Papers by Laia Canals
Computer Assisted Language Learning, 2018
The present paper details the experience of designing and running the first online English langua... more The present paper details the experience of designing and running the first online English language courses at Yarmouk University with the support of the Open University of Catalonia. The courses fall within the framework of the EQTEL project, which aims to develop and implement accreditation standards, guidelines and procedures for quality assurance of online courses in Jordanian universities. The focus of the research was to evaluate the course from the teachers’ perspective while identifying possible stumbling blocks and challenges that could be used to refine and enhance the course and the teacher preparation program in successive iterations. Teachers completed a questionnaire that sought to reveal their beliefs, attitudes and experiences using technology for language instruction. The study concluded that teachers perceive more affordances in using technology to practice receptive skills (listening, reading) than productive skills (speaking, writing). Teachers evaluated the teacher preparation prior to the course as sufficient but expressed contradictory attitudes towards using technology for language instruction which need to be understood within the context of the institutional culture and the decision-making process behind technology adoption.
Computer Assisted Language Learning, 1-26., 2018
The present paper details the experience of designing and running the first online English langua... more The present paper details the experience of designing and running the first online English language courses at Yarmouk University with the support of the Open University of Catalonia. The courses fall within the framework of the EQTEL project, which aims to develop and implement accreditation standards, guidelines and procedures for quality assurance of online courses in Jordanian universities. The focus of the research was to evaluate the course from the teachers’ perspective while identifying possible stumbling blocks and challenges that could be used to refine and enhance the course and the teacher preparation program in successive iterations. Teachers completed a questionnaire that sought to reveal their beliefs, attitudes and experiences using technology for language instruction. The study concluded that teachers perceive more affordances in using technology to practice receptive skills (listening, reading) than productive skills (speaking, writing). Teachers evaluated the teacher preparation prior to the course as sufficient but expressed contradictory attitudes towards using technology for language instruction which need to be understood within the context of the institutional culture and the decision-making process behind technology adoption.
This chapter sets out various methods for gathering important data on the language uses of partic... more This chapter sets out various methods for gathering important data on the language uses of participants in a research project. These methods imply interaction between students, teachers and researchers. They are used in the design of research projects based on action research, ethnography or conversational analysis, this being the case with the studies presented in the first section of this handbook. Gathering research data following these methodologies often implies preparing situations, tasks or activities that engage participants to interact around a specific theme or to mobilize certain communication skills.
Drafts by Laia Canals
Over the last few years there has been a growing concern regarding the lack of qualified workers ... more Over the last few years there has been a growing concern regarding the lack of qualified workers to fill out the increasing number of job vacancies, particularly in the ITC sector. Against the backdrop of rampant youth unemployment in Europe, the demand for ICT skilled employees is on the raise whilst the number of graduates with computer degrees continues to experience a falling trend. As a response to this situation and the negative impact that it can have on Europe's economic growth in a recovering economy, the European Commission has put forward several initiatives that can help reversing this tendency. The present project, Fostering Web Talent in Europe by encouraging the use of MOOCs focused on web skills, is part of Startup Europe, an umbrella initiative that aims at strengthening the business environment for web and ICT entrepreneurs so that their ideas and businesses start and scale up in Europe. The project's main objective is to assess the possibilities that Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) focused on web skills offer to provide training opportunities for aspiring web entrepreneurs. Throughout the project several activities were conducted to explore and promote the use of MOOCs as one of the main ways of boosting web skills amongst web entrepreneurs in Europe. Several activities were carried out over the course of the project that ran from January until November, 2014. The first activity consisted of a scoping study to chart the landscape in terms of demand and supply of MOOCs in the area of web development which provided a precise mapping of the available MOOCs from European institutions. Germany, Spain, and Switzerland were the three main providers of MOOCs for web talent followed by France, the UK, Finland and the Netherlands. For comparison purposes, an initial count of the MOOCs for web skills available from US MOOC providers was made. It showed that as of March 2014, there was double the amount of MOOCs for web talent available in the US than in Europe. In addition to the desk research, an online survey was carried out amongst students, entrepreneurs, leaders of innovation support programs, developers, and MOOC providers. The survey aimed to identify the web skills which are most in demand and evaluate whether or not these are being covered by the current MOOC supply. The goal of this research component was to reveal insights that could help strengthen and enhance the use of MOOCs for web talent across Europe. The first two activities were published in this preliminary report where the main findings and recommendations were laid out. The rest of the activities conducted throughout the project contributed to the creation and development of a network of universities and business schools in Europe interested in developing MOOCs for web talent. The first networking activity was a webinar conducted in July 1 st , 2014 that revolved around the topic of certification and recognition of MOOCs to increase the employability of the European workforce. This was a topic that came up as a major concern amongst the survey respondents. The second networking activity took the shape of a workshop that was run on September 17th, during EC-TEL 2014, and that included six paper presentations, a MOOC-platform panel discussion, and a response-speech to the papers presented. The last activity of the project consisted of a one-day conference that took place in Helsinki on November 17th featuring introductory presentations of the project, a keynote address by Matt Walton of FutureLearn, and a panel discussion that gave the other speakers a chance to recount their experiences with MOOCs.
Conference Presentations by Laia Canals
Student retention is a key concern for online educational institutions and course administrators ... more Student retention is a key concern for online educational institutions and course administrators because if students complete courses, they are more likely to go on and do more courses. While qualitative studies have been carried out to examine how student satisfaction and perceived learning affect retention (Berge & Huang, 2004; Bolliger, 2004), this study took a quantitative approach and explored how the level of activity in the online classroom Forum affects student retention; that is, the likelihood that students complete and pass this particular course and also possibly continue working towards their degree in the same institution. More specifically, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between the amount of one-to-many written communication in online classrooms and the retention of students throughout one-semester courses in a fully online intermediate English as a foreign language course.The findings confirm the hypothesis that increased levels of student activity and a more dynamic online classroom are beneficial in terms of course completion. However, the increased presence of the teacher in the same communication spaces did not contribute to predicting either student retention or dropout rate.
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Papers by Laia Canals
Drafts by Laia Canals
Conference Presentations by Laia Canals