BOLDD Guide

We address the development, creation and implementation of online basic language courses and programs, targeting training and teams, creating, teaching, administering, and revising college level, credit bearing first and second year courses.

We will consider: logistics; media; learner profiles (and selection) for success; and, teacher training, disposition and skill sets needed for online teaching.

Full description:

This guide addresses creating, teaching, administering, and revising college level, credit bearing first and second year courses.

It covers logistics; media (including commercial packages and new directions in mobile learning); learner profiles (and selection) for success; teacher training, disposition and skill sets needed for online teaching. It addresses the four skills + culture, the 5Cs, proficiency and communicative language learnning, It looks at issues of seat time, academic credit, badges and forms of assessment/evaluation that this new economy evinces. (see below for more detail)

• Preparing to design & create online courses and programs (eg. the UB Quality Matters) Murphy-Judy, Dixon, Terantino
• Preparing to teach online (skills needed, traits & disposition, knowledge base, training programs here and abroad) Simon, Youngs
• Issues of design (models including commercial and academic) Dixon, Bonnie Youngs
• Delivery platforms, including LMS or not, mobile options Godwin-Jones, Terantino
• Teams and teamwork throughout the design/teaching process [broaden this to larger social issues?]
• Administrative issues (including cost/price, security, proprietary concerns, relationship to f2f curricula, etc.)
• Logistics (synchronous/asynchronous; semester/unit/proficiency level/other v. seat time/Carnegie units/academic calendars)
• Media Bush, Cook, Franklin
• Video
• Choices for:
• collaboration,
• journaling,
• voice chat,
• video conferencing
• Learner success profiles (and selection) Murphy-Judy, Dixon
• Narratives (successes, failures, etc.) Youngs, all
• The use and abuse of commercial packages in academic, credit bearing settings.
• Other (please make your own bullet)
• Tools and approaches for working with grammar and vocabulary Godwin-Jones
• Reading, Quieniet, Godwin-Jones? (maybe ask Thom Thibeault of RHW to join here?)

Online courses vary in logistics: independent study (with or without cohorts, regular term or extended term); completely asynchronous learning during a regular term; term based with synchronous class meetings (with Wimba, Skype, &c.); some stand-alone delivery via CMS with an oral component and a face-to-face component; others. In light of language learning products like Rosetta Stone, LiveMocha, TellMeMore, and the growing textbook publishers’ offerings; we consider what our CALL background brings to online courses and where commercial products may fit into our online courses. We look at projects like OLI at CMU that offer an online product to the rest of the academic community.

Online faculty use a wide variety of materials and media for delivery and support. We cover the hardware and software issues, but mainly focus on the uses and re-purposing of self-created and proprietary programs (major publishers’ materials like Pearson MLL, VHL SAM/Quia, Heinle; LiveMocha; TellMeMore; RosettaStone), as well as other online tools and lessons, whether free or for purchase. We also investigate task-based learning, service learning and other forms of experiential and f2f learning built into some programs. There will be a special focus on teletandem language exchange as part of an online program.

A discussion of how to better help students self-select or be selected for the attitudes, skills, motivations that underpin success in the online basic language process is important. We will look at the spectrum from complete student autonomy in registering for online courses to institutionally and/or instructor permission only venues. We will offer models of various learner profiles, self-assessments, etc. designed to help learners self-select and/or improve online learning skills. Assessment strategies for learning progress, remediation, and learning skills will be important.

There will be a discussion of how we have been trained in online basic language program development and delivery. We will share what skills we have, strategies we deploy and those we should develop more. The new dynamics of collaboration and crowd sourcing values and work quality issues need to be addressed.