Advanced Chinese Interim Report
Curricular Innovation through Distance Learning Instruction
September, 2000
Jianhua Bai, Kenyon College
The current project is a specific example that is used to illustrate how web-based distance learning instruction can be utilized to help colleagues of smaller Chinese programs solve the problem of understaffing and enhance the teaching of advanced language courses.
Neither Kenyon nor Denison can offer a full year of advanced Chinese because of lack of staffing, but there is more and more demand for taking advanced Chinese. The current project is designed as one of the possible solutions to work collaboratively between the two colleges by sharing resources and utilizing the teleconferencing and multimedia technology that we currently have.
This course integrates the use of the teleconferencing facility and web-based technology and is for students who wish to develop and refine their ability to understand, speak, read, and write Chinese. Each class consists of three integral components: 1) the pre-class reading and pair activities, 2) the during-class TV conferencing lecture and practice and 3) the post-class activities for reinforcing and assessing learning outcome. To facilitate the smooth operation of the class activities and the communication among the instructor and the students, the instructor had a brief "computer literacy" workshop at the beginning of the course. Students could learn the basic required skills within a one-and-half hour workshop.
1. The pre-class tasks, both the conventional and on the web, are designed to engage and help students read extensively and understand aspects of the Chinese culture and society. Before coming to each class the students do the assigned reading and listening from two textbooks, Beyond the Basics and Across the Straits, that deal with aspects of Chinese culture and society. They also need to complete readings of news and other articles on the suggested web sites. On-line dictionaries, the Annotator Program on the Web and ITV office hours are employed to facilitate learning during this phase of the course.2. The during-class TV conferencing lecture and activities allow students to practice listening and speaking skills and increase their knowledge about aspects of Chinese culture and society. This component of the class is devoted mostly to developing students’ productive skills of listening and speaking. The class is interactive and learner-centered. Students are encouraged to come to class with questions about the text. Having explained the content of the text the instructor implements student-centered activities that engage students to talk to the instructor and each other about the cultural and social issues that the text deals with so that they can practice their speaking skills. Teleconferencing classroom facilities are essential components for distance learning and collaboration and require coping strategies that are different from the conventional instruction. For instance, the sitting arrangements, the kind of clothing and background colors, the kind of projected image and lecture handouts all need careful advanced planning. Audio and video materials, materials on the web can all be utilized and integrated effectively in the teleconferencing classrooms.
3. The post-class tasks reinforce and assess learning outcome through the conventional paper-pencil exercises and the use of web-based threaded discussions, the section of the discussion board of the CourseInfo, reports and collaborated group projects. The objective of this component of the class is to help students reinforce their learning. Students receive writing and speaking assignments and group projects assignments. Their performance is assessed via regular homework and tests delivered and collected via e-mails, threaded discussion and etc. We also make use of such functions as color coding of the word processor that tracks changes of documents so that students can see easily which part of their writing has been corrected and needs attention. The Chinese program, Njstar, can track changes of documents by utilizing different colors, which is useful for tracking students’ writing performances. The instructor seldom "corrects" students’ errors, but points out the places that need fixing and helps students realize what went wrong and how they should be fixed. Red for grammar errors, purple for vocabulary, pink for others and blue for "slip of keys". Re-submitting of their self-corrected version of their homework is highly encouraged. They can earn full score if they keep correcting their errors until the assignment is perfect.
4. In addition to the regular class meetings and the pre and post class activities the students meet three times during the semester so that they can know each other better and can have the opportunity of face-to-face interaction. There are also two half-hour individual sessions each week with the instructor’s assistant. During these individual sessions, students are required to 1) discuss the class content, 2) complete the assigned task-based activities, 3) discuss the current events or topics of their own choice, and 4) get help about their assigned homework or projects. The instructor is responsible for creating the tasks and speaking exercises for the teaching assistant to use with the students on both campuses. The instructor also plans to travel to the remote site to teach a couple of times during the semester so that the students from the remote site can have the opportunity of interacting with the instructor personally for more effective communication and assessment, and most of all, for debugging the technical problems. Sometimes the Chinese viewing and word processing and other programs stop working appropriately.