Affordances and Challenges of Technology

The Affordances and Challenges of Technology in the World Language Curriculum

 “The Statement of Philosophy in the National Standards for Learning Language clearly defines what matters, saying; “The United States must educate students who are linguistically and culturally equipped to communicate successfully in a pluralistic American society and abroad” (Fowdy and Hendrickson, p. 32).

   In my view, technology is critical to successfully accomplishing this charge despite the challenges that come with employing new approaches. Technology affords greater connection, differentiation, personalization, and assessment all of which are essential to creating a curriculum that leads to linguistic and cultural proficiency. 

   The Cultura exchange is a model which connects learners in two different countries for the purpose of comparing perspectives. This online connection along with Skype sessions gives students in both countries an opportunity to identify their own culture and reflect upon it while simultaneously learning about others. Sabine Levet (2015), one of the founders of Cultura, explained that “on the forum, students ask and answer questions, allude to the context, make hypotheses about their own culture, and react to their classmates’ comments. They agree, disagree, try to see both sides and reconcile different viewpoints” (p. 4).  The Cultura model gets beyond what many refer to as Big C and pushes participants to think deeply about many aspects of culture that previously were left unmentioned.

   Over the past two years I have piloted experiences that connect students to native speakers for the purpose of linguistic and cultural development. Talk Abroad (https://talkabroad.com/) is a service in which students schedule an appointment to speak for 30 minutes with a native Spanish speaker who is living outside the United States. I provide guidance with regards to the theme of the conversation but invariably they take unpredictable twists and turns. This forces students to find a way to communicate just like they would have to do in another country. The conversations are recorded and can be used as formative or summative assessments, as well as being a tremendous source of cultural information.

    Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is another type of international partnership which connects classrooms in two countries. Students in both countries collaborate using online tools to complete research, activities, and presentations together. In order to be successful students must work through the coordination, logistics, linguistic, and cultural issues that could easily divide and hinder progress. Currently, my second semester Spanish students are initiating a collaboration with students of Spanish in Brazil. The common language for the instructors and students is Spanish making it an authentic learning environment for growth. The international connection that is occurring in all three scenarios described is only possible because technology affords us that connection.

    Technology also affords differentiating and personalizing of the learning experience. The flipped classroom model is one approach that recognizes that students learn differently and at different paces and that life sometimes gets in the way. It also reverses the traditional model in terms of what students do in the classroom and what they learn and practice on their own. By posting videos of skills based activities, lectures, or other content based information and requiring students to watch the videos, take notes, and come to class prepared teachers can subsequently use class time for real world applications.

The time that would have previously been spent “teaching” from the front of the room can now be spent in a classroom that is buzzing with active learning, student-centered activities, and teachers guiding the learning (Bergmann & Sams, p. 5).

  There are many technological tools that afford both differentiation and personalization. Among those that we examined were gaming, digital storytelling, and online tools that can be used for both formal and informal learning.  Teachers have used games in the language classroom I would venture to say for a very long time. However, today students have the ability to immerse themselves in virtual worlds, solve problems, and in doing so practice the target language and/or learn about the culture with the help of technology. Students can progress through games at their own pace and start at their appropriate level. Both of these factors demonstrate differentiation and personalization of the learning. Many games online are not played alone rather they are a collaborative effort of players anywhere in the world. Prensky (2003) contends that the long held belief that video games for example are just a form of play fails to acknowledge the deeper learning that transpires “to take in information from many sources and make decisions quickly; to deduce a game’s rules from playing rather than by being told; to create strategies for overcoming obstacles; to understand complex systems through experimentation” p. 2).  All of these skills are skills that are needed to thrive in the 21^st century workforce.

   Digital storytelling is a way to tell stories using computers and digital media. It is also an ideal way to personalize the learning experience. Vinogradova (2014) explained  that “digital stories as multimodal personal digital narratives can address the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse language learners as well as the needs of educators looking for innovative, transformative, and student-centered teaching” (p. 3). Digital story projects give the students choice and an opportunity to communicate about what is personal and meaningful to them. This can be a very powerful tool for a student who is more of an introvert by nature.

   There are countless online tools that language educators can use today in conjunction with their curriculum or can promote to students for informal learning. Among the tools mentioned throughout the course were: Duo Lingo, Busuu, Babbel, Conjuguemos, social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Informal learning can also be promoted through language social networking on sites such as Lenguajero and the Polyglot Club.

  This brings me to the challenges of integrating technology into the language curriculum. Although I believe the benefits far outweigh the challenges and as a colleague stated just yesterday when talking about the merits of technology integration “I have drank the Kool-aid”.  I see one challenge that will continue to hinder our progress and that is time. Integrating these tools into our curriculum requires time.  We need time to research the tools in order to thoroughly understand their applications and identify which tools are most appropriate for the task at hand. We need time to train on their uses and to develop student learning outcomes, assessments, and activities. In some cases, as in Voice Thread, we need time to promote the tool and request funding. Once we identify a tool and plan an activity to pilot with the tool we need time to reflect on its effectiveness and make adjustments. The list of time related activities is endless but the amount of time we have to dedicate to this endeavor is not endless. Therein lies the biggest hindrance to technology integration.

   However, I refuse to end this paper on such a negative note. My strategy of perseverance is little by little. Each semester I will experiment with a few more tools. I will keep some and refine how I use them and drop others. This semester I experimented with course specific Face Book pages to share language and culture related information amongst my students. I am in the midst of a collaboration with a classroom in Brazil and am experimenting with Google Forms for formative assessments. Next semester I would like to tackle digital storytelling! The learning and teaching cycle continues … isn’t that what it is all about?

References

Bergmann, Jonathon & A. Sams. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day. United States: International Society for Technology in Education.

Fowdy, K. & L. Hendrickson. (2014). Assessing what matters. The Language Educator, 9 (2).

Levet, S. (2015). The cultura model: Developing students intercultural competence. FLTMAG.

Prensky, M. (2003). Really good news about your children’s video games.

Vinogradova, P. (2014). Digital stories in a language classroom: Engaging students through a meaningful multimodal task. FLTMAG, July. Retrieved from http://fltmag.com/digital-stories/