In this section, I focus on the development of online courses, especially the creation of videos and how to make them as motivating as possible in order to engage and retain students that I will never meet.
1) Researching the use of digital technology for language teaching
In 2012, my research partner (Keiko Sakui) and I received a three-year grant from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. It was to investigate ways to teach languages using digital technology, and meant that we could observe and interview teachers in different institutions in several countries outside Japan such as Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the US. The following are two results of that research: Cowie and Sakui (2013) is an overview of different techniques that the expert language teachers we met used in their teaching; and, Cowie and Sakui (2014) describes a four-part framework that shows different pedagogical approaches adopted by language teachers who use digital technology. These four approaches are: 1) out of class online learning; 2) in-class blended learning; 3) Web 2.0 multi-media projects; and, 4) totally online learning.
It was a great privilege to meet these expert teachers, not all of whom were working in ideal situations, and we were encouraged by them to make something very practical to enhance student learning. Of the four approaches to digital technology that we had identified, we decided to focus on totally online learning as this was something we could do independently from our institutions and was new to both of us. We felt that we could learn the most from this option.
2) Creating videos for online courses
We decided to create courses on the Udemy platform. These can be shared for free or purchased by anybody who uses Udemy. The specialist skills we had to develop included planning courses, writing scripts, making videos, adding audio and animation, and putting it all together through editing. The video below explains in more detail this process.
It has been a challenging journey to create online courses and then see if anybody wants to register for them. Currently we have had over 600 students registered of whom many do complete the courses and leave favourable reviews. However, as we wrote in Cowie and Sakui (2019):
This sounds positive but we began to notice that many of the students did not complete the courses. We started to wonder why this was the case and wanted to find ways to retain student interest, especially for students that we do not see face-to-face and have little chance of interacting with online. (p. 16)
As a result we started to wonder how we could motivate students to engage with our courses more.
3) Motivating online learners
Motivation to learn a foreign language is a topic which we have been interested in for a long time (see Cowie & Sakui, 2011; Sakui & Cowie, 2008; and, Sakui & Cowie, 2012 for previous journal articles on motivation and language learning). We have now come back to motivation and are linking it with online learning and goal theory (Dörnyei, 2001). We are trying to find ways in the instructional design of our online courses to motivate learners that we never meet and do not directly interact with. In Cowie and Sakui (2019) we recommend that, amongst other things, online teachers need to make lessons consistent and relevant and divide them into manageable chunks. (Please refer to our presentation at the Auckland University of Technology SoTEL Symposium in February 2019). We also suggest that, in order to retain and motivate students, online teachers could explore the use of storytelling, humour, and a personable presentational style that was more like a YouTuber than an academic. Our next research study did actually focus on YouTubers as we conducted a survey and follow-up interviews with language learning students which involved them commenting on six very popular YouTuber teacher videos. The initial research was presented at SoTEL 2020 (Cowie & Sakui, 2020) and a further paper has been accepted for ASCILITE 2020.
Reflection
I have used video for a long time in my language lessons. Prior to YouTube or other online platforms being available, I would play videotapes in the classroom as a source of language input. Then, as students increasingly had access to video on their digital devices I would encourage them to view their own choices independently (Cowie, 2018). Subsequently, I started to make videos myself and encouraged my students to do so, too. However, perhaps I had never clearly articulated to myself why it is useful to do this.
In July 2020, I was asked by the editor of the English Language Teaching Journal of Oxford University Press if I was interested in writing an article which would explain online video use for language teachers. I was really glad to be able to do this (Cowie & Sakui, 2020) and it enabled me to reflect on why teachers might use online videos. The article states:
We focus on three reasons for teachers and students to make and share videos: to give instructions; for language practice and acquisition; and to help create an online learning community.
In response to COVID-19, I am making use of all three of these reasons on an almost daily basis in my university lessons. These video clips are embedded in a mesh of synchronous and asynchronous teaching approaches with students that I can actually communicate directly with; I can get all kinds of feedback from these students. However, it is much harder to effectively use video with online students that I cannot communicate directly with; as on the Udemy courses. Therefore, I want to continue to explore ways to make even more effective and motivating online materials, especially videos, that will stand alone even if I cannot ‘meet’ my students.
References
Cowie, N. (2018). Student transcription for reflective language learning. ELT Journal, 72, 4, 1, 435-444.
Cowie, N., & Sakui, K. (2011). Critical but neglected: EFL teachers’ perspectives on learner motivation. In G. Murray, A. Gao & T. Lamb (Eds.) Identity, Motivation, and Autonomy: Exploring the Links, pp. 212-228. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Cowie, N., & Sakui, K. (2014). Take your pick: Out-of-class, blended language and Web 2.0 projects, and online. The JALT CALL Journal, 10, 3, 273-286.
Cowie, N., & Sakui, K. (2013). It’s never too late: An overview of e-learning. ELT Journal, 67, 4, 459-467.
Cowie, N., & Sakui, K. (2019). Enhancing student retention rates on open non-formal online language learning courses. Pacific Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 1, 1, 15-24. https://doi.org/10.24135/pjtel.v1i1.17
Cowie, N., & Sakui, K. (February 19th, 2020a). Enhancing student retention rates on open non-formal online language learning courses. SoTEL Symposium. Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, NewZealand. https://doi.org/10.24135/pjtel.v2i1.26
Cowie, N., & Sakui, K. (2020b). Teacher and student-created videos in English Language Teaching. ELT Journal. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccaa054
Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Teaching and Researching Motivation. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Garrison, D. R. (2011). E–Learning in the 21st Century: A Framework for Research and Practice (2nd Edition). London: Routledge/Falmer.
Sakui, K., & Cowie, N. (2008). “To speak English is tedious”: Student resistance in Japanese university classrooms. In P. Kalaja, V. Menezes & A. M. Barcelos (Eds.) Narratives of EFL Teaching and Learning, pp. 98-112. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sakui, K., & Cowie, N. (2012). The dark side of motivation: Teachers’ perspectives on ‘unmotivation’. ELT Journal, 66, 2, 205-213.