Exploring student teacher roles in 3D world projects

in modern language and teacher education 

SITE 2013 Conference, New Orleans

Ton Koenraad, TELLConsultwww.tellconsult.eu

2011 – present

TELLConsultTechnologyEnhanced

Lifelong & LanguageLearning

2005

1990 – 2011

Hogeschool UtrechtUniversity of Applied Sciences

Faculty of Education

Presentation Contents

• 3D in Language education & teacher training:

• Educational context + 2 project cases

• Evaluations / Conclusions

• Future

Educational context

• Innovation of mainstream education: introduction of activating, learner-centered pedagogy

• Introduction of competency-based curricula in Higher and Vocational Education -- Partnerships to create Learning Blends

• Modern Language Pedagogy: - gradual adoption of task-based approaches - introduction of CEFR-related curricula & national exams

• Individualisation / heterogenity increases need for & use of ICT-mediated materials and learning processes

The ViTAAL Project

PARTNERSHIP:– 2 Secondary Schools:

PC College, OSG West Friesland

– 2 Teacher Ed. Organisations: Hogeschool UtrechtHogeschool van Amsterdam

– Educational service provider: CPS

– National Edu Networks: Surfnet & Kennisnet

The ViTAAL Project

• R & D for 3 Activity Formats:

1. Language Village: training & testing

2. Interactive narrativeLanguageQuest

3. Events and Fun Activities

Format 1: Virtual Language Village

Pupils

•Teachers

• Student Teachers & Trainers

•Fellow pupils

IRL, what is Languagevillage | Langueville | Sprachstadt ?

• RL-simulation with physical props as scenes for everyday communicative situations

• Teachers, native or competent speakers take on roles and/or assess.

• Target group at 2ndary Schools: mostly beginner to intermediate level (CEFR: A1-A2)

• A school-based, yearly event.

Virtual Language Village • Rationale:

More practice of oral skills for RL language tasks

• Design principles

Blended approach:

- techer-led f2f sessions & in-world sessions with fellow pupils and student mentors

- using additional materials alligned to textbook in use

- formative, in-world assessments by student teachers

Virtual Language Village: Organisation

• Production / Mentor TeamA’dam student teachers (n=18)

• Materials:paper based prep. activities, CEF Level A1-A2194 pp.

• Participants2 schools, 1 class eachAge: 13-14Student teacher mentored groups (size: n=3)

Format 2. LanguageQuest: an interactive detective story

The Interactive LanguageQuest

• Rationale:

Enhance the WebQuest concept using story development and embedding ‘live’ interaction

• Design principles

- LanguageQuest design criteria(Koenraad & Westhoff, 2003)

- Competitive pupil teams (n=5)- teacher-coached f2f team

sessions & in-world meetings with story characters (student mentors)

- formal assessment of interim products & final team results by teacher

Interactive LanguageQuest: Organisation

• Production / Actor TeamA’dam student teachers (n=7)

• Materials:- Original storyline, - CEF-based inputs & tasks ( A2 – B1)- specifically designed LQuest template

• Participants- 1 school, 1 class Age: 16-17- 1st year student teachers (n=7)

Evaluation & Research

General Focus: Feasibility

• Proof of concept for Learning Blend: learning potential, added value, win-win?

• Mapping of conditions

• Materials & Activity design

Evaluation: Pupil perspective

• Interesting, nice change

• Spent more time than usual after school hours

• Learned more: - vocab, - talking about self, ordering things, giving directions

• More awareness of: - relevance of grammar / pronunciation for communication - personal knowledge & skills gaps

• Did and learned equally little as in f2f lessons

• 3D world not very inviting (looks, interactive facilities)

• Technical (voice) & organisational problems (partner presence)

• extension of the virtual village needed: a wider variety of shops.

Evaluation: Teacher perspective

• Pupils enthusiastic, more motivation & time on task, less inhibition

• More authenticity in tasks, language use: attention for accuracy

• More opportunities for differentiation & independent work

• Enjoyed working with new formats

• More class-based preparation time needed for online sessions

• Success factors:- timely delivery & quality of prep materials- operational technology- teacher competences: classroom management, ICT-skills

• Allignment of class activities with student mentors agendas

Evaluation: Student teacher perspective

• Great learning opportunity:- designing materials- getting peer-feedback on design issues

• Practicing teaching skills:- giving feedback to pupils - doing assessments

• Design task very time consuming

• Organisational problems:- pupil presence- teamwork

• Technical issues: - voice- AW- interface skills

Evaluation: Teacher educator perspective

• Great chance for linking theory to practice

• Implementation of experiential learning in teacher ed.

• Collaboration with schools is vital

• Current module is too demanding: further phasing of curriculum content

• Critical trainer’s skills:- coaching student production teams- personal ICT / AW skills

(student) Teacher professional development for SCMC enhanced language teaching and research

(student) Teacher professional development for SCMC-

enhanced language teaching and research

NIFLAR project aims

• Exploring the added value of video-web communication (VWC) and virtual worlds (VW) for the development of intercultural communicative and competence in L2

Development of design principles for effective L2 tasks in VWC and VW

• Learning Blend: Focus on language learners AND student teachers

Task aims for language learners and student teachers

• Enhancing FL intercultural communicative competence (ICC): authentic and fucntional NS – NNS interaction

• Promoting pedagogical awareness on: Intercultural communicative competence Challenges and opportunities of VWC and/or VWby participation in task design and action research

Student teacher roles• task designers• task implementers• NS interlocutors• researchers of task effects:

– on interaction– on language development– on intercultural development– on motivation

• researchers of VLE-related challenges and pitfalls

Examples of tasks developed by pre-service teachers

Tasks in Second Life

Task 1

Brilliant people!

-pre-task & task-NS & FLL

Brilliant people!

-pre-task & task-NS & FLL

Scenarios:-Participants go to an

appartment: look around, exchange info, watch pictures,

eat and drink-Decide where to go: cinema,

Valencia, museum-Describe a brilliant person

Scenarios:-Participants go to an

appartment: look around, exchange info, watch pictures,

eat and drink-Decide where to go: cinema,

Valencia, museum-Describe a brilliant person

Meaningful interaction: task 1

Exchanging info about appartment

Sharing info about pictures

Example Clips

Evaluation pre-service teachers

• Use & implement SCMC-tools to enhance authentic interaction

• Task design to promote ICC

• Greater awareness of problems learners face in L2 communication

• Support learners using pedagogical strategies & multimodal affordances of the specific environment.

Some student research findings

1. task effects (CEFR grid):

+ on fluency and interaction-- on accuracy

2. tool evaluation (surveys):

+ opportunities for authentic & functional interaction-- technical problems (lag / voice quality)

3. teacher reflection (diary entries):

+ growth in task design, interaction & feedback skills-- skeptical on opportunities for future teaching practice

More info on: results, support & research

www.niflar.eu

www.euroversity.eu