Using Student Evaluations to Improve Virtual Immersion Sessions

Rachida PrimovDepartment of Modern Languages and Literatures

University of Miamirprimov@miami.edu

Student Evaluations

205 Lab calendar

201 Lab calendar

Lab Links

S10 F10 S11 F11 S12 F12 S13 F13

99 92 98 91 97 98 92 91

Q1 The lab facility/equipment

contributed to a positive learning environment

Average

95

At the beginning, we encouraged our students to use their own computers, assuming that they would prefer to do so and that it would be more efficient.

We quickly learned that it was much more efficient for everyone to use the Lab computers. This allowed us to give the same instructions and procedures to all students, thus avoiding the operational idiosyncrasies of different computers and programs.

Furthermore, this approach facilitated the process of allocating session partners by randomly assigning students to a Lab computer and, thus, simultaneously to a partner.

Lessons learned from Q1

S10 F10 S11 F11 S12 F12 S13 F13 Average

Q2 Having Lab accounts already logged

into Skype contributed to the success of the session

93 94 79 97 93 93 98 91 92

Having all computers connected before the students arrive for a session, not only provides maximizes the time that students can interact with their partners, but has three additional advantages:

1. It allows the staff to identify and solve any unexpected technical or connective problems that may arise immediately before each session.

2. Students do not need to use or create personal Skype accounts.

3. All students can start and end their sessions at the same time.

Lessons learned from Q2

Q3 The Lab staff was able to resolve

technical issues in a timely manner

S10 F10 S11 F11 S12 F12 S13 F13 Average

88 85 81 86 96 91 92 84 88

Although self-evident, the issue of technical support is crucial for a successful session and for student satisfaction with the session.

Immediate technical help to resolve connectivity problems makes a significant difference in how well sessions proceed. Long pauses caused by technical problems tend to undermine the rapport developed by partners and result in frustrated students who do not benefit very much from the session.

Lessons learned from Q3

S10 F10 S11 F11 S12 F12 S13 F13 Average

Q4 Skype is an effective tool for communication and cultural

immersion

96 93 85 92 97 91 84 92 91

The primary lesson here is that students are very enthusiastic about virtual immersion sessions and that once they get over their initial apprehension about having to speak the target language to a native speaker in real time, they become excited at having actually communicated in the target language and were quite ready to repeat their experience.

A secondary lesson is that our students found it quite satisfying to be able to help their partners communicate in English. This was especially true when the topics of conversation were about everyday life issues and cultural preferences.

Lessons learned from Q4

S10 F10 S11 F11 S12 F12 S13 F13 Average

Q5 I liked/enjoyed the experience of

using Skype for this cultural experience

97 85 79 93 90 89 80 75 86

We learned here that our initial apprehensions that the utilization of technologies like Skype, for conducting dialogues between students that were strangers to each other and that came from different cultures and spoke different languages, would create additional constraints on their ability and willingness to participate and engage successfully with each other.

We found out that, on the contrary, students on both sides of the partnerships, were so familiar and comfortable with Skype that instead of being a distraction, it facilitated social exchange. In fact, it may have made the interactions less awkward than they would have been had the students engaged in the same task had they been both physically present with each other.

Lessons learned from Q5

S10 F10 S11 F11 S12 F12 S13 F13 Average

Q6 I thought that this was a useful

experience

95 87 78 93 90 94 86 84 88

Students regarded their first session with some trepidation but once they were done, they seemed to enjoy the realization that they could actually converse in the target language. For many of them, this is quite a realization. Learning foreign languages is commonly seen by students as a difficult and uninteresting task of just learning nouns, conjugating verbs and memorizing idiomatic expressions, with no real purpose, all of a sudden had an interesting and unexpected payoff – they could actually speak to someone and be understood!What we have learned from this is that it is never too early to expose our students to immersion sessions because it provides them with a positive reinforcement when they actually do something with the language that they have started learning and it gives them with an incentive to learn the language.

Lessons learned from Q6

Q7 If this experience were part of

your regular course, how often do you think you should be meeting

with the other class?

S10 F10 S11 F11 S12 F12 S13 F13 Average25 26 18 22 42 36 13 1847 54 45 31 27 31 33 3723 20 24 35 25 26 41 322 0 8 12 2 4 10 103 0 5 0 4 3 3 3

25382863

WeeklyBiweekly

MonthlyBimonthly

By arrangement with partner

The lesson learned from the responses to Q6 must be tempered by what we learn from Q7.

Although students were very positive about their experiences with an immersion session, it is also clear that the experience was stressful for many of them and that they would not welcome a very frequent exposure to them.

It appears that even one weekly session would be a bit too much. There is a strong preference by the students for a biweekly sessions. We should heed this as a cautionary note against scheduling too many immersion sessions in any course in order to avoid the sessions becoming uninteresting or too routine.

Lessons learned from Q7

S10 F10 S11 F11 S12 F12 S13 F13 Average

Q8 What kind of partner interaction

would you like?

Same partner all semesterDifferent partners

39 33 36 41 17 36 26 4361 67 64 59 83 64 74 57

3466

The lesson here is that a significant majority of the students prefer to be paired with a new student each session.

One conclusion about this preference is that students view the immersion sessions as an opportunity to meet new people their age, especially if they are from another country, and to meet as many of them as possible.

Another conclusion, is that from a pedagogical point of view, it is probably better to avoid pairing up the same students because they are more likely to go off topic or run out of topics to discuss.

Lessons learned from Q8

S10 F10 S11 F11 S12 F12 S13 F13 Average

Q9 Do you think that this should be a

graded activity?

YesNo

27 10 40 38 35 3078 90 60 62 65 70

3070

The important lesson to be drawn from the responses to this question is that this is not a very good question, since the responses to it are highly predictable.

Students view the immersion sessions as an enjoyable experience and do not feel that it should be a graded component of their course.

Instructors who wish to grade the sessions may want to wait and grade only the last, or last two, sessions. Presumably, by then, having had experience with one, two or three previous sessions, students will be more at ease and will perform better under graded conditions. If a grade has to be involved, then the effort as much as the outcome should be considered.

Lessons learned from Q9

S10 F10 S11 F11 S12 F12 S13 F13 Average

Q10 Given the choice between

choosing a class with or without virtual immersion sessessions,

which would you choose?

WithWithout

Either

59 73 76 70 53 5917 9 8 1 15 924 18 16 29 32 32

651025

Clearly, most students would choose a class with an immersion session component, if they had a choice. This shows strong support for the program.

A small minority would prefer a class without an immersion session component.

But what about the twenty-five percent of students who seem indifferent to the experience? We suspect that they are indifferent for several different reasons. They may have had disappointing sessions, the sessions may have been too stressful for them, they may have disliked their partners, they may be very shy and introverted, or they may not have had enough sessions to become comfortable with them.

Lessons learned from Q10