Tier 2: Teaching-studying-learning Process

Introduction
In new digital environments and in network-based education, the teacher must have a strong and theoretically well justified methodological view of his/her own. This view can be built on various theories and conceptions of learning and knowledge, such as constructivism, socio-constructivism or socio-culturalism. In pedagogical terms, this can be expressed briefly as the teaching-studying-learning (TSL) process (Uljens 1997), which underlines the importance of all three components, not only learning or teaching, as used to be the case. The TSL process is based on the idea that in institutionalised education, teaching does not lead to learning directly; rather, we need the studying component in between. Thus, learning is influenced indirectly by teaching via the learner's conscious and purposive studying.

In the TSL process, the teacher is bound to change from a 'sage on the stage' to a 'guide on the side'. One could even go a step further: in network-based education, the real question is concerned with the dual stance (Willis 1995) of the learner and the teacher. The teacher is still on the centre stage as an actor and as a moderator or a facilitator of all activities but at the same time (s)he will be on the side, observing the teaching-studying-learning process with an attentive eye, reviewing the situation as a whole. The teacher, then, is both an actor and a critic. And so is the student: playing his or her part but also analysing his or her own studying process at the metacognitive level. The teacher can easily contribute to this process by giving cognitive support, such as scaffolding.

Evaluating language teaching resources
The traditional approach to the evaluation of language teaching resources has for a long time obeyed detailed and analytical sets of criteria that, due to their very nature, have provided a fragmented, out-of-context evaluation. This approach is quite disconnected from the teaching-studying-learning process itself, being a linear approach that considers individual aspects of the process and resources, without acknowledging the interconnectivity of all the aspects involved.

The evaluation of computer assisted language learning resources has, to a great extent, been carried out in the same way. The emergence of Network Based Education (NBE) has shown very clearly that the teaching-studying-learning process is far from linear (and never has been!), and that the evaluation of the elements that contribute to it require a multidimensional model that does not look at all the elements separately, but with the understanding that they go together, and that if they are considered individually, they cease to be what they are.

Educators for a long time have grappled with the above considerations. It is important to acknowledge that although the evaluation of learning tools according to a specific set of criteria gives only part of the picture in the teaching-studying-learning process, these criteria do help practitioners to develop a level of awareness of what teaching resources, and in our case, the new technologies, may contribute to the delivery of learning outcomes. We include here some literature on the subject and some approaches from colleagues who have spent time thinking about these issues.

Links to articles and sites concerned with the evaluation of ICTs

Learning Management Systems (LMS) in foreign
     language teaching (Tier 1)
Evaluating web sites and software for language teaching.
    Switzerland
Vocationally Oriented Language Learning: ECML project 1.3.1.
In the context of increasing demands for language competence, VOLL has become an area of specific importance and interest both in the school system, in adult and continuing education, as well as in the services sector. As telecommunications and computer and information technologies continue to play an increasingly important role in working life, there is a growing demand to develop concepts and resources which can be devoted to the use and exploitation of communication and information technologies in VOLL.
WWW 6 Workshop "Teaching and Learning with the WWW: Learning from the past".
Many of the papers given at this workshop are of interest. We would like to draw your particular attention to Workshop position paper "Towards Integrated Learning and Teaching Environments".
Details on the types of facilities provided by virtual learning environments and in particular a comparison of WebCT, Blackboard, and Prometheus by the University of Wichita Media Resources Center.
More analytical evaluation scales and instruments.
An evaluation of the provision of professional development courses to teachers via the Internet.

The article Towards Network-Based Education - A Multidimensional Model for Principles of Planning and Evaluation by Seppo Tella and Marja Mononen-Aaltonen, from the Media Centre, Department of Teacher Education at the University of Helsinki, articulates the development of the aforementioned multidimensional model for planning and evaluation. It takes into account the integration of the traditional teaching/learning environment, as well as the new environments facilitated by the emergence of the new communication technologies. Their highly integrated model is a conceptual framework that grows organically around the concepts of Communication, Mediation, Intermediality (ability to deal with 'culturally charged situations') and Dialogism (analysis of the communication process that relates to situations with a variety of approaches to interaction).

Information and Communication Technologies have brought into the teaching-studying-learning arena possibilities of interaction and reflection that were not possible before. They have made possible the existence of what Tella and Mononen-Aaltonen call 'Virtual Togetherness', out of a 'shared feeling of belonging to the same virtual community'. The learning environment within which all this needs to happen is seen as the combination of linked elements (technological tools, intellectual tools, means of expression, cultural artefacts) held together by a series of meta-skills of different levels of complexity.

To work effectively in such an environment, teachers and learners require a clear understanding of the usefulness of the resources, and in this case, of the new communication technologies, in the teaching-studying-learning process. They also require a certain degree of skill in the use of such technologies. Tella and Mononen-Aaltonen provide a useful classification that suggests various levels of competence in the use of computer mediated technologies. These different categories could be used as pointers for the planning of the process, and as guidance for staff development and the necessary progression.

As the teaching-studying-learning scene expands with the advent of NBE, so do the challenges for the stakeholders. Above all it is important to remember that even though the new technologies have broadened the teaching-studying-learning horizon, they are still just tools that serve the process. It is consequently essential that the educational framework within which the multifunctional model operates answers the questions raised by Tella and Mononen-Aaltonen in the conclusion to their article:

• What are the educational problems to be met (and hopefully solved) by using different tools, means and applications enabled by network-based education?
• What is the teacher's and learner's perspective in network-based education? Are these needs and expectations met by using modern technology?
• What sorts of aims and objectives should be conceptualised prior to the introduction of network-based education?
• How are different theories of man, learning and knowledge accommodated in a network-based learning environment?
• How are different teaching, studying and learning strategies employed when working in a network-based learning environment?

Click to read: Towards Network-Based Education - A Multidimensional Model for Principles of Planning and Evaluation

Case studies
Below is the list of case studies submitted by project team members and workshop participants. Some of these reports will also be found listed in Tier 1. Click on the titles that interest you for a direct link to the article concerned.

• All that glitters is not gold - Practical evaluation of web-based language learning resources (long article). Sweden
  To view a video extract of Git JONARE giving a presentation at the workshop, click here.
  To see a sample of an online course by Git JONARE, click here.
• Call at a Distance. Hungary
  To view a video extract of Judit SZüCS giving a presentation at the workshop, click here.
• Introducing the web page in teaching reading comprehension. Romania
• Distance In-service teacher training course on designing multimedia interactive activities for language learning. Spain
  
• Learning Norwegian on the web. Iceland
• Learning how to use Internet resources to write a "review of the literature". France
  To view a video extract of Daphne GOODFELLOW at the workshop, click here.
• The development of intercultural competence through translation skills. United Kingdom
• The Keilet (Languages) project. Finland
• Using Lyceum, an audio-graphic conferencing system, to talk at a distance. United Kingdom
• English by phone. France

Reports in other tiers that are also case studies (though not submitted in the template):

Learning Management Systems (LMS) in foreign language teaching (Tier 1). Norway
Language Teacher Education and the Challenges of ICTs. (Finland)

Other relevant reports and web sites concerned with the evaluation of ICTs

Towards Integrated Learning and Teaching Environments
by Daniel Schneider and Patrick Jermann position paper for the WWW 6 Workshop "Teaching and Learning with the WWW: Learning from the past"

For a sample list of facilities provided by virtual learning environments
(Source: University of Wichita Media Resources Center).

For an even more detailed breakdown of the potential capabilities of VLEs see Boston University's in depth comparison of two major commercial VLEs (Blackboard and WebCT).

For information about another ECML project concerning ITC 'Information and Communication Technologies in Vocationally Oriented Language Learning' see
http://www.ecml.at select 'activities', then project 1.3.1, then details.

The Lingua Products Catalogue
The catalogue is available in four languages, as a searchable database on the Internet.