{"id":267,"date":"2014-11-17T05:33:29","date_gmt":"2014-11-17T11:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/dorer\/?p=267"},"modified":"2014-12-15T02:46:24","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T08:46:24","slug":"the-research-behind-the-sett-i-gang-web-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/dorer\/2014\/11\/17\/the-research-behind-the-sett-i-gang-web-portal\/","title":{"rendered":"The research behind the Sett i gang web portal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes academics who want to learn more about a project I\u2019m working on will pose a question like \u201cis your project curricular or<\/em> research?\u201d\u00a0Sigh. Really?!<\/p>\n

The disagreement on the intersection of theory and practice in academia is not a new one, but I do believe it is one that is changing. And, my research\u00a0is arguably a bit unique in that both my coursework in my M.A. and my Ph.D. focus on the how a learner experiences and is motivated by the curriculum and environment in which they are learning. So, for me it\u2019s not possible to separate curriculum development and research. My teaching\u00a0and research interests are interdisciplinary as well, drawing on the fields of Applied Linguistics, Foreign Language Learning, Educational Technology, Online Learning, and Distance Education. Additionally, my work\u00a0typically has\u00a0Norwegian as the language of instruction though I’m not actually researching the language itself. \u00a0Essentially, much of what I do is within the field of the scholarship of teaching and learning;\u00a0I examine my teaching and my\u00a0students’ learning to advance the practice of teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

I’ve used technology extensively in my teaching through Distance Education courses and Face-to-Face courses using a\u00a0Course Management System (CMS) called MOODLE. \u00a0 My dissertation examined student\u00a0practices of Distance Education Foreign Language Learners. Through these teaching and researching experiences, I became increasingly interested in how students experience an\u00a0online learning environment differently from a face-to-face environment. By the time I entered the field, research had moved beyond Media Comparison Studies (see the No Significant Difference site<\/a> for more on this); the majority of DE educators and researchers were calling for in-depth exploratory studies of Distance Education\u00a0(Kearsley, 1999).
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\n<\/strong>Essentially,\u00a0the core\u00a0of the Sett i gang<\/em>\u00a0web portal was built from an understanding of how theory and practice meet in my interdisciplinary fields. \u00a0I have been asked to share some concrete examples of this.\u00a0 I\u00a0have also started to receive some\u00a0inquiries from colleagues who teach from the Sett i gang\u00a0<\/em>curriculum, wanting to know more about where the next edition\u00a0is headed. \u00a0 So, here goes…
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\n10 research\u00a0findings utilized in the development\u00a0of the Sett i gang<\/em> Web\u00a0Portal:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>\u00a0Immediate feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"portal_feedback\"

Ex. 1: Immediate feedback<\/p><\/div>\n

I believe that immediate feedback is one of the most valuable tools\u00a0of the portal. Several studies have documented students’ need for prompt and meaningful feedback in online learning environments (Northrup, 2002; Brown, 1996). Many\u00a0CMSs are capable of grading of activities which\u00a0have set answers. Results are recorded and students (and in some cases) their instructors are able to monitor their progress (see Example 1 to the left).<\/p>\n

In my dissertation study, I found that the completion of this type of\u00a0activity was\u00a0a predictor of both course completion and linguistic outcomes\u00a0(Lie, 2008). \u00a0In my teaching, I have also found that students are far more likely to re-do\u00a0a homework answer that is incorrect\u00a0if it is online rather\u00a0than the traditional model of me handing back workbooks with incorrect answers noted in red ink. \u00a0It makes sense – when a learner is doing\u00a0their homework, they\u00a0are focused on it right then. \u00a0Delayed, traditional feedback (me handing it back to them a week later) interrupts\u00a0that process.<\/p>\n

When students are in a learning environment which fosters this type of immediate feedback, and can master\u00a0a number of tasks which scaffold from one to the next, some will be able to experience what psychologist Cs\u00edkszentmih\u00e1lyi (1990) refers to as “flow”. \u00a0Flow theory posits that\u00a0learners are able to absorb and concentrate more when in this state and that it optimizes their learning experience. Cs\u00edkszentmih\u00e1lyi identified a number of elements that are needed in order to achieve flow, one of which is immediate feedback.<\/p>\n

The majority\u00a0of the\u00a0activities in the portal give students feedback so they can monitor their progress and make multiple attempts in order to master each of the linguistic forms and\u00a0vocabulary before moving on to the next.<\/p>\n

\"atg4e\"<\/a>

If you don’t get this, you haven’t watched enough infomercials.<\/p><\/div>\n

There\u00a0are additional\u00a0benefits to the system created in the portal which provides feedback. Although\u00a0it takes considerable time, and in some\u00a0cases, money, to create and program learning activities\u00a0in a CMS, not having to grade piles of fill-in-the-blank answers, the same ones every semester, frees up faculty time (even if only after the activities are programmed in). \u00a0With that time I’m able to focus\u00a0more on\u00a0giving\u00a0feedback on other\u00a0assignments, specifically the individualized\u00a0written\u00a0or audio recorded assignments which\u00a0don’t have set\u00a0answers. \u00a0This is a much more valuable use of my time and more beneficial for my\u00a0students as well.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0<\/strong>Proximal goals &\u00a0Mastery Experiences
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

For many students, completing a language course is\u00a0a daunting, overwhelming\u00a0experience. \u00a0Students riding\u00a0the struggle bus need\u00a0encouragement to keep\u00a0motivated. \u00a0And of course students who aren’t struggling need encouragement and motivation too!<\/p>\n

Bandura’s (1986) investigation on how goals correlate\u00a0with achievement outcomes posits that students who divide up objectives\u00a0and master objectives one at a time (a proximal goal) rather than one large final goal (a distal goal) show\u00a0increased commitment and motivation.<\/p>\n

If we look at the bigger picture of goal setting and completing\u00a0tasks,\u00a0a learner’s belief in their ability to succeed also affects their learning. Bandura (1986) defines this “do I have what it takes to be able to complete\u00a0this?” question as self-efficacy. \u00a0A resilient sense of self-efficacy requires overcoming obstacles through perseverant effort which he refers to as an enactive mastery experience. \u00a0In other words, students\u00a0will feel more confident in the future if\u00a0they have already completed something successfully.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"portal_flashcards\"

Ex. 2: Flashcard sets<\/p><\/div>\n

The application of\u00a0Bandura’s findings\u00a0work in tandem in the portal. By dividing the\u00a0course content into smaller, more manageable chunks, we can help our learners create distal goals. One example of how we’ve used distal goals is with the\u00a0creation of flashcard sets within each chapter as seen in Example 2. Here students can practice vocabulary in both written and audio form in\u00a0small sets\u00a0(from 5-15 words); \u00a0when they are ready, they can combine these sets to create one large set with all of the words from the chapter or even the entire semester. \u00a0This allows\u00a0students\u00a0to work with a\u00a0comfortable amount of information and to focus on one piece at a time.<\/p>\n

\"portal_utgang\"

Ex. 3: Utgang<\/p><\/div>\n

Another example of how we’ve used Bandura’s findings is with the creation of\u00a0utgang<\/em>. \u00a0Utgang\u00a0<\/em>translates to exit; we use it as a way to\u00a0check mastery of\u00a0each section (after three chapters). \u00a0 Completing the utgang<\/em> is an\u00a0exit to each section\u00a0thus completion means they are ready for the next section. The utgang<\/em> assesses\u00a0the language students should have mastered in the section including both grammatical forms and vocabulary, but this time\u00a0in a much larger chunk than previously assessed. \u00a0One of the central goals of\u00a0the utgang<\/em> is to instill confidence in the learner, to get them from “I don’t really know how I’m doing, I have done everything in smaller chunks but do I know how to put it all together?” to\u00a0“yeah, I got\u00a0this and I’m ready to move on!”<\/p>\n

In practice, at St. Olaf for example, students complete the\u00a0utgang<\/em>\u00a0before a more formal, in-class written test. This then gives\u00a0students the opportunity to see how well they have mastered the materials before taking the test. \u00a0Students\u00a0report\u00a0that they feel more prepared for the test when they complete the utgang <\/em>first, which is exactly what Bandura’s enactive mastery experience is all about; it’s\u00a0coming to the test thinking “I know I can do this because I’ve successfully\u00a0completed the utgang<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

3. Advance Organizers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each unit (3 chapter sequence) begins with a short video introduction. \u00a0This video introduction is used as an Advance Organizer (AO). \u00a0Ausubel (1968) first conceptualized AOs as a part of his theory of meaningful learning and retention. \u00a0Chen (2014) explains AOs as:<\/p>\n