Our dreams have lost some grandeur coming true

1
Our dreams have lost some grandeur coming true

• Bryan Beaton
• Language Instructor
• English Language Centre
• Hong Kong Polytechnic University

2
Our dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
though his dreams have lost some grandeur
coming true There'll be new dreams
maybe better dreams and plenty before the
last revolving year is through Joni Mitchell The
Circle Game
3
Our dreams have lost some grandeur coming true

• Background
• The Process Our team - our methods
• The Product Find the Features - hands on
• The Response Summary of student feedback
• Where do we go from here? Discussion - your
  reactions, ideas, vision

4
Background

• English for Academic Purposes (EAP)- over 4000
  new students each year
• a team of enthusiastic teachers- a site which
  would demonstrate IT capabilities
• Educational Development Centre- MegaWeb
  project 90 of students experience web teaching
  at some level

5
Background - E.A.P.

• Unit 1 - Studying at University
• Unit 2 - Participating in Academic Discussion
  Groups
• Unit 3 - Researching and Writing Academic Essays
• Unit 4 - Structuring Academic Writing
• Unit 5 - Using Sources
• Unit 6 - Expression and Style in Academic Writing
• Unit 7 - Improving your Academic Writing
• Unit 8 - Giving Oral Presentations

6
The Process - mid-March to mid-July last year

• each ELC team member rated all Tasks in all units
  of the EAP Coursebook
• scale of 1 to 5 do-able and valuable?

7
(No Transcript)
8
The Process - mid-March to mid-July last year

• each ELC team member rated all Tasks in all units
  of the EAP Coursebook
• scale of 1 to 5 do-able and valuable?
• ELC team members proposed web adaptations-
  individual work with group review
• ELC reps met with EDC technical team- we
  provided the content, the EDC did all technical
  implementation

9
The Product
10
Student Feedback

• Two surveys
• My observations
• Conclusions and conjecture

11
September 2000
12
Problems cited

• Access I could not log on to the PolyU server
• Time-consumed I need to use 40 minutes to
  download the software RealPlayer so I think it
  waste my time. The website loading is too slow,
  so I waste my PNET cost. Some words were miss,
  so I need to listen once again (more ).
• Equipment My computer is out of order so I
  need to go to the computer centre, but the
  computers there have no sound. Therefore I used
  the transcript.
• Sound quality I couldnt hear clearly

13
November 2000
14
My Observations

• Students were so unimpressed with speed and
  accessibility in Week 1, they never wanted to
  invest the time to access the system again.
• Students who would ordinarily complete homework
  which can be collected in class reported that
  they didnt have time to complete web-based
  tasks.
• Even E.I.E. students found going to the web to do
  homework too much trouble.
• A surprising number of students report a desire
  for engaging pictures, animation and sound
  effects. Perhaps web-based tasks have to
  meet much higher expectations than
  paper-based assignments.

15
Conclusions and conjecture

• For language-learning, PolyU students prefer
  teaching and learning situations which involve
  direct interpersonal contact.
• Adaptation to web-based learning will require
  (1) a significant reduction in the technological
  obstacles to fast, reliable access(2)
  improvements in content delivery modes, and(3)
  changes in learner expectations and motivation
• Until fundamental issues (of access and pedagogic
  value) are addressed, there is no point in
  expanding these materials.

16
Where do we go from here?If we put aside
technological concerns (assuming they will
disappear over time) how do we produce
pedagogically valuable materials?

• Does web-based teaching fit in our world? -
  delivery of supplementary or core materials? -
  part of interactive on-line teaching?
• Can / how can teachers produce and / or use
  web-based materials?

17
The End