Introduction
I teach a world language, and our high school does not have any language requirement, so the courses that I design are in competition with the other elective course offerings available to students at our school. As the world becomes smaller, it is important that students today have a global education that allows them to develop an understanding of and respect for other peoples and cultures and that gives them the language skills that they need to communicate effectively with native speakers of another language. Due to the limited number of class periods in a day and the inevitable course conflicts that occur when trying to develop a master schedule for over 1700 students, I have developed an online French II Honors course to serve those students who are unable to enroll in the face-to-face French II Honors class. It is my hope that the success of this course will lead to the expansion of online world language course offerings so that as many students as possible can benefit from the important lessons and skills we teach in the World Language Department.
Instructional Design Theories
As we have introduced an increasing number of courses into our offerings at our high school, it has become evident that certain instructional design theories are more conducive to creating an effective learning experience for students. What is true for the online health and physical education courses that are currently available holds true for online world language instruction as well. Learning online requires a certain level of intrinsic motivation. Therefore, students who respond best to a behaviorist experience of stimulus-response (Ertmer and Newly, 1993) are unlikely to be successful in an online learning environment where there is less opportunity for the instructor to verify that students are on task.
At the very least, online learning experiences need to be structured around a cognitivist learning theory. Cognitivism focuses on the learner and encourages students to make connections (Ertmer and Newly, 1993). While cognitivism is a good starting point, however, all learning should be moving in the direction of a constructivist approach, and the same is true of online courses. As Ertmer and Newly (1993) explain, “Learners do not transfer knowledge from the external world into their memories; rather they build personal interpretations of the world based on individual experiences and interactions” (p. 63). Learning a language is a constructivist pursuit if done in an environment that provides authentic learning experiences. World language teachers are constantly asking students to construct meaning from what they hear and see and to build their communication skills to be able to interact proficiently with native speakers of another language.
UbD Plan Implementation
In their book, Understanding by Design, Expanded Second Edition, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe outline a “goal directed” (2005, p. 56) approach to learning where learning experiences are designed with the end in mind. In lieu of planning daily experiences that will, hopefully, result in successful learning demonstrated through summative assessments, the Understanding by Design (UbD) model reverses the process by asking educators and curriculum writers to begin with the end in mind (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005). Their three stages of design are:
- Identify the desired results, including what students need to be able to do.
- Identify the evidence that will show that students have learned.
- Identify and plan the learning experiences that will lead to the learning (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005).
In order for online course design to be truly effective, use of a backward design model such as UbD is almost a requirement. When I create an online course, or even a unit of study, I have to be able to upload the entire course or unit at once. Consequently, I have to be able to articulate which knowledge and skills I want students to learn before I begin to develop the assessments and learning activities. Wiggins and McTighe (2005) refer to this knowledge and these skills as enduring understandings. These understandings should be clearly stated in the course overview (Online Learning Consortium). Without identifying clear enduring understandings, it will be challenging, if not impossible, to design a course with clear and logical development and meaningful assessments and learning experiences.
Importance of Online Learning
Today’s students were born with technology. I began teaching before the introduction of the iPhone, and over the course of my twenty-two year career, I have witnessed the changing role of technology as I have worked with succeeding generations of teenagers. My sense in 2020 is that technology is no longer a tool for them. It has almost become part of their being, part of their identity. Therefore, it is not surprising that so many teenagers today do not respond to learning experiences that reflect a bygone era of education. If I want my students to learn, I have to meet them where they are, and that means that I must use technology effectively. Additionally, as a world language teacher, I am aware that most of my students will be continuing their education after high school. Helping my high school students develop the online learning skills that they will need to continue their education is part of my responsibility as an educator.
One of the challenges in online learning, however, is using technology effectively. Alan November references the “$1000 pencil” that technology can become if it is not used in the proper manner (Madda, 2016). There are countless applications and websites that will help students learn information in a rote manner, but these tools harken back to the behaviorist theory of learning, which is not adequate for today’s learners. As Newmann, Bryk, and Nagaoka (2001) tell us, “Authentic intellectual work involves original application of knowledge and skills, rather than just routine use of facts and procedures” (p. 14). Teachers should be using technology to help their students develop higher level, critical thinking skills (McTighe and Seif, 2003).
Enduring Understandings
As I reflect upon the process of creating an online course, I leave with the understanding that developing and publishing an online course requires a significant investment of time and a commitment to creating a good learning environment for students. All resources, objectives, assessments, and learning activities must be available to students at the beginning of the unit, and the structure of the course must be easy to follow. Creating an online learning environment is not a task that can be accomplished in a couple of hours.
This process has also brought me back to the foundations of planning a course. As a classroom teacher, I always have a sense of what I want my students to know and be able to do at the end of each course, unit, lesson, and class meeting. However, over the course of my career, I have lost the regular practice of articulating objectives in a way that would be clear for students and outside observers. Having to identify enduring understandings and clear goals to create my online unit reminds me that I need to be doing the same in my traditional classroom.
When I began this course, I had preconceived notions about the effectiveness of the online environment when it comes to world language learning. I still believe that face-to-face and blended learning situations provide a more authentic learning experience because of the opportunities for spontaneous conversation in the target language. However, I now see that online world language learning is not only feasible but is worthwhile when face-to-face or blended learning opportunities are not available.
References
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4), 50-The 72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1937-8327.1993.tb00605
Madda, M. J. (2016, August 15). Alan November on the ‘$1000 pencil’ and why edtech companies aren’t pushing the envelope. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-08-15-alan-november-on-the-1000-pencil-and-why-edtech-companies-aren-t-pushing-the-envelope
McTighe, J., & Seif, E. (2003, April 30). A summary of underlying theory and research base for Understanding by Design. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.554.5606&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Newmann, F., Bryk, A., & Nagaoka, J. (2001). Authentic intellectual work and standardized tests: Conflict or coexistence? Chicago: Consortium on Chicago School Research.
Online Learning Consortium. (n.d.). OSCQR – Standard #2. Retrieved from OSCQR – Open SUNY Course Quality Review Rubric website: https://oscqr.suny.edu/standard2/
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2008). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Growing my Classroom 