1. MASTER IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AUTONOMOUS LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS September, 2017

2. SETTING AND OPTIMIZING LANGUAGE RESOURCE CENTRES Tutor Patricia Alvarez Some sections of this presentation were adapted with permission from Steve Dale Director Semantix (UK) Ltd Collabor8now Ltd

3. Key concepts on collaboration Your web 2,0 tools
SESSION AGENDA
Key concepts on collaboration
Your web 2,0 tools
A sample collaborative project
LOs the main components of a collaborative project
A learning community: The ingredients
Your VLRC some tips to consider
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES TO FOSTER SELF-DIRECTED LANGUAGE LEARNING IN COLOMBIA -DIAGNOSING THE CURRENT STATUS IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS-

4. Key Concepts on Collaboration
Collaboration entails..
a meaningful central activity (e.g., playing a networked computer game, developing a project)
the social relations that develop as a result of jointly constructed goals for the common endeavor.
( Donato, 1994)

5. Key Concepts on Collaboration
recognition of individuals as parts of a cooperative activity
the acceptance of the contributions of individuals in the service of a larger goal
( Donato 1994)

6. Key concepts on Collaboration
Collaborative groups…
build coherence within and among social relations and knowledge located and distributed in its members.
collaboration co-constructs new knowledge that goes beyond any knowledge possessed by a single member in isolation (Donato, 1994). .

7. The goal of collaborative learning…
involves apprenticing,
initiating, and transforming individuals into participating and contributing members of social networks in various communities in which they live (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Sfard, 2003).

8. For the language learner collaborative learning implies…
participate in social activities, either as individuals referenced to a social network or directly connected to others,
promote future learning and development through expanding participation,
create the potential for the individual’s reciprocal contribution to the community
(Dyson, 2000; Putney, Green, Dixon, Durden, & Yaeger, 2000)

9. Some affordances of our teaching groups
What we have…
We are part of a community whose members are from different places in this country
We all want our students to become better learners

10. Some affordances of our teaching groups
We want our students to be able to use the target language to interact with others
Perhaps we would like them to interact with native speakers rather than with other speakers of Spanish.

11. Some affordances of our teaching groups
How about giving our students the opportunity to get to know other Colombian / foreign students….
See how they live
What they enjoy the most
Their habits
Their schools
Their families

12. A sample collaborative project
How about having them share.. A day of their life? ….

13. A sample collaborative project
What communicative skills do they need
to practice?
What do they know about this topic?
What language would they need?

14. A sample collaborative project
How about sharing their writings or
videos enhanced by pictures of their own places, their schools and families?
What would you need to teach them?
How would you prepare them to succeed?

15. The main components of a collaborative project: learning objects (LOs)
Dickens, A. and Corner, A. (n.d.) have characterized a learning object as a “particular type of online electronic learning material that is generally defined as a small, digital and self-contained unit of learning”
A key quality of a learning object contains a high level of interactivity, will have defined learning outcomes and specific tasks or activities for the learner

16. The main components of a collaborative project: LOs
For the purposes of our collaborative project we will design a minimum of three activities.
Please take a close look at the Conceptualizing and Characterizing a LO document for additional input.

17. The main components of a collaborative project: LOs
Now it is your turn… Take a look at this LO How is it structured? What can learners learn from it? What scaffolding opportunities are they offered?

18. What is a learning community ? What are the requirements ?

19. A learning community
An environment connecting people and encouraging the sharing of ideas and experiences

20. A community…

21. A domain of interest…
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES TO FOSTER SELF-DIRECTED LANGUAGE LEARNING IN COLOMBIA -DIAGNOSING THE CURRENT STATUS IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS-

22. A place to meet…
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES TO FOSTER SELF-DIRECTED LANGUAGE LEARNING IN COLOMBIA -DIAGNOSING THE CURRENT STATUS IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS-

23. Someone to facilitate….
Screenshoots taken from:
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES TO FOSTER SELF-DIRECTED LANGUAGE LEARNING IN COLOMBIA -DIAGNOSING THE CURRENT STATUS IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS-

24. Your VLRC: some Have you given your centre a name
and a URL easy for your learners to remember?
Do you know the difference between the centre, a web page, a blog, that place, etc.
Will you make it sufficiently appealing for you learners?

25. Your VLRC: some
Have you hosted it on a CMS which allows you to structure it in separate sections that facilitate navigability?
Have you included the required tabs and the additional ones you consider necessary?
Have you recently visited it and done some house work?

26. Resources Collaborative project samples World without oil
Composting, a viable solution
Sample LO
LO template