Online Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication courses

A number of concepts served as the guiding principles when OCLA was incorporated into the design of the subject syllabuses. Reading and learning from materials online and doing assessed tasks online, compared to attending lectures and interacting with the lecturer, require a much higher level of independence in learning. Online learning therefore puts a greater demand on students regarding their cognitive, motivational and interpersonal abilities for learning. Assessment procedures and methods were also re-designed to better reflect the course aims, objectives, pedagogy and learning outcomes.

In addition, the peculiarities and uniqueness of web-based learning should be maximally exploited. The increased interactivity afforded by online learning and teaching makes online collaborative assessment feasible (MacDonald et al., 2002). MacDonald et al. (2002, p.10) review a number of sub-projects which have practiced collaborative formative evaluation of learning and teaching, including peer review of students' scripts posted electronically (Davis & Berrow, 1998); model answers delivered to help students to see alternative approaches to written work (Mason, 1995); process writing of assignments or 'iterative assignment development' (McConnell, 1999); and students involved in online negotiation of assessment criteria (Kwok & Ma, 1999).

Group work and involving students in the assessment procedures are also important. The value of group work as a means to developing skills such as "communication, presentation, problem-solving, leadership, delegation and organization" (Butcher et al., 1995, p.165) is well established. The problem in an assessed course in which group work takes place is that the teacher needs to assign individual grades to the students rather than the same grade for every member of the group. In order to fairly measure individual students' performance in the group work, the contribution of the individual to the group project will be established. One possible way to deal with this potential dilemma is to introduce an element of peer assessment to determine the contribution of individuals to a group project (Conway et al., 1993; Cheng & Warren, 1999). In this study, peer assessment refers to a system of assessment whereby students, through online discussion and negotiation, assess the peers' contribution to both the conduct and the outcome of group work. In addition to peer assessment, students perform self-assessment of their own contribution to the collaborative project, and the teacher assesses student effort in group projects shown in online feedback and discussion of the feedback.

Bearing in mind the issues and guiding principles discussed above, the syllabuses of the subjects Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication were written to incorporate OCLA in their aims, learning outcomes and assessment. Figure 1 shows the subject aims of ENGL277 Pragmatics.

Figure 2 shows the more detailed subject aims and objectives in the syllabus of ENGL461 Intercultural Communication, which shows that both acquisition of subject knowledge and development of generic attributes are emphasized.

Online delivery of Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication made use of the combination of computers and network technology, asynchronous group and individual messaging, and the real-time interactive features of the World Wide Web. Traditional face-to-face lecturing in two-hour slots was replaced by students' online study; the lectures were presented by means of online learning materials using the WebCT platform. All teaching materials (notes, exercises, examples and audio clips) were uploaded on the subject Website. Weston and Barker (2001) summarize the major reasons for using online learning materials: the shortening of distance between student and place of learning, ease of access to resources, interactivity and multimedia, student control of learning, and distributed communication or collaboration. Compared to attending two-hour lecture sessions, when learning the subject materials online, students could do things like repeating or changing the sequence of units, and manipulating and rewinding video and audio clips that formed part of the online learning materials. Built into the learning units were discussion forums on the WebCT which allowed students to respond to each other and the teacher, giving them the opportunity to revise and reflect upon their work and to engage in reflective discussion (Bonk & King, 1998; Brown et al., 2000).

There were weekly one-hour seminars with groups of 20-25 students, whereby the concepts learnt through the online materials were consolidated through applying them to seminar activities. From the outset, it was made clear to the students that the weekly seminar must not be turned into a kind of 'WebCT user' discussion group, and that any problems or suggestions for the online learning should be discussed on the WebCT, or e-mail messages, in an office visit or by telephone.

In the first lesson, the rationale, procedure, instructional materials, teaching and learning activities, assessments and evaluation were explained to the students. The students were told that online learning means taking greater responsibility for their learning, experiencing a higher level of interactivity than attending lectures, and adjusting to greater flexibility and control in terms of when and how they learn. It was emphasized that in order to make the most of this new development, it was important that the students should approach it positively and enthusiastically, and that both their learning process and product would be closely monitored and fully evaluated.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

متحف الكفيل يباشر صيانة منسوجات تراثية تابعة للعتبة العسكرية المقدسة

العتبة العباسية المقدسة تستذكر مظلومية الإمام الكاظم (عليه السلام) عبر مجلس عزاء

قسم العلاقات العامة يناقش مع منتدى شباب الإسكان إقامة مهرجان تكريم طالبات المدارس المرتديات العباءة في القادسية

سماحة السيد الصافي يدعو إلى توحيد الجهود في تحقيق التراث لضمان الرصانة والدقة وخدمة الساحة العلمية

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

6 فواكة تساعدك على الشعور بتحسّن عند المرض

حفاظا على صحة العين.. هذا أفضل وقت لتناول فيتامين أ

الاستخدام اليومي لسماعات الأذن.. أخطر مما تتصور !

هل توقيت نشاطك اليومي يؤثر على صحة دماغك؟.. العلماء يجيبون

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

ابتكار ألماني قد يغيّر مستقبل صناعة البلاستيك

تحديثات وأرباح عبر المشاهدات.. ما الذي تخطط له "لينكد إن"؟

"الكوكايين الوردي".. مخدر جديد يثير قلق السلطات الأميركية

دراسة: تغيّرات في أسلوب القيادة قد تكشف مبكرا عن الخرف !

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Parents with Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION

PROVISION OF SUPPORT

CARING FOR CHILDREN

EUGENICS AND ETHICAL ISSUES

PARENTING

DISCRIMINATION AND DIVERSITY

THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Parents with Learning Disabilities

Legislation and Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION

LEGAL SAFEGUARDS

MENTAL CAPACITY ACT 2005

THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998