Mayumi Matsumoto – Particle Passport

Posted on by Timothy Schaffer in Language instruction

Summary

Mayumi Matsumoto, Clinical Associate Professor in Japanese language, created the Particle Passport for her Elementary and Intermediate Japanese language courses. It utilizes the collection game mechanic to incentivize students to learn Japanese particles and local regions of Japan through various types of activities. By successfully completing in-person and online activities, students earn stickers or “passport stamps” for their passport. The Particle Passport has been used since Fall 2018 in her Elementary and Intermediate Japanese classes, and has coincided with increased student performance in mastering the particles and demonstrating increased knowledge about the regions of Japan.

Learning Outcomes

1. Apply the particles successfully by completing lessons to earn passport stamps.
2. Demonstrate the recommended amount and type of practice methods necessary for language acquisition.
3. Recognize the cultural uniqueness of the various regions and prefectures of Japan.

Student Experience

Students receive their Particle Passport, which includes empty spaces where students can earn stickers by successfully completing various activities.

  • particle passport
    Students receive their Particle Passport, which includes empty spaces where students can earn stickers by successfully completing various activities, which include:
  • Japanese Assignment
    Students working in pairs using flashcards.
  • Japanese Particles
    Students practice with the Quizlet flashcards tool.
  • The class practices using Kahoot, an educational polling tool that allows everyone in class or online to participate in polls, as long as they have their own device. It includes a competition setting, which the students appear to enjoy greatly.
  • The students regularly complete worksheets in class, which include fill in the blank questions, writing activities, and conversation practice.
  • Students complete the digital particle practice modules on the Brightspace course site as an out of class activity.
  • Students receive stickers (two for in-class activities and one for out of class activity).
  • Students receive extra stickers by completing extra digital practice activities.

Outcomes

On the final exam of Fall 2019, 8.7/10 was scored with the students who participated in the particle passport project while 7.6/10 was received with the students who didn’t participate in the project. At the end of each semester, students are more interested in visiting local regions of Japan and they have specific ideas of what they want to do there.

Technology Resources

The Particle Passport uses multiple tools in various ways. While the initial passport booklets were physical objects made out of paper, the switch to remote instruction during the pandemic required a pivot to digital passports created in Google Slides. Since students seem to prefer having a physical passport, Professor Matsumoto is considering a return to paper passports in Fall 2022.

The in-person activities involve polls given through Kahoot, which is an easy to use online polling software. NYU provides access to Poll Everywhere, which has more robust polling options. The digital flashcards were made in Quizlet.

The online digital practice modules were created using Articulate Storyline and provided to students through NYU Brightspace. These SCORM modules need to be created and updated using the Storyline software, which requires a yearly paid subscription. FAS Ed Tech is currently exploring open source alternatives for creating these kinds of online learning modules.

Lessons Learned

Professor Matsumoto has found that preparing a variety of materials to reach students with different learning styles is important to effective language instruction. Since practicing a language in various ways helps retention, Particle Passport incentivizes students to try various forms of practice in and outside the classroom. Additionally, distributing surveys to students at various points in the semester and adjusting the materials based on their feedback allows an instructor to adapt their teaching and learning materials to their students’ needs. As this project is well received by students, she is thinking about expanding this method to other areas such as vocabulary, Chinese characters, and grammar learning.

Esther Truzman – Asynchronous Fridays

Posted on by Liz Melleby Welch in Blended + online, Language instruction

Summary

Professor Ether Truzman, Senior Language Lecturer and Course Coordinator teaches intensive Spanish language courses. These intensive courses involve covering two semesters of instruction in just one. As such, they meet 5 days a week and cover the entirety of a textbook in a relatively short time span. In a fully online format, this compressed timeline can quickly result in significant Zoom fatigue with students needing to sign and engage during all 5 days each and every week. In an effort to simultaneously reduce Zoom fatigue and allow students to navigate content at their own pace, the instructor adapted a template to implement Asynchronous Fridays into her courses, initially SPAN UA 10 and then into both SPAN UA 10 and SPAN UA 20 the following semester. 

This template was provided during a CUNY online teaching workshop run by the University of Hawaii courtesy of Stephen L. Tschudi, a Specialist in Technology for Language Education. This institution had been offering full remote synchronous, asynchronous, and hybrid courses since before the pandemic. To focus on language learning skills, the central tool employed during Asynchronous Fridays is the video-based asynchronous discussion tool, Flipgrid.

Learning Objectives

  • Allow students the opportunity to asynchronously practice language speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills 
  • Enable students to pace themselves and provide more student-driven flexibility as they navigate course materials

Student Experience

Here is an example of one specific Asynchronous Friday. Students would have the opportunity to pick and choose which learning exercises they would like to complete that day.

SPAN10 2021S Asynchronous Feb 12

This Friday you must earn at least 10 points using activities chosen from this menu. You will hand in your products in one document (with links as appropriate) BY 6 pm on FEB 12. You MUST choose ONE and ONLY ONE activity in Column A (5 pts.)
*It is strongly suggested that you complete Actividad 4.12 in Column B (3 pts.)

Columna A Columna B Columna C
5 points (you can only use ONE of these) 

RECORD OR UPLOAD TO FLIPGRID

 3 points 1 point
With a classmate, make a video recording of a Zoom call in which you perform Actividad 4.16, ¿Dónde está? p. 117. You will take turns asking and answering questions about the drawing using the verb estar and as many different prepositions of place as you can. The video earns points for  both you and your classmate.

5 points

 Complete Actividad 4.12 Dónde están, p.116. Write your answers out using  full sentences.

3 points

 Answer all the questions below under the title Las habitaciones/Los cuartos.

1 point
With a classmate, make a video recording of a Zoom call in which you perform Actividad 4.21,  ¡Qué desastre! p. 123. You will take turns asking and answering where the given objects are using the verb estar and prepositions of place (p. 115). 

The video earns points for both you and your classmate

5 points

 Complete Actividad 4.23 Comparemos, copied below. The instructions are slightly different than in the textbook.

3 points

 Complete Actividad El gato y la caja de cartón, below.

1 point
Make a video in which you show us a room in your house (or in a picture) and point out where 5 different objects from the vocabulary on p. 122 are using the verb estar and at least 4 different prepositions of place (p. 115). 

Alternately, you can show 3 different rooms, either in your house or on a floor plan, naming them, and mentioning one activity you do in each room and at least 2 objects in each room, (from the vocabulary on p. 122).

Must be about 1-2 minutes long and have a minimum of 50 words.

5 points

 Write a paragraph between 6-8 sentences long in which you describe your favorite room.  What is it like? What furniture does it have?  Why is it your favorite room? Where is it in your house? 

3 points

 Complete Actividad 4.19 ¿Lógico o ilógico?, copied below. Indicate whether the information in the sentences is logical or not. Write “lógico” for logical sentences.  If the information is not logical, write “ilógico” and rewrite the full sentence in such a way that it is logical.

1 point

Here are two students engaging in conversation. This brief conversation was recorded and uploaded using Flipgrid.

Two students side by side recording their conversation in Spanish

Technology Resources

Flipgrid was the primary tool used in Asynchronous Fridays. Students were encouraged to record videos of themselves, but they were also permitted to just record audio submissions. Flipgrid provided the instructor with the opportunity to hear everyone speak, which usually isn’t possible during the synchronous Zoom sessions. The FAS Office of EdTech Flipgrid guide can be found here.

Outcomes

Both the instructor and students in SPAN-UA 10 and SPAN-UA 20 responded well to the integration of Asynchronous Fridays. Students completed the work well and were provided with the flexibility to complete the work at their own pace. The instructor had the opportunity to assess how each and every student was progressing with their language speaking, listening, reading, and/or writing skills.

Chen Gao – Learning to Write Chinese with a Social Network

Posted on by Lydia Page in Blended + online, Discipline, Language instruction, Method

Summary

Professor Chen Gao (East Asian Studies) used WeChat, a social networking app popular in China, with students in the EAST-UA 205 Advanced Chinese I class. The use of WeChat extended the learning community beyond the classroom to include native speakers and users of the app.

Each week of the semester, Professor Gao selected 1-3 samples of student writing (daily responses to classroom readings) to share in WeChat’s official “四海八荒青年说 (World Youth Forum).” Students were then asked to provide constructive feedback to their peers’ posts, while the published students were asked to respond in kind. By the end of the semester, students were also engaging in conversation with native Chinese speakers on WeChat.

At the end of the semester, Professor Gao produced a student journal comprised of the WeChat posts; each student received a physical copy.

Instructor and Students of FA18 Advanced Chinese 1 Class

Learning Objectives

  • Build a virtual learning community to facilitate collective and immersive language learning.
  • Promote students’ interest in writing and build their awareness both as a reader and a writer.
  • Provide level-appropriate reading for students.
  • Connect students with a cultural social-networking experience.

Screenshot of We Chat App

Student Experience

This project required students to:

  • Submit their daily writing assignments related to classroom readings
  • Read their peers’ posts on WeChat every week
  • Leave comments on peers’ writing and provide constructive feedback
  • Respond to comments on their own writing

Screenshot of Post in We Chat App

Technology Resources

Students accessed WeChat via their personal mobile devices.

Screenshot of Posts in We Chat App

Outcomes

Reflecting on the project Professor Gao says, “This activity helped increase students’ reading and writing proficiency. WeChat provided more opportunities for students to engage in meaningful language output in a stress-free learning environment. It helped students develop awareness as a reader and a writer. Students not only had to consider how their words might be received by their teacher, but also by the wider audience of readers who will see their work when it is published online. When they adapted their literacy learning to new contexts, with a new audience of readers, they became more aware of that learning and its potential uses. Students became more independent learners when they knew how to articulate and demonstrate what they were aware of and what they needed to work on further.

The WeChat project encouraged collaborative learning. Students could learn from and with each other. Also, because during the project, I closely monitored the participation of all students, gave feedback and corrected their grammar errors in their writing on WeChat, it also increased teacher contact time and strengthened teacher-student relationship.”

Student Journals

Selected Student Feedback:

“I liked that it was a different way to learn!”

“It allowed me to view other peer’s writing that was close to my own level.”

“Reading classmates’ posts helped me in reviewing the content of the lessons.”

Virtual Hindi

Gabriela Nik Ilieva – Web Publishing for Language Instruction – Virtual Hindi, Virtual Urdu, Virtual Bhangra

Posted on by Andrew Greene in Blended + online, Language instruction

Summary

After learning about NYU’s Web Publishing service from attending the FAS Innovation in Language Teaching Workshop, Professor Gabriela Nik Ilieva decided to use the NYU Web Publishing platform (WordPress) for her project building websites for collecting, organizing, and sharing instructional materials for Hindi, Urdu, and Bhangra; languages that are underrepresented with respect to open educational resources. In consultation with FAS Ed Tech, Professor Ilieva built several WordPress sites dedicated to Hindi, Urdu, and Bhangra language resources.

Goals

  • Identify appropriate platform for instructional website (WordPress vs. Google Sites)
  • Strategize with faculty on site structure and design
  • Train faculty on WordPress site building and administration
  • Advise on content migration from old website(s)

Outcomes

Professor Ilieva now has online spaces where she can more easily collect, develop, and share teaching resources, and can leverage WordPress’ easy to use customizability and extensibility through various widgets and plugins. Professor Ilieva has future plans to incorporate additional interactive content into her sites, as well as design separate areas for instructors and students.  In addition, she is interested in collaborating with teachers and learners beyond the NYU community, and is looking into further development of her sites’ functionality.

Technology Resources

  • NYU Web Publishing (WordPress)
  • YouTube
  • Google Drive
Esferas cover

Lourdes Dávila – Experiential Language Learning through Professional Publishing

Posted on by admin in Discipline, Humanities, Language instruction, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professor Lourdes Dávila (Spanish & Portuguese) directed a team of current student and alumni editors to produce an online version of Esferas, a peer-reviewed, annual publication that publishes exceptional critical essays, visual art, creative writing, interviews, translations, and works related to Hispanic and Luso life within and beyond New York City.

Learning objectives

  • Allow for students to develop linguistic, technological, and professional skills
  • Facilitate collaboration among students through group work

Professor Lourdes Dávila, managing editor of Esferas, embarked on a full-scale re-design of the online journal to have a dynamic, modern showcase emerging scholarship, art, and writing from Hispanic and Lusophone culture. She identified NYU’s Web Publishing as a suitable environment since it mimics the hierarchical publishing structure, is supported by NYU, and allows for rich multimedia. She also developed a 2-credit course so that students could gain valuable experience contributing to the editorial process, while earning credit. In addition to current students, alumni, graduate students, and faculty work to realize the journal issue each semester.

Student experience

  • Participate in an authentic publishing process from start to finish
  • Learn new technologies
  • Collaborate with editorial board, artists, and authors
  • Showcase multimedia production and web publishing skills

Technology resources

  • NYU Web Publishing (WordPress), to house public-facing Esferas journal
  • NYU Box (file storage/sharing and document collaboration), to house submission iterations
  • Adobe InDesign, to format journal-ready articles and other submissions

Outcomes

  • Students have meaningful opportunities for real-world language use
  • Students work in a team-based environment on a real-world task (i.e. journal publishing)
  • Students hone transferrable professional skills
  • Students gain skills presenting knowledge with various media and in various modes.
Comer en NY Screenshot

Spanish Language Faculty – Learning Beyond the Classroom (Elementary Spanish)

Posted on by admin in Discipline, Language instruction, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professors of Elementary Spanish (Spanish & Portuguese) developed a shared project-based learning assignment across the 15 Fall sections and 11 Spring sections. In its current iteration, small groups of students visit an NYC restaurant of choice, write a review, and contribute a multimedia post on a blog shared across all sections.

Learning objectives

  • Allow for location-based language learning experiences, specifically highlighting the rich locations of New York City
  • Increase engagement as students learn requisite grammar
  • Facilitate collaboration among students through group work

 

Professors wanted to create a shared project-based learning experience across all sections, and settled on Comer en Nueva York, where groups visit restaurants and share their reviews with their peers learning beginning Spanish.  Directed by language coordinators Professors Roxanna Sooudi and Lorena Hernández, the assignment allows students to utilize linguistic skills in an applied, real-world context – i.e. visiting a restaurant.  They collaborate with their peers to complete the review, present orally to their classmates, and share a multimedia-enhanced review across sections.

Student experience

  • Engage with classmates outside of class to complete a real-world task in the target language
  • Showcase multimedia production and web publishing skills

Technology resources

Outcomes

  • Students have meaningful opportunities for real-world language use
  • Students’ level of collaboration increases
  • Students gain skills presenting knowledge with various media and in various modes.
  • Future iteration will involve creating a collective travel e-magazine on locations around the city.
Comete el coco game

Elizabeth Augspach – Gaming for Grammar

Posted on by admin in Analytics + assessment, Blended + online, Discipline, Language instruction, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professor Elizabeth Augspach (Spanish and Portuguese) conceived of ¡Cómete el coco!, a mobile game that would provide her Intermediate Spanish students with fun, engaging ways to practice grammar topics. Students access the game via their phones, and challenge fellow students to grammar challenges that allow for socially-enhanced, informal language learning.

Learning objectives

  • Bridge informal and formal language acquisition through mobile learning
  • Increase engagement as students learn requisite grammar
  • Allow for socially-enhanced ways to review in-class material

Created in partnership with NYU IT, the ¡Cómete el coco! game is meant to foster collaborative, engaging ways to learn and review grammar.  Professor Augspach sought ways to make grammar more fun, and incentivize students to review more outside of class time.

Student experience

  • Engage with game outside of class to review and learn grammar
  • Challenge other students as they have low-stakes, fun competitions between their peers

Technology resources

Outcomes

  • Students have increased opportunities for learning and reviewing grammar
  • In class and out-of-class learning is connected better
  • Students increase engagement with a fun context for practicing grammar.  The element of friendly, low-stakes competition amongst peers increases engagement

Italian Studies Faculty – Collaborative Assessment for Italian

Posted on by admin in Analytics + assessment, Discipline, Language instruction, Method

Summary

Professors of Italian Language (Italian Studies) developed a shared assessment bank to gauge students’ comprehension, listening, and writing skills.  Using the Tests & Quizzes tool within NYU Classes, they created rich, multimedia quizzes that provide automatic grading and instant feedback for students.  

Learning objectives

  • Increase formative assessment opportunities for students by providing instant feedback
  • Support collaboration in the assessment-building process
  • Allow for custom assessment creation associated with a department-created textbook

Italian Studies assessmentItalian Studies created its own textbook and workbook to reflect the cultural, grammatical, lexical topics prioritized by the Department, and provide a lower cost option to students. Formative assessment, ongoing monitoring of student performance and learning, is essential for learning as it helps students and instructors identify learning gaps or areas of improvement.  Director by Professor Nicola Cipani, Italian Studies faculty used the NYU Classes Tests & Quizzes tool to create a shared multimedia test bank that could be used by the entire department for courses in New York and Florence.

Student experience

  • Access multimedia quizzes through NYU Classes
  • Receive instant feedback

 

Project workflow

  • Coordination of assessment creation, distributed across multiple professors

 

Technology resources

Outcomes

  • Online test bank that can re-used across professors and courses
  • Increased opportunities for students to assess their learning
  • Exploration of a low cost, online textbook (initial estimates could save 400 students in NYC and Florence between ~60 in textbook costs)

Naoko Sourial – Creating a Cross-Institutional Language Community

Posted on by admin in Discipline, Language instruction, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professor Naoko Sourial (East Asian Studies) designed a cross-institutional linked course project between University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) students (intermediate level) and NYU students (beginner level) of Japanese.  Students built a community of practice for shared learning by posting on a WordPress blog and engaging in collaborative projects.

 

Learning objectives

  • Beginner students: improve writing and typing skills
  • Intermediate students: learn to spot and correct grammatical and spelling errors
  • All students: engage in authentic written correspondence in the target language

Professor Naoko Sourial and her UPenn colleague designed prompts to leverage the diverse language levels and interests of the students.  Each week, NYU and UPenn students communicated through the shared blog, and supported each other’s learning. At the end of semester, Professor Sourial conducted a survey to assess effectiveness and student satisfaction with the project.  She incorporated theories on Communities of Practice, groups of people interested in the same topic that support each other in their learning.

 

Student experience

  • First week: post in English with option of posting in Japanese to create social bond between New York and UPenn Students
  • Next week: NYU Students post to blog as part of homework assignment. UPenn students work together in class to come up with correction/suggestions for NYU Students (which are then approved by the UPenn professor), and post to blog as part of homework
  • By the end of the semester: students recording and posting video comments as well as written comments

 

Technology resources

 

Outcomes

  • March 2016: presented at APVEA (Asia-Pacific Virtual Exchange Association) in Princeton with partner from UPenn and got suggestions for improving future iterations
  • 85% of students said the project was “very helpful” in improving typing skills (the remaining 15% ranked it as “somewhat helpful”; same distribution for improving grammar and vocab
    • “It pushed me to apply the Japanese we learned in context and construct original sentences and paragraphs.”
    • “I learned more about the other students because of their blog posts, but I didn’t really talk to many others very much.”
    • “I enjoyed having a mentor in my Japanese studies.”
    • Suggestions for improvement: more blog post assignments and more frequent communication with the UPenn students
Aline Baehler

Aline Baehler – Experiential Language Learning in French

Posted on by admin in Blended + online, Discipline, Language instruction, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professor Aline Baehler (French) leverages web publishing tools for intermediate-advanced learners of French to use language skills in a realistic, experiential way. Her award-winning Papiers Mâchés and Capsules de grammaire are open source platforms for strengthening existing grammatical knowledge; the Scénarios site is a virtual apartment building where students role play as French-speaking residents.

Learning objectives

  • Create opportunities for intermediate-advanced students to review content learned in lower-level courses
  • Increase feedback for students expanding their linguistic skills
  • Provide immersive experiences to engage with the target language and culture
  • Foster collaboration among students, both in and out of class

In this video, Professor Baehler speaks about a role-playing project in her intermediate-advanced French course.  Students create fictional characters and collectively construct a vibrant apartment building in a francophone city of their choice through text, conversation, and multimedia.  By navigating daily life through the eyes of native speakers, students have authentic ways to explore culture, history, grammar, and vocabulary in the target language.  This innovation addresses the difficulty in providing students with immersive experiences in the target language and culture.

Another challenge of bridge language course is having time needed to review content learned in lower-level courses, while also expanding linguistic skills.  To this end, Professor Baehler has developed two interactive, open-source tutorials that guide students through grammar and writing activities.

  • Capsules de grammaire: provides students with grammar and vocabulary practice
  • Papiers-Mâchés: scaffolds students through the writing process (currently being re-designed for accessibility and user experience)

In both platforms, students receive automatic feedback and can go through the materials at their own pace.

Student experience

  • Engage with lecture videos, interactive modules, and simulations outside of lecture time
  • Participate in hands on lab activities
  • Collaborate on group activities and review material during lecture time

Technology resources

Outcomes

  • Reflect the experiential act of language learning: Learning french30_collagelanguage is a social act, and creating a community where students can share and develop their language skills in a supportive environment reflects the reality of learning another language.  The Google Site also allows students to use language in a highly contextualized way, since they are using French as their fictional character.  
  • Create a participatory environment: Professor Baehler created a participatory environment where the instructor and students were full participants. Instead of completing assignments for the professor, students and professor had a collaborative role in building the online world.
  • More integrated curriculum: Professor Baehler found it easier to tie in discrete aspects of a foreign language curriculum since the virtual environment required students to use grammatical, semantic, and cultural knowledge in an authentic way.
  • Increased motivation: Professor Baehler found that students were more engaged with the language and sought out ways to showcase and use their linguistic knowledge.  Students collaborated and could be creative, adding images and rich background narratives for their fictional characters.