alison hayes independent learning materials march 2012
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Alison Hayes
Independent Learning Materials
March 2012
Background
Language modules comprise:
•26 hours contact time including tutorials
•24 hours SOL
•150 hours of independent learning
The original project
• To encourage students to make better use of
allocated SOL hours
• Foster independent study
• Encourage reflexion and self-evaluation
The materials
Packages of materials for students to study on or off campus (via Moodle)
These consisted of
• listening/ reading / vocabulary / grammar exercises
• suggestions for further study + weblinks
• encouragement to self-assess
• details of work for inclusion in portfolio including formative assessment
activities
Limitations
• The SOL packages only covered weeks 1-5 by way of a trial (since extended to whole module)
l• The software is only licensed to myself and to Alison Organ
The software
• Articulate Presenter to create package
• Articulate Quizmaker and Engage to convert paper exercises to electronic
Collaboration
• Mainly with E-learning (Daniel Mackley)
• Colleague (Alison Organ) had problems with software – see below
• Module now co-taught in semester 2 so Head of Languages (Liviana
Ferrari) involved in demonstrating materials to students
Additions to the project
• A weekly study guide pdf to explain how language learning theories are
relevant. Topics included: What makes a good language learner?
Listening / reading / writing strategies
Good language learning habits to acquire
• Language learning tip of the week
- brief message sent as Moodle announcement
• Trialled e-marking with two written assignments (formative assessment)
Creating the materials
• Very time-consuming!
• Had to rethink some existing exercises to fit Articulate format
• Used software to create additional and better exercises – more challenging,
testing more skills, allowed for differentiation
Issues and challenges
• Time constraints
• RSI
• Student access of materials from home
• Software new to Daniel Mackley as well as myself
• Problems adding video to slides – sabotaged Alison Organ’s plan for use
of materials
Feedback from students
• Only 5 students provided feedback – more had accessed materials
• Used Articulate questionnaire feature to gather feedback – problems
accessing results
• Feedback was not anonymous – will use different programme next time
What the students thought- SOL materials
• “They were great practice as they had exercises from all areas eg listening,
reading etc”
• “A good support for learning outside of the classroom, clear and engaging”
• “The exercises were OK, sometimes too easy, but I didn’t like the programme”
• “Some worked and some didn’t. There seemed to be quite a few where the
submit button was off the bottom of the screen… the ones that didn’t have this
problem were useful”
What the students thought- pdfs of Learning Tips
• “Clear and easy to access in your own time”
• “I already had my learning strategies”
• “They helped to find different methods of learning the language…might
have been easier to read in a powerpoint form”
What the students thought- Learning Tip of the Week
• “It helped to make you think about the homework in a second light taking
on the advice given”
• “It was good to get some additional pieces of information”
What the students thought-e-submission and e-marking
• “…good because it is much easier than rushing into uni and also saves money
on printing, however there are a lot of technical problems…”
• “Everything was fine. It was really fast and easy”
• “Great tool, easy to go back to and much clearer over written marking”
• “… amount of feedback appropriate to writing work, easy to understand which
points of essay was good, which not”
What the students thought- did it make you a more independent learner?
• “They gave me a good platform to go from being a new Spanish learner and
were fun to do as well as helping with understanding of the language not just
learnt vocab”
• “They were good practice but I needed extra resources to help me learn
such as worksheets and basic repetition of information”
What the students thought- paper or electronic?
• “I preferred the electronic as more attractive and engaging. One
major advantage being you could go back to where you started from
easily”
• “The paper ones were easier to complete and there were also
answers given whereas in the SOL activities I could not find the
correct answers easily”
Snags to sort out
• Work out how to add video so Alison Organ can make package of independent materials for Advanced Language and Culture module
• Work with Daniel and IT to eradiate issues of students not being able to open materials off-campus
Plans for the future
• Continue creating exercises for remaining weeks of module
• Include much more feedback so students know where they are going
wrong (already underway)
• Create materials for other levels of Spanish course
Summary
• A much more all-encompassing approach to language learning
• Definitely a work in progress – many more aspects of the software to exploit
• Huge potential
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