Kirsten Söntgens University of Southampton at EUROCALL 2007 Learning and Teaching On-line: A European collaborative effort!

Outline of Presentation: Project Background EUROVOLT On-line Teacher Training Course: Principles and Evaluation

EUROVOLT via VLE: European Vocational Language Teaching & Learning via a VLE (supported by Leonardo-da-Vinci) Partners (11): Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden, UK Cross sector collaboration of FE & HE institutions Develop on-line teaching & learning materials for vocational language teaching and learning

EUROVOLT via VLE: EUROVOLT language teacher training course (online/blended) Exemplar language courses on VLEs (Moodle, Blackboard, it’slearning) Other models of Good Practice for VOLT & VOLL

EUROVOLT Teacher Training Pilot Course on Moodle October May 2007 Applications: 33 Trainees: 16 (experienced language teachers/trainers) Self-assessment questionnaire: Course outline of the course you would like to develop during the EUROVOLT training: (needs analysis AND skills of trainees)

Self-Assessment of trainees: Language & Culture (very confident) Language Learning Processes (confident) Language Teaching Methodology (media competence) Planning & Evaluation (able to do this) Self-Assessment & Development (working with colleagues) Experience/Qualifications in ICT (general ICT skills vs specialised skills) (Annabell Preussler, Fernuniversität Hagen)

Trainers & assessment of trainees: 2 course moderators (meta discussions, overall assessment) 6 unit tutors (tutor & assessment of individual units) 120 hours minimum Qualified EUROVOLT Certificate of Participation: Trainees demonstrate competencies & skills acquired EUROLTA-EUROVOLT Diploma of Online Teaching (accredited by the ICC - The European Language Network)

The EUROVOLT framework: Delivery of quality language teaching = qualification of language teachers Aims, objectives & procedures for Blended Teacher Training AIM: To manage online learning processes in order to facilitate learning, encourage collaboration & independent learning.

Methodology & Approach: Collaboration online (tutors and trainees) Self-reflective ‘learning by doing’ approach, task based Extension of theoretical knowledge Integration of technical & practical skills, feedback techniques and reflection Moderation & communication online Development of own course units Self- and peer evaluation, tutor assessment ePortfolio, Dossier for ICC certification

“Learning occurs when learners are familiar, comfortable, effective in the online context” (Salmon, 2000) Commitment of the tutor to the online setting by establishing empathy and understanding (Rosie 2000) Building a sense of belonging (meeting point, news forum, chat room)

Deep Learning: Establish the personal Deliberate use of strong positive reinforcement Ensure engagement between theory & practice Encourage self-reflection (Rosie, 2000)

Course overview: Teaching Online (teaching with a VLE; online materials, resources & tasks; eModerating) Learning Online (assessment; independent learning; collaborative learning) Planning & Evaluating (designing an online unit; course design; organisational aspects)

Unit eModerating Tasks and dates: Building a Community January –Reading and reflecting. –Group discussion on the most important issues. You will start and moderate a discussion thread of your own. You will also participate in discussions started by your colleagues. Setting up a discussion forum January 22 - February 6 –You will plan (and set up) communicative online activities for your own group of learners. –You will post a description of these in the discussion forum and receive feedback from your colleagues. Synchronous communication February –You will reflect on and discuss didactic and practical issues of synchronous online communication. –You will plan (and set up) a synchronous communication activity for your own group of learners. –You will post a description of these in the discussion forum and collect feedback from your colleagues in a synchronous discussion

ePortfolio on it’slearning for assessment (trainees’s evaluation): Trainees submit tasks/assignments in ePortfolio (75,0%) Trainees share tasks (12,5%) Trainees collaborate on tasks Trainers assess/give feedback in ePortfolio (62,5%) Another VLE? Additional burden? Practical solution?

EUROVOLT Course Evaluation: Trainees’ questionnaires (work with VLEs) (Annabell Preussler, Fernuniversität Hagen) Tutors’ questionnaires ‘Rubric for Assessing Interactive Qualities of Distance Courses’ (Roblyer and Ekhamel, 2000)

‘Rubric for Assessing Interactive Qualities of Distance Courses’ (Roblyer and Ekhamel, 2000): Social Rapport-building Activities created by the instructor Instructional Designs for Learning created by the instructor Levels of Interactivity of Technology Resources Impact of Interactive Qualities as reflected by learner responses -> low interactive qualities: points -> medium interactive qualities: points -> high interactive qualities: points

Final Online Seminar (at end of EUROVOLT teacher training course) 6 trainees: Average score 15 = highly interactive Social Rapport-Building: 3.5 Instructional Designs: 4 Interactivity of Technology: 3.91 Learner responses: 3.58

Trainees’ comments: ‘Interactivity in the EUROVOLT course was achieved through various means – forum, performing tasks, chat, online communication via Skype. I myself liked the idea of being able to clarify any problems or misunderstandings that might arise by online synchronous communication’.

Cont.: ‘Yes, it must be said that EUROVOLT has connected people across the globe over a period of six months. I think that should bump up the total points’. ‘The project has been extremely valuable for sharing good practice; the aim of making students feel part of a community, a really special one, has been achieved 100%’. ‘Anyway, for me EUROVOLT was a great experience – an example of how an online course can be interactive, how vocationally oriented exercises can be interactive’.

Most Favourite Units: Creating online exercises E-moderating ‘The balance between thinking about what we actually do as teachers online and the development of our respective course was excellent, I think’!

Learning by Doing and Reflecting and Adapting ‘I think the approach was absolutely right. I personally always appreciate learning by doing, having the appropriate background info material and reflecting on my work. The best part, however, was that we could put our experience into practice by creating our own course. This is valuable learning …’.

Effectiveness of EUROVOLT training (trainees’ questionnaire): How effective was the work in the teacher- training course for the development of your own VOLL course: Rather effective 4 Very effective, rich, and helpful 6 Total 10

Tutoring ‘It has been very valuable to be able to share ideas with experienced teachers worldwide. Also the group work, pair work/peer to peer was very useful …’. ‘I do think, however, that the sheer number of tutors was overwhelming […]. The “specialists’ showed to be well-informed and ready to help in their various fields. […] and maybe fewer tutors might have given me a more personal sense of “being looked after”.

Trainees‘ evaluation: Support from the course tutors 70 % were,very much’ supported, 20 % felt,much’ supported Use of discussion fora (often, regular) „I really liked the various forums and found this most effective. I also directly implemented the learning strategies behind the forums in my own VLE and am very pleased with the results. Due to my schedule, synchronous work was simply not possible.“ „News forums, discussion forums, chats - they allow the collaboration among students and between students and teachers.“

External EUROVOLT teacher training evaluation: Moodle: Affords a rich environment for online learning & teaching Modules are highly relevant, well structured, plenty of resources The course has produced a true community quality among participants (many entries in discussions). (Andreas Lund, University of Oslo, external project evaluator)

For further information on EUROVOLT please contact the project coordinator: Inge-Anna Koleff