Online
Learning Systems as Mediation
between
Cyberspace and Learner
Hans Werner Hess
Abstract
Überlegungen zum Einsatz neuer Medien und insbesondere des WWW sind stark von neo-reformpädagogischen Schlagwörtern wie 'Autonomie" (des Lerners) und "Authentizität" (der Materialbasis) geprägt. Tatsächlich jedoch erfordert ein angemessener Gebrauch des WWW für den Grundstufenunterricht Deutsch sowohl im sprachlichen als auch landeskundlichen Bereich zwingend eine beträchtlichen Steuerung bzw. Didaktisierung. Lernangebote via WWW müssen strukturiert und auf die Feinziele paralleler Unterrichtsphasen abgestimmt werden, um für Studenten sinnvoll und akzeptabel zu sein. Der eigentliche Gewinn an "Autonomie' liegt dabei auf seiten der Lehrer, die durch Nutzung einfacher Software-Angebote heute selbst eine vermittelnde elektronische (WWW) Ebene zwischen das 'authentische' Internet und die spezifischen Bedürfnisse ihrer Lerner kreativ einziehen können. Der Artikel erläutert dies am Beispiel eines WWW-Lernsystems für Grundstufenlerner zum Thema 'Das politische System Deutschlands'.
Introduction
The WWW is believed to be an ideal medium for
‘authentic’ information retrieval. It is also said to be conducive to ‘autonomous’
and ‘discovery learning’, which, in turn, supposedly leads to the development
of ‘flexible, creative thinking’ and ‘process-driven learning’ (e.g. Borkowski
et al. 1996, Issing & Klimsa 1995 among many). However, as Rösler (2000) recently
pointed out, the inflationary use of such reformpädagogische Schlagwörter may undermine a rational, differentiated
discussion of the WWW’s possible role in language learning and Landeskunde. This role lies, I believe,
in small improvements of existing tuition schemes – an added value – rather than in bringing about a pedagogical revolution.
Within our familiar learning ecology, ‘the Web’ can indeed enlarge the space
for practising linguistic skills and enhancing knowledge – if and when it
is closely linked to syllabus and classroom. This implies, however, that teachers
insert a mediating level between
the ‘authentic’ cyberspace and the learner. If learners are to move through
the Web independently (i.e. outside the classroom), the mediation should itself
be web-based. This article will introduce one such attempt by presenting a
(publicly accessible) WWW-based ‘hypermedia’ environment about the political
system in Germany. The learning environment deals with an important aspect
of Landeskunde and is compatible with language learning activities at the lower
intermediate level.
The truth is that texts on the WWW are not inherently more ‘authentic’
than any other written/printed source. They were written with a purpose and
according to the specifics of the medium, and can be as ‘artificial’ (or simplified)
as any GFL textbook. Moreover, information retrieval on the WWW can be a very
time-consuming and cumbersome process. Asking (registered, fee-paying) students
to develop an ‘autonomous’ streak in learning may be seen as sheer negligence
of a teacher’s duty – which is, after all, expert guidance in a step-by-step
approach into the realm of the foreign language. Why should I (an imaginary
GFL student might ask) spend my time with searching for documents and articles on the WWW, if I could use it
more fruitfully with actually reading
(and discussing) the one already, and sensibly, provided by my teacher?
The clamour for ‘autonomy’ is certainly dysfunctional
if the use of the WWW is embedded into a language-learning
context on the elementary/lower intermediate level (which, after all, represents
the majority of GFL situations). Little can be gained in terms of language
proficiency or even declarative linguistic knowledge when such students randomly
navigate through web sites. They will simply not understand enough to make
sense of an ‘authentic’ source, not to mention an appreciation of its pragmatic
context. In all likelihood, the grammar and vocabulary of the ‘authentic’
document will by far exceed anything students have so far come across. But
precisely because such an endless variety of materials exist on the WWW, students
can hardly be expected to focus on working through a single text thoroughly.
If anything, the ‘autonomy’ principle simply encourages superficial scanning
as the primary reading comprehension technique. My suspicion is that this
does not much to increase either linguistic or factual knowledge (My point
can be easily seen by opening the – random – example of “Links
für Deutschlerner” of Themen neu,
vol. 1, Lektion 6 (Aufderstraße
et al. 1992-95). This lesson introduces basic vocabulary about body and health.
Students at this point have not learned past tense, passive voice or any type
of complex sentence structure and word formation. The first link for this
lesson points to the Deutsches Medizinforum,
a special interest forum for medical practitioners. It is difficult to imagine
what elementary level students can learn on pages such as ‘Das
Bauchaortenaneurysma’ or ‘Blasenentzündung’).
The mere existence of a German cyberspace does
not automatically stimulate ‘autonomy’. At least two other factors are crucial
here: (1) motivation on the part of the student (which has little to do with
the medium once learners are familiar with the web), and (2) the existence
of decipherable, legible sources to satisfy this motivation or curiosity.
The motivation is first and foremost (although not exclusively) developed
in the classroom (if it already
existed prior to classroom stimulation, we would not have to think of web-supported
‘autonomy’ education anyway). Teachers should therefore speak of the ‘role
of new media’ preferably in connection with objectives set in a syllabus or
even as defined for a single teaching/learning unit. The media (or the material
transmitted through them) then become one part of a ‘global learning environment’
(Barson & Debski 1996) where classroom activity, teacher/tutor, textbooks,
native-speaker contact and other conceivable means are strategically ‘arranged’
around the learner to facilitate his/her overall goal: rapid knowledge gains
and rapid language acquisition. It is not the medium’s role to determine the
goal, however – pedagogically or otherwise. In institutional contexts, technology-supported
work is therefore an add-on to the classroom and the curriculum – and its
relative merits are to be determined in relation to them. The web pages in
the above example do not meet these conditions. Browsing through the Deutsches
Medizinforum is quite unlikely to stimulate learner interest (unless we
have a GFL group of medical doctors). The complexity of both content and language
structures leaves students with just one possibility of ‘learning’ – the recognition
of previously learned basic vocabulary without, however, understanding any
text, nor indeed the nature of the Forum.
I cannot imagine any learner developing her interest and her ‘autonomy’ by
browsing incomprehensible material.
Further (I believe this to be very important), work with technological
means should be pre-structured and carefully planned (‘didaktisiert’, as the German term goes). This implies not only the
(partial or full) pre-selection of usable sources but in many cases the actual
authoring of materials commensurate with
the students’ acquisitional level. A glance at even the Deutsches Medizinforum might have been useful if only students were
actually informed beforehand why this should be so, and what they could do
(or look for) when accessing the pages.
The WWW and peripheral software tools in fact
provide teachers with an enormous
freedom (‘autonomy’?) to create, modify and align learning/teaching programs,
which by far exceed anything available to us even a few
years ago. They allow us to tailor a learning environment to our students’
real needs and preferences. This environment would, of course, include ‘authentic’
web material, and it would certainly give students a degree of ‘autonomy’
– or choice. But as a medium useful for learning, it needs to be purposefully
constructed as an intermediary step
between the students’ level of attainment (and interest) and the ‘authentic’
Web. The lower the acquisitional level, the larger the degree of guidance
to be provided by the teacher. In the early stages, this guidance will certainly
have to emphasise the acquisition of linguistic means. It will therefore have
to be ‘artificial’ rather than ‘authentic’. But this very artificiality would
guarantee its usability – as well as its usefulness. I would like to demonstrate
these points by introducing an online learning project about the German political
system, which was developed at the Hong Kong Baptist University.
Aims and Objectives
The context of this project is an undergraduate course, the BSocSc (Hons) in European Studies (see
also Hess 1999). Its German
stream teaches GFL ab initio
during the first two of four years. As the third year is spent entirely in
Europe, students need to reach a high level of competence in a relatively
short time. Language tuition is therefore intensive, and supporting measures
are essential. The course has an extensive system of online exercises and
WWW-based references. These so-called Study
Paths (Lernwegweiser) run parallel
to the language syllabus and direct students at each step to adequate supplementary
study material. Students are therefore familiar with web-supported tuition.
They are simultaneously guided (by the Paths) and ‘autonomous’
in that the system allows them ample choice according to interest and learner
type. It is a major R&D focus of the course to broaden the range of these
supplementary online aids as much as possible (Hess 2000).
Landeskunde of the German-speaking countries is not confined to language classes but
is also taught in a number of history, politics and area studies seminars,
albeit originally in English, with a gradual transition to the target language.
In the current textbook of the language component (Themen neu, Aufderstraße 1992–95), Landeskunde topics are treated in a rather short, concise manner,
which is, of course, insufficient for a major in European Area Studies. Lektion 8 of Themen neu 2, for example, briefly introduces the election system
in Germany – without, however, discussing the underlying political system
and its historical background (which renders the lesson texts rather incomprehensible
to non-European (Asian) students). At roughly the same time (the beginning
of the third semester), students must take an introductory political science
subject Politics and Government
of Germany, which provides just this basic information. The seminar, however,
is taught in English; thereby creating a knowledge domain which cannot be
adequately expressed in German. To bridge the gap between the GFL class and
the political science subject, an electronic study system Das politische System der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland was created, which pursues two aims in combination:
(a) language learning practice and
(b) basic (but systematic) factual knowledge
(in German) to supplement the political science classes. The objectives
for the WWW system were therefore:
(a)
additional language practice commensurate to the level of acquisition at
this particular point (language training),
(b)
a systematic overview of the political institutions of Germany and an insight
into the federal structure of the German political system (knowledge acquisition), and, in addition,
(c)
an opportunity for students at later stages to either review the topic
and/or practice language skills at an intermediate to advanced level (language/knowledge review).
The system was to be used parallel to but outside
the classroom(s) proper – an area which is referred to as ‘Freiarbeit/offenes
Lernen’ (Ritter 1996: 44). It had a tutorial function and was to describe
the political system and its constituent components in its entirety. It had
to build on existing (taught) vocabulary and grammatical structures – and
expand them gradually. It was to train reading and listening comprehension
on this basis. At the same time, it was to be designed as a ‘hypermedia’ structure
(cf. Tergan 1995), i.e. a system combining several media, through which students
could ‘navigate’ freely (even partially) according to need and interest. Multimedia
material was to be used in order to stimulate interest in this rather dry
subject matter. Particularly with advanced students in mind, we also wanted
to incorporate pointers (links) to resources for further studies (‘authentic’
materials) – and keep open the option of updating information later on, whenever
necessary.
Lastly (but significantly), the system had to
be designed with very limited funding. Two staff members produced it alongside
normal work duties. This factor was decisive for the choice of tools and the
structure the project finally took on. The learning system thus does not represent
the state of the art in information technology – but it shows what teachers
can do under common circumstances and by using means available to anyone without
special programming knowledge.
Production Tools and Method
The learning system was created for and on the WWW, using Microsoft FrontPage as the primary authoring
tool. Photographs, icons and other graphics were drawn from ‘free’ or shareware
sites and incorporated with the help of readily available software tools (Adobe
Photoshop, RealAudio
Player and Real Producer,
MS Media Player, IPIX
plug-in). Language learning exercises, including listening and reading comprehension
were written with the well known Canadian Hot Potatoes software for
language teachers, and other small programs obtainable in the U.K. (Creative Technologies). The Quintessential Instructional Archive (Quia.com), an American educational content provider,
offered the possibility of creating instant multimedia vocabulary exercises.
These exercises then reside permanently on the American server but are integrated
into the system. Most of these tools (except FrontPage and Photoshop) are low-cost or free; all of them can be easily handled
by anyone who is familiar with normal word-processing.
It was necessary at first to draw a ‘story board’ or rather: an overview
over the content structure (the political institutions), with indications
of possible links and cross-references among them. One team member initially
wrote texts, which were then checked for linguistic compatibility. The texts
were enhanced with photographs, etc. In a second step, the texts (or HTM files)
were linked to each other, and links were tested as to their logical flow
within the system. The entire construction process thus incorporated a continuous formative evaluation – by the
authors as well as students. Once the basic structure was established, the
construction of language learning exercises for each content segment began.
Eventually, the system was linked to external information sources (‘authentic’
WWW pages), whenever appropriate. In a final step, the already produced or
otherwise available electronic segments were multiply cross-linked so as to
allow predominantly content-oriented access as
well as usage with a language learning focus (see below).
The finished product comprises nearly 1,600 files,
which are internally connected by (currently) 5,261 hyperlinks. Among the
files are 58 special reading texts, 36 digitised audio recordings, 94 interactive
exercises and more than 800 graphic files, video clips, music recordings and
three-dimensional walk-in photographs (‘IPIX’). Five video clips and several
music recordings further enhance the system. Not all of these multimedia materials
were, of course, home-produced. They were taken from public WWW sites on the
understanding that they belong to the ‘public domain’ and can be used as long
as the original source is acknowledged. Home pages anywhere, however, can
change quickly, and any change might have rendered the learning system partly
inoperable if it simply points to other WWW sites (there are currently 914
of such external hyperlinks). Some of the original multimedia files drawn
from the Web were therefore saved on our own server, thus securing continued
usability. In order to speed up loading times, the learning system was burned
onto CD-ROMs, but it was also put on the public WWW to allow remote access).
The Product
The WWW system is basically
self-explanatory and allows ‘intuitive’ orientation to every user. Students
can navigate through the system along a content matrix or a language-learning
matrix.
The content-oriented matrix
consists of five basic elements:
(a) the constitutional bodies of the FRG (Staatsorgane), (b) the federal states (Bundesländer), (c) the Basic Law (Grundgesetz), (d) the political parties (Parteien ) and (e)
the election process (Wahlen), each of which is compiled as a folder
of text, audio and graphic files. A second, ‘deeper’ layer leads to further
subdivisions or cross-references. ‘Staatsorgane’,
for example, contains six sub-segments: (a1) Volk,
(a2) Exekutive,
(a3) Legislative,
(a4) Judikative
plus (a5) Bundespräsident
and (a6) Bundesländer
(because of their role in constituting the Bundesrat).
Further subdivisions occur. By cross-links on all levels of the matrix, the
navigational structure takes account of the fact that all political institutions
are inter-dependent through a system of checks and balances. The section Bundesländer
can be accessed from several layers including the top navigation bar (see
below). It is particularly extensive and includes a wealth of ‘general’ (non-political)
information of interest to our (Chinese) students. This was done to ‘liven
up’ the system – and to make it usable for Landeskunde purposes beyond politics.
Each content folder opens to a collection of reading material, listening
texts and graphics from which students
can choose various sub-topics. The segment
about the federal president, for example addresses the following issues:
(a) Where does the president reside and work?
(b) Tasks and functions of the federal
presidency, (c) The president, the
government and the federal parliament, (d) The presidential election, and (e) Federal presidents from 1949 until today. Icons visualize the nature
of the page or task ‘behind’ the links. These are texts, which can alternatively
be (a) read, (b) read and listened to, or (c) only listened to. The three
modes signal varying degrees of learning difficulty, and students can freely
choose among them.
The interactive reading and/or listening
comprehension exercises accompany each segment (the sample links here
are from the segment about the Bundespräsident).
For each text
(here divided into two parts),
new vocabulary is provided in a bilingual glossary. Icons then lead to several
types of exercises. The exercises are structured in three levels of ascending
degree of difficulty (click on the icons of ‘Was
macht der Bundespräsident?’ here):
(a) multiple choice or quiz-like exercises (Level 1), (b) text reconstruction
(Level 2), (c) full text writing (complete cloze type, Level 3). All levels
are multi-functional (reading and/or listening). Exercises of type (c) are
mainly for advanced students, as are the links to ‘authentic’ WWW sites provided
at the bottom of each page.
The same texts and accompanying exercises appear in parallel listings of
listening and reading activities (Hörtexte, Textarbeit) as well
as vocabulary reviews (Wörter). This language-learning matrix allows students
to navigate by selecting a learning
mode instead of following the primary content matrix. Switching between
these modes remains possible at every point.
Both the content matrix and the language-learning
matrix appear in a permanently visible navigation
bar at the left-hand side of the screen (see here). This should guarantee
orientation in the complex system at all times and (to use Conklin’s well
known phrase) prevent users from getting ‘lost in cyberspace’ (Conklin 1987).
The navigation bar also leads to an introduction to working
with the entire system and a number of links for further
independent study with complementary WWW resources. Lastly, the navigation
bar contains integrated indices of all topics and all
multimedia resources.
Discussion
The production of such a system is technically rather easy – but (because
of the content matter) also extremely time-consuming. It is to be recommended
only if (a) the finished product is indeed tied to a syllabus (thereby
guaranteeing or at least encouraging its repeated use) and (b) it can be used
in successive runs of the same subject/class with the same or comparable content
and textbook(s). The software tools indicated, however, are also very useful
for much smaller ad hoc projects.
It might be argued that the learning system does not make full use of the
WWW’s characteristics – to lead students to original sites and to teach them
to ‘manage’ large amounts of target-language information. It inserts an ‘artificial’
filtering level between the learner and the genuine world of political institutions
in Germany. But the incorporated texts are ‘simplified’ in no other way than
government web sites themselves present ‘simplified’ descriptions of political
processes for the benefit of the general reader (WWW user). The didaktische
Reduktion was simply necessary to reach students with an as yet limited
vocabulary and still in the process of acquiring basic GFL skills. The Web
is used here as a transitory or mediating space for practicing these skills.
It can, however, prepare students linguistically for later ‘autonomous’ activities,
should they so wish.
For the same reasons, the system content remains entirely descriptive.
It does not, for example, discuss the pros and cons of the German Parteiendemokratie, the Verhältniswahlrecht, the impact of the
Bundesrat on political stability and consensus
building, or even the historical evolution of the system. Topics like these
should be critically assessed in a university seminar – but they do not belong
in an introductory learning system on the lower intermediate level, nor should
it be within the remit of the authors to introduce a political interpretation
at this point. We do believe, however, that the delivery of factual, elementary
knowledge may help a later discussion in the classroom.
In a related vein, it has been argued that the learning system subjects
students to an inordinate amount of exterior ‘control’ due to its rigid structuring
– whereas the genuine advantage of the ‘new media’ should be the ‘freedom’
it gives learners to pursue ‘their own’ path of learning. We tried to counter
this criticism by (almost invisibly) incorporating the two matrices and constructing
the system in a modular way. There is no need for students to work through
all modules in ‘linear’ fashion. But the overall structure has to be as rigid
– or clear – as the political system and its components itself. It is, in
other words, determined by the subject matter as much as by the need to provide
a clear and consistent design. Moreover, it is our experience from five years
of web-supported learning that (paradoxically) the need to structure increases
when students work ‘independently’. In the classroom, discussions gone astray
can easily be brought back ‘to the point’ – but not so in ‘autonomous’ phases
of learning. An electronic hypermedia system must lead the learner in small,
logical and self-explanatory steps, and it must allow her to refer back to
the initial point of reference at any time and part of the learning activity.
Far more quickly
than in the classroom, students tend to give up ‘independent’ study if
they loose their orientation and/or do not see ‘the point’ of a particular
segment.
Our computer-savvy students in Hong Kong at least are not fascinated (or
motivationally boosted) by cyberspace. ‘The Net’ is already a common feature
of everyday life, and it is used only to the extent that it provides relevant
information/activities quickly and ‘efficiently’. This means in practice that
they appreciate web support (or any ‘new media’) only if it is convincingly and demonstrably linked
to learning/tutoring goals. This was – and is – the basic rationale for
the present learning system, its linkage to specific subjects and learning
steps, as well as its straightforward structuring.
Conclusion
It has been argued in this article that the mere
existence of the WWW and its seemingly endless variety of target-language
sources does little to foster language and knowledge acquisition. Especially
at lower and intermediate levels of GFL, tapping the ‘authentic’ WWW can lead
to frustration and disappointment – if only because the linguistic complexity
is normally too great. Working with ‘authentic’, unedited sources may not
lead to reasonable proficiency/knowledge gains within a reasonable time.
All the same, the Web provides easy opportunities
to create supplementary target-language study material either by tapping and
modifying external WWW sources or by self-authoring web pages according to
actual syllabi and student needs. This was demonstrated by our own system
about political institutions in Germany. Such a system constitutes an intermediary
level of electronic learning, which is highly structured and ‘artificial’.
But it satisfies precisely the needs of students at a particular acquisitional
level, while not compromising the students’ ‘freedom’ to use the ‘new media’
independently.
In its orientation towards the classroom (and, in this case, even to a
specific textbook), it is to some extent comparable to the conventional type
of Begleitmaterialien, which normally
supplement popular teaching methods. The difference here is that the new technological
tools – the WWW and software – enable teachers themselves to create such electronic learning
environments, specifically targeted at ‘local’ needs, without specialist knowledge
and with relatively little effort. This is no small gain for GFL, particularly
if such systems become publicly available on the WWW and can, if so desired,
be easily adapted by other teachers working under similar circumstances (cf.
Hess 2001). It is, at any rate, an incomparable gain in ‘autonomy’ for concerned
teachers – who could then lead their students gradually, carefully and meaningfully
to use the Web for their own specific purposes as GFL learners.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my former colleague Andrea Stählin, without whose hard
work, advice, energy and enthusiasm the project could never have taken on
its present form.