FACILITATING LISTENING COMPONENT IN EPP MASTER PROGRAMMES IN ECONOMIC UNIVERSITIES

Foreign language Master programmes in Russian economic universities crown the hierarchy of linguistic training the students get during their academic studies. The English for Professional Purposes course being elective, the EPP teachers have to offer their potential students really outstanding input to encourage them to choose it in preference to other elective programmes. Master students attending EPP lessons generally have very high expectations from them as they directly link their proficiency in professional English with their future employability. Thus the EPP course delivered has to contain varied linguistic input to train students in all language skills, and listening skills in particular. The conducted research justifies that one of the most problematic aspects of teaching EPP is finding sufficient samples of listening in specific areas. Analyzing the applicability of available sources such as textbooks and Internet-sites, the authors suggest how appropriate audio material selection and consequent processing can completely reshape the course design and significantly boost listening practices at MA level in economic universities

FACILITATING LISTENING COMPONENT IN EPP MASTER PROGRAMMES IN ECONOMIC UNIVERSITIES

Foreign language Master programmes in Russian economic universities crown the hierarchy of linguistic training the students get during their academic studies. The English for Professional Purposes course being elective, the EPP teachers have to offer their potential students really outstanding input to encourage them to choose it in preference to other elective programmes. Master students attending EPP lessons generally have very high expectations from them as they directly link their proficiency in professional English with their future employability. Thus the EPP course delivered has to contain varied linguistic input to train students in all language skills, and listening skills in particular. The conducted research justifies that one of the most problematic aspects of teaching EPP is finding sufficient samples of listening in specific areas. Analyzing the applicability of available sources such as textbooks and Internet-sites, the authors suggest how appropriate audio material selection and consequent processing can completely reshape the course design and significantly boost listening practices at MA level in economic universities

Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Mashup Personal Learning Environments

Wild, F., Kalz, M., & Palmér, M. (Eds.) (2008). Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Mashup Personal Learning Environments (MUPPLE08). September, 17, 2008, Maastricht, The Netherlands: CEUR Workshop Proceedings, ISSN 1613-0073. Available at http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-388.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project (funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org]) and partly sponsored by the LTfLL project (funded by the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme, priority ISCT. Contract 212578 [http://www.ltfll-project.org

Remixing Pedagogy: How Teachers Experience Remix as a Tool for Teaching English Language Arts

Remix, a type of digital multimedia composition created by combining existing media to create new texts offers high school teachers a non-traditional approach to teaching English Language Arts (ELA). As technology in the U.S. has become more accessible and affordable, literacy practices outside school classrooms have changed. While there is a growing body of research about remix and remix culture, most of it is set outside the ELA classroom by focusing on activities after school hours or specialty courses in creative writing or technology classes. Teachers’ points of view are largely left out of studies that examine in-school experiences with remix. Additionally, existing studies are often set in either higher education or elementary schools. This case study sought to understand how two high school ELA teachers experienced using remix as a tool for teaching and how practicing remix informed their pedagogies. The study revealed insight into why teachers find it challenging to practice new pedagogies in their teaching. I grounded my theoretical framework in sociocultural theories and a remix of Peirce’s (1898) semiotic theory with Rosenblatt’s (1938/1995) transactionalism. Designed within a case study methodology, data sources included teacher remixes, recorded conversations in online meetings, emails, texts, telephone calls, and a detailed researcher journal. Data analysis included multiple iterations of open coding of transcripts, informed by grounded theory and tools of discourse analysis, as well as visual analyses of teacher-created remixes. Key findings showed that, while teachers desired to incorporate remix teaching tools for meeting student needs, constraints of professional learning obligations, state standards, and administrator expectations limited their use of non-traditional practices. Both teachers approached remix differently, encouraging their students to construct meaning through multimodal tools, while still finding paths to meeting administrative requirements through remix. Further, remix allowed teachers to increase the student-centeredness of their pedagogy and at the same time support multiple student learning styles. This study also extends prior theoretical scholarship about remix by contributing a study of knowledge-in-action, focusing on teachers as their remix experiences unfolded

A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education

This review focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education. It provides a synthesis of the research literature in the field and a series of illustrative examples of how these tools are being used in learning and teaching. It draws out the perceived benefits that these new technologies appear to offer, and highlights some of the challenges and issues surrounding their use. The review forms the basis for a HE Academy funded project, ‘Peals in the Cloud’, which is exploring how Web 2.0 tools can be used to support evidence-based practices in learning and teaching. The project has also produced two in-depth case studies, which are reported elsewhere (Galley et al., 2010, Alevizou et al., 2010). The case studies focus on evaluation of a recently developed site for learning and teaching, Cloudworks, which harnesses Web 2.0 functionality to facilitate the sharing and discussion of educational practice. The case studies aim to explore to what extent the Web 2.0 affordances of the site are successfully promoting the sharing of ideas, as well as scholarly reflections, on learning and teaching

Mobilizing User-Generated Content For Canada’s Digital Advantage

Executive Summary: The goal of the Mobilizing User-Generated Content for Canada’s Digital Content Advantage project is to define User-Generated Content (UGC) in its current state, identify successful models built for UGC, and anticipate barriers and policy infrastructure needed to sustain a model to leverage the further development of UGC to Canada\u27s advantage. At the outset, we divided our research into three domains: creative content, small scale tools and collaborative user-generated content. User-generated creative content is becoming increasingly evident throughout the technological ecology through online platforms and online social networks where individuals develop, create and capture information and choose to distribute content through an online platform in a transformative manner. The Internet offers many tools and resources that simplify the various UGC processes and models. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr and others provide functionality to upload content directly into the site itself, eliminating the need for formatting and conversion, and allowing almost instantaneous access to the content by the user’s social network. The successful sites have been able to integrate content creation, aggregation, distribution, and consumption into a single tool, further eroding some of the traditional dichotomies between content creators and end-users. Along with these larger scale resources, this study also treats small scale tools, which are tools, modifications, and applications that have been created by a user or group of users. There are three main categories of small scale tools. The first is game modifications, or add-ons, which are created by users/players in order to modify the game or assist in its play. The second is modifications, objects, or tools created for virtual worlds such as Second Life. Third, users create applications and tools for mobile devices, such as the iPhone or the Android system. The third domain considers UGC which is generated collaboratively. This category is comprised of wikis, open source software and creative content authored by a group rather than a sole individual. Several highly successful examples of collaborative UGC include Wikipedia, and open source projects such as the Linux operating system, Mozilla Firefox and the Apache platform. Major barriers to the production, distribution and aggregation of collaborative UGC are unduly restrictive intellectual property rights (including copyrights, licensing requirements and technological protection mechanisms). There are several crucial infrastructure and policies required to facilitate collaborative UGC. For example, in the area of copyright policy, a careful balance is needed to provide appropriate protection while still allowing downstream UGC creation. Other policy considerations include issues pertaining to technological protection mechanisms, privacy rights, consumer protection and competition. In terms of infrastructure, broadband internet access is the primary technological infrastructure required to promote collaborative UGC creation. There has recently been a proliferation of literature pertaining to all three of these domains, which are reviewed. Assessments are made about the most effective models and practices for each domain, as well as the barriers which impede further developments. This initial research is used as a basis for generating some tentative conclusions and recommendations for further research about the policy and technological infrastructures required to best mobilize and leverage user-generated content to create additional value in the digital economy internal and external to Canada. Policy recommendations based on this research focus on two principles: balancing the interest of both content owners and users, and creating an enabling environment in which UGC production, distribution, aggregation, and re-use can flourish

Turning Today’s Students into Tomorrow’s Stars

Selected Papers from the 2008 Central States Conference Adeiline J. Moeller, Editor Janine Theiler, Assistant Editor Silvia Betta, Assistant Editor 1 The Important Work of Engaging Our 21st Century Learners — Toni Theisen 2 A Model for Teaching Cross-Cultural Perspectives — Susan M. Knight 3 The Stealth Approach to Critical Thinking in Beginning Spanish Classes — Deanna H. Mihaly 4 Teaching About the French Heritage of the Midwest — Randa Duvick 5 Integrating Russian Cuisine with Russian Language and Culture Classes — Marat Sanatullov 6 Preparing a Fotonovela in the Foreign Language Classroom — Carol Eiber 7 Engaging Students through Hybrid Course Materials — Angelika Kraemer 8 Digital Recordings and Assessment: An Alternative for Measuring Oral Proficiency — Peter B. Swanson & Patricia Early 9 Motivation in the Foreign Language Classroom by Elimination of Winners and Losers: Mastery Goals versus Performance Goals — Rebecca A. Barrett 10 Differentiated Instruction – One Size Does Not Fit All! — Ekaterina Koubek 11 Bellringer Reading — Silvia Hyd