Digital Pedagogies (Asynchronous Session)
Measuring the Outcomes of eTandem in Practice: Designing Empirical Case Studies of Student Performance in Arabic and Italian
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Martin G Sulzer-Reichel
This paper focuses on eTandem activities developed at the University of Richmond for Italian and Arabic courses. In addition to traditional teletandem activities, we have experimented with new forms of interactions in the classroom, using “TalkAbroad” as a vehicle for authentic material and to increase exposure to diverse regional accents in elementary and intermediate Italian language courses. Similarly, we have forged a productive relationship with the student-led non-profit organization, “Conversations Unbound,” an interinstitutional consortium hosted at Vassar College, to connect students in Arabic courses with native speakers from North Africa and the Middle East, who have been displaced by war, religious conflict, and economic hardship. Remote connections, moreover, between the University of Richmond and schools in the Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges (VFIC) promote increased equity by sharing language expertise and resources across different campuses. Remote connections hold great potential in humanistic curricula related to languages, literatures, and cultures. We report on research conducted with different groups of students, highlighting potential gains in speaking and listening skills, and arguing that new types of eTandem activities help develop increased student linguistic proficiency and intercultural competence. As institutions around the world focus more heavily on assessment, they need to develop new tools to evaluate, measure, and track learning outcomes that are often difficult to quantify. We present our methodologies and argue for a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis.
Alternative Assessment and Multimodal E-Learning View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lan Dong
Using examples from several transdisciplinary classes taught in a Learning Management System (LMS), this paper discusses course content selection that promotes social justice and supports learner diversity, course requirement structure that emphasizes student-driven learning and collaborative learning, as well as alternative assessment of student learning outcomes that highlights multimodality and learner agency. In mapping out the social differences and (dis)advantages represented in class reading, this study examines how literary texts, picture books, graphic narratives, films, MTVs, and multimedia materials offer opportunities for productive asynchronized discussions on gender politics, racial politics, various forms of inequity, disability and illness, as well as imperialism and transnationalism in the online classroom. Discussing peer-to-peer learning, collaborative projects, and community engagement assignments, it studies how the blurred boundaries between formal and informal learning help meet the needs of the wide range of students. It also addresses how alternative assessment, instead of conventional writing assignments, shifts the balance of learner agency to encourage active and invested participation and learning and prepare students for their individual career paths. On the one hand, this paper addresses the importance of motivating students’ interest and engagement as well as structuring an interactive atmosphere in the online classroom that is accessible and inclusive. On the other hand, it examines the careful guidance needed in order to help students improve critical thinking, reading, and writing skills while acquiring multiliteracies through multimodal learning.
Gamified and Game-based EFL: Moving from Traditional to Online Classroom View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alexia Larchen Costuchen
This paper provides practical solutions for adapting traditional EFL classes to the digital environment. It recaps gamification strategies and proposes the use of videogames in class. Learners are viewed through the prism of the generational approach (Gen Zers, Gen Yers, Gen Xers, etc.), which helps to find the best way to take into account and address their habits and needs. While this study bases its approach on quantitative and qualitative findings, it still suggests the use of pre-course surveys for choosing the best teaching method and resources. Finally, post-course feedback provides valuable information to be considered when designing new courses. Overall, this research promotes active collaboration between teachers, students, and course organizers, and aims to create a motivational environment conducive to efficient second-language acquisition. The digital tools used in this study include Edmodo, Popplet, Classcraft, Padlet, Kahoot, Quizlet, Minecraft: Education Edition, Monkey Island, and Grim Fandango, among others.
Mixing Technologies to Establish Community in an Online Mixed Methods Research Course: Lessons Learned Blending Old and New Technologies View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jori Hall, Sara Campbell
As a result of COVID-19, higher education instructors are exploring online solutions to support quality learning experiences for graduate students. The purpose of our paper is to report on our experiences developing and implementing our community-based approach in online mixed methods social science research course for graduate students at a southeastern university in the United States. Our study describes how traditional online technologies (discussion boards and videoconferencing) and an innovative technology (avatar-based meetings in a online world), were strategically employed to establish online relationships, support students’ mixed methods training, and connect course content and activities to students’ research interests. To study the implementation of these technologies, instructor field notes, an online survey taken by the graduate students, course materials (i.e., handouts, reflective memos), end of course evaluations, and selected electronic correspondence between instructors and students were collected and analyzed. Our findings suggest that our ‘mix’ of traditional and innovative strategies in the mixed methods course offered students opportunities to (1) engage the theory and practice of mixed methods, (2) receive meaningful feedback from the instructor and peers, (3) create videos, presentations, and diagrams, integrating mixed methods thinking, and (4) develop a mixed methods research proposal. In addition to reporting these study findings, our presentation will discuss the limitations of these online strategies, focusing on students’ apprehension towards the avatar-based meetings in a online world. We conclude outlining key lessons learned, which we believe contribute to the quality of online teaching and learning.
Feminist Approaches to Failure in Digital Space View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Amanda Hodes
This paper contends that failure—and fear of possible failure—disproportionately deters women from taking academic risks and learning new digital tools. I review the sociological literature around the impact of failure on women and then relate it to cyberfeminist pedagogies and Allison Carr’s embodied ‘pedagogy of failure.’ Such risk of resulting shame can also gatekeep women from male-dominated discourses and spaces where failure is necessary, such as digital spaces that rely on troubleshooting. As first-year writing courses increasingly incorporate digital rhetorics, I argue that instructors should also adopt reflective or labor-based assessment strategies that decrease anxiety surrounding mastery and failure. First-year writing instructors occupy a unique position in that they can teach digital technologies not as fields, but rather as rhetorical tools for women and other minorities to use for their own communicative purposes.
