International Journal of Arts and Sciences 4(4): 228-234 (2011) CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 InternationalJournal.

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New Learning Identities

Isabel Fernandes Silva, Universidade Autnoma de Lisboa Lus de Cames, Portugal Jane Rodrigues Duarte, Universidade Autnoma de Lisboa Lus de Cames, Portugal

Abstract: The objectives of our study are, firstly, to identify different learner identities and typologies within Portuguese higher education context and, secondly, to assess the relevance of online contents and resources for these students by means of a specially designed survey. This survey will be applied to students with different educational backgrounds, learning profiles and motivations.To narrow the scope of our research, we will concentrate our study on second language learner experience at Universidade Autnoma de Lisboa. At UAL, English as a Second Language became a compulsory course unit for all first cycle students with the implementation of the Bologna Process. In order to optimize learning, the English Department resorted to the use of the Moodle platform as a complement for EFL classes. Today, three years later, the platform is also a pivotal tool for language learning and teaching within different contexts: at EILC (Erasmus Intensive Language Courses), at open language courses, specifically-tailored courses (for examples, courses of English for Academic Purposes) and at post-graduate level. By identifying learner typologies and specific problems/obstacles experienced by these learners we aim to raise awareness of these issues and provide sustainable solutions for different learner needs. At the same time, it is our intention to disseminate this case study and its results with other institutions at a national and international level. Keywords: blended-learning, identity, technology enhanced learning, EFL

The Bologna Process in Portugal

The Bologna Process was implemented in Portugal through several Decree-Laws: n. 74/2006, which established higher education degrees and diplomas, n. 88/2006, which created and defined Technological Specialization Courses (CET) and n. 64/2006, which defined special rules on access to higher education for students over 23 years old. These laws changed higher education in Portugal and implemented a new set of rules for all institutions, state and private, and all course programs. These laws also established that all courses had to be restructured by the academic year of 2008/2009, so that in 2009/2010 all would be in accordance with the law. The previous education model in Portugal consisted of four- or fiveyear undergraduate degrees, four-year master degrees and PhD with no defined number of years. The new education model introduced three-year undergraduate degrees, two-year master degrees and five-year PhD programs and implemented a new structure, that of fiveyear integrated master programs. Decree-Law n. 74/2006 also established that the academic year would be forty weeks long, students would have up to a forty-two-hour week workload (1500 to 1680 h/year) and, most importantly, less emphasis would be given to classroom

International Journal of Arts and Sciences 4(4): 228-234 (2011) CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 InternationalJournal.org

sessions, whose number should decrease, and as a consequence student work should become more autonomous.

Dealing with new approaches to learning

At Universidade Autnoma de Lisboa Lus de Cames (UAL), a private university in Lisbon founded 25 years ago, a huge effort was made to comply with the law and innumerous changes were introduced in both the course units and in the respective syllabi. In fact, besides the shift towards student-centered teaching and learning, other changes were crucial for this project: a different planning of classes and course units, the fact that two course units became compulsory in all undergraduate degrees English and Research Methodology and that ICT and internationalization became core issues in both higher education in Portugal and in UAL. The first step towards this new paradigm was to thoroughly redesign the institutional website (www.ual.pt) and to create both an academic website (http://portal.ual.pt) and an elearning platform (http://elearning.ual.pt). The Bologna Process also influenced the course unit of English. As stated previously, this course unit was introduced in all undergraduate degrees as means of providing students with the possibility of integrating exchange programs. Futhering ones education in a foreign institution is nowadays viewed as an extremely important asset and for this to be possible, students must have a basic knowledge of English. As the first threshold level is that of basic user (level A.2. in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment), it was established that this would be the level of English of the course unit. Additionally, students would be given the opportunity to do a placement test at the beginning of the semester to assess the adequacy of their skills to A.2. level. Considering that there are many students studying at our university who are adult students, some of who have never studied English or whose knowledge of the language is very poor, it was decided that students could achieve level A.2. in one or two steps. Those students whose level of English was A.2 would complete the course unit in one step, i.e., one semester; those whose level was lower could start at level A.1 and complete the course unit in one semester; or do the two levels (A.1. and A.2.) in two semesters. Noteworthy is that students who want to do this second semester do not have to pay an extra tuition fee, which is evidence of UALs commitment to providing all students with A.2 skills level in English. The syllabus was organized so that students would practice and be assessed in the four language skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing. Thus, students would have to read a book (a reader chosen according to the level of their reading skills) for the test, both the classes and the test would include listening comprehension exercises, they would have to do a five-minute oral presentation on a previously set topic and hand in a series of written assignments gathered in a portfolio. Though carefully thought of and planned, as the semesters progressed the teachers faced a number of challenges that would eventually have to be addressed. These included the realization that many students previous knowledge was sometimes poorer than anticipated, the presentations were repeated semester after semester with little variation, the authorship of the written assignments in the portfolio were often questionable and deadlines were commonly not respected. Besides this, as many classes had over 50 students, teachers had to select which portfolios to collect and assess on a weekly basis.

International Journal of Arts and Sciences 4(4): 228-234 (2011) CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 InternationalJournal.org

All these issues led to reflections on the syllabus structure and the adopted methodologies. Then, a set of circumstances contributed to a change of scenario: two of the English teachers attended a b-learning course on e-learning, UAL promoted a teacher training course on Moodle (VLE), one of these teachers had experience as a learner of online courses and the other some previous knowledge of content creation for Moodle (Hotpotatoes). So, after considering online resources, the choice between elearning and b-learning approaches to teaching, we opted for the creation of an English course page on the elearning platform. In January 2008 the page was created on Moodle, the first exercises and resources were made available, all of which were complementary material to face-to-face classroom sessions. As the students were very open to this experience, in the academic year of 2008/2009 step 2 was implemented: besides the complementary exercises and resources, new compulsory written assignments and compulsory interactive exercises were made available, and the compulsory items became part of the students evaluation. The role of the elearning platform in the learning process has evolved since then, and is now a means of teacher-student communication (program contents, rules, evaluation grid, test dates, etc.), a place where marks are posted, where students have to do compulsory exercises (3 or 4 every fortnight and for 10 days), compulsory written assignments (about 4/5 per semester), where resources of English for Specific Purposes are made available (as we have students doing undergraduate degree in Law, Management, Psychology, Computer Engineering, Communication Sciences) as well as the webquests used for oral presentations. The oral presentations account for 25 % of the students final mark and completion of exercises and written assignments for 20%, therefore, the elearning platform is at the core of almost half of the students final average in the course unit. Moreover, it has become part of courses such as the Post-graduate course in Translation, Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (courses on Portuguese language) and German, Spanish and English Courses at the universitys language school (Autnoma Language School - ALS). The next logical step would be to assess how these courses are viewed by the different students and how we can improve and enhance the existing framework. This project started in September 2010 and aims to define different learner identities and typologies within the Portuguese higher education context, assess the relevance of online contents and resources for these students by means of a specially designed survey and, in the long-term, change courses from face-to-face to b-learning, or eventually, e-learning. With these goals in mind, a survey was designed that would be adapted to the different courses and would focus on how students viewed, assessed and experienced the material made available on Moodle. This paper survey was divided into 3 main areas: A. Generic Learner Profile; B. Use of Technology for Learning (Frequency and Patterns); and C. Personal Learning Experience. The participants included EILC (Erasmus) students, UAL students, both undergraduate and graduate, and ALS students. Below you will find a selection of the most important questions on C. Personal Learning Experience:

International Journal of Arts and Sciences 4(4): 228-234 (2011) CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 InternationalJournal.org

Completely Agree 1 The elearning platform is an easy and clear way of finding out information quickly The platform allows me to learn outside of classes and lectures The platform provides a good chance to find out about my progress The e-learning contents complement my classroom lessons My online experiences boost my learning The platform helps me to keep organized and be aware of deadlines The platform is a very useful tool for submitting written assignments It would be a great improvement to have lectures on video / audio support The most useful were the written assignments The most useful were the interactive exercises The most useful were the games The most useful were the online videos The most useful were the video/audio presentations The most useful were the PDF/ MSWord support texts The most useful was the blog

Agree

Neither Disagree agree nor disagree

Completely Disagree

4
8

9 11

24

26

28 29 30 31 32

33

34

Using this Likert scale survey, we aim to understand how students value the contents available on the platform. Questions 1 and 4 exemplify this as they ask students to express

International Journal of Arts and Sciences 4(4): 228-234 (2011) CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 InternationalJournal.org

(dis)agreement with the statements: The elearning platform is an easy and clear way of finding out information quickly and The platform provides a good chance to find out about my progress, two of the objectives we have for the use of Moodle. In this selection of items, we have included one statement, n. 11, which was not included in the survey that the first group of participants responded to because it was not applicable. In fact, we have a set of core statements that all respondents will answer and a smaller number of items which will be included in some versions of the survey only. This is due to the fact that not all classes have the same type of activities, contents and objectives and we took that into account when designing the survey. In the case of the undergraduate students, considering that assessment and deadlines were extremely important, we included statement 11 in their survey but, in the case of the first group of respondents, EILC students, the platform was mostly a tool to complement classroom activities, so assessment was made through classroom participation, projects, etc. Reference to different types of activities or resources also varied from one survey to another, for example, EILC students participated in a blog but undergraduate students did not; undergraduate and graduate students have some slideshows available whereas EILC students do not. Again the choice of which items were relevant for the group determined the statements included in the survey. Besides statements referring to platform performance, we included some on the different type of activities and resources available and others on the importance of Moodle for learning a foreign language, whether it is English, Portuguese, German or Spanish. Therefore, these statements were introduced in the survey handed out to EILC students, undergraduate students as well as all those attending an English, German or Spanish course at Autnoma Language School will fill in. Complet ely Agree 23 With the platform, learning a foreign language becomes easier Agree Neither Disag agree nor ree disagree Complet ely Disagree

24

25
26 27

becomes faster is more interesting is more fun The platform provides with ways of reviewing and using the foreign language in different contexts.

International Journal of Arts and Sciences 4(4): 228-234 (2011) CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 InternationalJournal.org

The Future
So what are the prospective outcomes of the survey? We believe a large number of students will agree that the resources, activities and exercises available on the elearning platform are useful and boost their learning. Based on that assumption, we aim to continue to use the platform as means of obtaining sustainable learning outcomes, adjusting objectives to groups and attaining a global analysis of student participation, involvement and motivation. Besides, in the next academic year, 2011-2012, we aim to start a new phase of this project, introducing changes in all the languages and translation courses now using the elearning platform. Thus, in the Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (EILC) students currently have access to interactive exercises both from the level they are attending and the previous or next level and, in the future, we want to continue to provide Erasmus students with the possibility of attending the previous or next course level, as well as meeting the students expectations and boosting their learning experience. In the course unit of English within the different undergraduate degree programs the elearning platform allows for teacher-student communication, includes interactive exercises (compulsory and optional), resources, and submission of written assignments. In the future, we aim to make the e-learning platform a tool for new pedagogical strategies, to promote greater student involvement in the learning process and the creation of a new parallel learning (virtual) community. As far as the language courses offered by the universitys language school, Autnoma Language School are concerned, today our English/German/Spanish courses include thirty hours of face-to-face classroom sessions, a thirty-minute weekly chat (a total of seven hours and thirty minutes per course) and interactive exercises (totaling about seven hours and thirty minutes per course). In the near future we aim to provide thirty hours of face-to-face classroom sessions and thirty hours of online activities. Finally, the students attending the Post-graduate course in translation use the platform as a support tool with online resources and materials and we aim that the platform takes on a more predominant and dynamic role, fostering the learning process (online conferencing, webinars, interactive classes, and so on). The use of the platform will, we believe, enhance the potential of this program, taking it beyond university borders, providing the opportunity for students who live outside Lisbon or abroad to be part of our academic community.

References
AKKOYUNLU, Buket, and Meryem Yilmaz Soylu. A Study on Students Views On Blended Learning Environment. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE. Volume: 7 Number: 3 Article: 3. July 2006, pp. 43-56. CHAPELLE, Carol A. Research for Practice: a Look at Issues in Technology for Second Language Learning. Language Learning & Technology October 2010, Volume 14, Number 3 pp. 2730. http://llt.msu.edu/vol14num3/commentary.pdf

International Journal of Arts and Sciences 4(4): 228-234 (2011) CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 InternationalJournal.org

HUTCHINSON, Jill K. Use of Social Software to Address Literacy and Identity Issues in Second Language Learning. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology / La revue canadienne de lapprentissage et de la technologie, V35 (3) Fall / automne, 2009. http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/viewArticle/546/269 MARTN, Carmen Fernndez. Following Bologna Guidelines: Creating and Implementing on-lone Resources and Activities for Core Modules in the English Studies Degree. GRETA, 2008, 16/1&2, pp 36-42. NG, Eugenia M. W. A Comparative Study of Blended Learning Activities between Two Classes. Proceedings of Informing Science & IT Education Conference (InSITE) 2010, pp. 307-315. ODOWD, Robert. Assessing Online Language Learning in the Europen Higher Education Area. GRETA, 2008, 16/1&2, pp 58-64. SINGH, Harvey. Building Effective Blended Learning Programs. Educational Technology, Volume 43, Number 6, November - December 2003, pp 51-54.