BRIX The University of Hawaii’s Framework for Online Language Learning

John Standal • Stephen TschudiCollege of Languages, Linguistics & Literature

University of Hawai‘i

Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance Pacific Neighborhood Consortium

Electronic Cultural Atlas InitiativeEast-West Center November 3, 2005

2:00 p.m. Asia Room (2F)

FL Distance Education at UH

Distance learning for foreign languages at UH since 1995 – initially Chinese on interactive TV

Web courses since 2000 Started with text-intensive advanced courses Now supporting courses in:

Chinese (4 levels) Indonesian Ilokano

Japanese SLA / Language Pedagogy

Filipino (Tagalog)

Korean English as a Foreign Language

Thai

Principles of Translation

Technical Translation

Khmer (Cambodian)

Requirements for SLA

Distance Education – on Web, various modes may work better than others

Needs of online learning system to support L2 (second language) learning activities

Not only input/output of characters, but Vocabulary activities Discussion board / Voice board Draft Book Online Dictionary Assessment tools, etc.

Easy to build and maintain course

Insufficiency of Commercial Software Evaluated WebCT & Blackboard based on

requirements of NFLRC development project 8 areas did not meet L2 instructional needs

Language –target languages not fully supported Discussion Board – no non member access to

private group Discussion Board – no (asynchronous) voice

capability Dictionary – no integrated online dictionary

Composition Activities –peer review, editing, rewriting of essays not supported

Reading Activities – no particular features for vocabulary, annotation, textual & audio pronunciation, etc

Exercise & Quiz – no self practice in Blackboard

Organization & Navigation –hierarchical menu grouping by lesson not fully supported

Insufficiency of Commercial Software

BRIX & NFLRC

Instructional activities of online language course

NFLRC had developed hand crafted web-based language courses at high cost

BRIX – language course management – provided support for the pedagogical requirements of these courses

Sequence of Activities

I. Preparatory Activities

1. Warm-up (activating prior knowledge)

2. Preparation (self-test exercise)

II. Core Activities

3. Pre-activities

4. Authentic Text

5. Global, Specific information, Linguistic, and Post Activities

III. Follow-up Activities

6. Trouble shooting (Q&A forum)

7. Small group discussion

8. Grammar Clinic

9. Final Essay

10. Quiz

Figure 1

BRIX Technical Model

Content moduleContent module

Quiz 1

Forum 1essay 1

vocab 2query

ModuleB

DisplayModule

F

DisplayModule

D

ActionModule

F

DisplayModule

A

QueryModule

C

Fusebox

FuseBox Methodology BRIX Framework

DBQuiz 1

Quiz 2

Forum 1Forum 2

essay 1essay 2

vocab 1vocab 2

Content moduleContent module

Quiz 1

Forum 1essay 1

vocab 2

Course menu

server

Dynamic html pages

clients

Organizing contents Creating contents Building navigator

user page

Building a Course With BRIX

Faculty designs and proposes course – “from brain to paper”

Language Learning Center approves course for support, IT specialist creates BRIX entity

Designer builds course, supported by Instructor in Tech for FL Education – “from paper to BRIX”

Elements using Language Activities Elements contained on user-made Web pages Course menu construction

Language Activities

Vocabulary tool

Co-construction of knowledge à la Vygotsky means students should build knowledge together

Tool for everyone (including teacher) to contribute words in current lesson

Words are vetted by teacher, feedback & icons

Words subsequently available in a reference list in any Essay assignment in the same lessonSample: CHN399a Spring 2005 Lesson 2 Cuisine

Vocabulary tool

Voiceboard feature

Experience says: Web not sufficient as sole tool for four-skills language instruction

Voice tool still desirable and necessary Asynchronous voice tools not common three

years ago – long process of selection Home-built solution on Macromedia Flash

Communication Server Students are rapidly becoming accustomed to

using Voice featureSample: CHN201 Spring 2005 Lesson 22 FollowUp1

Voiceboard feature

Essay tool: collaborative learning

Process writing stresses gradual emergence of product

Peer feedback often part of the picture Essay tool links Draft Book and Essay

Discussion Forum Provides start-to-finish look at multiple drafts Shows intervening discussion plus teacher

feedback, private grading

DRAFT BOOK

Essay Discussion Board

Essay tool: collaborative learning

Evaluation

Formative usability evaluations – previously published Evaluation of authoring tools

Are course authors satisfied? Survey Easy to use overall; modularity of contents increases

complexity of authoring course menu Evaluation of instructional effectiveness

Do students increase desired activities in comparison to hand-crafted systems?

System logs and student surveys Increased use of language bank, revisions of essay,

participation in discussion

Conclusions

Disciplinary areas may require specialized features in online learning environments

For example, language must be used communicatively for acquisition to take place

BRIX provides features required for language learning in an online course construction tool

Further reading

Fleming, S., Sawatpanit, M., and Suthers, D. (2004). “BRIX: Meeting the requirements for online second language learning.” Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2004; Waikoloa, Hawaii. p. 4 (full text on accompanying CD-ROM). Los Alamitos, CA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Fleming, S., Sawatpanit, M., and Suthers, D. (2003).“BRIX — Elements for Language Course Creation.” Proceedings of ED-MEDIA 2003 World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications, June 23-28, 2003; Honolulu, Hawaii. p. 415-422. Norfolk, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). 2003.

Mahalo & Aloha!

Feature comparison of course authoring software and BRIXSystem feature WebCT Blackboard BRIX

Primary Criteria

Fully support languages

Support content module

Support vocabulary activity

Support grammar activity (via discussion and textbook)

Support composition activity

Integrated online dictionary of target language

Release content and all activities in chronological order Partial

Support multiple discussion board areas per course

Support public and private discussion group

System can create groups randomly

Instructor can create groups manually

Allow non-member access private group discussion *

Support full range of language exercises

Support full range of language quizzes

Support multimedia contents

Integrated online course with CD-Rom

Feature comparison of course authoring software and BRIX (cont.)System feature WebCT Blackboard BRIX

Secondary criteria

Create a copy of an existing course

Release feedback within quizzes

Release content to specified group of users Partial

Instructor can delete messages

User receive announcements on login page

Instructor can view number of hits per page

Instructor can view date and time of each student's first and last login

Instructor can view how many bulletin board articles a student has read

Instructor can view how many bulletin board articles student has post