Analyzing case study 1.2b: video conferencing

This case study has been taken from the book Innovations in learning technologies for English language teaching, edited by Gary Motteram.

I will first analyze it using the TPCK framework.

Context

This experience was carried out in Taiwan, where families are not used to reading in English at home; they do it in Mandarin. The participants were 5th form students (eleven-year olds), their teachers and an English native story teller. 

Content

Three books were chosen for picture book reading: An old lady who swallowed a fly, Joseph had a little overcoat and We're going on a bear hunt. 

Technology

Video conference system called JoinNet. Here's a video tutorial to learn how to access and use JoinNet. 

Pedagogy

Students listened to a book reading by an English speaker while they viewed the page spreads on the computer screen. Students were able to interact with the reader by putting and answering questions about the plot, characters and events, in their own mother language. . The teacher was able to specifically focus on English vocabulary, upload worksheets incorporating listening and spelling activities, such as cloze procedures, as well as utilising the system’s polling function to elicit responses from the children.

Where does this experience fit in the SAMR model?

I would say this experience fits in the redefinition level, because this is a new task which the teachers considered useful and necessary, and which was previously inconceivable without technology; hitherto, teachers had not found the way to expose that number of students to a story telling, interactive session. In this experience, students and teachers listened to and interacted with a person from another part of the world through this new technological tool, while they viewed the book online. 

My reflections

I found this to be a very interesting case study. More often than not, we tend to think of our own context and circumstances, so it is enriching to read about education and experiences with technology in other parts of the world.

I believe this experience was more aimed at a an exposure and comprehension level, since production was done in their mother language. This is of course due to the stage of learning at which students find themselves, but it proves that technology may be used at any stage in a beneficial way. 

From an experience like this, not only students learn, but also teachers, who may sometimes be afraid of incorporating new technology: "... whilst the children gained a huge amount from these VC sessions, the major beneficiaries were the class teachers. They were able to see an effective book reading modelled by by a skilled English speaker and identify techniques for engaging the listener, as well as learning how to enable children to think and talk around a story in order to maximise comprehension." (Pim, 2013, p. 27).

I have had only one experience with video conferencing. It was last year, for a subject called Multimedia applied to ELT. We weren't able to have "normal" classes because of a conflict at the teacher training college, so we had an online lesson through video conferencing. The experience was good: I found myself doing something I had no idea about, I was able to participate and to listen to my classmates. However, due to a slow internet connection, at moments I felt annoyed and frustrated: I could not listen properly and neither could some classmates. I believe this was a useful tool ni a moment of necessity (otherwise, we would have missed the class).