East Asian Languages and Cultures
Questions
- How do you facilitate students' self-pacing practices through basic language acquisition?
- How do you provide immediate and personalized feedback for all students, all the time? Can multimedia modules - self-paced and interactive - improve student learning of Japanese?
Model: Using interactive technology to accommodate learning in and out of the classroom
For many courses and subjects, a key path to innovation is interactive technology. One of the major projects in CCRP involves the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures in the development of a digital tool for self-paced and recursive learning in Japanese language instruction. The self-paced language modules (described below) are just one of many ways that digital materials can improve student learning. Other languages make extensive use of multimedia materials to improve both language instruction and cultural understanding. Outside the languages, some projects make use of communications tools, such as those embedded in Blackboard, to engage students in interactive discussion or group projects. Still others make use of varying digital authoring tools, from PowerPoint to Web pages to sophisticated video and audio multimedia, to put students in positions of producers of knowledge, shared publicly with other students, and beyond. In all these cases, the technology use gives students a context for extending learning beyond the confines of a single class or classroom, while also asking students to take increased responsibility for their learning.
The New Design
The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures has formulated a proposal to design and implement web-based multimedia learning aids in Japanese language courses. Working with these materials, Japanese language instructors will document, analyze and evaluate the pedagogical benefits of using new technologies in language lessons. Because language classes have a large skill-building component, the addition of web-based multimedia lesson modules will allow students to review, learn, and progress at their own pace, while accommodating a variety of learning styles. The goal of the project is to facilitate self-directed study, thereby widening the curriculum to enhance student learning without increasing classroom instruction hours.
The Process: Assessment and Development
The project has involved an intensive amount of both technological development by CNDLS which included the conversion of earlier materials onto a flexible digital form. The implementation of the modules is also supported by extensive assessment of student learning gains as a result of the self-paced materials and immediate feedback.