LSP Teacher Education Online Course for Professional Development - LSP-TEOC

LSP-TEOC - an EU research project (KA203-ABE6A51B)

Principal Investigator: prof. Peter John (Jade Hochschule - Germany)

Local Investigator: prof. Stefania M. Maci (University of Bergamo)

European members:

Université de Bordeaux (Francia)
Univerza v Ljubljani (Slovenia)
Arcola Research LLP (Regno Unito)
Universidad de Cadiz (Spagna)
Uniwersytet Im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu (Polonia)
Sveuciliste u Zagrebu (Croazia)
Hochschule Pforzheim (Germania)
University of Cukurova (Turchia)

Objectives of the Research Project

This Erasmus+ project builds on the success of the TRAILs project, which created a curriculum for teachers of languages for specific purposes (LSP). The LSP-TEOC.Pro project aims to broaden this curriculum by creating a multilingual online course for LSP teacher training, in consultation with LSP practitioners across Europe.

By creating a massive online open course (MOOC), the project will enable both prospective and accomplished LSP practitioners worldwide to expand their skills, even in the context of COVID-19 and the social distancing challenges it entails.

Our project starts with the first output: an analysis and synthesis of existing LSP teacher education and development programmes, spearheaded by the University of Zagreb.

Intellectual output 1: Analysis and synthesis of existing LSP teacher education and development programmes

Work on this intellectual output involves the definition of a methodology for analysing and synthesizing existing learning programmes with regards to their possible transferability into self-guided online learning formats. The methodology, transferability potential and results of intellectual output 1 will be summarised in academic publications and disseminated via conferences. The impact will thus reach beyond this project and provide a guideline for any future research into the adaptation of existing teaching and learning materials into self-guided online content.

Intellectual output 2: Definition of an online teaching methodology

Based on the synthesis, report and data provided by intellectual output 1, an online teaching methodology will be defined in intellectual output 2. The adaptation of existing LSP teacher training teaching and learning content will include different didactic and pedagogic elements which have been found to be especially useful in online learning (e.g. spaced learning concept, gamification, item response theory, etc.).

Intellectual output 3: Development of course content for LSP teacher education and development

Intellectual output 3 includes the development of the actual course content for the online LSP teacher education and development course. The development is based on the adaptation of programmes identified in intellectual output 1 into those online course formats defined in intellectual output 2. In this output, course content is firstly developed in English. After the initial development stage the contents are reviewed by partners and translations as well as intercultural adaptations are undertaken into the different native languages of project partners. The development of course content will be based on templates which have been implemented for the purpose of an efficient integration into the online course. The templates will guarantee a constant format and very little variation amongst the different implementation languages (i.e. Croatian, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Slovenian, Spanish and Turkish).

Intellectual output 4: Implementation of online course for new LSP Teacher Education Development on Internet platform

In intellectual output 4, the multilingual course content developed in intellectual output 3 will be integrated into the selected learning management systems (LMS). The online course will allow its users to choose the language they wish to learn and train LSP teacher contents in. Options for self-registration, use of quizzes and individual feedback are decided on and issues of usability are solved. At the end of this intellectual output, the LSP teacher training online course will be ready for piloting and trialling, including all language options.

Intellectual output 5: Piloting developed LSP Teacher Education online course

In intellectual output 5, the online LSP teacher training course will be tested by project partners and selected external users. The aim is to identify and eliminate any remaining technical or other issues which may jeopardise the functions of the online course. During the piloting, a diary will be kept which includes all positive and negative aspects and the possible impact on the system's usability. The diary is based on previous research into usability and other issues which need to be considered in the implementation of online content. Apart from the technical issues mentioned, the diary shall also list which course contents have proved to be especially rewarding or challenging with the aim to equalise the user experience throughout the whole online system. At the end of this intellectual ouput, the online LMS teacher training course will be ready for the large-scale trialling phase.

Intellectual output 6: Trialling developed LSP Teacher Education online course

In intellectual output 6, a large-scale trialling of the multilingual online LSP teacher training course will be carried out. Here, a large number of external individuals and stakeholder organisations will be approached to use the online course and give feedback on their experience. This intellectual output is a decisive step in the dissemination of the project whilst at the same time gathering valuable empirical information of user needs, usage patterns and languages used. All user data will be gathered in accordance with the European General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR). The user experience will be collected and analysed. The empirical approach is highly innovative as it used actual user data to provide e.g. pathways through the online course contents instead of relying on more subjective means of data collection, e.g. through surveys.

Intellectual output 7: Analysis of trialling user data and application of learning analytics

Intellectual output 7 applies learning analytics methods on the data gathered during the large-scale trialling phase of the project. The trialling phase will have provided the project consortium with a large dataset on empirical data of user interaction with the online LSP teacher training course. The data will include the users' nationality, affiliation, status (e.g. student, early career, experienced practitioner), their choice of their learning content, the dedication time to the different course contents, the correctness of the quizzes, to name but a few. In this intellectual output, typical groups of users shall be identified with the aim to develop individualised pathways through the online course. These individualised pathways will clearly improve the user experience and increase the survival rate. The learning analytics included in this intellectual output will make use of descriptive and inferential statistics and highly innovate machine learning algorithms to classify the different LSP practitioners into separate pathway groups. The machine learning algorithms may include supervised and unsupervised methods, clustering methods, etc.

Intellectual output 8: Methodologies / guidelines – Evaluation method and tool

This intellectual output will set out the overall evaluation design and plan for the project, including the ‘internal’evaluation, process evaluation and summative (outcomes) evaluation. It will provide the data collection instruments and templates for data collection and analysis. These include: automated data capture (for example website logfiles); self-administered questionnaires and interviews; focus groups; diaries and logs; observation. The Toolkit will also set out the procedures for providing support to partners to help them collect and analyse data (including workshops, webinars and ‘ad hoc’ support). The Toolkit will include procedures and tools for the ‘internal’ evaluation, including a ‘Partner Survey’.

The output has high expected impact for the project, ensuring effective monitoring and robust evaluation of project outputs and outcomes, feeding results into the Transferability Toolkit.

Further information

Project information is available here : https://www.lsp-teoc.pro/