Learner autonomy and awareness through distance collaborative group work in English for Academic Purposes

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40956-6_13Learner autonomy is considered to be both an important skill and attitude of learners, which involves responsibility for and control of the learning process. A key notion in autonomy is interdependence, developed through collaboration and which results in heightened awareness. Precisely, this concept lies at the core of technology applications, which facilitate interaction and collaboration at a distance. With a growing number of online ESP situations, more attention needs to be paid to virtual classrooms and the development of learner autonomy through collaboration. In the context of a distance EAP course, this chapter examines how students carry out a collaborative language awareness task, considering that peer interaction can be an appropriate setting to develop language awareness, whether in face-to-face or online situations. Based on the framework of 'community of inquiry' (Garrison et al. 2000), this study looks at how group members interact through forum posts and wiki edits, showing how students initiate, manage and carry out the task, together with the social, cognitive, and meta-cognitive processes that are generated. Given the nature of the task, creating a language learning activity, special attention is paid to students’ focus on and discussion of topics related to language and learning. From these observations we can derive implications for online language teaching and materials design.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Personal learning environments based on WEB 2.0 services in secondary and higher education

The emergence of Web 2.0 has not only changed the available Web technologies, but also the way people communicate and relate to one another. The growing ubiquity of Web access, and the variety of devices that allow us to interact with it, have made it possible for users to choose the tools and services that better adapt to their needs, providing a means of personalising the learning experience. This Thesis presents the results of my research on the construction and analysis of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) based on Web 2.0 services in two different contexts, secondary education and higher education. The methodology used was Design-Based Research, by carrying out interventions in practice settings at both secondary education and higher education levels; in the case of secondary education, the environment created fulfilled all the requirements to be considered a Living Lab. These interventions and their successive iterations allowed for a continuous process of data collection and analysis, which was in turn used to modify or create new interventions. The analysis of the data provided evidence of PLEs as tools for learning and acquiring skills, strengthening social interactions, and improvement in the organization and management of content and learning resources, and also helped identify obstacles and barriers, and possible solutions. My original contribution to knowledge is the development of guidelines for using Personal Learning Environments as tools for supporting formal learning, either by teachers or by the learners themselves.La aparición de la Web 2.0 no sólo ha cambiado las tecnologías Web disponibles, sino también la forma de comunicarnos y relacionarnos con los demás. El creciente acceso a la Web, y la variedad de dispositivos que nos permiten interactuar con ella, han hecho posible que los usuarios puedan elegir las herramientas y servicios que mejor se adapten a sus necesidades, proporcionando así formas de personalizar la experiencia de aprendizaje. Esta tesis presenta los resultados de mi investigación sobre la construcción y análisis de entornos personales de aprendizaje (PLE) basados en servicios Web 2.0, en dos contextos diferentes, educación secundaria y educación superior. La metodología utilizada fue la de diseño basado en la Investigación (Design-Based Research), mediante la realización de implementaciones en entornos reales, tanto en educación secundaria como en educación superior; en el caso de la educación secundaria, el entorno y la comunidad que se crearon cumplieron con todos los requisitos para ser considerados un Living Lab. Estas implementaciones y sus sucesivas iteraciones permitieron seguir un proceso continuo de recopilación y análisis de datos, los cuales se utilizaron para modificar o crear nuevas implementaciones. El análisis de los datos proporcionó evidencias de los PLE como herramientas para el aprendizaje y la adquisición de habilidades, el fortalecimiento de las interacciones sociales, y la mejora en la organización y gestión de contenidos y recursos de aprendizaje, y también ayudó a identificar obstáculos y barreras, y posibles soluciones. Mi contribución original al conocimiento es la elaboración de directrices para el uso de entornos personales de aprendizaje como herramientas para apoyar el aprendizaje formal, ya sea por parte de los profesores o de los propios alumnos.Postprint (published version

Education Reform for the Digital Era

Will the digital-learning movement repeat the mistakes of the charter-school movement? How much more successful might today's charter universe look if yesterday's proponents had focused on the policies and practices needed to ensure its quality, freedom, and resources over the long term? What mistakes might have been avoided? Damaging scandals forestalled? Missed opportunities seized

Foundational Practices of Online Writing Instruction

This is an Open Textbook available through the Open Textbook Library: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/foundational-practices-of-online-writing-instruction. Reviews are available there. Foundational Practices in Online Writing Instruction (OWI) addresses the questions and decisions that administrators and instructors most need to consider when developing online writing programs and courses. Written by experts in the field (members of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee for Effective Practices in OWI and other experts and stakeholders).... The editors believe that the field of writing studies is on a trajectory in which most courses will be mediated online to various degrees; therefore the principles detailed in this collection may become the basis for future writing instruction practices. ... [Amazon.com]https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_books/1017/thumbnail.jp

Characteristics of whatsapp interactions of undergraduate students

The aim of this study is to analyze the characteristics of interactions of students when using WhatsApp, their perception towards this tool, the kinds of academic activities they undertake when using it and the interaction patterns in these chat conversations. This study was carried out through a qualitative case study research design which involved nineteen BA in Foreign Language students in a public university in the northern coast of Colombia with ethnographic data collection methods which included an interview, a questionnaire and document analysis based on their WhatsApp chats. The analysis revealed that the implementation of mobile devices in the classroom seems to be an interesting feature to respond the way the educational system is evolving, besides, considering this application helps not only teachers but also students to facilitate the teaching and learning process even outside the classroom and it turns out to be an innovative trend that derives in better outcomes for both. Also the analysis revealed that the use of a WhatsApp chat group represented a step given to combine technology with an innovative methodology addressed to enrich the learning process of students. Contextual factors were also analyzed in this study since these become essential part of the analysis done.MaestríaMagister en la Enseñanza del Ingle

Student’s attitudes through the implementation of different activities enhancing writing and speaking skills in the EFL classroom. Alejandra Ospina Garzón Favian Gutiérrez

Las actitudes en los estudiantes frente a clases en una segunda lengua es un tema orientado a la motivación y el ambiente en el salón de clases, es por este motivo que pocos autores a nivel Latinoamérica han escrito sus experiencias con el tema y la literatura tratada es dada en otros idiomas diferentes al español-Inglés , por eso este estudio enfoca sus esfuerzos en analizar las actitudes que los alumnos de tercero y cuarto grado de un colegio distrital en Bogotá presentan en el momento de desarrollar actividades enfocadas en las habilidades de producción (hablar, escribir) mediante actividades funcionales y sociales como interacción verbal, escritura espontánea y colaborativa, escritura entre compañeros. La recolección de los datos está dada mediante el uso de herramientas como notas de campo de los profesores, encuestas y entrevistas sema-estructuradas después de cada sesión de la implementación. La tabulación de datos está realizada mediante una tabla de triangulación donde se consigna el fragmento citado analizado, las bases teóricas y una explicación soportada en hipótesis

Technological innovation and change in the university

It is by now common knowledge that one of the aspects upon which the survival of the University depends is how it will make the best possible use of the new technologies (e-learning). Despite the acceptance of this principle, difficulties arise when one attempts to proceed from the mere declaration to actually planning activities and putting them into effect. This research, the result of collaboration between teachers and researchers of the Educational Science and Engineering Faculties of the University of Florence, focuses on certain theoretical concepts and reference apparatus, bringing international literature to bear on the specific case of Italy