The project has now concluded – with some interesting results.
Xerte seems to have acted as a catalyst for greater creativity in the students, with some students using Xerte and others finding new ways to use familiar software to produce interactive learning materials. Their outputs were impressively creative and demonstrated considerable skill and imagination in their interpretation of the task and its realisation in digital format. Students learnt new digital skills and knowledge through the project and produced a range of language/grammar which moved beyond the task requirements. Their completion of the task showed that they have begun to consider aspects of learning design and reflect on themselves as language learners. The project will continue in the new academic year as students cascade their learning to other staff and students.
Some edited findings (from our final report):
- Students responded to the task creatively and imaginatively whether using Xerte or not. Their outputs were impressively creative and demonstrated considerable skill and imagination in their interpretation of the task and its realisation in digital format. Comment from the external assessor: “students’ level of engagement with the task was impressive…”
- Students demonstrated new skills and knowledge.
- The pedagogy of the task and its realisation through the creation of a learning object was a valuable and interesting activity. When we initially framed the task, we asked students to use Xerte to create learning objects – which would necessarily have interactivity within them. When we altered our instruction to indicate that use of Xerte was not mandatory, we nonetheless insisted that the element of interactivity which a Xerte learning object contains, be reproduced in whatever other means that students chose for their work. As previously described, students used other software to create their digital materials, but retained the notion of interactivity and learning. As students had to present their learning objects and talk about them, they were able to approximate ‘testing’ their interactive tasks with users. This worked very well and students reported a positive impression of this kind of task: e.g. “It was interesting to include an interactive element as it gives an extra dimension to a presentation making it more appealing to the audience and it was fun to learn this new skill.” One reported that the task was useful for learning: “It was good to use interactivity in order to teach others something you have to be sure yourself of the information.” And that including interactivity made the whole task “…less nerve wracking as engaging with the audience made them seem less intimidating!” Another noted that: “It gave me more confidence to know that people were listening and participating…”
- There were mixed reactions to Xerte. “I felt that my presentation became much more interesting because I was able to do so much more with my text/pictures e.g. quizzes warp into other pictures hot spotting an image etc.” And “…it was fun, more than anything…” “I’m bored of powerpoint”. However, students were not uncritical of Xerte: “…it is currently not particularly simple or easy to use especially if you have never used it before – there are many features which I avoided using because I didn’t know what they did and also it is not clear how to do simple things such as make the presentation full-screen.”
Findings related to language learning:
- Xerte offers potential for language learning and teaching. 73% of questionnaire respondents felt that Xerte would be good for language teaching and learning, and this notion was borne out in discussion with the group: e.g. “Xerte…could be good for language learning and teaching as the many different options for creating slides and in particular the interactive elements mean there is potentially a lot you could do with it.”
- Interactive digital content, as facilitated by tools such as Xerte, can enable interesting and useful tasks for learning. The class tutor reported that the responses to the task this year were “rich in content, well-researched and referenced.” She was “stunned and impressed” by the new vocabulary and grammar students had demonstrated and by the online sources (in Spanish) that they had found to embed within their digital files. “Many [of the students] produced knowledge and information far beyond my expectations…the task stretched them and they rose to the occasion…” For example, some students found original, relevant links to video materials in Spanish to embed in their work, and two students used powerpoint animations to conduct a ‘Who Wants to be a millionaire’-style grammar quiz show. Every student had to learn the appropriate vocabulary to manage interactions with the rest of the class while demonstrating their learning object/presenting it. The tutor noted that as beginners, she was familiar with their level of language knowledge, and she was pleased and surprised to hear several students producing tenses they had not been taught (e.g. the conditional) to convey their information. One student also noted: “I got insights into how to engage the audience.” Understanding and reflecting on presentation and group management are useful transferable skills, and especially relevant for teaching (which many students will do during their Year Abroad). Students also needed to be sure of their own grammatical knowledge to produce questions and (correct) answers in their interactive tasks. Each presentation with its invited class interaction served to repeat and embed the basic grammatical ideas presented in the learning objects, and the diversity of approaches facilitated by the range of media tools used meant that each presentation seemed fresh. The class tutor noted that each student was “consolidating their grammar knowledge in practice,” and one student commented that: “The interactivity was very helpful to engage the audience in language learning as it seemed to be more exciting compared to listening and reading the content presented.” This format served as revision and practice for all, and during the exam period each learning object could be viewed via the University’s Blackboard site for further revision. It should also be remembered that these students did not know any Spanish when they began their classes in October 2013.
- The task was suitable to students planning to teaching during a year abroad. This was an aspect that was behind the conception of the project and was noted by our external assessor: “The task was particularly suitable for students aiming to engage in teaching during their Residence Abroad period as it provided them with opportunities to introduce grammatical and cultural content to their classroom peers and to reflect on, and further explore, the potential that technology has to a) enhance delivery and b) foster classroom interaction.”
Some edited lessons learnt (from our final report):
- Xerte seems to have acted as a catalyst to inspire creativity. Training students in the use of Xerte and constructing a task which would make use of Xerte’s functionality seemed to inspire creativity both for those students who used Xerte and in those who chose not to. This creativity was manifested in the range of resources and activity-types that students discovered and included in their work, and also how they manipulated more familiar tools like Powerpoint and Prezi to include the interactive element. They clearly learnt new digital skills in the use of tools they were already familiar with, in order to complete the task. This was a surprising outcome for us and a pleasing one because it shows real enhancement of digital literacy.
- The use of Xerte encouraged students to begin to think about learning design. The task and the use of Xerte encouraged students to consider their audience; the language they used (pitch, vocabulary in Spanish); language level that they would use and their audience would hear/understand, and their task design for learning: “Through Xerte I have understood how complex it is to create a functional and enjoyable toolkit…the experience taught me precision any aspect that would not be precisely done would be immediately reflected on the outcome e.g. interactive part not working, font size, etc” These considerations are important for teachers and learning designers, and also transferable skills which are useful in presenting any kind of material.
- Students took a greater degree of control over their learning. As described above, students acquired new skills and knowledge in completing the task, and this new knowledge was driven by their own research and activity. Thus, they became producers of their own language-learning content and they reported a sense of achievement and pride in what they had created. The external assessor noted: “Students’ sense of ownership, and that of engagement with the task, is further supported by the relative complexity and relevance of the topics covered in their presentations.”
- The task is more important than the tool. Although, we focussed heavily on the use of Xerte, we felt we had to be flexible because this would be an assessed task. The retention of the task elements (interactivity, appealing to users, multimedia resources) but the loosening of the restriction on which tool could be used, meant that students could choose the digital tool which worked best for them. Similarly, their evaluation of Xerte as an appropriate tool to achieve their aims, gave insights into the differences between Xerte, ppt and Prezi and how they are best used and for what purpose. This is an important aspect of digital literacy: understanding how different online/digital tools can be used to achieve different digital objectives. We felt vindicated in our choice not to mandate Xerte.
- Innovation in the curriculum can produce novelty which is appealing. The students embraced the novelty of being asked to produce learning objects as part of their language class. By asking students to use a tool which is about creation of content, we were encouraging the acquisition and use of a range of other skills (i.e. related to digital literacy, presentation and learning design) as a by-product of essentially, an oral exam task. The students were also engaged in a useful, real-world task in that the learning objects created were used by the class during revision time, and will continue to be in different contexts, with later cohorts, for language learning.
- Time for learning and ease of use are crucial in introducing new online tools. Some students rejected Xerte because they felt that they could not achieve their desired level of proficiency in time to complete the task. The students naturally wanted to excel, and so chose the tool they felt would help them do this most easily within the time allowed. If we were to run the project again, we would allow more time for training and peer-sharing of technical knowledge.
- Comments on the value of Xerte toolkit approach. For many students, Xerte was not particularly easy or quick to get to grips with. They reported wanting more onscreen help and information, and guidance on how different functions could be used for learning. Some aspects of the tool were found to be counter-intuitive, e.g. the pressing of ‘publish’ instead of ‘save’ and other aspects were reported as frustrating, e.g. limited ability to alter font size and colour, limited ‘look’ of the final outputs, and difficulties in getting full screen. Some of these confusions were solved by individual students, but they did not share their knowledge with the rest of the group, which would have been useful. Comments from the student discussion groups indicated that the tool was felt to have very good functionality for learning but limited visual appeal. Students learnt most about Xerte (and the other tools they used) through self-discovery of functions. It was much easier to teach the tool’s various characteristics on a one-to-one basis than in plenary (our plenary session descended into individual explorations of Xerte anyway). The project team encouraged the students to be frank about their thoughts on Xerte, as their critical analysis would be an aspect of learning about different digital tools and their use in practice.
Our full final report will be available to read soon..
Kate B