Developing materials (27 Feb 2004)

Programme | Event report

Past event summary

This free event was organised by CILT and the Subject Centre. It was designed for colleagues in HE who are interested in exchanging expertise on the process of developing home grown materials for a number of contexts. Participants were invited to bring samples of the materials for a display area, and/or to contribute samples to the Subject Centre's web-based Materials Bank.

Programme

Event report: Developing materials for the university language learner

by Dawn Ebbrell

The aim of this event was to provide a forum for the exchange of expertise on the process of developing homegrown materials for a number of contexts within higher education. The format of the day included longer sessions looking at the commercialisation of homegrown resources and a session on copyright issues related to materials development. A number of shorter descriptions of practice addressed specific themes: independent learning, use of audio and video resources, technology-based materials development including multimedia and the use of virtual learning environments (VLEs) and resources for languages for specific purposes.

Commercialising home-grown materials, the experience of the e-packs project

Cécile Tschirchart, London Metropolitan University

On the theme of commercialisation, Cécile Tshirchart presented London Metropolitan University’s ‘e-packs’ project. The ‘e-packs’ were developed to support language learning on a 3000 strong open learning programme involving 3 hours face-to-face contact as well as 3 hours self-directed learning. 400 paying external students currently also participate in the programme. The ‘e-packs’ for French were designed as a companion to the Palgrave Foundations French series – Cécile Tschirchart being a co-author of this series.

The ‘e-packs’ were developed in house with internal funding with technical support in the form of the multimedia development work by the Language Center technician using Macromedia Flash and from the outset were developed with commercialisation in mind.

The ‘e-packs’ are structured into 12 x 3-4 hour on-line sessions using around 230 templates. Each have an ‘extension work’ section which cross-references to other resources including videos, CD ROMs and cassettes. Whilst the ‘e-packs’ will not be published by Palgrave, they are providing marketing support for the ‘e-packs’ through their brochures and websites.

So far, the ‘e-packs’ have been sold in a number of contexts: higher education, family learning, companies and have also generated consultancy work on other projects, e.g. the DfES primary projects and English language materials development with Hachette.

Issues in developing the resources has been time release from other aspects of the day-to-day jobs of staff involved and of course, copyright which was addressed by simply developing their own resources in-house e.g. interviews with native speakers and development of graphics and animations. Initial development was time-consuming but as expertise and use of templates has developed, the process has become simplified. The ‘e-packs’ are available in French level 1 and a beta version of Spanish 1. French 2 and Italian 1 are due in the autumn of 2004.

Copyright issues in materials development

Richard McKracken, OU Rights Department

Richard McKracken, Head of the Open University’s Rights presented a session outlining copyright issues related to the development of language learning materials.

Download presentation: Multimedia Rights Clearance (PowerPoint 30Kb)

This presentation started by making the point that copyright is a negative right in the sense that copyright owners have the right to say no to use of their material by a third party. The presentation outlined key points to bear in mind when dealing with copyright e.g: copyright in an employee’s work is owned by the employer; ownership of copyright can only be transferred in writing but rights can be granted verbally or by implication.

When commissioning work for a third party you need a contract that establishes that the copyright of the work lies with the commissioner. If copyright remains with the author, then the commissioners right of use needs to be clearly defined to avoid difficulties later. With regard to the copyright of students, some university regulations remove student rights – the status of student rights should be taken into account when reworking materials that include student contributions.

With respect to websites a number of points were made:

• avoid linking to external content if using frames within a site and link to homepages
• include terms and conditions of use on your own sites.

In the case of the development of language materials, it is common for developers to create their own realia to avoid the issue of copyright clearance as will be seen in later descriptions of practice. It was pointed out that care should be taken in adopting this approach e.g. in France, strict privacy laws mean that if taking photographs, permission should be sought form the town hall before undertaking the work. Similarly a consent pro forma is extremely important when interviewing or photographing people on the street. It was also stressed that it is important to bear in mind that copyright laws vary enormously from one country to another.

In discussion, the issue of cost for use of copyrighted material was raised. The context for buying rights is best seen as a market rather than a shop: cost is usually completely arbitrary and owners can usually be beaten down. Working with a publisher from the outset is usually a good idea as the publisher will bring their back catalogue of copyrighted material.

Languages for specific purposes

Pilar Delgado-Campbell, University of Glasgow

A number of descriptions of practice were presented in the area of languages for specific purposes. The session was started with a presentation from Pilar Delgado-Campbell describing their European Award winning Spanish and French modules for medical students. The modules are very intensive and include 200 hours of the target language over 5 weeks and are available at three levels with all content being related to medicine e.g. a presentation on a medical topic, role-play situations involving a medical consultation etc. Medical students are well equipped to deal with intensive learning so the intensity of the modules are not a problem. Students cope very well linguistically on the placements abroad although it should be noted that they are under supervision. Communication is the most important aspect of the classes and writing is only done for homework. All of the courses are run on demand: Italian and Russian have taken place in previous years

Showcasing languages and culture for business materials

Lia Mulholland, Patricia Claver-Hervas, Christel Schroeder, University of Luton

Two presentations were given by staff from the University of Luton describing two innovations using on-line delivery. The first described the Languages and Culture for Business (LCB) project (Lia Mulholland, Patricia Claver-Hervas, Christel Schroeder) which has been producing resources and delivering training courses to support languages for business and culture. The on-line materials support the vocational learning needs of companies involved in International Trade and can be used in combination with classroom delivery or as part of an independent learning programme. They have been developed for learners with rusty language skills and lead to OCR Certificate in Business Language Competence Level 1 accreditation for listening and speaking.

Internet-based support for English for academic purposes

Dimitra Koutsantoni, Mihye Harker and Rita Mascia, University of Luton

The ‘English for Excellence’ programme (Dimitra Koutsantoni, Mihye Harker and Rita Mascia) is a Web-based tutor-supported environment designed for use in class or independently. The programme is jointly funded by the University of Luton and the Higher Education European Social Fund (HE ESF) programme, under the theme of Widening Participation. The materials are aimed at improving English for academic study in the UK, by teaching academic skills such as writing, reading, listening, vocabulary and grammar. A diagnostic tool supports students in assessing their learning priorities.

Using the Internet as a mode of delivery. The experience of the Virtual Department of Dutch

Katheryn Ronnau-Bradbeer, University College London and Miranda van Rossum, University of Hull

Katheryn Ronnau-Bradbeer and Miranda van Rossum described two innovations involving the University of Hull, the University of Sheffield and UCL which make use of Internet and communications technology to support the learning of Dutch at multiple sites. The first project described involved work based around input from a Dutch writer in residence based at UCL. Students in all of the departments involved worked on different sections of texts by this writer and discussed their translations via a 4-way video conferencing link. A similar setup was used in a module originating at Sheffield on the Multicultural Society in the Netherlands. The project found it useful to use initial video conferences as an icebreaker. A further development, this time originating in Hull, is ‘Lagelands’. ‘Lagelands’ is an Internet-based resource contained within Hull’s homegrown VLE, Merlin. The material has clearly structured pathways and is designed to be tutor-supported.

Evolution not Revolution: using a VLE for language learning

Juliet Laxton, University of Southampton

The importance of tutor support and feedback was stressed in Juliet Laxton’s presentation of the use of Blackboard. Here it was found that the inclusion of assessed coursework is essential and a shared space for making student work available motivates towards greater accuracy.

Using a VLE to deliver independent learning materials

Rose Clark, University of Portsmouth

Continuing with the theme of VLE use but focusing on independent learning, Rose Clark described the delivery of materials for EFL via WebCT. The materials were integrated with a face-to-face programme of teaching and designed for students with a reasonably developed level of autonomy in their learning. The resources form 10% of a self-directed learning unit and cover the four main skill areas. Assessment for the course was via a diary. The model adopted was ‘learner as materials developer’. For example, the learners were given ideas regarding different stimuli linked to everyday occurrences they could use to develop their language e.g. junk mail. Students are encouraged to take decisions on what material they would make use of.

CALL independent learning activities

Margaret Clarke, University of Portsmouth

Margaret Clarke described a website developed in Dreamweaver to support independent learning activities. The site contains a number of CALL controlled practice activities authored in Hot Potatoes based around blocks of manageable texts. The resource’s key aim is to integrate the materials with other Internet materials both to motivate the independent language learner and to engage with the metacognitive, cognitive and social dimensions of language.

Intercultural skills at work

Hilary Rollin, Oxford Brookes University

Hilary Rollin’s (Oxford Brookes University) independent learning materials are intended to prepare students with limited confidence and independent learning skills for a work placement in Spain. This presentation looked at the needs analysis, the materials produced for the development both of language skills and intercultural skills, how they were received, and the scope for the creation of further materials.

Creating interactive audio and video web resources

Philip Handley, University of Brighton

The final three descriptions of practice looked at exploiting audio and video resources in materials development. Philip Handley demonstrated the exploitation of authentic language available in the public domain via the Web e.g. Web-based archives of French news reports from TF1 and RTL. Exercises were designed around the clips using the Hot Potatoes software. Other on-line tools such as the WordReference on-line dictionary were also integrated into the materials.

Exploiting audio and video resources on-line

Miguel Arrebola, University of Portsmouth

The effective exploitation of audio and video resources is high on the agenda at Portsmouth having recently invested over £100,000 in two new digital classrooms. Miguel Arrebola described a collaborative project between the School of Languages and Area Studies and the Department for Learning Development. The project aims to produce high-quality in-house audiovisual materials to optimise the use of the new digital laboratories. The resource provides in situ and remote access to a wide range of authentic materials covering different everyday-life situations in Spain and France. The materials exploit video materials filmed on location in the country of the target language. The materials are exploited integratively at all levels and aim to promote the acquisition of listening, reading, writing skills as well as of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, intonation and target country cultural awareness.

Developing writing skills

Marina di Stefano, University of Cardiff

Marina di Stefano described a European-funded project involving 15 international partners to develop the Italia 2000 materials. It developed a range of multimedia-based materials for second year undergraduate students of Italian. Materials used were derived from one of the partners, Italian television channel RAI which removed the need to clear copyright. It was advised that the partnership agreement should seek to grant full rights of use to the university partners. The resource combines a workbook based around the use of video news clips and literary or news texts – activities develop from the receptive to the productive phase of language use. CALL exercises were also incorporated – these were developed by the University of Aberyswyth.

Further information

Subject Centre Materials Bank
Support is available for colleagues involved in materials development projects who would be interested in sharing their materials (or samples) with colleagues.

London Metropolitan University’s ‘e-packs’ sampler
http://learning.unl.ac.uk/epacksample

Lagelands
www.hull.ac.uk/lagelands

RTL France
www.rtl.fr

TV5 France
www.tv5.org

Word Reference
www.wordreference.com
free access to on-line dictionaries