Scholar is a web writing space for learners of the social media generation. Scholar engages learners through its focus on peer interaction and formative feedback.
This Learning Module focuses on increasing students' understanding of Chinese culture. It will also complement the camp activities that focus on developing their Chinese language skills.
The aim of this initial Update is to introduce the Scholar environment to participants and to value their prior knowledge. Working in Scholar promotes:
- collaboration - connecting language users with different levels of expertise
- students as knowledge creators, sharing their prior knowledge and new knowledge
- creating and sharing multimodal texts - modern communication involves visual, audio, gestural, spatial, and language modes
- recursive feedback through comments on other students' comments, learning from and with each other
- differentiation - all students are able participate, regardless of their starting points
- metacognition - reflection about their developing use of language
- using language for real purposes and audiences - real world contexts
- agency - students become autonomous learners
Creating Student Accounts and the Scholar Community
Before the camp, student accounts must be created. See Creating Student Accounts in Admin Tools or Creating Accounts for a Class using the Import Tool. Alternatively, contact Scholar. The organization should be the "Chinese Language and Culture Camp".
Also set up the Community and invite the students to become members. See Creating a Community tutorial. A new Community should be set up each year.
Student Profiles
Before students log into Scholar, students may participate in a "Getting to Know You" activity/game in which students introduce themselves, their interests, and strengths. This will prepare them to create their "blips" when they log into Scholar.
An option at the end of creating your profile is to post an Update. Students may post an Update where they might write more about themselves and/or post an image or videoclip about an interest they have.
Creating their profiles is also a great opportunity to discuss cyberbullying and how students should represent themselves and communicate respectfully in online environments.
Survey
Once students have created their profiles, start the survey. When you start the survey from the Learning Module, it will be delivered into the activity stream of the Community.
Surveys are included in the initial and final Updates of the module to survey students about their knowledge and understanding of Chinese language and culture, and of using digital tools in their learning. These surveys which may be modified in the Survey Tool in Publisher, may also be used to collect research data.
Scholar Updates
Each activity in a Learning Module is called an Update. Updates are delivered from the Learning Module in the Scholar Bookstore to the activity stream of the Community. Students who are members of that community can then access them. For more information on using Scholar, see Scholar Tutorials.
Throughout the camp, students will move between interactive games, practical activities (calligraphy, craft, martial arts), language sessions, and Scholar (surveys, comments, reflections, and 2 projects).
In the first Update, students brainstorm their knowledge of Chinese inventions. Online searches are encouraged so that participants collaborate to create an extensive list, and where possible, add weblinks to their comments.
Updates may be created by admins and students at any time. Just go to the Pull-Down menu above an individual avatar (the Update will go to your peers) or the Community avatar (the Update will go to all members of a specific community).
Daily Updates and Reflections
Reflections provide valuable information about how the camp is going as well as providing research data. Create Updates on Days 2-4 such as:
Day 2: What were some of the things you learned on Day 1 of the camp? What were the highlights for you? Then, comment on 2-3 other students' comments, giving them positive feedback on their comments.
Day 3: What did you learn on Day 2 of the camp? Consider new skills as well as new knowledge. Comment on 1-2 other students' comments.
Day 4: Today's reflection is a little different. This time we want you to imagine that you are the organizer of next year's camp. What would you add, do more of, or do differently?
Note: Students complete the Baseline Survey on Day 1 and the Post Survey on Day 5, so no other reflections are needed.
You can also create an Update each day to ensure students understand what they are expected to complete in Scholar each day. Alternatively, this can be listed on a whiteboard for students to refer to. Requirements may include responding to comments in an Update, commenting on other students' comments, working on projects (draft, give feedback, revise, submit), creating Updates about a topic related to the camp, checking messages, and changing avatar and profile.
Camp Groups
If students are placed into small groups and rotate through the activities, most Updates and projects will still only have to be posted once in Scholar. This will enable students to interact across and within groups. By starring an Update, it will go to the top of the activity stream. Students can also find Updates by using the filter tool.
It may be useful to repost the initial Update (about brainstorming Chinese inventions) for each group.To motivate students, it can even be a friendly competition to see which group posts the highest number of Chinese inventions.
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