The validity of teaching and learning a modern language through the online delivery mode
Subject Area
Language & Technology
Abstract
Incorporating Online learning as an optional delivery mode of instruction in tertiary institutions with traditional campuses has been the trend in recent years. The question is whether it should be offered universally or with some discrimination. The presenter’s institution, an HBCU has been offering some general education courses online (including Spanish) during the summer semester.
Needless to say, while online programs are lucrative, it behooves instructors and institutions to ascertain the viability of the product in terms of the learning needs of the target population. Must students continue to enroll into these courses willy-nilly, or should there be some guidance and control for increased student success and attainment of departmental and institutional goals and objectives? There is reason to be concerned about how much learning does actually take place in an online course. Perhaps guidelines and orientation could help prepare and screen students in order to achieve the most desirable teaching and learning outcomes.
The presentation includes a brief literature review on online teaching, student attitudes and behaviors during the period of instruction in an online course, instructors' observations, and presentation of results of student survey evaluating the course.
Ultimately, this presentation would constitute a set up for a discussion on finding practical and effective ways to justify and authenticate online teaching of a foreign language, and providing an opportunity for a collaborative investigation that hopefully, establishes and enables mechanisms that make the online instructional mode a valid and morally defensible alternative in any and every teaching and learning environment.
Brief Bio Note
I started my career teaching English, French, Spanish in my native Ghana, then Spain and Canada before settling here. My interest has consistently been using and teaching language for its own sake, as a communicative tool wherever needed. I pursue teaching, translating, interpreting in multiple tongues in myriad environments. Loving it!
Keywords
Face-to-face, hybrid, blended, flip, synchronous, asynchronous, zoom, Learning Management System (LMS), HBCU
Location
Afternoon Session 1 (PARB 114/115)
Presentation Year
April 2019
Start Date
4-11-2019 2:15 PM
Embargo
12-15-2018
Recommended Citation
Arthur, Rosalind, "The validity of teaching and learning a modern language through the online delivery mode" (2019). South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL). 12.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/seccll/2019/2019/12
The validity of teaching and learning a modern language through the online delivery mode
Afternoon Session 1 (PARB 114/115)
Incorporating Online learning as an optional delivery mode of instruction in tertiary institutions with traditional campuses has been the trend in recent years. The question is whether it should be offered universally or with some discrimination. The presenter’s institution, an HBCU has been offering some general education courses online (including Spanish) during the summer semester.
Needless to say, while online programs are lucrative, it behooves instructors and institutions to ascertain the viability of the product in terms of the learning needs of the target population. Must students continue to enroll into these courses willy-nilly, or should there be some guidance and control for increased student success and attainment of departmental and institutional goals and objectives? There is reason to be concerned about how much learning does actually take place in an online course. Perhaps guidelines and orientation could help prepare and screen students in order to achieve the most desirable teaching and learning outcomes.
The presentation includes a brief literature review on online teaching, student attitudes and behaviors during the period of instruction in an online course, instructors' observations, and presentation of results of student survey evaluating the course.
Ultimately, this presentation would constitute a set up for a discussion on finding practical and effective ways to justify and authenticate online teaching of a foreign language, and providing an opportunity for a collaborative investigation that hopefully, establishes and enables mechanisms that make the online instructional mode a valid and morally defensible alternative in any and every teaching and learning environment.
