Effective Communications

Applied ProjecteTeaching Certificate ProgramFebruary 2010

Outline

Background Course Proposal

Context content Goals ▪ Technical▪ Social▪ organizational

What Worked What Didn’t Work Comments

Background

Target Group English as a Second Language -

Internationally Trained Professionals Advanced English Level Engineers and Technologists Variety of ethnicities Up to 10 students

Course Proposal

Context Offered to students attending

Communication for Engineers and Technologists (CET) at Vancouver Community College

CET on hiatus during Olympic period-no f2f contact during on-line course

Course ran for 12 days Met students to present course and get

recruits 8 students enrolled

Course Proposal

Content▪ Communications focus in a professional

setting – listening and speaking▪ More on listening than speaking▪ Listening strategies▪ Listening practice

Goals

Technical to post in a discussion forum, reply, or edit a post to add an image, emoticons, a link to upload a written document to upload an audio file (MP3) to add an entry in a class glossary (Vocabulary

Sharing) to use Voice Thread (to create a voice message, to

“Tell me About Yourself”) to participate in ‘Elluminate’ on-line sessions to complete a variety of quizzes (multiple choice,

matching, True/False)

Goals

Organizational

Content presented on a daily basis – not all at once Students managed their time to complete a variety of tasks:

▪ complete short listening items and quizzes▪ create written and spoken instructions to teach others▪ create a voice message▪ share listening resources▪ share new or discovered vocabulary (minimum of 9 entries per

student)▪ evaluate a voice message and a classmate’s oral response▪ complete a vocabulary quiz based on Vocabulary Sharing▪ create a minimum of 24 ‘quality’ posts or interactions (each post must

respond to established criteria)

 

Goals

Social Asynchronous communication with the

instructor on a daily basis Asynchronous communication with other

participants on a daily basis synchronously in Elluminate Communicate for a variety of reasons -

to teach others, ask questions, comment, respond to feedback, share vocabulary, state opinions

What Worked

Few technical problems Students easily navigated the course

Instructions were clear

Students enjoyed communicating on-line Communicated with instructor and with each other Communicated to ask questions, share, give feedback, state

opinions and to problem solve

Student generated material Shared resources Shared images Created an activity not planned by the instructor (Song Sharing) Vocabulary sharing

What Worked

Elluminate Sessions added cohesiveness to course

Posts Generally thoughtful ‘quality’ posts

Vocabulary Sharing Fun – useful phrases shared “pain in the ass”

Students reflected on listening strategies through Random listening glossary Quizzes Videos and feedback on videos Feedback from instructor

Feedback Instructor able to give effective written and oral feedback to students

about their speaking/pronunciation

What Didn’t Work

Participation a student dropped out at start (work

commitments) Another disappeared half way through One only participated in the Elluminate

sessions Posts

Some students participated more than others Some students directed their posts more to

the instructor than to each other Only a few managed to post 2x/day

What Didn’t Work

Voicethread Took a lot of time for instructor to learn

and adapt to course Few students did this activity

Vocabulary Sharing Not all students consistently contributed

to Vocabulary sharing

Comments

Assessment Students not formally assessed by

instructor No ‘marks’ given except for quiz results

and anecdotal feedback Lack of formal assessment may have

affected participation Workload

Most students reported they spent 2 hours a day in the course

Comments

Instructor Response planning the course more stressful than

running and moderating the course Sense of wonder when students started

participating in planned activities (It’s working!!)

Felt like there was more participation from students on-line than in the classroom

Wonder how it would be to manage same course with 20 students as we do with f2f.