English Language Education for Art and Design Students at a Distance (2009)

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Designs on e-Learning International Online Conference 2009September 1, 2009© 2009 Savannah College of Art and Design

English Language Education for Art and Design Students at a Distance

Scott DinhoCoordinator of Educational TechnologySavannah College of Art and Design

This presentation introduces a new fully online program at SCAD-eLearning. It is a program to teach English language skills to admitted SCAD students, whose current English language proficiencies are not at a high enough level to successfully participate in SCAD courses.

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Presentation Overview

• SCAD Overview• Need for a Fully Online English as

a Second Language Program• Program Design• Future Plans• Questions

We’ll begin by looking at the history of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)—what it was, what it is, and where it is going.

Then, we’ll look at why a fully online English as a Second Language program is needed at SCAD.

We’ll next look at the overall design and feature of the program. Then, we’ll finish by taking a brief look at immediate future plans for this program as well as new program options that may be created as a result of this program’s development.

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SCAD Overview

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The Savannah College of Art and Design celebrated thirty years of operation during the 2008 – 2009 school year.

The college has come a long way in a very short amount of time.

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In 1979, SCAD was…

• 71 students

• 8 major programs

• 7 faculty members

• 1 building

SCAD started in one building and offered its first classes during the 1978 – 1979 school year.

The building, now known as Poetter Hall (pictured) is still an active part of the Savannah campus housing the Graphic Design program, Admissions, and a store where student and faculty work is sold (Shop SCAD).

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In 2009, SCAD is…• Over 9,300 students from 96

countries• 45 major-degree and more than

50 minor-degree programs• More than 600 faculty members• Over 80 college buildings

Thirty years later, the college has experienced tremendous growth both locally and internationally. The one building has now expanded to encompasses three degree granting campuses (Savannah, Atlanta, and eLearning) as well as several permanent and temporary off-campus program locations such as the permanent site at Lacoste, France.

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The University for Creative Careers

• 2008 graduates– 8 out of 10 working in field or admitted to

graduate school within six months

• Alumni– More than 16,000 alumni working in

creative professions

This expansion has both driven by and a result of a commitment to train student for creative careers. This emphasis has created a sizeable alumni network who are active in creative industries.

The reputation of this alumni network both attracts more students to the college and employers to the college looking to employ their next SCAD graduate.

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Fully Online Degree Programs– 5 Bachelor of Arts– 11 Master of Arts– 3 Master of Fine Arts

Spring 2009 Quarter– 127 individual class sections– 101 different courses– 18 college departments– 1,222 individual students– 1,712 total class “seats” filled

SCAD-eLearningSCAD-eLearning was created in 2003 to both accommodate the growing student populations at the physical sites and to reach out to those who wanted a SCAD education but were unable to permanently or temporarily relocate.

SCAD-eLearning is a fully online campus, meaning that student may start and complete the entirety of their degree program at SCAD-eLearning. They also have access to the same student support services as students at the campuses.

In the six years that SCAD-eLearning has been in operation its rate of growth has been similar or ahead of the growth rate of the overall college.

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Need for a Online English as a Second Language Program

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English as a Second Language

• English language instruction for students whose native language is not English

• Communication skills rather than writing and literature

• Required for those students whose English language abilities are not sufficient to begin English-based coursework

To understand why the college has a need for an English as a Second Language, we must first understand what we mean by English as a Second Language (ESL).

ESL programs are for any person whose first language is anything other than English and wishes to learn English as a second (third or fourth) language.

When learning English where English is not the primary language, these programs are often called English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

SCAD is a English-based institution so students attending SCAD must have a high level of English language proficiency.

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SCAD Students• Nearly 10% of SCAD

students are from outside of the U.S.A.

• SCAD actively recruits in more than 40 countries each year.

Student with limited English proficiencies are most likely to come from our international student base. Currently, SCAD is actively recruiting in many different countries resulting in nearly 10 percent of the student population being based outside of the U.S.A.

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SCAD International Students

Top five countries of permanent residence:– South Korea– Taiwan– China– India– Mexico

As English is the primary language in many countries (a highly taught second language in many others), simply having a large number of students from other countries does not in itself mean a need for ESL instruction.

However, the countries where SCAD is getting most of its foreign-based students are not one where English is the first language.

Even though students from these countries may have been studying English from a young age, many may have only a conversational grasp of the language but not the sophisticated abilities that they will need to be successful in an academic setting.

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SCAD CampusesWhile the college’s reputation for training students for creative career has attracted many students, SCAD’s physical growth has also been a major contributor to the need of a fully online ESL program.

SCAD began in 1979 with its Savannah campus. In 2003, it added eLearning and by 2005, it had expanded to another physical campus 300 miles away in Atlanta, GA (noted by green marks on this map).

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SCAD-Hong Kong (Fall 2010)• First United States

university to open a degree-granting campus in Hong Kong

• Only university in Hong Kong focused exclusively on art and design

SCAD looks to open its third physical campus (fourth overall) in the fall of 2010 by becoming the first U.S-based college to to open a degree-granting campus in Hong Kong, China.

The college will offer nine undergraduate and graduate degree programs:

•Animation•Advertising Design•Graphic Design•Illustration•Interactive Design and Game Development

•Motion Media Design•Photography•Sound Design•Visual Effects

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SCAD-All LocationsWith the expansion to Hong Kong, by the end of 2010 SCAD will have three physical campuses (green markers), one permanent off-campus program site in Lacoste, France (purple marker), and several temporary off-campus program locations (blue markers).

Through its temporary locations, SCAD will have offered student the opportunity to study in Los Angles, Mexico, New York, London, Italy, Turkey, and Tokyo in just the 2008 – 2009 school year.

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Current ESL program

• Immersive and residential– Programs at SCAD-Savannah and SCAD-

Atlanta• Art and design base• Approximately one year to complete

program

The current ESL program that meets the language education needs of the student who needs is structured in a manner that provides students an immersive English language education with their fellow art and design students.

In the course of one year, the program prepares them to not only communicate in English but to become SCAD students.

This program currently takes place at the Savannah and Atlanta campuses.

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Gap

• Global reach– College expanding across cultural and

linguistic borders• Student resources

– Relocation to residential ESL program for one year prohibitive to many applicants

As the college’s reputation has attracted students from more culturally and linguistically diverse areas and the college itself has physically expanded into new areas, it has swelled the number of applicants who are eager to attend the college, but who lack the language abilities to be successful at the college.

The requirement to relocate for a year prior to entering the college to study English is difficult for many students who may not be able to relocate to Savannah or Atlanta for a full year prior to entering their degree programs.

Thus there is a gap in the number of students who need ESL instruction at SCAD and the college’s ability to meet that need.

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Program Design

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Online ESL Program

• Six levels spread across four courses• Students progress as a cohort

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6Degree Program

Communicating about yourself and your world

Communicating as an art and design student

The fully online ESL programs uses the same six levels of communication competency as the residential ESL program. However, rather than use multiple classes in each level, the online program has only four class for all six levels.

Rather than have separate classes the focus on readings, speaking, vocabulary, etc., that meet on separate days of the week, the fully online program incorporates each of those skills into one class that is active all days of the week.

Students in the program progress together as a cohort, allowing them to learn from each other, following a system that moves them from communicating about their own lives to communicating as a SCAD student.

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Online ESL Program StructureLevel 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6

Degree Program

ESL 100 OLBasic English for Non Native Speakers

The program begins with ESL 100.This is a ten-week course that encompasses both Levels 1 and 2.

All students enrolled in the fully online ESL program start out at Level 1 regardless of their English proficiency. This ensures that all students in the program have the same basic language foundations and familiarity with the technology. The ESL instructor may allow for some students to move quicker through the level based on their success during the level.

Note: All SCAD courses operate on a ten-week quarter system. All ESL courses follow that same ten-week quarter schedule.

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Degree Program


ESL 101 OLEnglish In Context

ESL 101 is another ten-week course that encompasses Levels 3 and 4 of the program. Like ESL 100, this course begins with the focus on interpersonal communication (Level 3) but then transitions into instruction related to vocabulary terms related to the study of art and design (Level 4).

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Degree Program



ESL 102 OLArt and DesignIn Context

ESL 102 is a ten-week course that only encompasses Level 5 of the program. This level of the program is focused on preparing the students to handle the various communication challenges that they will face as SCAD students including topical discussions, critiques, essay writing, and debates.

This course (like Level 4) uses art and design as its core subject matter. However, the focus on the student’s ability to communicate in completion of the assignments and not on the correctness of their statements., beyond use of basic definitions taught in the courses. The ESL professor is not a subject matter expert on the topics being discussed, nor should the ESL professor be put in a situation to contradict any part of the instruction that the students will receive in their degree programs.

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Degree Program




ESL 193 OLComposition

ESL 525 OLInternationalGraduateWriting Seminar

In the final level of the program the students are allowed take credit coursework in their degree programs (or foundation / liberal arts class if they are undergraduates).

While they take their required classes, the students will progress in the ESL program by taking one of two classes.

ESL 193 OL Composition is for undergraduate students. It is the same course as ENGL 123 only taught by an ESL professor and with ESL program support. Student earn credit toward their degree program by taking this course.

ESL 525 OL International Graduate Writing Seminar is for graduate ESL students and focuses on the students ability to write long form papers.

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Transfer to Savannah or Atlanta ESL program


Degree Program




ESL 193 OLComposition

ESL 525 OLInternationalGraduateWriting Seminar

As an alternative, students in the fully online program are allowed to exit the fully online program after ESL 100 (Levels 1 and 2), come to Savannah or Atlanta and enroll in the residential program for the remainder of their ESL coursework.

Due to the differences in the program structures and the cohort nature of the online program, students are not allow to mix programs or move back and forth between programs.

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Course MaterialsThe course materials are arranged like our other fully online courses. They consist of pre developed media-rich HTML pages that are delivered through Blackboard. Each unit page has been developed by a subject matter expert and an instructional designer. A media designer builds the pages and creates the multi-media interface.

The example shown in the slide is from Unit 7 of ESL 101 where students are presented with vocabulary related to discussing color. Each term has a definition, visual reference, and a link to an audio pronunciation.

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Interactive Language LabThe backbone of the courses that is utilized from Level 1 through Level 5 is the interactive language lab.

In this lab, the students are exposed to language lessons and challenges that incorporate all aspects of interpersonal communication. They also received immediate and corrective feedback that allows them to continually improve. The system also provides the professor with data regarding how well each student in doing so he or she can modify the program to meet the student’s needs.

This program is currently using Rosetta Stone as the interactive language lab.

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Peer Tutoring and ConferencingThe program does not stop at labs and prewritten assignments. By making use of Web conferencing software, the students are able to interact directly with other students and their professor.

Each course requires weekly conversation with “peer tutors”—current SCAD students. The conversations have requirements that match the lessons being learned by the student making the conversation into a time for growth and reinforcement of the lessons learned during the unit.

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Other Program Features

• Blogs (both text and video based)• Student presentations at each level• Remediation offered between terms• Regular conferences with professor

Additionally, the course utilize student blogs where they respond to prompts. These start as written blogs but later become video-based to stretch their presentation skills.

The students are required to make a presentation at the start and finish of each level. These presentations build upon each other moving the students closer to being able to communicate in a academic style.

Regular conferences with the professor and the number of feedback and assessment opportunities allow the professor to identify which students require remediation so that the students can have a difficult time in a course but not fall back from his or her classmates.

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Future Plans

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Student Recruitment• Currently focused on

China to match expansion to Hong Kong

• Pilot group for Fall 2009 with first new cohort in Winter 2010.

While the program was designed to handle students from various language backgrounds, recruitment for the program is currently focused on China to match the college’s impending expansion to Hong Kong.

A pilot cohort is the first order of business for the program. Plans originally allowed for pilot group in the Spring but these had to be delayed.

Pictured in the slide is the new ESL information brochure for China.

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Other Languages

Structure of English program adaptable to other languages

– Faculty / staff professional development– University extension– Undergraduate foundation classes– College credit courses for high school

students

Beyond ESL, the development of the program has given confidence that other language programs can be developed for fully online offering for a multitude of different purposes.

These new programs may also allow for SCAD-eLearning to touch new audience such as staff members who normally wouldn’t take a SCAD course. High school students who are potential SCAD students, and community members who would not have a connection to SCAD but require fully online language instruction.

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Questions, Comments, and/or Suggestions?Scott DinhoCoordinator of Educational TechnologySavannah College of Art and Designwww.scad.edu/[email protected]

If you have questions, comments, and/or suggestions beyond those posted in the discussion forum, please contact me.

English Language Education for Art and Design Students at a Distance (2009)

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