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
screenshot of student project

Glenn Wharton – Project-based Learning in Museum Studies

Posted on by ds4583@nyu.edu in Discipline, Humanities, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professor Glenn Wharton (Museum Studies) leverages project-based learning in his Museums and Community course. As a final research assignment, students work individually or in small groups to design fictional community programs for museums and cultural heritage institutions. Students create websites containing information about their programming. In addition to demonstrating content knowledge, students gain experience in website design and development.

Learning objectives

  • Increase student engagement through use of real-world scenarios
  • Leverage students’ existing knowledge
  • Develop students’ basic web design and production skills

Student experience

  • Students conduct research individually or in small groups to design a community-based, participatory program for a museum or cultural heritage institution
  • Students design and produce a website to display program information, including the aims of the program, activities, funding, etc.
  • Students peer review one another’s websites

Project workflow

In order to introduce students to web publishing technology that may be unfamiliar to them, Professor Wharton and an educational technologist collaborated on an in-class session on the basics of web design and building a website. The ed tech office also provided instructional materials and resources, as well as one-on-one consultations for students with follow-up questions. Whenever technology is used in a course innovation, we work with faculty to develop a support model that puts course content and knowledge building first.

Technology resources

Outcomes

  • Students gain media literacy, website design and creation skills.
  • Students are better prepared for field where collaboration is an essential component.
  • Students are deeply engaged by real-world scenarios.
  • Students are agents of their own learning.

In the following video, Professor Wharton describes the benefits and challenges of incorporating project-based learning in a traditional humanities seminar. In particular, he notes the transformative potential of technology to move his teaching from a “top-down model” into a true “co-production of knowledge.”

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
screenshot of Venture out project website

East Asian Studies Faculty – Linked Project-based Learning

Posted on by ds4583@nyu.edu in Discipline, Language instruction, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professors Xiaohong Hou (Chinese), Eunju Na (Korean), and Kayo Nonaka (Japanese) linked students across East Asian Studies through project-based learning. Students participated in authentic, local experiences and blogged in the target language. The instructors wanted students to practice speaking and writing outside of the classroom, as well as a create an online space for peer to peer learning.

Learning objectives

  • Engage with target language outside classroom
  • Practice writing and speaking skills
  • Encourage collaborative knowledge building across languages and skill levels

Student experience

  • Visit a local restaurant, shop, cultural heritage site, or other relevant cultural location.
  • Engage with target language in new setting – through menu, museum exhibit, conversation with native speakers.
  • Using target language, write about experience and share media in a blog post on linked class site.
  • Comment and offer feedback on fellow students’ posts.

Project workflow

  • In-person consultation meeting the instructor and educational technologist to discuss learning objectives and technical specifics
  • Training session with instructors + education technologist to cover basics of web publishing platform
  • Creation of blog with instructor(s) as the owner/administrator and students added as authors
  • Uploading of content to blog by students and grading / assessment by professor
  • Face to face presentation of materials across courses and languages

In this video, Professors Hou, Na, and Nonaka share the process for developing this project, as well as student projects and feedback.

Technology resources

Outcomes


“I learned how to talk more about a topic I was interested in using the source language.”

“I experienced the language as it is used – in real conversations.”

“I got to practice in a real setting.”

“By using Korean outside the classroom, I had to adapt to thinking quickly in order to say what I wanted to say in Korean. I heard the language in a more natural environment.”