“Connecting” distance students Antonella Strambi.
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Transcript of “Connecting” distance students Antonella Strambi.
“Connecting” distance students
Antonella Strambi
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The Context
• LANG 2002 & LANG 8002: Second Language Teaching Methodology
• Approx. 20 students• Mix of distance & on-campus students;
UG + PG• Offered since 2002 in different versions
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First steps
• Students assigned textbook chapters to read - no lecture
• Written on-line discussion (Bulletin Board style)
• Drawbacks: Lack of engagement with other students’ responses; superficial engagement with materials; time-consuming to read
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Now
• Each chapter accompanied by on-line lecture – powerpoint slides with voiceover (approx.
50 min.) – also powerpoint slides in handout format
• face-to-face + online tutorial (Skype)– advantages: student-student engagement,
group cohesion, deeper understanding, less time-consuming to assess
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What’s missing? • Responding to distance students’ needs (e.g.
“Exploring the Student Voice in Online Education” project: http://www.uq.edu.au/student-voice-project/):– feeling “connected” with other students, instructors,
institution, materials --> social media (FB)– organisation tools: reminders, timed tasks, lectures
broken into manageable chunks– engaging materials --> videos (TV-style)
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Challenges
• Time/money: who has the time (and skills) to develop engaging videos? Keep up with FB posts? Where do we draw the line?
• How far do we want to go? Is video (TV-style) the new means of knowledge transfer? --> implications for research publications?
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