Technologies & collaborative learning

Interaction with peer learner Interactio ns with experts (tutors) Interactions with the learning environment Scaffolding (Gibbons, 2002) How learners progress through their zone of development (Vygotsky, 1978)

Technologies promote collaborative learning by: providing authentic learning environment (Virtual Learning Environment e.g. Second Life)

Technologies promote collaborative learning by: providing new platforms (e.g. Web 2.0) for peer-interactions and peer-expert interactions (Mak & Coniam, 2008)

Technologies promote collaborative learning by: creating anonymous learning environment where “social context cues” to the learners’ real world presence are largely reduced (Ortega, p. 84 ）

Teaching experience and implication of the technology

· 04 The main technological tools for the online IELTS course In china The main types of online IELTS course we usually used in China Just change the mode of face to face teaching. Record the face to face class,and then put it online Using chat software or teaching software to teach the students. The system designed by the commercial institutes SNS and chatting software

The technological things we usually used in China for online teaching YY CHAT Wei chat WEI BO Skype Sina UC QQ

The main problems in the teaching process The use of the technology should consider the context Understand the students’ use of the Internet Consider the infrastructure

Online course in high school Blog: apply online tools into learning help to connect student’s identity with study life

Online Open Courses: University online learning system: students can get access to the courses online and watch the video; Wanmen University; icourse: online platforms for people to watch course video ;r Ease of access Instructors: native or non-native speaker students’ language proficiency level course material Interactions: relatively fewer than face to face interactions

Video Chatting Course: online private English class Online English Learning Course Foreign Teachers –Facetime Learners from distance areas / students who are busy at work are able to take classes through internet; Students are fully interacted with teachers; Speaking classes are popular; Less expensive

“...many learners are failing to participate in didactic and outmoded instructional model, and reluctant to engage with technology that simply duplicates the one-way transfer of information from teacher to student...” (Herrington, 2006)

Authentic Materials

Authentic Tasks: Second Life Recreation of real-world physical settings: conference, lectures, seminars; interaction, communication. - a closer-to-life experience.

Collie, J & Slater, S. (1987) Literature in the language classroom : a resource book of ideas and activities, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ortega, L. (1997). Processes and outcomes in networked classroom interaction: Defining the research agenda for FL computer-assisted classroom discussion. Language Learning & Technology, 1(1), pp. 82–93. Retrieved from Herrington, J. (2006). Authentic E-Learning in Higher Education: Design Principles for Authentic Learning Environments and Tasks. In T. Reeves & S. Yamashita (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2006 (pp ). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Mak, B., & Coniam, D. (2008). Using wikis to enhance and develop writing skills among secondary school students in Hong Kong. System, 36, Gibbon, p. (2002). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching Second Language Learners in the Mainstream classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Reference

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