WhatsApp: Language Learning on-the-go
E- symposium 201423rd January, 2013 - 24th January, 2014
University of Southampton
Billy Brick and Tiziana Cervi-Wilson [email protected] and [email protected]
Coventry University
12/10/20222JISC (2011) Supporting Learners in a Digital Age, Briefing Paper.
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Willis and Willis (2007:12-14) offer the following criteria in the form of questions.
‘The more confidently you can answer yes to each of these questions, the more task-like the activity.’ Will the activity engage learners' interest?
Is there a primary focus on meaning?
Is there a goal or an outcome? Is success judged in terms of outcome?
Is completion a priority? Does the activity relate to real world activities?'
What kind of activity is a task?
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Creating the activity (repurposing existing activity)
Briefing with students (phones, ethics, willingness, BYOD)
Setting up groups on Whatsapp
The Pilot Project (1)
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On the day (weather, graduation ceremony!)
Told students they could text us if they got stuck
Feedback (Google maps) – Serendipitous! Discussion about directions, clarifying contentious issues
The Pilot Project (2)
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Overwhelming positive response
Preferable to Moodle due to immediacy and convenience
Using Italian in a ‘real life’ situation
Positives
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Anonymity of number – has to ask the Faculty to get us a phone.
SD memory Card
Wireless Connection. Poor signal.
GPS and installation
Students did not need technology support and didn’t mention data charges
Technical Issues
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Record sound files directly rather than via Dropbox
Timed?
Incorporate short videos
Improvements
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Designing Weekly tasks for IWLP students to reinforce classroom learning.
Experiment with short student videos
Future Directions
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Avatar Languages (2009) Augmented Reality Language Learning [online] available from <http://www.slideshare.net/AvatarLanguages.com/augmented-reality-language-learning-virtual-worlds-meet-mlearning > [20th Jan 2014]
Betham, H. and Sharpe , R. (eds) (2007) Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Designing and Delivering E-Learning. London: Routledge.
Bibby, S (2011) Do Students Wish to ‘Go Mobile’? An Investigation into Student Use of PCs and Cell Phones. International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, 1 (2), 43-54
Brown, E (2010) Introduction to location-based mobile learning. In: Brown, Elizabeth ed. Education in the wild: contextual and location-based mobile learning in action. A report from the STELLAR Alpine Rendez-Vous workshop series. STELLAR Alpine Rendez-Vous workshop. Nottingham, UK: Learning Sciences Research Institute, University of Nottingham, pp. 7–9. [online] available from <http://www.lsri.nottingham.ac.uk/ejb/preprints/ARV_Education_in_the_wild.pdf >[21st Jan 2014]
Bloom, B (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKayGodwin-Jones, R (2011) Emerging Technologies. Mobile Apps for Language Learning. Language Learning and Technology 15 (2) pp2-11. [online] available from <http://llt.msu.edu/issues/june2011/emerging.pdf> [10th Jan 2014]Guardian (2013) Teenagers say goodbye to Facebook and hello to messenger apps. Available from http://
www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/10/teenagers-messenger-apps-facebook-exodus
Education. HEA Academy. [online] available from <http://www.heacademy. ac.uk/assets/EvidenceNet/Conole_Alevizou_2010.pdf> [20 January 2013]
Corrin, L. Lockyer, L. and Bennett, S (2010) Technological diversity: an investigation of students' technology use in everyday life and academic study. Learning, Media and Technology, 35 (4) pp. 387-401
JISC (2011) Supporting Learners in a Digital Age, Briefing Paper. Kukulska-Hulme, A. (2009) Will mobile learning change language learning? ReCALL 21 (2) 157-
165. Kukulska-Hulme, A and Jones, C (2011) The next generation: design and the infrastructure
for learning in a mobile and networked world. In: Olofsson, A. D. and Lindberg, J. Ola eds. Informed Design of Educational Technologies in Higher Education: Enhanced Learning and Teaching. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference (an Imprint of IGI Global), pp. 57–78.
Reedy, K. and Goodfellow, R. (2012) Digital and information literacy framework. Open University.Willis, D. and Willis, J. (2007) Doing task-based teaching. Oxford: OUP.
References
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