Is an advanced language course do-able on-line? Norio Ota Japanese & Korean Section DLLL York University 2007

Course  AS/JP Advanced Modern Standard Japanese: a joint class between students at York University and St. Mary’s University via videoconferencing facilities. Class schedule: Tuesday & Thursday: 9:30 – 11:30 (York) 10:30 – 12:30 (St. Mary’s) E-Office Hours: T/W Web:

Format  Distance education video-conferencing [seminar: twice a week, two hours each, 24 sessions] web-based course materials: interactive reading materials and other reference materials individualized video-conference sessions, using Polycom video-conferencing system with students for consultation during electronic office hours (E-Office Hours) Partial on-line testing based on Moodle a part-time assistant to help students with oral/aural activities and testing (at St. Mary’s) a part-time administrative and teaching assistant to assist the main instructor (Norio Ota) with correspondence, course administration, individualized instructions and overall operations (at York). Site visits by the Course Director to St. Mary’s University, and the Professor in charge at St. Mary’s to York University in order to enhance hands-on cooperation. chat service listserv

Faculty/Staff  York University Course Director and Project Coordinator: Norio Ota VC Consultant: Jim Poole, ITC A part-time administrative and teaching assistant On-line testing consultant: Mike Street, CNS  St. Mary’s University Coordinator: Prof. Charles Beaupre VC Consultant: George Alanson, Telecommunications Information Technology Systems and Support A part-time teaching assistant: Tomoko Miyano

Facilities  York Steadman Lecture Hall 120E (SLH120E) equipped with video-conferencing and video-streaming facilities Multimedia Language Centre (MLC) for on-line tests Polycom video-conferencing unit (DLLL) for individualized instruction BizTablet with JustWrite for correcting assignmentscorrecting assignments  SMU Polycom video-conferencing system, classroom People+Content IP (presentation from a local site)  Servers Kusu web server Tsuge web and mail servers Udo Moodle server

Instructional materials  Interactive and self-study reading materials  Content-based texts  Grammar and exercises  Resource materials from other sources  Templates for writing  PowerPoint presentations for mini-lectures  Interactive manuscript paper AS/JP site

Class management  Limited mobility Modifying the studio setting More camera pre-set spots Seating change  Limited interactivity Participatory activities such as interviews and debate Encourage students to express themselves Enhance cross-cultural understanding among students

Activities  In-class Text reading and Q & A Discussion Movie viewing and discussion Interview Debate Summarization Web presentation Mini-lectures Weekly quizzes  Out-class Essay assignments Book reading Internet search Movie viewing Preparing for group conversation assignments Extra-curricular activities such as JLPT and speech contest

Video-conferencing with streaming  Pros Real-time Face to face Ease of control Virtual community Supervise distance sites Free and reliable connection Accessibility (from an Internet café in Japan)  Cons Artificial environment Hard to have real communication Operational cost Two dimensional Need an operator High cost of equipment

On-line testing with Moodle  Pros Non-essay types questions work fine Can be administered even overseas Sound and video clips for listening comprehension Can track progress Possible elimination of marking  Cons Limited correcting tools for essay, translation and short answer questions. Unexpected problems Time consuming in marking Limited types of questions

Course assessment  Pros Far-reaching Accessibility Communicative Interactive Virtual community Immediate feedback Reviewable and previewable Self-study  Cons Costly Lack of mobility Artificial environment Time consuming Lack of communicative activities Not self-manageable Hardware, software and connection problems

Conclusion  A professional and experienced VC operator  A good teaching assistant on the distant sites  On-line tests should not contain essay-type questions  Weekly quizzes are important  On-line assessment of assignments is too time-consuming  Develop various types of classroom activities  Incorporate extra-curricular activities  Level difference among institutions is the most serious problem.  Find external funding  E-office hours for individualized instruction