language

Psychology of Language

Submitted by rfox on 19 January 2011 - 2:18am

Tagged with:

Practice Type:

Course

Local Identifier/Name:

PSY303 Psychology of Language

Delivery Modality:

Fully Online

Audience/Level:

Undergraduate (College/University)

Participants:

60 to 100

Delivery Length:

16 weeks

Introduction

EFS 693A Listening Comprehension

Submitted by kenro on 15 March 2010 - 7:06am

Tagged with:

Strategies for effective listening in an academic setting, with a focus on identifying key ideas in lectures. Practice in understanding words and phrases commonly encountered in classroom settings. Work with computer-based exercises to promote comprehension of rapid, natural speech.The course is for incoming graduate students who, based on their score on our listening placement test and an interview, we decide are in need of concentrated practice and study in academic listening. Non-academic listening is only very briefly addressed.

Course Number/ID:

EFS 693A

Course Length (number of weeks):

Course Delivery Mode:

Hybrid/Blended (some face-to-face and some online interactions)

Average Number of Enrolled Students:

Between 10 and 30 students

Course Level:

Graduate

Course Contributors:

None

Course Development:

In general, listening content was introduced so as to facilitate a bottom-up approach: from words to overall comprehension. This approach was taken because of the usual skill set of foreign graduate students at Stanford, who typically have much familiarity with text than speech. The task, is to facilitate a connection between words, phrases and sentences in text, where they have a considerable passive vocabulary and are comfortable extracting complex information, to an aural mode. The curriculum is mainly based on five principles: building vocabulary, enhancing awareness of phonological and psycholinguistic principles, developing skills to connect sound with words and phrases familiar in text, reinforcing self-study skills, and providing contact with real lectures.Vocabulary is an obvious area for language learning, and, while graduate students are quite familiar with specialized terminology, they often have difficulty with the more idiomatic speech used in daily life. Courses like this are one of the few places they can focus on how to comprehend this language. In addition to pointing out the phonological characteristics that are not obvious in text, I try to emphasize how familiarity with spoken language decreases the need for cognitive resources to process input, thus increasing comprehension. This principle can be used to understand why certain passages are difficult, but students can also use it to create their own practice routines for increasing proficiency.While there is a wealth of listening material available to learners over the internet (not to mention on campus), it is very challenging to approach this in an organized way that is pedagogically sound. For the past few years, I have been working with EFS to make certain lectures available online. However, the key pedagogical advance has been to create small, less than 60 second clips for focused practice. Transcripts are, of course, important, but the key is keeping them away from the learners until they have made an attempt to understand the audio. Sakai has made this possible through the assignments (samigo) tool. Further, by having assignments available online, students are able to review them and learn from their mistakes. One thing that I would like to emphasize is that because this is a language course, taught in the target language of the learners, there are many features that do not quite fit the mold of traditional undergraduate “good teaching”. In order to facilitate a firm grasp of a language, language teachers know that it is important to control the information: listening is only useful if learners *try* to understand, speaking is only worthwhile if learners *want* to convey some information. However, this is exactly where Sakai excels: I was able to use the strengths of each tool to control the timing and conditions of information flow. The Wiki was collaborative group learning, Materials gave supplemental resources for autonomous study, and Samigo gave a structured environment for students to challenge themselves. In addition, this course demonstrates how formative assessment can be delivered effectively while at the same time providing an opportunity for reflection.

Course Delivery:

Class meetings began with one of several regular "corners" and proceeded to the main lesson content. The "corners" allowed students to prepare for certain discussions or formative assessments, while lessons introduced methodology for listening, which was then re-enforced with homework.Regular corners included vocabulary, a quiz, and homework review and preview. Vocabulary was facilitated by the Wiki tool in Sakai. Each week, each student had to add an idiomatic word or phrase, plus an example sentence. Ideally these phrases would be found in spoken language and would not be specific to any particular field. The students added these to the Wiki tool so it would be a collaborative project, and they could learn from each other's words. The new words and phrases were reviewed in class for expansion and consolidation on Thursday, the day that they were due. On Tuesday, there was an in-class quiz which included 5 of these words or phrases, randomly chosen from the cumulative list. Students simply had to write one sentence which illustrated that they understood the usage. Three dictation sentences, unrelated to the vocabulary, were also given: These sentences were .mp3 files cut directly from recordings of lectures that were used in previous classes. They were repeated several times for each sentence, with silences between repetitions. It is important to note that these quizzes were not collected - students were to assess their own grasp of the words and dictation. This method was in line with one of the main themes of the course: students were constantly encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning and to challenge themselves in any way that they could.The main content of the daily lessons followed a bottom-up concept, beginning with concepts such as phonological properties of individual words and moving through improving comprehension vs. improving proficiency. The course ended with a final review and assessment. Homework assignments moved from words to overall comprehension. All homework used clips of real lectures and was done in the assignments (Samigo) tool using the file upload, short answer, and fill in the blanks item types. A final project submission required several files, so students were given the option to submit these to the drop box or on a CD-ROM. Feedback for homework was given both in the assignments themselves and in individual meetings with the students. These individual meetings were facilitated using the Sakai Sign-up tool.Attendance was recorded as a non-submitted assignment in the Sakai Gradebook tool. Announcements were used for non-classroom communication: reminders, online sign-ups, etc.The materials tool included all PowerPoint presentations used in lessons, quiz audio and other class activity audio and links, as well as a section of vocabulary-related links.

Communication & Collaboration Self-Assessment:

Effective

Communication & Collaboration Evidence:

To a large extent, the communication and collaboration was built into the course, by its small size and frequent face-to-face meetings. Sakai helped facilitate this by providing a place for communication out of class (the announcements tool) and facilitating the individual meetings (the sign-up tool). However, the wiki tool added something that would have been difficult without Sakai: a way for students to collect and collaborate on vocabulary that had real meaning for them. A short survey after the course resulted in the following responses:Did you find the vocabulary wiki useful? Is there any way that it could be improved? "It is very useful. The phrases I learned from vocabulary wiki have appeared in my life this quarter lots of times. The most recent phrases I heard are "peeves" and "rain check" ""Very much, especially that you can easily go back to the materials put from the beginning."

Learning Material Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learning Material Evidence:

Students commented on the learning material in a variety of ways. The official course evaluations contained the following:Please comment on the individual instructors with regard to effectiveness and attitude toward students:Strengths:"Professor Romeo ... provides multimedia teaching in class, and also teach us several useful skills in using software to improve English listening.""have face to face consulting time"Also, directly related to the materials and methods: Please comment on the strengths and weaknesses, if any, of the textbook(s) and reading(s). What materials were most and least valuable? Why?"Recorded files had their written version so that you could check."A post-course survey resulted in the following responses:*What did you think of the fill in the blank assignments? "It was challenging for me... But is was useful.""They were extremely useful. Both the kind of assignment and the results you could immediately get. "*What did you think of the transcription assignments? "I believe dictation is a helpful way; however, I do not like doing it. I think you arrange the time which the students would spend on the assignments each week pretty well.""They were also extremely useful because listening and listening again to understand every word you get more familiar with the accent the speaker is using.""The different methods which you taught at the end of the fall quarter to practice listening was most useful for me. "

Learning Outcomes & Assessment Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learning Outcomes & Assessment Evidence:

All students showed increased listening proficiency between the pre-course assessment and the final assessment in the last week. In addition, the official course evaluations had the following item:Please comment on assignments and exams (difficulty, length, frequency, usefulness, and their success at testing conceptual understanding rather than recall):(Strengths)"The assignments are good for practice myself after class.""High level of difficulty, different from the exercises you can train with at home"Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Self-Assessment: Not EvidentEffectiveExcellentCourse Look & Feel, Web Usability Evidence:Unfortunately, the Sakai interface does not have a very good reputation for look and feel or usability, so we try to be fairly thorough about giving orientations to faculty and students. An unforeseen benefit of the time spent on the overview in this course was that students who could not figure out how to submit assignments used the drop-box tool, rather than resorting to email.

Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Self-Assessment:

Effective

Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Evidence:

Unfortunately, the Sakai interface does not have a very good reputation for look and feel or usability, so we try to be fairly thorough about giving orientations to faculty and students. An unforeseen benefit of the time spent on the overview in this course was that students who could not figure out how to submit assignments used the drop-box tool, rather than resorting to email.

Learner Support Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learner Support Evidence:

Learner Support Evidence: Learners' needs could be addressed in class meetings, and in the three required meetings with each student individually.From the official course evaluations:Please comment on the individual instructors with regard to effectiveness and attitude toward students:Strengths:"Professor Romeo is good at invoking our motivations."

Teaching Innovation:

Soon after I started teaching ESL, I realized that listening is a crucial first step. However, while “textbook” media is often barely connected with reality, it is difficult to use most uncut “real” media for pedagogical purposes. I found that breaking up media into small, less 10-30 second or even 60 second clips is the best way to allow learners to get their heads around how native speech works. With that motivation, along with teachers involved in the English for Foreign Students program, we created the Summer Lecture Series website, including full lectures, short clips, vocabulary and comprehension questions. However, the key to putting this into lessons was the Sakai platform, which gave us the tools to deliver this content in the multiple choice, short answer or fill-in-the-blanks items. With EFSLANG693A, I was able to create a course outside of the summer program that used topical and realistic content for every part: in-class examples, quizzes, homework, and final projects. The Materials section allowed me to thoroughly deliver the content in an organized way so that the students would have a single portal for the entire course.Subsequently, I have realized that it is not always clear to teachers outside of the program exactly *how* they can use this kind of media, so I tried to create a course that was both repeatable and instructive. Putting it in Sakai gave me exactly the portability I needed, allowing me to focus on explaining the pedagogy rather than the delivery. Fill-in-the-blanks exercises and transcription tasks are things I have worked with for a long time, but creating them is rather time-consuming without a platform like the Samigo tool. The export capability of Samigo allows me to post zip files which even teachers outside of the Stanford system can use. In addition, the wiki tool allowed me to integrate vocabulary into the lesson in a meaningful way. It is possible to use vocabulary textbooks, or even use the lists of words that are relevant to the lectures, but students are rarely given the opportunity to explore new words on their own, as they would in real life. Because they are exposed to English every day, they inevitably run into a rich set of vocabulary, so I had always wanted to incorporate these into formal lessons, rather than keep them separate. Not only does the wiki allow students to achieve this goal, it allows them to see each others’ words and learn from their peers, who are inevitably in similar situations. Because Sakai has a stable place for this all to happen, I was able to create a meaningful quiz cycle, to encourage student to increase their involvement with the words just one more level. I believe that this is one of the few ways to teach vocabulary that really gives students ownership over the content.

Screenshots notes:

<ul> <li>Home Page</li> <li>Announcements</li> <li>Gradebook - Note attendance recorded as non-submitted assignments</li> <li>Sign-up - for individual meetings</li> <li>Materials</li> <li>Fill-in-the-blanks 1 - note .mp3 playback</li> <li>Fill-in-the-blanks 2 - note .mp3 playback</li> <li>Fill-in-the-blanks 3 - note embedded YouTube video</li> <li>Wiki Home</li> <li>Wiki - week 1 - note individual student submissions (names blanked out)</li> <li>Wiki - in-class excercise - small group exercise done in the language lab using the wiki tool. Students watched a video and made comprehension questions for other groups.</li> </ul>

Intermediate Swahili

Submitted by aomar on 12 March 2010 - 4:53pm

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Intermediate Swahili (S201 and S202) is a continuation of Elementary
Swahili. S201 is the first part of the Swahili intermediate course
designed to reinforce further listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills
in Swahili. The course is also designed to meet the 5Cs of the national foreign
language learning standards: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons,
and Communities (http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3392).

Course Number/ID:

S201 and S202

Course Length (number of weeks):

Course Delivery Mode:

In-Class

Average Number of Enrolled Students:

Between 10 and 30 students

Course Level:

College/University

Course Contributors:

Other contributors to the course are the staff from Teaching and Learning
Technologies Center for help in the use of Wikis, Podcasts,iTunes, and
the Raptivity software. The TLTC staff provides demonstrations to the students
on how to post their work on wiki pages using texts and visuals. They provide
training to the language instructor on how to develop Podcasts and iTunes, and
how to use the Raptitvity software to develop interactive exercises for learners
to reinforce different aspects of their language learning.

Course Development:

The course is delivered following the Backward Design model as
discussed in Wiggins and McTighe (2005). The syllabus, posted on Oncourse,
provides the learning goals of the course, and how these goals will be achieved
following the National Foreign Language Standards. Activities to assess
learners' performance are also outlined in the syllabus. In the Resources
section of Oncourse, daily handouts are posted. Lessons are delivered mainly in
the target language using student-centered activities.

The main goal of the course is to reinforce the communicative skills of the learners.
Communication is the first C of the National Foreign Language Standards. It is
divided into 3 parts: Interpretive (reading, listening and comprehending), Interpersonal
(interacting with each other orally or in written format, like online chat), and
presentational (giving presentations). Using the Sakai tools of Wiki, Podcasts,
and iTunes in the course have enabled the implementation of all these three parts
of Communication. Cultural practices and products are also integrated with these
communicative skills. The C of Connection is also an important factor in the course
development. One of the course requirements is for learners to write a term paper
connecting the target language with their areas of interest and fields of study.
They do research on these topics, post their papers on Wiki together with relevant
images and do presentations. Other learners can ask questions after presentations
and can also post their comments on the Wiki.

Course Delivery:

At the beginning of the S201 semester, a TLTC staff is invited to the class to
provide a demonstration on how to use the Wiki tool to post texts and images.
Individual pages are created for each learner to post journal entries at least
three times a week. The instructor visits learners' wiki pages and provides feedback.
Learners are encouraged to visit each other's pages to provide comments. The instructor
also creates a page for herself and posts entries for learners to read and respond to.
The wiki is also used for collaborative work. At the beginning of the semester,
learners are divided into groups to work on a term paper that is linked to their
areas of interest. They post their papers on Oncourse together with accompanying
images and resources that they have used. Towards the end of the semester, each
group presents their work followed by a question-and-answer session. Comments are
also posted on the group's wiki page. Learners listen to podcasts of news and stories
developed by advanced learners and then produce their own podcasts. The podcasts are
about news that they have heard and also on individual stories. Similar projects are
repeated in S202.

Communication & Collaboration Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Communication & Collaboration Evidence:

The use of the Wiki tool is an excellent resource that allows
learners to communicate with each other in and outside of the classroom. Under
each wiki posting there is a section for comments. Instruction focuses on
student-centered activities and building a community of learners who interact
and share their learning experience. Students are encouraged to provide
feedback on what works well and what does not and how the use of Oncourse
resources can be improved.

Learning Material Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learning Material Evidence:

The instructor uses authentic written and audio materials as
well as visuals to demonstrate what learners are expected to do and the goals
they are expected to achieve. The syllabus posted on the syllabus section of
Oncourse provides students with weekly and daily requirements. Handouts and
relevant teaching and learning materials are posted on the Resources section.
Students who struggle with the use of the Sakai tools are given additional help
by the instructor through face-to-face help sessions.

Learning Outcomes & Assessment Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learning Outcomes & Assessment Evidence:

This is a student-centered language course that follows the Seven
Principles of Good Practices described by Chickering and Gamson:
1. Through Oncourse tools there is continuous interaction between learners and their
instructor. For example, the instructor provides regular feedback on learners'
journal entries;
2. Learners collaborate on their group projects by using their wiki pages;
3. Students create activities to connect to their areas of interest
instead of having topics given to them by the instructor;
4. Instructor-provided feedback on the wiki pages as well as in class;
5. Students are given deadlines for submission of the activities assigned to them
such as at the end of each week they need to have at least three journal entries
posted, etc.;
6. Students know of the goals they are expected to achieve at the end of the course
and are encouraged to work hard to achieve these goals - they can work in groups
or meet with the instructor or an assigned tutor;
7. Not all learners work at the same pace, so the instructor works with individual
learners and provide help to those who need it.

Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Self-Assessment:

Effective

Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Evidence:

The course look is learner friendly. Learners can navigate the
different pages without problems. The main Oncourse links that are used are:
Home, Syllabus, Resources, iTunes, Podcasts, Email Archive, Chat Room, and
wiki. Links to relevant web pages and audio resources are also provided.

Learner Support Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learner Support Evidence:

The Home page provides important information that learners
need: 1. Instructor's contact information and office hours; 2. Availability of
tutorial assistance; 3. Opportunity for conversation sessions with other
speakers of the language; 4. Announcement of important deadlines for assigned
activities

Teaching Innovation:

The use of Sakai has enabled learners to take language learning outside the classroom
and create a learning community. Students can interact with each other and with their
instructor anywhere, anytime, through the use of Wikis, Chat Rooms, Email and Announcements.
These tools facilitate peer to peer collaboration. They have 24-hour access to learning
materials. They can explore the web for cultural artifacts linked to the language and they
can post these products on their wiki pages. They can create a community of learners who
share experiences, stories, news, their fields of study, and topics of interest. Students
create their own materials and they have access to model materials developed by advanced
level learners and by their instructor.

Screenshots notes:

1) Sakai podcast tool is used, along with iTunesU (integrated with Oncourse) to publish student-generated stories, news and journal entries. Recorded in Swahili <br /> 2) Stories and other writings are published in the wiki, and commented on by other students. <br /> 3)Student discuss aspects of Swihili culture.<br />

FREN438-Contemporary France

Submitted by pierre_dairon on 18 January 2010 - 4:02pm

Tagged with:

Developing cultural literacy is an
integral part of becoming an educated citizen of the world. The
definition of cultural literacy includes interest and understanding of
social norms as well as politics and current events in a particular
country. In France, cultural literacy in many forms is particularly
valued, especially in professional life, where the expectation is that
you will be able to converse on a wide range of topics outside your
field of specialization. This course is designed to provide you with

Course Number/ID:

fren438 - Contemporary France - Sp09

Course Length (number of weeks):

Course Delivery Mode:

Hybrid/Blended (some face-to-face and some online interactions)

Average Number of Enrolled Students:

Between 10 and 30 students

Course Level:

College/University

Course Contributors:

Pr. Alison Levine and Pr. Janet Horne designed and taught the course

Assistant in charge of the web project (meetings outside the class, workshops, project design and support): Pierre Dairon

Course Development:

This was the second time I worked with Ms. Levine and Horne on the same course.

The course structure was already working very well without using Sakai/Collab and the students worked in small groups to choose the topic of their final project, but eventually each final project was individual.

The challenge was to ahve them to create a website, teach them (in French) how to use new tools, and work together in small groups to create small websites (10 groups divided into 10 themes ; Politic, Economy, Family, Education...) with one common homepage that would describe the general and more specific goal of each group and each student.

This project would not have been possible without a very good organization of the 3 instructors (as the research groups were a mix of students coming from the 2 classes taught by the 2 professors). Thanks to Collab/Sakai, the students could work together and collaborate even without being in the same class.

Course Delivery:

Course delivered in class but Students had to do team work outside of the class and had to work with students of another class working on the same topic they chose.

Sakai/Collab was at the core of the organization of the course, as the two classes were using a same Sakai site. All the material including the Press reivews they were preparing, the final website project, the documents I prepared for the workshops (how to use the forums, create websites...), the calendars and differents files they used during the differents steps of their projects... were available on Collab, and everything was in the target Language (French).

Some details of their grades :
* Class participation: 25%
o coming to class prepared and actively participating in a meaningful and respectful way
o periodic small writing assignments (“les devoirs”)
o four “revues de presse” (on Collab)
o respectful, regular, and meaningful contribution to the web discussion board (on Collab)
* One term paper, 5-7 pages (as part of a group project/website; paper grade is individual) 25%
* Group work (you will receive an individual grade on your group work; group members may receive different grades): 25%
o project/website (on Collab)
o one 20 min. group presentation
o effective team work (to create the website/final project)

* Final essay/examination, 3-5 pages 25% (which was based on the websites made by their peers ; they had to read the websites of the other students to get ready for the final examination)

Communication & Collaboration Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Communication & Collaboration Evidence:

Creation of websites as final project, Sakai/Collab being the platform that was used to communicate with/between the students, save the materials, work in small projects groups outside of the class, manage the class and project schedules...

Learning Material Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learning Material Evidence:

The students managed to work on their research projects, learn how to use new technological tools they did not know in the target language (French) and eventually succeeded in creating a set of websites that include different kinds or media they used to sustain their research and arguments.

Learning Outcomes & Assessment Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learning Outcomes & Assessment Evidence:

The feedback concerning the course was very good regarding the material studied in class and used to develop the final research project that was eventually published.

Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Self-Assessment:

Effective

Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Evidence:

This was the second time I worked with the two professors on the project (first time in Spring 08), and I was better prepared.

I just feel that having a good website developper embeded in Sakai/Collab would have facilitated the work of the students (they had to use our Language Lab computers - Mac - to create the websites and coul not do it directly online or on their own computers and I had to eventually transfer all the files/websites under the Resouces in Sakai/Collab. It worked fine, the students did a great job, but it was less flexible than having the tool available directly in Sakai).

Learner Support Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learner Support Evidence:

The students were great and I could answer and resolve all the technical diffciculties they encountered with the help of the Language Lab staff (ASCIT).

As it happened the previous year, I expected some resistance, some problem related to the use of the new tools, the creation of the websites, the lack of motivation when having to deal with the tools, but it was the opposite.

The students were deeply involved, they did their best individually to learn how to use Collab and the iWeb (I organized several workshops in French during the semester to teach them how to use Collab/Sakai and creating websites) and the whole project went very smoothly and everybody produced a nice website on time.

I was impressed and the two professors too.

Teaching Innovation:

The teaching innovation has to be
understood within the context of the the class offered ; an advanced
French Language course on Contemporary France.

Innovations are :

Integration of technology ;
Collaboration between student of
different classes to work on research projects in the target laguage
;
Teaching the use of technology in
the target language within the framework of a class that is not
related to technology (which allowed to use other vocab and
approaches the students had to learn but never had the chance to
use);
Thanks to the use of websites, the
students could integrate a wider range of material to make their
point in their final research projects (music, videos, images...) ;

Final essay/examination, which was based on the websites
made by their peers ; they had to read the websites of the other
students to get ready for the final examination.

The final goal of the project
being to create a public website in French, that can be used by high
School teachers looking for new and updated information about France
(this was also a huge motivation as the students new the professors
would not be the only ones to have eventually access to the work
they did, which usually never happens. We had to have them sign
release forms to make it public and only 2 students did not sign it
as they were working on topics they did not want other people to see
outside of the class).

Global Language Template

Submitted by jwheat on 30 July 2009 - 2:42pm

Tagged with:

Resource Type:

OSP Template

Associated portfolio template to be used in conjunction with the Global Languages Matrix.

Template pulls in all forms, reflections and attachments from the matrix, transforming them into a clean presentation. XSL is FULLY documented for anyone that cares to see how I did certain things. Feel free to send improvements or bust on how I code :)

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1 attachment

Global Languages Matrix

Submitted by jwheat on 30 July 2009 - 2:32pm

Tagged with:

Resource Type:

OSP Matrix

This is a very simple 1x10 matrix designed to collect a students required documents. Great example of simple form based collection.

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1 attachment

Education 578 International Teaching Assistant Program

Submitted by clarevdb on 27 February 2009 - 2:59pm

Tagged with:

Training in this program is open to all graduate students whose native first language is not English and those who are currently serving as TAs or will hold teaching assistant duties during Fall 2009 semester. Selection to to the program is based on the immediacy of the TA assignment and evidence of need, as determined by a 30-minute ITAP Language Assessment (ILA).

Course Number/ID:

EDUC 5780

Course Length (number of weeks):

Course Delivery Mode:

Hybrid/Blended (some face-to-face and some online interactions)

Average Number of Enrolled Students:

Between 30 and 60 students

Course Level:

College/University

Course Contributors:

Theresa Pettit, Faculty/Project Director
Clare van den Blink, Project Director
Kimberly Kenyon, Faculty/Project Director

Stew Marklel, Faculty
Stephanie Hanson, Faculty
Jody Gabler, Faculty
Nina Loney, Faculty
Pamela Pollock, Faculty

Eric Machan Howd, Admin/Inst.Design

Course Development:

The EDUC5780 course is designed to include a range of student activities and assignments to meet the educational objectives. Students record audio assignments each week, and video recording of teaching exercises. A key challenge for the course is how to easily submit this large collection of assignments, and have a way for faculty to provide feedback for each assignment. The course is designed with a range of assessment strategies from face-to-face feedback with instructors, online assessment of submitted audio & video assignments, and peer review. Students receive weekly feedback on their assignments and progress in meeting the course goals.
Another requirement of the course is to have students share their video with other students for peer review. Since the program consists of a series of courses, student assignments are retained and reviewed across several courses and several semesters. To meet these challenges, the Sakai OSP tool was selected. The portfolio features were critical to collecting and assessing student work. It keeps a record of student progress, and whether students are meeting objectives. Student artifacts include a variety of digital media files: audio files, MP3, WMA, video, Adobe pdfs and MS Office files. Using Sakai’s portfolio CLE allows students to use an electronic portfolio to collect artifacts and assists instructors in the creation of student-centered tasks. It provides participants with a portfolio of work that allows both instructor and students to monitor learner progress.
Since OSP is part of the Sakai learning system, the courses were able to seamlessly post assignments that were then submitted through the portfolio tool. A portfolio tool alone was not sufficient in meeting the needs of the courses.
A preliminary evaluation of International Teaching Assistant (ITA) students who participated in a pilot study affirmed that ITA students were using technology to enhance their language development, and that they believed that technology is an effective tool for improving language. Learner engagement and motivation are two important factors in an ITAs success. Offering ITAs creative ways to engage with digital media was at the forefront of the creation of the ITAP learning system. A small pilot study about the use of Sakai, found that Sakai CLE was a more robust system than other technologies. As a result it was implemented for courses in the program. A post pilot study evaluation tool was then used to assess the current pilot program. The focus of the evaluation was to examine the impact of this instructional design module on student's perception of their language gains. A method for comparing the oral proficiency levels of ITAs was built into the final analysis. Qualitative data was compared with quantitative findings to better inform CTE-ITAP's future initiatives.
The first phase in developing this course (and those across the program) in Sakai OSP was to define the learning outcomes and assessments within the curriculum in order to determine the design of the portfolio matrix. Much of this work had already been accomplished in the design of the courses themselves, so the focus of building the matrices was to settle on a consistent design of all four matrices, across all four courses in the program. Once that was determined, the last phase of course development was to adjust the courses and matrices within Sakai, according to the pedagogical principles and requirements of the program.

Course Delivery:

EDUC5780 is the first course that students in the ITAP must complete in the four-course program. EDUC5780, as well as the other three courses in the program, are delivered as ‘hybrid’, or ‘blended’, courses through Sakai’s portfolio CLE.
Incoming TAs whose first language is not English, and who are tapped to hold TA duties in an upcoming semester, are scheduled for a screening interview (ILA). Subsequently, they are informed of the program's purpose and assessment process. The screening of English language skills provides a critical juncture for the program. The level of spoken English, as well as listening comprehension skills, need to meet established criteria to assume TA responsibilities. The program assumes that if an ITA passes the initial language screening, then the ITA’s communication skills will be “successful” in the classroom. If an ITA passes the screening, then she/he can proceed as a TA.
If a student is required to take classes wirth the ITAP, he or she enrolls in EDUC 5780. The student is required to maintain of portfolio of all work: recordings of audio journals, oral and written reflective assignments, and video recordings of teaching practices/sessions. All of these artifacts are submitted to the Sakai portfolio matrix and commented upon by the instructor; the student also reflects upon their artifacts/learning throughout the course via the CLE and in small-group, face-face consultations.
At the end of the EDUC 5780 course, the ITA's level of language proficiency is re-assessed by an ITAP instructor. When ITAs have been determined to have “passed”, meaning they have successfully been able to communicate an Advanced Low level on the ILA, they are no longer required to participate in the program. If the ILA result is below the Advanced Low level, the ITA will be required to enroll in EDUC 5790. If ITAs reach the Intermediate High on the ILA (one level below Advanced Low), they can hold TA duties concurrent with EDUC 5790.
The method of course delivery is not only strongly ‘learning-centered’, but also heavily ‘assessment-centered’. The process of submitting ‘artifacts’ to a portfolio matrix, receiving feedback/assessment on those artifacts, supports research that shows that assessment-centered learning environments offer many opportunities for feedback and revision, and tie directly into the student’s learning goals. The strength of ITADP’s innovative design and use of the Sakai OSP supports that claim.
The final outcome of the program assumes that successful communication skills in a classroom will lead to an improvement in undergraduate instruction.

Communication & Collaboration Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Communication & Collaboration Evidence:

Communication and collaboration in this course are one of the most important aspects of the innovation. Students have a lot of communication/collaboration with their instructors regarding the evidence that they submit to their portfolio matrix. Students regularly meet with instructors, both in-class and through small-group conferences, to reflect upon their learning and their evidence. The frequency of adding learning artifacts to the portfolio and receiving feedback on those artifacts instills a large amount of assessment, regular assessment, in this course, so learner input and reflection are highly valued in the pedagogy behind the course design. Community building takes place outside and around the course, through the ITADP program itself. The power of this use of the Sakai portfolio CLE lies in the constant reflection, self-assessment and instructor assessment that students engage in on a regular basis.

Learning Material Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learning Material Evidence:

Our self-assessment of the learning material in this course (andprogram) has found that students clearly understand the components,structure and roles of the Sakai portfolio CLE.
Students in the program reported that course interactions were easy,and that the assignments for completing their portfolio matrix wereclear and concise. The ‘hybrid’ model of delivering the learning(in-class and Sakai portfolio CLE) also gave the student moreopportunities to reflect upon their evidence and learning throughoutthe semester.

Learning Outcomes & Assessment Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learning Outcomes & Assessment Evidence:

The overall goal of this project and, in part , the goal for this course, was to develop and implement a working prototype of a “Portfolio Learning System” for the International Teaching Assistant Development Program (ITADP).
Our self-assessment reiterated that the mission of this program is to enable ITAs to enter the Cornell classroom as confident instructors who can communicate their domain expertise in an interactive, student-led environment. Curriculum in four courses addresses instructional strategies as well as general language proficiency. In addition to coursework, students attend weekly small group tutorial sessions during which instructors work with participants to create an individualized plan for language development. The prototype was successfully created using Sakai OSP.
We found that the new portfolios enable ITADP students to create, store, and manage audio and video recordings for their assignments in all four courses ITA courses. If students are enrolled for four semesters, even with different instructors along the way, they can maintain the same portfolio throughout the entire period. As portfolios grow in size and quality, students gain evidence to document their progress in spoken English. The same goes for documentation of their teaching abilities. The system also enables instructors and program administrators to review submitted materials. Students have the ability to hone their critical thinking/judgment and problem solving skills through multiple means. Also, students are able to receive individual feedback on their learning progress through multiple assessment opportunities in the course. These assessments provide feedback to help students reach target levels with consideration of individual student's personal styles and needs.
At present, all sections and all courses with ITADP are using the online space. It has been the experience of program administrators and instructors that, compared to the “old way” of handling audio files through conventional e-mail, Sakai has “distinct advantages” and is more streamlined. No longer does the program have to concern itself with managing a large number of files, which now reside on an external server. In addition, shared artifacts eliminate the complications of losing files from individuals computers. The impact on the program’s workflow is great in that this course, and others in the program, reduce a lot of the administrative overhead so that the focus of the teaching and learning can be more about the ‘learning’ (teaching, student interaction, reflection, etc.) and less about the logistics of storing files, evidence, etc.

Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Self-Assessment:

Effective

Course Look & Feel, Web Usability Evidence:

The Sakai OSP course is designed to be clear and concise. We’ve strived to make the look/feel as simple and straightforward as possible. Students are only required to interact with the assignment tool and matrix (the main tools) to do their own work. The design enhances the presentation and communication of key information/content throughout the course. The design of EDUC 5780 mirrors the design of the other three courses in the program; this consistency enhances student learning throughout the ITADP program. Students also have the opportunity to build their own on-line portfolio at different points in the program which supports self-reflection and self-assessment.
When teaching staff were asked to elaborate on the strengths and weaknesses of Sakai, similar comments about its strength arose. Strengths included Sakai’s ability to track progress, its ability to store work over an entire semester (or longer) and its capability to “keep materials all in one place for easy viewing.” Additional comments included Sakai’s progressive feel and noted improvement over conventional e-mail. The instructor self-evaluation portion of this project/course found that instructors were generally satisfied with its innovative nature and especially liked the way Sakai was more accommodating to larger file sizes.
Additionally, when ITADP students were asked if they were satisfied with Sakai, a combined 62% of respondents replied "Agree" or "Strongly Agree". In the strength's section (open text field) of the online survey, 11 out of 15 students mentioned Sakai's effective matrix design and clear organization of information. Other strengths noted were ease of use, accessibility of files and ability to upload a variety of file types. In the weaknesses section (open text field), less than 1/3 felt the interface was complicated and the menu somewhat confusing.

Learner Support Self-Assessment:

Excellent

Learner Support Evidence:

Support for any innovative program is crucial. The ITAP has addressed this fact through a variety of support resources: a student-orientation session, a ticket-based software help system, a faculty training session and a support wiki. The Sakai OSP courses in this program contain a variety of resources and contact information and support documentation is created ‘on-the-fly’ when needed on a support wiki. EDUC 5780 users report great satisfaction with learner and instructional support.
The student-orientation session introduces students to the CLE as well as to the particular requirements for using the CLE throughout the semester. Courses also contain a web-link to a support wiki; this wiki contains step-step instructions on how to submit evidence to the matrix, trouble-shooting tips/tricks as well as extensive information about the OSP. The wiki is regularly updated with new information regarding the CLE. The ‘ticket-based’ help system allows us to track document fixes for future reference. In most cases, solutions to issues are also cross-posted to the support wiki for student/faculty reference. Students can e-mail support requests to this system at any time, and requests are usually responded to within a day.

Teaching Innovation:

Students in the ITA program are charged with making their teaching better. Reflective processes and features of this course enable students to attain that goal.
As illustrated in the ‘Learning Outcomes Self-Assessment’, we found that the new portfolios enable ITADP students to create, store, and manage audio and video recordings for their assignments. As the portfolios grow in size and quality, students document their progress in spoken English, as well as in teaching skills, over multiple semesters. The system also enables instructors and program administrators to review submitted materials.
The design of the courses in this program requires regular interactions between student and faculty. Administrative time savers are critical. At present, all sections and all courses within ITAP are using the online space. It has been the experience of program administrators and instructors that,that, compared to the “old way” of handling audio files through conventional e-mail, Sakai has “distinct advantages” and is more streamlined. No longer does the program have to concern itself with managing a large number of files. They now reside on an external server. Such self-assessment is clear evidence of ‘innovation’ making the teaching process more efficient and productive.

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