Workshops
Workshop sessions involve extensive interaction between presenters and participants around an idea or hands-on experience of a practice. These sessions may also take the form of a crafted panel, staged conversation, dialogue, or debate – all involving substantial interaction with the audience. [45 min. each]
OER Resources and How They Were Created and Implemented
Workshop Presentation Liana Stepanyan
In April of 2018, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Southern California launched a digital OER (Open Educational Resources) journal named Revista CeDE. The educational resources contained in this journal integrate ACTFL´s modes of communication in L2 Spanish classes. This workshop will discuss the reasons why these OER resources were created, how they are being implemented, and the positive outcomes of using such materials in order to improve learners’ cultural competency and their perception of the overall learning experience. It will also explore the ways to integrate such OER resources in your coursework, and the impact of using these resources to encourage critical thinking and to facilitate the understanding of the various socio-cultural aspects of the Hispanic world. The best practices identified at USC’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese will be presented, along with sample syllabi, activities and evaluation rubrics. Participants will be invited to design a syllabus that integrates OER resources, based on the provided templates, and reflect on strategies to evaluate such content. They will also be invited to share their own experience in integrating existing OER resources in their curriculum, as well as creating OER resources.
Bloom’s Taxonomy and Cooperative Learning through Group Storytelling: Ways to Scaffold Learning and Maximize Engagement
Workshop Presentation Eng Hai Tan
Classroom learning environments can be classified generally into three social categories: competitive, individualistic, or cooperative. Cooperative learning is often associated with higher level of reasoning, greater generation of new ideas and transfer of learning as compared to competitive or individualistic learning. This workshop is a condensed version of a 12-lesson project on story making in an English immersion primary school in Japan. Students worked in small groups to create stories and tell them using magic flashcards. The group storytelling project was divided into 3 stages. Stage 1. Each group of three students were given six telltale picture cards and they were required to use at least three of them in their stories. Using graphic organizers, they discussed the setting, characters, problem and resolution. Stage 2. Students transferred their ideas from the graphic organizers onto storyboards. They also decided on the 6-frame illustrations they wanted for their stories. Stage 3. Students created magic flashcards with the main scenes of their stories and practiced presenting them to the class. In this workshop, participants will be guided through the abbreviated process of their 3 stages in the making of their stores as they experience the five elements of cooperative learning, positive interdependence, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, face-to-face interaction and group processing. Bloom’s taxonomy will also be explored as participants engage from lower to higher order thinking tasks, from remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and finally creating their original story as a group.
