On National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan Fellows
Flex pedagog 06
1. Flexible pedagogies for
disruptive technologies
Dr Debra Hoven
School of Cultural and Language Studies in Education
Queensland University of Technology
d.hoven@qut.edu.au
CALICO Symposium, Hawaii 2006
Riding the wave
3. of disruptive technologies …
• What are disruptive technologies & how did
they get this name?
(Christensen vs Dvorak – 2004)
“… defined as a low-performance, less
expensive technology that enters a heated-
up scene where the established technology
is outpacing people’s ability to adapt to it.
The new technology gains a foothold,
continues to improve, and then bumps the
older, once-better technology into oblivion.”
4. cf … educational contexts)
• Social/human affordances and uses of
new technologies …
Technology that disrupts the traditional
rules/norms of classes e.g.
Mobile phones
IM
Chat rooms
• How flexible can we be?
• What can we be flexible about?
5. 10 insights from distance language
teaching (Henrichsen, 2001)
1. Different ICT options each have their own
strengths (& weaknesses)
2. Sophisticated ICT not necessarily better esp. in
isolated areas/developing countries
3. Regardless of technology, solid instructional
design & effective teaching methods are crucial
4. DE involves teaching & learning in new/ modified
roles
5. Teachers work as members of instructional/
technical team
6. 10 insights from distance teaching
(Henrichsen, 2001) cont’d …
6. Importance & difficulty of creating &
maintaining active, interactive learning
7. Importance of building a sense of
community & overcoming isolation
8. Design flexibility is crucial
9. Evaluating students and program success
is challenging
10. Reducing attrition also a challenge
7. Critical features in online/flexible
language teaching & learning
• Communication (1-1, 1-many)
• Social interaction
• Meaningful exchange of information
• Modelling of, & appropriating
good/appropriate language
• Getting and remaining on-task
• Sense of community
• … and appreciation of learners’ IDs &
preferences
8. Evolving Pedagogical Approach
to a conception that is:
• Intentional
• Flexible
• Active
• Contextualised/Situated
• Experiential
• Learner-shaped
9. Based on an emerging meld of:
• Constructivism (cognitive & mediated)
• Sociocultural approaches (socially
constructed in context)
• Task-based approaches
• Ecological approaches (affordances)
• Problem-solving approaches
• Collaborative learning approaches
• CSCL/WMCL
10. Finding the features of a
pedagogy to maximise
opportunities offered by
(continuously evolving and
emerging) communications
technologies
12. Learning environments &
changing roles
• Learners (especially younger ones) are
as comfortable if not more so than
teachers with the newer
(communications) technologies (Felix,
2001)
• learners who communicate more
frequently also use a wider range of
media (Haythornthwaite,1999)
• Learners prefer 1-1 over 1-many CMC
interactions (Söntgens,1999)
13. Learning environments &
changing roles 2
• Social relationships are necessary before
and in order for information sharing to take
place (Haythornthwaite, 1999;
Söntgens,1999; Appel & Gilabert, 2002)
• After some familiarity and practice within an
audio-enhanced CMC environment,
learners appreciate the opportunity for real-
time discussion of written and e-mail
communication tasks (Kötter et al. 1999)
14. Modes of flexibility – a
continuum
• Teacher/institution-defined course &
materials
– Hybrid of on-line & hard copy
– Hybrid of f2f & on-line
– Fully on-line
• Teacher/institution-defined tasks based on
range of teacher/institution-defined online
resources
• Semi (guided)-exploratory – using on-line
materials with teacher/institution-defined
limitations or instructions & criteria
15. Modes of flexibility – a continuum
2
• Collaborative & self- /group-managed
– Under guidance of a teacher
– Learner-teacher developed curriculum
– Collectively constructed tasks
– Collectively constructed evaluation
– Collectively agreed deadlines
• Exploratory/autonomous/learner-shaped
– With or without teacher guidance
– With or without formal enrolment
16. For language learning
• Introducing the human element …
• Audio/video technologies now provide
learners with opportunity to practise,
interact, achieve a sense of community
while
• Providing additional channels of
communicating and
• Working collaboratively with learners in
other times and locations
17. And the social element:
• Research shows that learners:
– use specific technologies for specific
purposes
– that learners resist or become confused by
register cross-over (e.g. social to
educational contexts/purposes)
– & use whatever means they are
comfortable with to communicate
18.
19. Some models …
Kanuka & Anderson Radical pedagogy
(1999)
Blythe (2001) User-centred design
paradigm
Maor (2004) Pedagogy-technology
bridge – pushing the
comfort zone
Anderson (2005) Learning-centred design
Farmer (2005) Reflective, individualized
new knowledge
environments
Mellow (2005) mLearning for digital
Cochrane (2005) natives
22. The course
• Context
– MEd: 2-years teaching experience
– Balance of local & international students
– Elective
– 8 students + 2 visiting scholars (6 countries)
• Reasons for change
– Pedagogic
• Content
• Skills
• Processes
• Reflection
– Pragmatic
• Constraints
23. Course structure - blended
Physical Pedagogical Assessment
• 2 all-day • free-form Task 1: Blog, wiki,
workshops (1st live, • learner-shaped chat, e-portfolio,
SCMC tutorial) • responsive discussion forum
• 1 hr drop-in COMMUNICATION
• only constraint:
sessions weekly Task 2: Webquest
assessment items
(f2f, IM or chat) by end of semester Task 3: create
• 1 additional online module of
optional w’shp (f2f tasks
or virtual)
24. Class Wiki
http://collaborate.ci.qut.edu.au/techllwiki/index.php/
Main_Page
Class member blogs
http://LifeNtheUniverse.blogspot.com
http://sascha-blog.blogspot.com/
http://yuhsu.blogspot.com/
http://kazucorner.blogspot.com/
http://owenlangdale.blogspot.com/
http://robeebajar.blogspot.com/
http://hncyliyu.blogspot.com
http://nontravelblog.blogspot.com/
25. The study
• Pre-course questionnaire:
– Biographical information
– Computer experience
– Computer competence
– Computer skills
– Computer confidence
– Learning styles
– Learning strategies
– Course expectations
26. The study
Pre-course Focus Student artifacts
Qre groups Blogs
-Biographical Problem- Wiki pages
info based Webquests
-Computer skills Scenarios Discussion forums
-Computer Small-group Instructional CALL
competence Videoed projects
-Computer Transcribed Chat room logs
confidence
-Learning styles
27. Pre-course questionnaire 1
• All students had learnt at least one
other L2
• 75% (6) rated themselves as average
overall computer competence: 25% (2)
rated themselves as above average
• 1 had used blogs before
• None had used computers to create
their own webpages
• None had used computers to create
their own web-based lessons
28. Pre-course questionnaire 2
• All acknowledged average to high
confidence in:
– most common computer applications and
skills
– Using Help functions
– Using email
– Sending attachments
– Surfing the Internet
29. Pre-course questionnaire 3
• All (but 1) acknowledged no to average
confidence in:
– Designing webpages
– Creating a webpage
– Recording sound on computer
30. Pre-course questionnaire 4
• All acknowledged no to average confidence
in:
– Recording & editing video
– Adding sound or video to webpages
– Creating on-line learning activities
31. Comments about using
computers to help learn a
language:
• Quite interesting: audio & visual possibilities
• No experience, excellent way for learners to control
their own learning – don’t know much
• Quite comfortable
• Excited – but how to avoid the glitches??
• Good for individual preparation prior to immersion
• Good for private study but prefer f2f
• Requires autonomy which doesn’t suit my learning
style
• Don’t feel comfortable using blogs, discussion
forums etc – too permanent
32. Overall impressions
• Saw computers mainly as instructional
CALL
• Wary of CMC
• Wary of web presence
• Learning style data not analysed yet,
but half claimed to:
– Be not good autonomous learners
– Be not good in isolated environments
– Need f2f contact for learning
33. Focus group questions
• Problem-based scenarios
• Discussion/advice questions
– What suggestions can you give this student?
– What do you see as being this student’s
problems in this unit?
– What can they do now to complete this unit?
– How would suggest they tackled things
differently if they could start again?
– If you could have given this student some advice
before they enrolled in this unit, what would you
say?
34. Focus groups
- friendly, quiet young man
Scenario 1: Han
- taught in a couple of Asian countries -
good at English
- worries that his proficiency not good
enough to get the job he wants
-uses his mobile phone to send text
messages and make calls
-keeps in touch with his family back
home using chat and his webcam
- enrolled in 618 because he felt
comfortable using the technology and
that good university jobs require
technology experience
-having trouble finishing his 618
assignments
- not sure how to adapt the technology
to teaching purposes
35. Focus groups
- enthusiastic man in his late-20s
Scenario 2: Josh
-taught in a few different countries
-wants to get high-paying job in
education
-feels confident he has the teaching
experience
-realises communication and job-
seeking technology can also probably
be used to teach
-wants his piece of paper
-taking a full workload
-2 part-time jobs to pay for fees and
living expenses
-started out well and feels confident
-slipping behind though “helping out”
others
36. Focus groups
- young woman from traditional
Scenario 3: Shinta educational background
-came straight from an 18-month job in
a private English school where she
taught discrete-skill classes using a set
textbook and materials
-never participated in planning or
organising classes
-enrolled in this program to help her
get promotional positions
-having trouble working out what to do
and is falling behind
-worried that she is running out of time
to learn the skills and even to get the
work done
-other subjects are very demanding
and have strict deadlines
37. Focus groups
-quite a bit older than many of the
Scenario 4: Jeni other participants
-taught mainly in poorly resourced
migrant education programs in
Australia
-taught in a couple of Asian countries
-some broad experiences of different
cultures and teaching conditions
-about time she tackled this
“technology thing” to use the sorts of
tools that her children and some of her
students are quite familiar with
-earlier in the semester advised
younger students about time
management and planning
-Now struggling with technical skills
-panics and loses confidence
38. Focus group directions
• Confidence through doing
• Need prior preparation with computing skills
• Need more structure & deadlines
• Take advantage of peer mentoring
opportunities (communities of practice)
• Take advantage of multiple opportunities for
mutual support (affordances)
• Need constant practice to improve:
– Computing skills
– Study skills
– Time-management skills
– Prioritising tasks
44. Flexible pedagogies for
disruptive technologies
Dr Debra Hoven
School of Cultural and Language Studies in Education
Queensland University of Technology
d.hoven@qut.edu.au
CALICO Symposium, Hawaii 2006