1. Revitalizing Small Remote Schools for LifeLong Distance e-Learning Delivering a REVIT course: Tourism focused English language course Ios, September 2010 Diana Yovcheva Zinev Art Technologies

2. Organization The course took place from 31 March 2010 to 19 May 2010 and involved 1 tutor, 1 moderator and 2 trainees. The trainees participated in all sessions and were flexible. They were from Vidin (North-Western Bulgaria), in their 30’s, of middle socio-economic status, higher degree of education. They did not have any particular ICT knowledge or experience in online seminars. The course consisted of ten synchronous sessions and asynchronous activities. The platform used was Flashmeeting. It was supported by the educational material uploaded on the ReVit platform. The tutor and trainees also used skype sessions with conference connection, in order for the trainees to practice conversations.

3. Organization 2 The desire of the tutor was to provide a course that would be based on the needs and the expectations of the trainees. This is why she coordinated and discussed each course component with them. The focus of the sessions was on English grammar and the main tenses in English language. Additional sessions were held with each student to cover the main tenses in English language. The courses also consisted of listening to dialogues and holding conversations among the participants. Links to additional tests and exercises were sent at the end of each class. The students were provided with interesting information on the Internet and learned how to use online dictionaries, and tools like Revit Wiki, DVolver Moviemaker, etc. Usually, the main parts of the courses were devoted to practicing and holding conversations. In addition, the participants were encouraged to make additional exercises upon the end of each session.

4. Experiences of the tutor The role of a “tutor” in a distance e-learning course focused not simply on the English language, but also on tourism, was a new experience for the tutor. This led to a careful research and consideration of the specific needs of the trainees as well as the level of their knowledge and understanding. What was specifically valuable in this situation was the fact that the trainees were extremely open-minded and ready to learn. They were enthusiastic to share their needs. Throughout the English Language in Tourism course, the participants expressed their interest in having additional sessions with the tutor as well as in doing homework and interactive tests and exercises. Additional materials for listening exercises were provided to the participants. Thus, the learning process became quite efficient in terms of mastering the right vocabulary and phrases. Progress was visible even at the second and the third session which resulted from the overall enthusiasm and desire to learn of the trainees.

5. Evaluation The trainees’ reaction was very positive. To a large degree, the trainees expressed their satisfaction appreciating the fact that courses like this provide valuable information and are less “stressful” than classroom courses. All components of the course brought pleasant emotions. What made the greatest impression was the fact that one of trainees made a great progress which was visible by the middle of the course. The material in this course could be enriched. It was assessed as very helpful and most surely can integrate more learning activities and probably particular specializations – for animators, for hoteliers, for restaurateurs, etc. The only problem, which was experienced throughout the whole course, was related to the recording of the lessons. Initially, the sessions were recorded via Flashmeeting, which did not support the active participation of everyone in the course and did not provide the opportunity for the participants to hold genuine dialogues. The problem was solved to a large degree by using Camtasia program for recording the audio and the desktop activities during sessions in Skype.

6. Revitalizing Small Remote Schools for LifeLong Distance e-Learning Thank you for your attention! Diana Yovcheva Zinev Art Technologies, Bulgaria zinevart@gmail.com http://revit.cti.gr