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Introduction: UT, Knoxville

Introduction: UT, Knoxville. 27,000 students 1,915 Total FTE Teaching staff 1,049 FTE Tenure stream 273 FTE Non-tenure stream 593 FTE Graduate Teaching Assistants ITC Staff: 21 FTE, 10 GAs, 12-15 SAs . ITC Services to the campus. Blackboard; Saba/Centra administration

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Introduction: UT, Knoxville

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  1. Introduction: UT, Knoxville • 27,000 students • 1,915 Total FTE Teaching staff • 1,049 FTE Tenure stream • 273 FTE Non-tenure stream • 593 FTE Graduate Teaching Assistants • ITC Staff: 21 FTE, 10 GAs, 12-15 SAs

  2. ITC Services to the campus • Blackboard; Saba/Centra administration • Faculty Assistance Projects; Faculty Grants • START program • Workshops; Events • Research/Evaluate Emerging Technologies • Contract Projects/External Grant work

  3. Working Together: History • 1999, Center for Academic Transformation's Pew Grant Program in Course Redesign • 2000, Teaching with Technology Grant • 2000 & 2001, National Alumni Assoc/CUE/ITC Grant • 2001, Wireless Instructional Strategies Grant • 2008, Project RITE Grant (also a campus pilot) “Angling for Language Acquisition with TACLE: Leveraging Second Life to Create a Technology-Assisted Constructivist Language Environment for Spanish 111/112” • Dolly Young, Professor, Modern Foreign Languages & Literatures • Doug Canfield, Coordinator, Language Resource Center, Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures

  4. What are student perceptions of SL as a language learning tool? • Four SL Tasks were integrated into the curriculum of six sections of Intensive Spanish 111-112 (6 hour credit). • The design criteria for the tasks included ensuring: • a) the task had a problem-solving element • b) the task was interactive (students had to use Spanish to express themselves orally or in writing)

  5. What are student perceptions of SL as a language learning tool? (con’t) • The design criteria for the tasks included ensuring: • c) the task was collaborative (students had to depend on each other to complete aspects of the task) • d) the task had a specific purpose, and • e) the task included an accountability component (some aspect of the task had to be submitted to their instructor)

  6. Data collection • After finishing each task, students completed a questionnaire to gauge their immediate perceptions of the task. • At the end of the semester, students completed a 40-item Likert scale questionnaire that elicited general feedback on technological aspects, task effectiveness and learning value of SL. • In addition, instructors offered written feedback after each task.

  7. Results • Results of the questionnaire indicated that 20% to 40% of the students responded feeling neutral to questionnaire items. • At least 50% of students: • (Q3), had problems with the headphones working correctly • (Q4), had problems hearing their avatars when talking (as opposed to textual chats) • (Q14), had technical problems (such as teleporting) • (Q18), did not enjoy learning how to use SL

  8. Results (con’t) • At least 50% of students: • (Q20), preferred to speak with a partner in class as opposed to in SL • (Q22), indicated that the tasks were interactive • (Q23), recognized that how much they learned in each task depended on them • (Q32), enjoyed Task 1, where they met up with a partner avatar in a university building to conduct an interview with him/her

  9. Successes • The Instructors were successful in ensuring that all students obtained the appropriate SL orientation. • We were also successful in integrating SL tasks into the Spanish 111-112 curriculum. • With the exception of a few items, students were either neutral or found the SL tasks somewhat fun and recognized that the SL tasks required them to speak when they would otherwise not have. • We were successful in designing interactive SL tasks (as opposed to mechanical, non-communicative ones), and in writing relatively clear instructions for the task.

  10. Implications • The university must ensure technological components, such as headphones, are in working condition. This implies that personnel are in place to maintain, replace, and verify working condition of hardware. • Serious consideration should be given to when students will be online in SL. Teleporting issues occurred when more than 30 students were online at one time.

  11. Implications (con’t) • Projections of the amount of time, effort and money needed to write, set-up, design, implement and assess new technological applications should be realistic (as much on the part of the researchers as the administrators).

  12. Now What? • Presentation with University Administrators about future deployment of several synchronous learning tools, including SL, occurs next week!

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