written by a member of faculty other than a student’s personal tutor. Assessment here enables students “to gain a sense of control and they can take greater responsibilities for their learning, if they know how well they are doing, compared with an established set of criteria” (Simonson et al, 2012).
For young learners assessment will also include progress reports directed to their parents emails every months and an online gradebook.
Reference
Kilimci, S. (2010). Integration of the Internet into a Language Curriculum in a Multicultural Society. Turkish Online Journal Of Educational Technology - TOJET, 9(1), 107-113.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
