Creating Learning Environments: Web 2.0 in Education and Training
Don Fischer
General Outline
This paper will outline a theory of learning, what is needed to facilitate learning, and discuss the development of a learning environment to facilitate second language speaking practice. That environment will exploit the availability of Facebook, the capability to upload video and audio to Facebook pages, and, to a certain extent, the capabilities of YouTube.
Theory
Language learning takes place through the interactional instinct outlined by Shuman in his book of the same name. (Lee, Mikesell, Joaquin, Mates, & Shuman, 2009) (Shuman, 2010) Children are born with an extreme capability to mimic the conspecific that accords them food, shelter, love and various forms of care. They mimic facial expressions and mimic sounds. As they advance in language acquisition, they will mimic the speech of the caregiver when alone, because of the pleasing effect of hearing those sounds. This ability to mimic comes from an extreme loading of chemicals, dopamines that motivate the neonate to survive, and opiates that provide the feeling of success and accomplishment that drive the individual to seek that which is necessary to survive.
Eventually, this process of acquisition, which occurs unconsciously and becomes automatic, implicit knowledge, leads to the non-verbal and verbal icons called language. Children are built to learn that which allows them to survive. This capability, this charging of chemicals at levels 100 times that of adults, peaks at a very early age and declines to an operative level around the years eight to 12. (Lee, Mikesell, Joaquin, Mates, & Shuman, 2009) At this time, language learning becomes more difficult.
Learning a second language becomes a function of declarative knowledge, which is separate from the implicit processes, and the learning takes place in a different way—a way that requires aptitude, opportunity to learn, and motivation—the willingness to memorize and practice to the point of acquiring automaticity in the second language. (Shuman, Crowell, Jones, Lee, Schuchert, & Wood, 2004)
Shuman and his colleagues cite three aspects of brain functioning contributing to the survival and well-being of the individual. They are: 1) homeostasis—keeping the body in balance; 2) sociostasis—allowing the individual to participate in groups and society; and 3) somatic—the preferences and dislikes acquired over a lifetime. These aspects impart values that generate desires and motivation to achieve goals related to these functions (Shuman, Crowell, Jones, Lee, Schuchert, & Wood, 2004).
Suffice it to say that learning takes place easily when related to need related to these functions. Externally imposed learning not related to need is much more difficult to accomplish. Again, we return to the need for aptitude (the ability to learn quickly), opportunity to learn, and motivation which a teacher must inculcate through the presentation of the body of knowledge the individual is “required” to learn.
Shuman’s motivational model states that motivation operates on five planes of stimulus-appraisal (i.e., the assignment of value or biases leading an organism to certain preferences enabling it to choose among alternatives). Dopamines are produced when
1) When an action is relevant to needs and goals;
2) When a stimulus is novel;
3) When an action promotes positive self and social image;
4) When an action is intrinsically present; and
5) When there is coping-potential.
Opiates are produced when the object of desire is achieved. The teacher must create an environment where stimuli meet the above criteria and the learner is rewarded in the seeking of whatever the object of stimulation is. Shuman looks at the foraging instinct, for food, and compares knowledge or skill seeking to that process (Shuman, Crowell, Jones, Lee, Schuchert, & Wood, 2004).
Our task is to take people of reasonable aptitude, provide the opportunity to learn, and provide stimuli that the individual will accord value to, that will generate the dopamines so to speak to pursue the skill or knowledge, and provide the feeling of reward, through the endorphins/opiates, that will further stimulate the seeking. This project will use the Web 2.0 tools of Facebook and YouTube to provide the opportunity for practice, accountability to both class and teacher, and the visibility of skills acquired and applied to the task of learning a second language.
The Project
From Wikipedia we see that “Web 2.0 consists of web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with each other as contributors to the website’s content, in contrast to websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups, and folksonomies.” These capabilities can be used to facilitate language learning.
The Need
The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center must support military forces in the field. The lessons of having knowledge of the language and culture of the country to which forces are deployed have long been known, but in a basically monolingual country like the United States, the requirement to learn languages and cultures has been minimized, even in places like Germany where years were successfully spent by US Forces. The Germans learned about our language and our culture, so we did not have to.
New lessons have been learned in Iraq and Afghanistan. There the populations have not been so hospitable and we have made serious mistakes through assumptions that proved to be false. Language and cultural knowledge are important. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander, General Stanley McCrystal, a notable Special Operations soldier, says that language is the key to culture and culture is key to achieving objectives. He is encouraging, even requiring, every leader from platoon on up, to have a basic language capability.
For adults, acquiring even a basic capability in language is difficult. There are work and family needs that must be met. Acquiring a basic capability requires our three factors plus time. The question is how to get fully occupied soldiers and officers to learn. An answer can be to use Web 2.0 tools to provide asynchronous opportunity to learn and practice. The goal will be to achieve an Interagency Language Roundtable (http://www.utm.edu/staff/globeg/ilrspeak.html) Level 1 in speaking proficiency. The Level 1 speaker:
- Is able to satisfy minimum courtesy requirements and maintain very simple face-to-face conversations on familiar topics.
- Must often use slowed speech, repetition, paraphrase, or a combination of these to be understood by this individual.
- Must strain and employ real-world knowledge to understand even simple statements/questions from this individual.
- Has a functional, but limited proficiency.
- Often experiences and causes misunderstandings.
- Is able to ask for help and to verify comprehension of native speech in face-to-face interaction.
- Is unable to produce continuous discourse except with rehearsed material.
Resources
We will use Web 2.0 resources to prove what we hope to be a motivational experience and an available one. The resources should be readily available anywhere there is an internet lash-up. The cost should be minimal—preferably free. Equipment requirements should be minimal and cheap. We will use Facebook, YouTube (as applicable, not necessary), the Internet, cheap computers such as netbooks, PC, or any Apple machine, and we will use Interagency Roundtable speaking guidelines to structure assessment.
Learning Objectives
The successful learner will:
- Do simple greetings and introductory statements
- Ask/tell someone how to get to a nearby hotel
- Order a simple meal
- Arrange for a hotel room and taxi ride
- Buy a needed item such as a bus or train ticket, groceries or clothing
- Ask about date and place of birth, status, occupation etc
- Make social introductions and use greeting and leave-taking expressions.
- Handle conversations about familiar topics
- In an organized way, produce speech
Instructional Strategy
Facebook Groups will be used to create a virtual classroom. Videos of speaking practice or assessment will be uploaded from personal computers or through YouTube. Critiques will be provided by classmates and teachers by also uploading videos or providing YouTube links in the Comments section under each video. The learner will be advised to repeat to correct problems and errors. Group participants will benefit from seeing each other and viewing the critiques provided by the proficiency assessor, normally the teacher.
Instructional Design
Students will have their own Facebook page. The teacher will designate each student as a member of the group. The group page will appear as part of the member’s Facebook environment. For this demonstration, it will be assumed that the members have begun the study of German and have made a beginning. They will have some standard set of learning materials available. They will discuss Level 1 topics based on the learning objectives shown progressing through the list and using iMovie, Windows MovieMaker, or YouTube to make a video of their presentation. They will load the video on the German Classroom page using Facebook. The teacher will write a critique, create a video link in the comment block to discuss the sample, or upload a video from a personal computer. Students would be encouraged to repeat the exercise, attending to the assessor’s recommendations. Assessment of progress would be through structured Oral Proficiency Interviews which are standard practice at the Defense Language Institute. In the near future, the Institute will produce a Very Low Range assessment system that will test Listening and Reading proficiency.
The reference for this design model is the Intulogy ADDIE approach.
http://www.intulogy.com/addie/discovery.html
Pilot Project Location
The pilot project, German Classroom, is available to class members.
Pilot Project Review
The project works and is capable of sizeable use. Facebook as the vehicle is somewhat cumbersome. The system is not designed to be an academic environment, however, it will work. There are issues with Facebook. It is potentially leaky in terms of privacy. The different steps require practice to facilitate use. One can upload video products through YouTube or from one’s personal computer. Audio files can only be uploaded from one’s server, not through the Facebook upload procedures. This lack of ability upload audio files seems like a serious omission. The system was also used to conduct an Oral Proficiency Interview with a certified tester. Both individuals were on camera. Audio and video was excellent.
Overall opinion: High potential as a means to provide learning opportunity.
Next Steps
This vehicle may be used to monitor progress under any curriculum. For a German speaking course it would be necessary to collect or produce materials. Given the availability of a program of instruction, a tabletop review of teaching procedures and methodologies and the integration with various resources would be studied. Revisions would be made as necessary.
A pilot should be conducted on a larger scale. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center has many relationships with institutions such as the Navy Postgraduate School, the National War College, etc; and to deployed units. Tests of the system using people deployed to Afghanistan would provide information on system robustness. The Institute has a very good system of collecting feedback from participating students.
Evaluation and Assessment
Students would be assessed to see if Level 1 was achieved with the many resources available, in particular the standard Institute Oral Proficiency Interview, using Interagency Language Roundtable guidelines that are available through the web. The Institute Diagnostic Assessment rubric would be used then to develop a learning plan to bring the learner farther along in achieving higher levels of language proficiency.
Feedback from the users would be collected. A Pashto course conducted over Illuminate with e-mentors was evaluated by the Institute’s Evaluation and Standards Directorate (Berman, 2010). The same format and approach would be used for a program such as is described.
Summary
In conclusion, use of Facebook and YouTube proved to be cheap, available, and versatile. Facebook could be used to provide learning related to many disciplines. In particular, it could be used to make language learning opportunity available to distance students, even with such a production intense learning task as is speaking a new language. The involvement of group members and a qualified teacher in such an environment provides soft accountability and the motivation that groups can generate. Practice and timely critique lead to success, success leads to motivation, motivation leads to proficiency. This small and simple use of Web 2.0 provides one tool to use as an approach to a teaching and learning task.
Works Cited
Berman, S. J. (2010). Pashto Headstart Pilot Program: Results and Recommendations. Course Evaluation, Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, Research and Analysis Division, Directorate of Evaluation and Standardization, Monterey, CA.
Lee, N., Mikesell, L., Joaquin, A. D., Mates, A. W., & Shuman, J. H. (2009). The Interactional Instinct: The Evolution and acquisition of Language. Oxford, Great Britain: Oxford University Press.
Shuman, J. H. (2010). A Unified Perspective on First and Second Language Acquisition. Los Angeles, CA.
Shuman, J. H. (1997). The Neurobiology of Affect in Language.
Shuman, J. H., Crowell, S. E., Jones, N. E., Lee, N., Schuchert, S. A., & Wood, L. A. (2004). The Neurobiology of Learning: Perspectives From Second Language Acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
