REVIEW OF MOODLE 2.0 Title Moodle 2.0 Platform Mac OS X, Windows, Linux Minimum hardware requirem... more REVIEW OF MOODLE 2.0 Title Moodle 2.0 Platform Mac OS X, Windows, Linux Minimum hardware requirements Disk Space: 160MB free (min) Memory: 256MB (min), 1GB (recommended) Publisher (with contact information) http://moodle.org Support offered Context help, Moodle Docs, Moodle Tracker, Moodle.org Forum, Moodle Partners, self-help tutorials, and Moodle on social network sites Target language Multiple languages (more than 70 languages) Target audience Any level of students Price Free Review by Tsun-Ju Lin, Washington State University
This paper aims to explore the research status of task design used in virtual worlds and the stud... more This paper aims to explore the research status of task design used in virtual worlds and the student's long-term engagement in the use of virtual worlds. Content analysis is conducted to investigate the common designed language activities in the research area. The results show that role- playing are the most common designed activities and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory was significantly used as the theoretical frameworks among the selected studies. However, only one of the studies examined students' further use of the virtual worlds beyond the experiment assigned time. This short paper might shed light on future exploration about the student's long term engagement in the virtual reality environments.
Shared Virtual Environment Complementing Task Achievement Training (SVECTAT) uses authentic task-... more Shared Virtual Environment Complementing Task Achievement Training (SVECTAT) uses authentic task-based communication in Second Life to provide practicum for classroom language learning. SVECTAT has been found effective and efficient in improving functional ability and confidence. Here we present the results of parallel experimental sessions using SVECTAT for English language learners in two different countries, Japan and Taiwan, with the purpose of identifying differences in results and possible reasons for them. We find implications for broader use of this type of language learning method.
REVIEW OF MOODLE 2.0 Title Moodle 2.0 Platform Mac OS X, Windows, Linux Minimum hardware requirem... more REVIEW OF MOODLE 2.0 Title Moodle 2.0 Platform Mac OS X, Windows, Linux Minimum hardware requirements Disk Space: 160MB free (min) Memory: 256MB (min), 1GB (recommended) Publisher (with contact information) http://moodle.org Support offered Context help, Moodle Docs, Moodle Tracker, Moodle.org Forum, Moodle Partners, self-help tutorials, and Moodle on social network sites Target language Multiple languages (more than 70 languages) Target audience Any level of students Price Free Review by Tsun-Ju Lin, Washington State University brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk
2014 IEEE 14th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2014
This paper aims to explore the research status of task design used in virtual worlds and the stud... more This paper aims to explore the research status of task design used in virtual worlds and the student's long-term engagement in the use of virtual worlds. Content analysis is conducted to investigate the common designed language activities in the research area. The results show that role-playing are the most common designed activities and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory was significantly used as the theoretical frameworks among the selected studies. However, only one of the studies examined students' further use of the virtual worlds beyond the experiment assigned time. This short paper might shed light on future exploration about the student's long term engagement in the virtual reality environments.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the integration of two task-based language teaching (TBL... more The purpose of this paper is to describe the integration of two task-based language teaching (TBLT) approaches in the 3D multiuser virtual environment (MUVE) Second Life and to discuss the benefits and challenges from the perspectives of an expert user in Australia and three novice users in Taiwan. A qualitative research methodology was conducted as the research design in the study. Participants included the four instructors from two countries and 144 Chinese language undergraduate students at a major Australian university. Three activity units based on information gap and reasoning gap teaching tasks were created. It was found that conducing TBLT in Second Life can help instructors provide opportunities for the students to set clear goals, ensure studentcentred and authentic approaches to learning, and provide multiple opportunities for input, production, and feedback. Furthermore, the lesson configuration (with the expert taking care of technical issues in the physical classroom and the content instructors focusing on teaching virtually) helped reduce common technical issues in Second Life and thus promote a comfortable learning environment for both the instructors and students to solely focus on the learning content of the language class.
Thesis (Ph.D.), Department of Teaching and Learning, Washington State UniversityThis dissertation... more Thesis (Ph.D.), Department of Teaching and Learning, Washington State UniversityThis dissertation consists of two manuscripts to examine student motivation and engagement in the foreign language classroom. The purpose of the first paper is to propose a model that distinguishes between motivation and engagement. The paper highlights the connections and differences between motivation and engagement in order to point out issues including: whether motivational studies differ from engagement studies; whether the definition of motivation differs from the definition of engagement; and whether students can be motivated but not engaged in language class. In the model, motivation is defined as a general perception of content, discipline area, or activity that influences attitudes toward task involvement. Engagement is seen as a person's involvement in a task. The model also suggests relationships between motivation and engagement. It can be used by both researchers and practitioners to explore the importance of both concepts to student achievement. The purpose of the study in the second paper is to investigate task engagement perception gaps among course designers, teachers, and students in a technology-enhanced language classroom using the model proposed in the first paper as a framework. Based on the findings, the model was refined to help teachers and course designers have a better idea of how to choose and create engaging tasks for students. A sample of 29 pre-service teachers, three online course designers, and two instructors was recruited to participate in an online Chinese course to express their perceptions on these online tasks. All the participants were asked to take a background information survey and six weekly engagement surveys. Interviews, artifact analysis, and observations were also conducted to provide additional insights into participants' background, the tasks, and their perceptions of these tasks. The findings suggested a clear distinction between emotional and behavioral engagement from the student engagement indicators in the proposed model. Furthermore, several categories under the cognitive engagement were modified to make more sense for technology-enhanced language classrooms. Taken together, these findings might be helpful for teachers and course designers to indicate students' emotions and behaviors, and then adjust the teaching strategies and learning environments to sustain or increase students' task engagement.Department of Language and Literacy Education, Washington State Universit
Introduction The recent rapid advances in and popularity of wireless communication and multimedia... more Introduction The recent rapid advances in and popularity of wireless communication and multimedia environments have resulted in language learning in a virtual reality (VR) environment [a so-called virtual learning environment (VLE)] receiving considerable attention in the past few years. In the early stage, VR generally involved only small representations of content area or domains designed to "bridge the gap between reality and abstract knowledge by the discovery method" (Lee, 1999, p. 72). In order to create such environments, the systems were commonly theme-based and comprised a full integration of artificial intelligence and a wide variety of social communication tools. Because of its features, VR was quickly introduced to promote authentic and immersive learning environments. VR tools nowadays are a far cry from early two-dimensional (2D) text-based online VR environments, such as multiuser domains (MUDs) and MUD, object oriented (MOO), to which multiple users can be ...
REVIEW OF MOODLE 2.0 Title Moodle 2.0 Platform Mac OS X, Windows, Linux Minimum hardware requirem... more REVIEW OF MOODLE 2.0 Title Moodle 2.0 Platform Mac OS X, Windows, Linux Minimum hardware requirements Disk Space: 160MB free (min) Memory: 256MB (min), 1GB (recommended) Publisher (with contact information) http://moodle.org Support offered Context help, Moodle Docs, Moodle Tracker, Moodle.org Forum, Moodle Partners, self-help tutorials, and Moodle on social network sites Target language Multiple languages (more than 70 languages) Target audience Any level of students Price Free Review by Tsun-Ju Lin, Washington State University
This paper aims to explore the research status of task design used in virtual worlds and the stud... more This paper aims to explore the research status of task design used in virtual worlds and the student's long-term engagement in the use of virtual worlds. Content analysis is conducted to investigate the common designed language activities in the research area. The results show that role- playing are the most common designed activities and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory was significantly used as the theoretical frameworks among the selected studies. However, only one of the studies examined students' further use of the virtual worlds beyond the experiment assigned time. This short paper might shed light on future exploration about the student's long term engagement in the virtual reality environments.
Shared Virtual Environment Complementing Task Achievement Training (SVECTAT) uses authentic task-... more Shared Virtual Environment Complementing Task Achievement Training (SVECTAT) uses authentic task-based communication in Second Life to provide practicum for classroom language learning. SVECTAT has been found effective and efficient in improving functional ability and confidence. Here we present the results of parallel experimental sessions using SVECTAT for English language learners in two different countries, Japan and Taiwan, with the purpose of identifying differences in results and possible reasons for them. We find implications for broader use of this type of language learning method.
REVIEW OF MOODLE 2.0 Title Moodle 2.0 Platform Mac OS X, Windows, Linux Minimum hardware requirem... more REVIEW OF MOODLE 2.0 Title Moodle 2.0 Platform Mac OS X, Windows, Linux Minimum hardware requirements Disk Space: 160MB free (min) Memory: 256MB (min), 1GB (recommended) Publisher (with contact information) http://moodle.org Support offered Context help, Moodle Docs, Moodle Tracker, Moodle.org Forum, Moodle Partners, self-help tutorials, and Moodle on social network sites Target language Multiple languages (more than 70 languages) Target audience Any level of students Price Free Review by Tsun-Ju Lin, Washington State University brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk
2014 IEEE 14th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2014
This paper aims to explore the research status of task design used in virtual worlds and the stud... more This paper aims to explore the research status of task design used in virtual worlds and the student's long-term engagement in the use of virtual worlds. Content analysis is conducted to investigate the common designed language activities in the research area. The results show that role-playing are the most common designed activities and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory was significantly used as the theoretical frameworks among the selected studies. However, only one of the studies examined students' further use of the virtual worlds beyond the experiment assigned time. This short paper might shed light on future exploration about the student's long term engagement in the virtual reality environments.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the integration of two task-based language teaching (TBL... more The purpose of this paper is to describe the integration of two task-based language teaching (TBLT) approaches in the 3D multiuser virtual environment (MUVE) Second Life and to discuss the benefits and challenges from the perspectives of an expert user in Australia and three novice users in Taiwan. A qualitative research methodology was conducted as the research design in the study. Participants included the four instructors from two countries and 144 Chinese language undergraduate students at a major Australian university. Three activity units based on information gap and reasoning gap teaching tasks were created. It was found that conducing TBLT in Second Life can help instructors provide opportunities for the students to set clear goals, ensure studentcentred and authentic approaches to learning, and provide multiple opportunities for input, production, and feedback. Furthermore, the lesson configuration (with the expert taking care of technical issues in the physical classroom and the content instructors focusing on teaching virtually) helped reduce common technical issues in Second Life and thus promote a comfortable learning environment for both the instructors and students to solely focus on the learning content of the language class.
Thesis (Ph.D.), Department of Teaching and Learning, Washington State UniversityThis dissertation... more Thesis (Ph.D.), Department of Teaching and Learning, Washington State UniversityThis dissertation consists of two manuscripts to examine student motivation and engagement in the foreign language classroom. The purpose of the first paper is to propose a model that distinguishes between motivation and engagement. The paper highlights the connections and differences between motivation and engagement in order to point out issues including: whether motivational studies differ from engagement studies; whether the definition of motivation differs from the definition of engagement; and whether students can be motivated but not engaged in language class. In the model, motivation is defined as a general perception of content, discipline area, or activity that influences attitudes toward task involvement. Engagement is seen as a person's involvement in a task. The model also suggests relationships between motivation and engagement. It can be used by both researchers and practitioners to explore the importance of both concepts to student achievement. The purpose of the study in the second paper is to investigate task engagement perception gaps among course designers, teachers, and students in a technology-enhanced language classroom using the model proposed in the first paper as a framework. Based on the findings, the model was refined to help teachers and course designers have a better idea of how to choose and create engaging tasks for students. A sample of 29 pre-service teachers, three online course designers, and two instructors was recruited to participate in an online Chinese course to express their perceptions on these online tasks. All the participants were asked to take a background information survey and six weekly engagement surveys. Interviews, artifact analysis, and observations were also conducted to provide additional insights into participants' background, the tasks, and their perceptions of these tasks. The findings suggested a clear distinction between emotional and behavioral engagement from the student engagement indicators in the proposed model. Furthermore, several categories under the cognitive engagement were modified to make more sense for technology-enhanced language classrooms. Taken together, these findings might be helpful for teachers and course designers to indicate students' emotions and behaviors, and then adjust the teaching strategies and learning environments to sustain or increase students' task engagement.Department of Language and Literacy Education, Washington State Universit
Introduction The recent rapid advances in and popularity of wireless communication and multimedia... more Introduction The recent rapid advances in and popularity of wireless communication and multimedia environments have resulted in language learning in a virtual reality (VR) environment [a so-called virtual learning environment (VLE)] receiving considerable attention in the past few years. In the early stage, VR generally involved only small representations of content area or domains designed to "bridge the gap between reality and abstract knowledge by the discovery method" (Lee, 1999, p. 72). In order to create such environments, the systems were commonly theme-based and comprised a full integration of artificial intelligence and a wide variety of social communication tools. Because of its features, VR was quickly introduced to promote authentic and immersive learning environments. VR tools nowadays are a far cry from early two-dimensional (2D) text-based online VR environments, such as multiuser domains (MUDs) and MUD, object oriented (MOO), to which multiple users can be ...
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