Course Description: Tech-Enhanced Teaching and Educational Technologies

Introduction

Technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have already turned into the inseparable part of every field, even language teaching. Nowadays teachers, especially English language educators have great opportunities to teach the language easily although neither they, nor their students live in the English-speaking countries. These all golden chances and limitless horizons are because of the modern technology and AI which have immense capability to facilitate learning and teaching process, assessment and educational management by granting learners with more adaptive and personalized learning (Chiu et al., 2022). Besides, application of AI can expand educational systems’ capacity and facilitate teachers’ as well as learners’ cognitive and social development (Akgun and Greenhow, 2021). Hence, employing different Learning Management Systems or LMSs, various educational platforms and digital tools in online or offline learning and teaching process makes classes much more interactive, compelling and certainly creative. Looking through several LMSs, I liked Google Classroom due to a wide range of features it offers. This free LMS can be easily integrated with other educational platforms and apps. Furthermore, Google Classroom enables its users to customize assignments, grade learners, provide feedback as a whole group or individually and share documents/images/videos easily. However, the main reason for my choice is definitely its interface that is very easy and straightforward to use making it more convenient compared to other LMSs.

Taking these statements into account, my six-hour IELTS course whose learners are mainly teenagers, was created in Google Classroom. This course is designed in the hybrid mode that includes partially online and fully offline learner participation as my students mainly prefer face to face interaction with the teacher rather than fully online classes. Considering technologies and AI’s above stated benefits and my students’ preferences I included several reusable activities, presentations, videos created by means of various educational apps and platforms in the chosen LMS.

As it is known, each course should include Learning Outcomes (LOs) that are very crucial leading elements in the success of all types of courses (Alonso et al., 2008). Similarly, this course consists of five Learning Outcomes to achieve efficient results and cover all four skills and two aspects of the language. While creating LOs, teachers should leverage Bloom’s Taxonomy and use the verbs developing higher order thinking (Chatterjee, 2017). Likewise, the IELTS course LOs include the higher order action verbs: develop, analyze, interpret and compose. According to Chatterjee (2017), LOs should be relevant with assessment and instructional methods in order to achieve constructive alignment. If we analyze the Learning Outcomes of the course, activities and LOs are aligned with the assessment criteria of IELTS exams.

The IELTS course begins with an introduction followed by different units according to the syllabus of the education center where I work. Each unit contains a couple of amazing activities, but not all of the tasks I used in my offline classes were uploaded in Google Classroom as offline participation is mandatory condition of the education center.

Unit 1: Travelling and Vacation

In this unit a link of a video from YouTube is provided for the learners to watch and I played the video in the classroom so that they could have a group discussion later on and clarify some points if needed. After watching the video, they should answer the open-ended questions that were created based on the presented video material by means of Twee.com. This activity is aimed at enhancing listening and speaking skills and not only auditory learners, but also visual learners benefit from the task as it includes subtitles in the video materials. Furthermore, a grammar activity on the topic “Articles” which was borrowed from Liveworksheets.com was also assigned in Google Classroom as solo study homework. During that class, we revised grammar (articles, to be specific) and the content of the task was connected to the theme (Travelling and Vacation). The learners should fulfill the exercise and send the results to the teacher, which is a great chance for the educator to save the time and lessen the burden of assessment process as the Liveworksheets.com sends checked and graded work to teachers.

The theory behind using visual aids is connected with Cognitivism which holds the point that mental processes like problem-solving, memory and attention play crucial roles in the process of learning (Ertmer and Newby, 2013). The video and the images in this unit are very colorful and informative assisting learners in gaining clearer comprehension of the topic and keep the provided information in their memory cementing the gained knowledge (Mayer, 2014).

Unit 2: Crime and Punishment

The second unit was specifically designed to boost students’ knowledge and world outlook on the topic Crime and Punishment. Although the lesson consists of several activities for pre, while and post stages, this unit in Google Classroom contains only two tasks as the learning and teaching mode is offline as I mentioned above. The first exercise was created by means of Wordwall educational tool in a form of a multiple-choice quiz (can be turned into other types of activity as well). To make it creative, interactive and memorable, dozens of photos concerning the content were uploaded in the task. In terms of the second activity, it was designed with the help of the same digital platform and was crafted to enhance the speaking proficiency of learners.

The quiz game encourages students to put their problem-solving skills into practice while acquiring some knowledge (Huang, Liaw and Lai, 2018). Furthermore, the quiz of the multiple-choice format develops critical thinking as it pushes learners to analyze the provided data before choosing correct answers (Shute and Wang, 2016). As for the speaking task, it helps learners to receive instant constructive feedback for their performance serving as formative assessment which enables them to identify their weak and strong points (Tuttle and Tuttle, 2013).

Unit 3: Health Problems

As it is known, vocabulary plays very crucial role in all four paths of IELTS examination and remembering new words is also main problem of my learners as it seems to be boring and difficult for them. To make the learning process both efficient and fun, teachers should be able to increase learners’ motivation that is the first driving force behind everything people do. According to Moybeka et al. (2023), AI tools and educational platforms can increase learners’ motivation because of the ability to offer various forms activities with different types of media making it suitable for different types of learners. Similarly, I found out that my students’ intrinsic motivation in acquiring vocabulary has increased since I started engaging useful digital educational tools into my lessons adding some diversity in the classroom. Considering all stated data above, a vocabulary quiz on the topic Health Problems, was borrowed from Quizlet.com.

The second task of the unit is a listening activity which is assigned as homework and directly related to the Self-Determination Theory of motivation. The stated theory highlights the significance of learners’ competence, autonomy and relatedness to trigger intrinsic motivation of students (Ryan and Deci, 2000). The listening comprehension task was taken from Liveworksheets.com and it can help learners to have the sense of autonomy as students can choose how many times to listen to the recording, the mode of listening (either speakers or headphones) and thus raising the level of intrinsic motivation of learners.

Unit 4: Environment and Pollution

This unit includes many activities including two online tasks which were assigned in Google Classroom. The first task is an interactive video taken from YouTube and designed with the help of Lumi.com including multiple choice and true/false questions in the video material. The next task is a test created by means of Quizlet.com urging learners to acquire topic related advanced vocabulary. 

These two activities can mainly serve as a good sample of SAMR Theory application into lessons. The SAMR which stands for “substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition” is a framework for assessing the level of technology integration into instructional practices and it guides teachers in creating and implementing learning activities modified by means of technology. It encourages educators to create innovative and transformative learning experiences by using technology wisely and thoughtfully (Puentedura, 2006). a. The substitution part of the theory means that technology can substitute some traditional classroom instruments/activities without making significant alterations. Likewise, I designed an online quiz in Quizlet.com instead of paper-based quiz which can be a good sample of substitution. b. As for the augmentation, AI tools and technologies should be used to increase the effectiveness of presented tasks/materials and the quiz can be redone for several times and in various formats increasing the efficiency of the given exercise. c. To put the modification theory into practice, teachers should use machine learning and cyber tools to create significantly changed tasks compared to conventional ones by redesigning activities. Similarly, the Lumi interactive video material in my course can be described as a modified version of traditional reading and listening activities assisting students to better comprehend the topic based information through the video.  

Unit 5: Family and Children

This unit contains only one online activity assigned in Google Classroom as it takes more than 40 minutes to complete the task. It was designed in the format of a game which is aimed at boosting learners’ speaking skills and vocabulary. It is a group work designed in Genially.com and language learners should collaboratively work to complete the task. In this session, the teacher should lead the game and follow the link through the big-flat-screen interactive board in the classroom. Learners should divide into four groups 3-4 students each working collaboratively through all questions. The task is specifically tailored to improve collaboration, interpersonal and communication skills. Significant graduate attributes – self-esteem, motivation and critical thinking skills can be enhanced by means of teamworking (Komarraju et al., 2010).

Unit 6: Artificial Intelligence

The next unit is dedicated to the topic Artificial Intelligence and its impact on our life. There are two activities uploaded in the LMS: first is watching the uploaded video and answering the questions (multiple choice and true/false set of questions) based on the video material. The second task is a reading activity and was designed on Liveworksheets.com. The type of the questions in the task (multiple choice, headings) are identically the same as real IELTS exam reading questions. It was assigned as a home task whose results should be sent to the teacher so that he/she can analyze students’ weak and strong points. I chose the tool Liveworksheets.com as it enables educators to design engaging and interactive online tasks that are much more similar to the actual paper-based activities making the task more convenient for those who got used to the traditional way of learning. This platform offers easy-to-use interface to design online worksheets enabling learners to use the tasks for remote learning purposes. One of the crucial advantages of Liveworksheets.com is its diversity of activities including a wide range of subject areas, levels, languages and age groups (Schneider and Prearo, 2020).

Unit 7: IELTS Writing Task 1

The next unit is aimed at teaching how to write IELTS Writing task one that was created in the form of presentation on Prezi.com. The presentation starts from over description of task one (about word limit, time, types of graphs, etc.) continuing till the very deep and detailed explanation, useful tips and common vocabulary used in task 1 writing. The pictures and GIFs in the presentation are so eye-catching and informative that they help learners have a better comprehension of the topic. Four images of four types of graphs were uploaded as home assignment and learners should identify the type of the graphs, analyze the data and write an introduction to each chart. Afterwards, they should send it to their assignment page in Google Classroom.

The Use of Prezi Presentation to teach how to write task 1 and the home assignment (to write an introduction based on what they learnt during the class) can be linking to the theory of Behaviorism in the drilling format (Woolfolk and Margetts, 2019). The drilling activity in Behaviorism symbolizes repetition of a particular act/task/information until learners acquire and perform it automatically. Similarly, the learners were taught how to write task 1 and then were given 4 graphs to check their comprehension. According to Cooper, Heron and Heward (2020), various visual aids with interactive tasks enable students to strengthen their understanding by repeating the information and receiving constructive feedback. Likewise, the created presentation and the homework follow some features of Behaviorism.

Unit 8: Online Vs Offline Classes

The next unit discusses the advantages and disadvantages of both online and offline classes integrating YouTube video and Google Jamboard online tool. This task was assigned as a home task for students in order to give the learners some time to reflect on their experiences on the topic and digest the data discussed in the material. First, learners should go to the link of the video uploaded in Google Classroom and watch it. The video is in the format of a debate about weak and strong points of both learning modes. After watching it as many times as they want, they should go through the next link (Jamboard) and engage in the online collaborative board. The task demands the learners should write down their thoughts on advantages and disadvantages of each mode. The Google Jamboard activity is a great fun way for many students to work together and enhance any skill. All learners in the Jamboard see the same texts at the same time and one the most useful feature of the activity is that every learner can complete the task according to their own pace.  

According to the Connectivism theory, technology, especially internet plays an important role in distributing knowledge through networks (Siemens, 2005). Digital technology should connect both learners and teachers as online communities where they can learn from each other and share ideas and experiences instead of limiting themselves with only traditional way of learning. The tasks in the course, this Jamboard activity in particular, follow this characteristic of the Connectivism theory.

Furthermore, this task develops a community of inquiry in the classroom turning the students into active consumers from passive ones enabling them to feel their social presence in their community (Tucker, 2019). Moreover, Tucker (2019) states that cognitive presence together with teaching presence should be engaged in blended learning. Likewise, my learners need to reflect on their experiences and analyze the information in the video before typing their opinions in Jamboard. Besides, I as their teacher and a guide lead them through the activity in order to achieve higher effectiveness of the exercise.

Unit 9: Law and Justice

In this unit two quiz activities were included in Google Classroom: the first one is an individual task and was designed by means of Blank Quiz containing 12 multiple choice set questions on the topic Law and Justice. As the handout of the vocabulary was given beforehand, this activity can be described as a good example of a flipped classroom type of blended learning. The task should be assigned as a solo activity that needs to be done in the classroom under the close supervision of the teacher, so that she/he can check learners’ comprehension on the presented material. Flipped classrooms can are very useful to save the time and energy of both teachers and learners by handing the material for the next class in advance.

The second activity is a group work and was borrowed from Baamboozle.com. Learners should be divided into three groups to play the game and the teacher leads the activity. The task should be fulfilled in a big interactive board since it demands teamworking. This type of activities can be linked to theory of Social Constructivism that highlights the significance of collaborative work and interaction among students to enhance understanding and knowledge (Vgotskiy, 1978).

Unit 10: IELTS Writing Task 2

The last unit is dedicated to teach the useful tips to write well-crafted essays in Task 2 part of the IELTS examination. First of all, the teacher should go to the link of the presentation on the topic designed by means of Canva.com online educational instrument. The presentation provides detailed information and insightful hints on creating outstanding piece of writing in exams. As a home task, three different themes on the topic education (education is much easier topic to discuss for amateurs) was assigned in the LMS. The students should read the topic, analyze it, read some other materials on the topic (if necessary) and then write a plan for each essay theme.

Conclusion

To summarize, educational digital tools and AI instruments offer a wide range of opportunities for educators to boost their learners’ knowledge and the way students think enhancing their critical thinking. Besides, teachers can make their classes more collaborative, interactive, effective and certainly interesting by engaging different educational platforms and machine learning instruments which offer alternative ways of teaching rather than conventional methods.

Link of the Course: https://classroom.google.com/c/NjI2NzM3MzQxODg3?cjc=7rlyuj4 

References:

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