Learning English with MOOCs
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The presentation looks at our experience as teachers, of English and ICT respectively, in designing a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) for English-language learners. LET and PET are the acronyms for Learning English with Technology and Practising English with Technology, the titles of the open online courses we are proposing to our students who are looking for digital and online means of learning English as a foreign language. While adding content to these MOOCs, we encountered certain challenges, such as: what are the best software for language acquisition, how can one accurately evaluate the progress made by learners, or how to facilitate interaction between peers, to mention just a few. At the same time, we were looking for innovative solutions to enhance the traditional, offline language acquisition approaches. Moreover, we had to keep in mind that students who enroll can come from different countries, backgrounds, age groups, and can have different levels of knowledge. Including multimedia, digital, and online elements in the language teaching and learning process definitely has numerous advantages, but this article focuses more on the challenges that have to be met when building MOOCs for language learners Acknowledgement: With the support of the ERASMUS+, 575370-EPP-1-2016-1-RO-EPPJMO-MODULE
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Learning English with MOOCs
- 1. Learning English with MOOCsCESC 2017 Timisoara 9-10 November
- 2. Ramona BRAN Ramona.bran@e-uvt.ro @julianna07 @julianna07Gabriela GROSSECK gabriela.grosseck@e-uvt.ro @ggrosseck - Twitter, Instagram, Slideshare etc. -
- 3. Are you ready to take a college-level English course? [Image credit: Katie’s charms ]
- 4. What’s a [image credit: YourTrainingEdge]
- 5. Why take a MOOC? [image credit: Fluentu]
- 6. It’s free! It ’s online. You can earn a certificate. Real professors from actual universities. You can drop out anytime. ETC … [image credit: Fotolia
- 7. Sites for Taking Free English Courses Online Massive Open Online English Course FutureLearn Canvas Network World Education University Saylor See more at https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/online-english-courses/
- 8. ROUND 1- EASY [image credit: Class-central]
- 12. e m a i l novamooc@e-uvt.ro MOOC west-university- timisoara.teachable.com F A C E B O O K www.facebook.com/novamooc CRIS SCROS S& CO.
- 13. Thank you! Gabriela GROSSECK and Ramona BRAN
Editor's Notes
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- Wake up! Turn on your computer. Now you’re ready to take a college-level English course. You don’t need to change out of your pajamas. You don’t even need to get out of bed. Don’t worry, it won’t cost you anything. All you need is an internet connection, a little time and the desire to learn. What? How is this possible? Well, you might already know that lots of colleges have online courses. They can be expensive, though, and often take a lot of time. But a different kind of learning is becoming popular. It’s called MOOC.
- What’s a MOOC? MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course. What that means is that it’s a course given on the internet, usually at college level, that is open to anyone to enroll (become a student). Many times, these courses are taught by real university professors, and they’re usually free. These courses are a fantastic way to take a real class taught by a real teacher, but without having to actually go to a university. Millions of people are using MOOCs now. You can become a student in a MOOC, too. Here’s why you should.
- Why Take a MOOC? There are many benefits to taking an open online course! It’s free! It’s online, so you can learn from anywhere. Many times, you can earn a certificate that shows you completed a course. Many times, the course is taught by real professors from actual universities. You can even take a course from a Harvard professor for free! You can drop out anytime. Unlike with an actual university, it doesn’t matter if you suddenly don’t have enough time to finish your class. You can start and stop anytime and you won’t lose anything. Did we mention it’s free? MOOCs are a pretty new idea, but already there are a lot of places you can find them online. Some websites have paid courses as well, and some even give college credit.
- MOOCs are a pretty new idea, but already there are a lot of places you can find them online. Some websites have paid courses as well, and some even give college credit.
- We want our students to be successful in their fields of study and to gain a rich understanding of English Language. Learning the intricacies of written English increases students’ chances of success in science, business, technology and much of higher education — global fields where English has become dominant.
- Beginning this fall, the West University of Timisoara launched Practice English with Technology, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) hosted on the Teachable platform to help English language learners improve their English (writing, speaking, listening skills). My colleague Ramona Bran teaches this course. She’s an expert in teaching English to an international audience from her time as an English Language Specialist.
- Participants in this MOOC learn key critical thinking skills, as well as grammar, how to control a sentence, and how to proofread — empowering them with the educational digital tools for success in the classroom and beyond. In addition to offering new skills, MOOCs offer students an unparalleled opportunity to “test drive” the Romanian education system and prepare for further studies. The feedback from students so far is excellent, their contributions on the platform increase each week. Where are we now? Well, we just wrapped up the three-week module. The course started with our first-year students enrolled participating from Psychology Department. We just want to see if this course can be open to all Romanian speaking learners (including Republic of Moldova or Diaspora).
- The course content includes videos featuring subject experts; links to articles; discussion forum-type activities; threads where you can add a written comment about a topic; test-yourself weekly quizzes. And if someone complete the course (in the future) it may be able to have / purchase a completion certificate as evidence of this. But the course isn’t just virtual. As part of our jobs as WUT teachers, Ramona Bran host this course also in-person, facilitated discussions in tandem with the online module of the course. The combined virtual and in-person approach clearly paid off. As my colleague explained, “Combining an online course with face-to-face instruction provides the support that [participants/students] need.”
- If someone missed the first module, don’t worry! The second module of the course will begin next semester, especially for our students enrolled in transversal disciplines. We hope you will join us!