Ana María Pinto-Llorente, Mª Cruz Sánchez Gómez and Francisco J. García-Peñalvo.

1. Assessing the effectiveness of a technological model to
improve written skills in English in higher education
Ana María Pinto Llorente
Mª Cruz Sánchez Gómez
Francisco José García Peñalvo
Salamanca, October 2014

2. RESEARCH PURPOSE
TO ANALYSE A MODEL IMPLEMENTED IN
BLENDED LEARNING MODALITY TO VERIFY ITS
EFFECTIVENESS TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’
WRITTEN SKILLS
TO KNOW IF THE MODEL AND
BLENDED LEARNING INSTRUCTION
ADAPT TO STUDENTS’
PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL
DUTIES
TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
October 2014

3. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
BLENDED LEARNING MODEL
INTERACTIVE RESOURCES
COLLABORATIVE RESOURCES
October 2014
Online glossary
Wikis
Forums

4. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
METHOD
MIXED RESEARCH METHOD:
QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE
Quantitative
Ex-post-facto design.
Descriptive and inferential analysis for
the different strata sample of the study.
October 2014
Qualitative
Grounded theory.
The process of analysis is dynamic
and creative.
Theoretical saturation.

5. POPULATION
451 students
Foreign Language and its Didactics I (English)
SAMPLE
Qualitative
91 students
The qualitative sample was a non-probabilistic
sample, cumulative and
sequential.
TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
October 2014
Quantitative
358 students
Probability sample.
Cluster sampling.
Relative error 2.5%.

6. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
INSTRUMENT
October 2014
Quantitative
Questionnaire
Open, closed, multiple choice, and Likert scale -rating questions → halo effect
Internal consistency → Cronbach’s alpha, α=0.910
External validity → Experts

7. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
INSTRUMENT
Qualitiative
Unstructured interview.
Internal validity of the unstructured interview was achieved because the criteria
established by Coleman & Unrau (2005), and Hernández, Fernández & Baptista
(2010) were met.
Reliability of the coding → 16 experts, an agreement of 81%.
October 2014

8. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
FIELDWORK
Quantitative
Students filled in the questionnaires during the first and the last face-to-face lesson
of the course.
716 questionnaires.
October 2014
Qualititative
Ninety-one interviews were conducted from May to July 2010.

9. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
October 2014
ORGANIZATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
Quantitative
We followed this scheme in the process of quantitative data analysis:
1. We prepared the register coding to process the questionnaires → the data matrix.
2. We introduced the data.
3. We did descriptive and inferential analysis using the SPSS statistical software
version 19.
We used Microsoft Office Word to illustrate the results.

10. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
October 2014
ORGANIZATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
Qualitative
The process of qualitative data analysis → Miles & Huberman’s scheme:
1.data reduction
2.data display; and
3.drawing and verifying conclusions.
Data analysis finished when saturation of information was reached.
We used NUD*IST software to carry out categorizing and coding.
We used Microsoft Office Word to illustrate the results.

11. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
RESULTS
1 Not at all 2 Not much 3 An average amount
October 2014
4 Quite a lot 5 A lot/ Very much
Use of wiki and forum to improve written skills
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Forum Wiki

12. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
RESULTS
October 2014
3,5
3,4
3,3
3,2
3,1
3
2,9
Mean
Participation in forums Participation in wikis
20-24 25- 29 30-34 35 or more
4
3,9
3,8
3,7
3,6
3,5
20-24 25- 29 30-34 35 or more
Mean
3,9
3,8
3,7
3,6
3,5
20-24 25-29 30-34 35 or more
4
Mean
Participation in
online glossary

13. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
RESULTS
The majority of students (77.4%) considered that the interactive and collaborative
asynchronous tools (wiki, forum, and online glossary) promoted collaborative
October 2014
learning, interaction, and the creation of a learning community.
They also considered that the model implemented allowed teachers to design
different assessment activities to carry out a continuous evaluation, and assess all
activities developed during the course.

14. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
RESULTS
1 Not at all 2 Not much 3 An average amount 4 Quite a lot 5 A lot/ Very much
October 2014
Students’ self-assessment of their level of writing &
reading at the begining of the course
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Writing Reading

15. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
RESULTS
1 Not at all 2 Not much 3 An average amount 4 Quite a lot 5 A lot/ Very much
October 2014
Students’ self-assessment of their level of writing &
reading at the end of the course
80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%
Writing Reading

16. TEEM’ 14 Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
CONCLUSIONS
Learners considered that wikis, forums, and online glossary made possible to
practice reading and writing, and learn some cultural topics and methodological
aspects of teaching English in Primary Education.
The use of these asynchronous tools contributed to the creation of a learning
community, and strengthened teamwork.
Octubre 2014
The model implemented supported learner-centred pedagogy.
Asynchronous tools promote continuous assessment and students’ self-assessment
as well as peer correction in a virtual environment.
Final data show the potential for using forums, wikis, and online glossary for
academic purpose beyond all temporal and spatial barriers of traditional education.