Building Blocks of an Online CALL Course for MATESL Students

Christine Bauer-Ramazani
Saint Michael’s College, Colchester, VT 05439
e-mail: cbauer-ramazani@smcvt.edu

URL associated with the presentation : http://personalweb.smcvt.edu/gsl520/gsl520_online
Hardware requirements: Windows 95/98/NT; speakers
Specific browser or plugins required: Internet Explorer, RealPlayer, MS-PowerPoint Animation Player

The presenter will demonstrate the major building blocks/components that are necessary to create and conduct an online CALL course for MATESL students. This course was authored by the presenter and is currently in progress with participants from Greece, the U.S., and Switzerland. Its objective is to teach participants how to use technology as a tool to create effective multimedia English lessons.

The strength of the online CALL course lies in the fact that it offers students an efficient way to complete their MATESL program requirements from a distance, i.e. without coming to campus. Such a course, therefore, meets the participants' need for continued higher education while at the same time enabling them to hold down full-time (teaching) jobs. In this demo, the presenter will focus on the straightforward, self-explanatory, and easy-to-follow design features of the course and demonstrate the use of the major communication tools and resources. These include, among others, a class listserv for class discussions, link- and filesharing, text- and voice-based chat, a calendar for class events, an electronic journal, HOW TO's, several electronic forms, and a webliography of useful links to TESL/CALL web sites.

Authoring materials used: Microsoft FrontPage 98, RealProducer Plus (streaming video), PowerPoint, Word
Each of the buttons and underlined words in this documents presents a hyperlink.

SAINT MICHAEL’S COLLEGE--GSL520 Online: Computer-Assisted Language Learning

Video of the instructor's welcome message. Click here to view the video. Click on the button on the left to start the course. Message Board/ Announcements -- Your first stop after you log on! Search website for:

Getting Started

Introduction - Course Overview - Prerequisite Skills, Books, Hardware, Software, Students, Videotaping - Course Organization, Progression, Interaction, and Attendance (Policies and Procedures)

Course Description and Prerequisites - Course Objectives - Texts, Articles and Recommended Journals - Course Requirements - Evaluation

Course Calendar

Go to Week: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 (to find detailed instructions for each week)

Week

Dates

Topics

Reading

Assignments/Projects Due

(This table lists specifics for each category for each week.)

TOOLS

On this page you find the major tools you will need to carry out required projects.

HOW TO's (Tech tips & workshops) - Software to download - Student Information Sheet/CALL Questionnaire - Web Site Review Form (interactive) - Software Review Form (non-interactive) - Software Review Form (interactive)

Communications

Use this page to find your major Communications tools--for interacting with me and the other course participants:

Message Board/Announcements - Electronic Journal
Electronic Discussion Forum /Listserv /Text&Voice Chat (free!); Provider: eGroups (http://www.egroups.com); functions: group info - members - messages (for posting and replying) - chat (text-based) - talk (voice-enabled) - calendar (for posting class events) - links (for students to share with each other) - database (for uploading tables; not currently used) - vault (for students to upload and share their files) - polls (for surveys; not used)

Resources

Links to Useful TESL/CALL Websites -- This is a huge repository of links for ESL students and teachers. It is divided into categories.
Examples of Multimedia Presentations by GSL520: CALL Students
Links to the major Course Topics (including research, student lesson presentations, many web site and software reviews by CALL students):

Word Processing and Desktop Publishing - Using E-mail and MOOs for teaching ESL - Using the Internet for teaching ESL (includes web site reviews) - Using Software for teaching ESL (includes software reviews) - Using Concordancing for teaching ESL - Authoring