Elena Martín-Monje

The I-AGENT Project: Blended Learning Proposal for Professional English Integrating an AI Extended Version of Moodle with Classroom Work for the Practice of Oral Skills

I-AGENT is an online Business English environment developed by the ATLAS research group. Its main innovative feature is the use it makes of blended learning methodology and how it integrates and enhances the practice of oral skills, through an original combination of online and face-to-face sessions. It is common to have the online course as support for the face-to-face classes, but I-AGENT proposes the reverse sequencing: the main content of the course is practised online (via an extended version of Moodle that uses an intelligent agent to adapt course content to student progress) and the face-to-face class is used to reinforce and practise oral comprehension, production and interaction. Besides, the introduction of scaffolded online activities enables the student to be supported in the learning process, ensuring the consolidation of language learning. This way, I-AGENT gets to balance and integrate traditional and modern methodologies at the same time it focuses on oral skills, so often unattended in Computer Assisted Language Learning.

Peer assessment of language learning resources in virtual learning environments with e-rubrics

The aim of this paper is to analyse the usefulness of e-rubrics in the peer assessment of resources and materials for foreign language teaching and also in the assessment of language skills, taking into account the work produced by 99 students of the masters degree in information and communication technologies applied to language teaching and processing, at the Spanish National University for Distance Learning UNED, during the academic years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. Following a methodological framework based on virtual, collaborative action-research, a qualitative analysis is applied with a twofold approach: firstly, through the use of text frequency techniques and secondly, through a reticular, category-based social network analysis thanks to UCINET and yED Graph Editor. Results indicate that the use of e-rubrics optimises self-assessment and the adequacy of assessment criteria. Rubrics foster usefulness in terms of format and connectivity in the audio-visual elements included in digital online resources. Furthermore, e-rubrics are deemed as significantly effective indicators of progress in oral and written production in foreign language learning.

Understanding online interaction in language MOOCs through learning analytics

ABSTRACT Data mining is increasing its popularity in the research of Technology-Enhanced Language Learning and Applied Linguistics in general. It enables a better understanding of progress, performance and possible pitfalls, which would be useful for language learners, teachers and researchers. Until recently it was an unexplored field, but it is expected to grow exponentially in the following years. This article attempts to be a relevant contribution as an instance of empirical research, showing the application of Learning Analytics to the Language MOOC (LMOOC) ‘How to succeed in the English B1 Level Exam.’ The focus or the research was threefold, trying to find out: (1) what types of learning objects students engage with most, (2) what aspects of online interaction relate more strongly to course completion and success, and (3) which are the most prominent student profiles in an LMOOC. Results show that short video-pills are the most powerful learning objects in this type of online courses, the regular submission of automated grading activities is a robust indicator towards course success, and the most prominent student profile in LMOOCs is ‘viewers’, those who access the learning materials but do not submit tasks or engage in online interaction actively, which would explain why the completion rate in LMOOCs is so low. This novel perspective into students’ language learning, which big data has assisted us in, should guide course creators to re-design the LMOOC for the enhancement of the audio-visual content. LMOOC instructors and facilitators should also encourage participants to increase the submission of activities –acknowledging these small achievements through micro-credentialing and badges-, and special attention ought to be paid to the most prominent LMOOC profile, those ‘viewers’ who should be lured into becoming ‘solvers’ or, even better, ‘all-rounders’.