No 14 - Journal of Social Informatics / Revista de Informatica Sociala
No 14 - Journal of Social Informatics / Revista de Informatica Sociala No 14 - Journal of Social Informatics / Revista de Informatica Sociala
Thus, the unprecedented development of collaborative technology and its successful use inlanguage learning at tertiary level (Kommers, 1992; Kovacic, Bubas, Zlatovic, 2007a) hasdetermined us to make a similar attempt to implement a collaborative learning environmentbelieving that local context adaptations in terms of motivation, time and resource constraints arenecessary for ESP/EAP curricula to cater for a variety of needs pertaining to generalcommunication, and professional, social and personal development. As to the role of technology,we believe in its role of “improving learner’s learning experience” and “support real world,constructivist, collaborative, problem solving learning experiences” (UNESCO, 2002).2. WIKI-BASED ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES COURSEThe course in English for Academic Purposes for undergraduate first year (EFL) students enrolledat the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work of Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is a twosemester,two hour/week practical course. Various factors, mostly economic and cultural, havegenerated constraints that affect the quality of the learning process, learning outcomes and thestudent / teacher satisfaction. The most obvious are classes comprising more than 30 students withheterogeneous levels ranging from A1 to C1 (cf. CEFL), and low attendance. Cultural andpsychological factors such as fear of change/new and low motivation are beyond the scope of ourproject but investigations in these areas would certainly bring light to many aspects pertaining to thelearning process.The major characteristics of ESP/EAP courses identified by Carver (Carver, 1983) (authenticmaterial, purpose related-orientation and self direction) are supported by a blended learningapproach consisting of face-to-face practical courses (teacher-driven for the input of basic conceptsand guided practice in reading / writing / presenting for academic purposes) and individual/ groupassignments on wiki based resources. Authentic materials are presented in a variety of formats(audio, video, multimedia) embedded in a gradual guided approach (accompanied by reference linksto EAP tutorials from other universities and internet-based activities tutorials adapted to students’needs) to learning in a Web 2.0 environment. The self direction assumes that learning is notincremental (learners tend to acquire the language system when they are ready, not necessarily inthe order they are presented by teachers / course books) and there must be a systematic attempt byteachers to teach the learners how to learn by teaching them about learning strategies. The results ofa pre-sessional needs analysis 1 showed that students have a level of general English ranging fromA2 to C1 (according to CEFL) and very little knowledge of academic culture such as genres,conventions etc.Pursuant to wiki theory and the rationale mentioned in the first parts of this study, we created a webplatform as extension for the blended learning course in English for Academic Purposes. The wikiplatform is based on the wiki hosting service Wikispaces because of its deductible and user-friendlyinterface that requires only minimum internet skills and can be used after a basic instructionalsession.The structure of the wiki space allows for a work-in-progress approach to differentiated learning.1 As seen by Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: pag. 125) a flexible needs analysis should take into account “learners aspeople, as language users and as language learners” [Dudley-Evans, T., St. John, M.J., (1998). Developments in ESP: Amultidisciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press].
StudentPage 1StudentPage nTeacher’sPageStudentPage2StudentPage4StudentPage3Figure 1 The structure of the wikiIts structure consists of a central teacher-generated input area and n adjacent student pages, whoseprogress on a relatively regular basis by means of user-generated content accounts for organicgrowth. This makes course management accessible and flexible.The “teacher area” consists of several pages grouped according to their communicative purpose: (1)course organisation: home page with page descriptions, course rationale and course schedule; (2)tutorials for using Web 2.0 tools and wikiquette rules; (3) course materials consisting of twomodules, academic reading and academic writing; (4) support pages and a chat page forsynchronous discussions; (5) page history and change notification for all wiki pages; (6) studentpage structure, membership, wiki and page permissions.Figure 2 Teacher areaIn the adjacent area dedicated to the students, the teacher imposed a uniform format for the studentpage in order to guide the assimilation of the new instrument for interactive learning. This section iscomposed of (1) student profile: name, photo, “about me” information (brief presentation(maximum 200 words): bio, interests, ways of spending leisure time - it is recommended that you
- Page 7: ● ● ●CONTENTS● ● ●[9-20
- Page 10 and 11: THE TRANSITION FROM OLD TO NEW MEDI
- Page 12 and 13: 30252023.420.325.11510500.85.5Never
- Page 14 and 15: Overall, we can therefore sum up on
- Page 16 and 17: n.a.I often use itI seldom use it6.
- Page 18 and 19: - Traditional web use: searching th
- Page 20 and 21: 19. Kvavik R.B., Caruso J.B. and Mo
- Page 22: IntroductionIn 1995, Bernie Dodge o
- Page 25 and 26: The Web-Inquiry Project [WIP] is a
- Page 27 and 28: and even orally. The teacher will a
- Page 29 and 30: environment in which the teacher gu
- Page 31 and 32: Transformation Through Online Learn
- Page 33 and 34: INTRODUCTIONLeading practitioners a
- Page 35 and 36: learning. We also describe how the
- Page 37 and 38: Some of these transformations are b
- Page 39 and 40: Recently, Twigg has received suppor
- Page 41 and 42: Stage III: Unbundled Learning, Mark
- Page 43 and 44: perhaps using Second Life-like virt
- Page 45 and 46: performance. Indeed, Stage V will l
- Page 47 and 48: Free-Range Open LearningOver time,
- Page 49 and 50: New communities, tools and services
- Page 51 and 52: Embed enterprise-wide predictive an
- Page 53 and 54: In collaboration with Strategic Ini
- Page 55 and 56: Wiki Tools and English for Academic
- Page 57: eality. Besides being an additional
- Page 61 and 62: 100%90%80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%Ac
- Page 63 and 64: 200Correlation View/Page Edits150Vi
- Page 65 and 66: 14. http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/llp/s
- Page 67 and 68: Simularea şi comunicarea electroni
- Page 69 and 70: RespondenţiRăspunsuriLa nivelul
- Page 71 and 72: RespondenţiRăspunsuriLa nivelul
- Page 73 and 74: Respondenţii au fost rugaţi să i
- Page 75 and 76: Itemul 9 doreşte să identifice ti
- Page 77 and 78: Identificara opţiunii, chiar şi p
- Page 79 and 80: EşantioaneRăspunsuri/Ranguriagita
- Page 81 and 82: modalităţile practice prin care u
- Page 83 and 84: 1. INTRODUCEREÎn prezent, complexi
- Page 85 and 86: Figura 1. Analiza grafică a evolu
- Page 87 and 88: Faţă de această situaţie se deg
- Page 89 and 90: variabilele acesti noi culturi cybe
- Page 91 and 92: INTRODUCEREÎncă din anul 2000 am
- Page 93 and 94: după tipul lecţiei: prezentare de
- Page 95 and 96: Funcţiile oferite de AEL asigură
- Page 97 and 98: • elevi/studenţi, beneficiari di
- Page 99 and 100: Se poate folosi cadrul formal de co
- Page 102 and 103: Evaluarea formativă este comentari
- Page 104 and 105: Rezultatele elevilor, pe itemi:Diag
- Page 106 and 107: Nr. Denumirea activităţii AEL MOO
Stu<strong>de</strong>ntPage 1Stu<strong>de</strong>ntPage nTeacher’sPageStu<strong>de</strong>ntPage2Stu<strong>de</strong>ntPage4Stu<strong>de</strong>ntPage3Figure 1 The structure <strong>of</strong> the wikiIts structure consists <strong>of</strong> a central teacher-generated input area and n adjacent stu<strong>de</strong>nt pages, whoseprogress on a relatively regular basis by means <strong>of</strong> user-generated content accounts for organicgrowth. This makes course management accessible and flexible.The “teacher area” consists <strong>of</strong> several pages grouped according to their communicative purpose: (1)course organisation: home page with page <strong>de</strong>scriptions, course rationale and course schedule; (2)tutorials for using Web 2.0 tools and wikiquette rules; (3) course materials consisting <strong>of</strong> twomodules, aca<strong>de</strong>mic reading and aca<strong>de</strong>mic writing; (4) support pages and a chat page forsynchronous discussions; (5) page history and change notification for all wiki pages; (6) stu<strong>de</strong>ntpage structure, membership, wiki and page permissions.Figure 2 Teacher areaIn the adjacent area <strong>de</strong>dicated to the stu<strong>de</strong>nts, the teacher imposed a uniform format for the stu<strong>de</strong>ntpage in or<strong>de</strong>r to gui<strong>de</strong> the assimilation <strong>of</strong> the new instrument for interactive learning. This section iscomposed <strong>of</strong> (1) stu<strong>de</strong>nt pr<strong>of</strong>ile: name, photo, “about me” information (brief presentation(maximum 200 words): bio, interests, ways <strong>of</strong> spending leisure time - it is recommen<strong>de</strong>d that you
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