The Praxis Language slogan, Learning on your terms, reflects the shift towards a learner-centric future that I believe is inevitable. Learning on your terms is about empowerment, something you choose to do yourself, not something that we (or a teacher) can do to you.
OK, now listen up, everyone. I’m going to teach you on your own terms. Just do as I say…
Er, no. The act of formulating your own goals, choosing your own inputs, etc, helps you focus and commit to your course of study. It allows you to align your behaviors with your objectives. In my experience, this motivates more effectively than someone telling you what to do, or making the decisions for you. (Methinks we all had enough of that in school.)
Now, for the first time, technology offers learners the chance to be much more in control of their learning. Yes! (This type of power shift is being effected by the internet and is happening across every industry that I know of.) Self-directed learners achieve more. Although this has long been recognized, educators have never managed to mainstream the practice, though I can guess why.
There have, however, been technology-based iniatives that prompted greater degrees of learner autonomy. Since the 1980s, for example, Self-Access centers have proliferated in colleges and language schools. The first ones simply used cassette tapes, but later incarnations used software, and other tools. However, for the most part, these initiatives added littlke to the learning and failed to empower learners in any real way. Why?
First of all, they weren’t designed to empower. The motivation was in looking for scalable commercial products, rather than ways to hand control to the learners. Secondly, they failed at the level of choice. Beyond allowing the learner to study at his own pace, they ceded him no further control. Most Self Access programs have been staggered, linear, and pre-programmed - somebody else’s idea of knowledge imposed upon the learner. Not a lot of choice there.
The language lab illustrates another problem with the tech/software approach: it has tended (until now) to isolate the learner from community, from discussion, and from the teachers. In fact, separation from the teacher was often the motivation behind Self Access centers - reducing unit costs. Since they are concerned with learning, not teaching, the proponents of technology (software, Self Access) are often happy to ignore the question of teachers and pedagogy.
To me, however, there is room for both technology and for teachers. The key lies in blending them effectively. I believe we’re demonstrating one way of doing that.
At Praxis, the teacher’s role includes:
- Instructional design
- ‘Commentaries’ on the dialogs to provide insight, motivation, explanation,
- Discussions throughout the website
Learning is the stuff that goes on inside your head. We can’t make that happen, but we can facilitate you to take charge of your learning, and provide you with some tools, some guidance, and the space in which to do that. The role of the teachers and teaching is changing, but they’re not going away.
Ken Carroll
Ken,
I’m beginning to feel a bit like the proverbial foil. I agree with a lot of what you say and you know that I’m a real advocate of blended learning. In my most radical conception, I say keep the teacher in the loop and eliminate the school.
Let me quote you from above:
The act of formulating your own goals, choosing your own inputs, etc, helps you focus and commit to your course of study.
I’m curious if this philosophy is at the cornerstone of your 10-minute daily lesson which Frank had so many good things to say about. Throughout this process, does the teacher generally stay in control of the tasks and the pace or the student? Would you say that (costs aside- I hear ya Hank) that this 10 minutes makes the learning experience more effective and to what degree?
I’m very cautious talking about teachers as if they existed independent of schools (or training companies). I’m very interested in discussions that understand that to critically evaluate teachers without also a keen understand of the institutional context they are teaching in is a serious error.
BTW, IMHO, your slogan, Learning on your terms, is as good as it gets.
Michael,
The phone practice has to strike a balance. I would not allow our counselors to just ‘go with the flow’ on that one. Just as we try to embed our knowledge into the instructional design of the lessons and the site generally, we have to do the same with the phone lessons. In a 10 minute session there are limited options. We’ve identified them and trained the counselors to work with them. (I got back to my old teacher trainer days in Taipei.)
For example, I have discouraged them from over-emphasizing pronunciation to concentrate on communicating as much as possible. We created lists of ‘classroom language’ for each level that subscribers receive (pdf, mp3) in advance. The focus in the phone lesson is it to communicate in Chinesse, however simple the exchange may be.
Ken
‘CLASSROOM LANGUAGE’ - Why haven’t you put that ‘language list’ into a few podcasts, or make them generally available? It would probably help with easing the oft-spoken refrain of ‘the gap’s too big,’ ‘to small,”talk more in Chinese,’ ‘talk less in Chinese…’
This kind of language list might even help many posters to start posting in Chinese.
Lantian,
As a voracious learner it seems you want it all, and then some! The language I’m talking about is specific to a spoken lesson and it is based on actual recordings. Let me think about this for a while. In the meantime, Power to the Telepractice Plan People!
Ken
I was about to answer Learning on your terms on the ChinesePod blog but it seems to be gone, so here’s my take :
MANY - levels and topics to choose from, in any order
MIXED - different media, audio, phone, text, vocab and others as usual (almost there). re-arranging my way, doing my own mashups (at stretch). snippits of contents found on the Chinese web, cartoons, whatever (missing)
MOBILE - podcasts are the flagship, telepractice an excellent fit, but others unexplored (web content not there, requires internet connection, not suited to smartphone use)
MALLEABLE - i.e. changing the mix over time. I started with podcasts 2-3 levels, then explored expansion stuff, diffferent 2-3 levels, then switched to doing my own full transcripts, 3 levels. Now back to expansion, 5 levels, combined with tele-practice. My needs change over time, I discover new strategies, evolves with my progress
MAGIC - get surprises and excitement, not under my control. uncertainty is important, me planning / slicing everything would be boring to death.
This is in no particular order, categories not mutually exclusive. Bottom line, “Everything is Miscellaneous“… and yes, this concept does make sense to me, it’s a good motto and I can relate to it.
As to tele-practice, I’ve been at it for almost 3 weeks, the mix being intermediate 2/5 upper 3/5 and I’m indeed very happy. The 10-12 minutes are well handled, have started to unlock my ability to speak, do require that I prepare for at least 1 hour though I normally spend a lot more.
with her mood, getting back to the script if required but always flexible to address questions, burning issues, occasionaly going back to previous topics etc.
This started under the 8-weeks paradigm, plan was agreed based on my interests, I guess it could easily evolve over time. Time has shifted a few times, and this certainly is location independent, fits extremely well with my business travels, no lesson skipped as yet but rescheduling no issue.
Flexibility in the discussion too, there obviously is a script but also a human teacher at the other end (thx Vera
Clearly this is capitalizing on the podcasts, toolkits and data investment but for me it’s also been very beneficial. 10 minutes is a very short time indeed, but very focused and intense (at my end anyway) as no time can be wasted. There is the added difficulty of noisy phone lines, analog anyway, lacking digital quality which can be a bonus once you get over it. I never had any lack of motivation but this certainly ensures I don’t go astray, and that’s frankly something I’m looking forward to though again there is some pressure as preparation is key.