Presentation given at various workshops and conferences about a model of competences for the telecollaborative teacher. A paper has since been published about this. Contact me to receive a copy.

1. Describing the Competences of the
Telecollaborative Teacher
Robert O’Dowd
University of León, Spain
April, 2011

2. “Language Teacher Competences in CMC Settings”
• European Profile for Language
Teacher Education – A Frame of
Reference
• …the report proposes that foreign
language teacher education in the
twentyfirst century should include
the following elements of initial and
in-service education:
• 6. Participation in links with partners
abroad, including visits, exchanges
or ICT links.
• 17. Training in information and
communication technology for
pedagogical use in the
• classroom.

3. Towards a Model of Competences for
Telecollaborative Teachers:
My Plan for this Morning
•Review of available models of competences for online educators: (Hempel &
Stickler, 2005; Salmon,2003; ISTE, 2008; UNESCO, 2008)
•Identify where these fail to capture the ‘uniqueness’ of Telecollaborative (TC)
activity
•Describe the process of developing a model of TC competence for Teachers
using the Delphi Method
•Discuss the ‘dilemmas’ which emerged during the process
•Present the ‘working version’ for discussion and grading according to difficulty
•How to teach and assess TC Teacher Competence?

4. Current Incarnations of ‘Telecollaboration 2.0’
Need to develop a model of TC Teacher Competence which will be of value to
teachers and teacher-trainers working with all of these different contexts:
Educational Contexts: Classroom-integrated set-ups (Cultura), Autonomous
learning set-ups (versions of e-tandem), Distance-based set-ups (Tridem),
informal learning set-ups (Literalia: Stickler & Emke, 2011)
Types of partners for exchanges: Partner classes of L2, Individuals from C2,
Partner classes using Lengua Franca, specialised interest communities (Thorne,
Black and Sykes, 2009; Hanna and de Nooy, 2009)
Tools and Environments: ‘Closed environments’ – Moodle, ePals, eTwinning,
NINGs, ‘Public tools’ – blogs, fora, skype…
Pedagogical Approaches/Emphasis taken: Intercultural, Interactionist,
autonomy/ socioconstructivist …

5. What is involved in being a
Telecollaborative Foreign Language
Teacher?
The Roles for TC Teachers highlighted to date:
Pedagogical and Organisational:
“In the initial stages of a project the teacher is responsible for preparing learners
for the challenges to come; designing tasks which will enable them to engage
productively with members of another culture; selecting the right tools for the
project; setting basic rules; establishing a clear timeframe and providing the
space necessary for learners to reflect periodically...
(Lewis, Chanier, & Youngs, 2011: Special Issue Commentary: Language
Learning & Technology)
“Inevitably…Teacher 2.0 must be able to not only design effective
telecollaborative tasks, but be able to monitor and assess the
learner interaction (in the classroom and online) in order to optimise
the task-as-process (Dooly, 2010: 293)”

6. Models of ICT competence for
Teachers
Hempel & International UNESCO: ICT Salmon (2003): E-
Stickler (2005) Society for Competency moderator
Technology in Standards for competencies
Education (2008) Teachers
(2008)
•Basic ICT •Facilitating and • Educational •Understanding of online
competence Inspiring student Policy processes
•Tech competence learning •Curriculum &
with software •Designing digital- Assessment •Technical skills
•Dealing with age learning •Pedagogy
constraints of the experiences and •ICT (technical) •Online communication
medium assessments competence skills
•Online •Model digital-age •Organisation &
socialization work and learning Administration •Content expertise
•Facilitating •Promote digital •Teacher
communicative citizenship and professional
competence responsibility •Personal characteristics
development
•Creativity & •Engage in
Choice professional growth

7. Models of ICT competence for
Teachers – common elements…
ICT /Online
Competence
for Teachers
Technical competence- Pedagogical skills –
Online communication
basic knowledge of desgning appropriate Digital Age citizenship-
skills &
variety of tools tasks and assessment attitudes and modelling
socialisation skills
and software procedures

8. What differentiates Telecollaborative
Competence from ‘Traditional’ Online
Competence for FL Teachers?
Telecollaboration is inherently ‘intercultural’ – both in practice and in its
underlying pedagogical principles
The telecollaborative teacher is not alone – usually two or more teachers
working together from different cultural and institutional contexts - requires of the
teacher keenly refined intercultural skills and attitudes of intercultural competence
Telecollaboration tends to be a long-term, complex activity which permeates the
whole FL course – themes, tasks, classroom interaction etc.
In many telecollaborative set-ups, the active participation of the teacher in the
online interaction is not required – less need for technical ICT competence?

9. Pedagogical:
Organisational:
Task design, Exploiting
Setting up, Structuring & Integrating
an exchange an exchange for learning,
Assessment
The Competences of the
Telecollaborative Teacher
Electronic Literacy:
Tools, Affordances, Appropriate use etc.

10. How to Develop a Model of Teacher ICT
Competences (1)?
Hampel & Stickler (2005):
‘Skills pyramid for successful online FL teaching’
How was the model arrived at?
“On the basis of several years’ experience with teaching languages using
a synchronous online environment and training tutors for online language
courses (2005: 311)”
Salmon (2003):
‘E-moderator competencies’
How was the model arrived at?
1) Content analysis of online interaction
2) Focus groups – to collect qualitative data on online teachers’ experiences
3) Drafts of models adapted according to practitioner feedback (2003: 25-27).

11. How to Develop a Model of Teacher ICT
Competences (2)?
UNESCO (2008):
‘ICT Competency Standards for Teachers’
How was the model arrived at?
1) Experts Meeting on Teachers/Facilitators Training in Technology-
Pedagogy Integration
2) Multidisciplinary group workshop on Development of Guidelines for
Teacher Training in ICT Integration and Standards of Competency
International Society for Technology in Education (2008):
‘Performance Indicators for Teachers’
How was the model arrived at?
1) Developed by experts in the field of education, industry, and higher
education.
2) Vetted by individuals in more than 30 countries.
”It is more of a "wisdom from the field" methodology rather than a formal
research cycle (personal correspondence with ISTE, April 2011).

12. Developing a robust, consensual model of
Telecollaborative Competence for Teachers
Need to find an approach which:
Takes into account literature on TC Teacher competence to date
Reflects collective experience of both experienced practitioners and
researchers
Is scientifically rigorous (i.e. not anecdotal)
Is comprehensive (takes into account different forms of telecollaboration)
Produces a model which is relevant and applicable in different teacher-
education contexts (easily graded, evaluated and used with assessment tools)

13. The Delphi Method:
Delphi method – three stage iterative questionnaire-based research
technique
Aim of Delphi studies: Establish consensus in group of selected experts to ‘the
solution of a problem’ without them ever having to meet.
Advantages over a ‘focus group’ technique:
No risk of a participant’s ideas being suppressed
No one dominates proceedings
Experts work on their answers in their own timeframe
Avoids logisitics and cost probems of gathering experts together
Recent Example of use in our area: Kelly, M. Grenfell, M., Allan, R. Kriza, C. &
McEvoy, W. (2004).

14. The Delphi Method:
Procedure:
Round 1:
Draft of 30 ‘can do’ statements Telecollaborative Competence for FL
Teachers drawn up based on extensive literature review.
100 experts and experienced practitioners from different TC contexts
identified: Personal network / Authors of published literature on the area / Active
practitioners from etwinning and ePals / Colleagues recommended by experts
Participants asked to grade skills 1-5 and add comments about missing skills,
bad formulations etc.
Responses received from 60 participants & 76 separate qualitative comments
and suggestions provided by these participants.

16. The Delphi Method:
Round 2:
The descriptors which received a mean value greater than four and a standard
deviation less than one were maintained (25/30). The remainder (5/30) were
eliminated.
New descriptors suggested by practitioners were incorporated (10 items). Some
of the original descriptors were also reformulated based on suggestions.
Key changes to descriptors in 2nd round:
1. Use of 'can do' statements to describe competences – practical but very
limiting – excludes knowledge, attitudes
2. Although difficult to assess and measure, necessary to identify the
attitudes and beliefs which successful telecollaborative teachers bring with
them to their exchanges.

17. Organisational Pedagogical
The Competences of the
Telecollaborative Teacher
(Round 2)
Electronic Literacy
Intercultural /Socio-affective

18. The Technical Literacy Dilemma
Contrast:
“Teachers… require a certain level of technological competence. They need
the confidence to bring technology out of the labs where it’s cloistered away and
make it part of the everyday curriculum. They need the self-assurance to venture
beyond the restrictions of pre-packaged software and explore open source
software and free web services (Pegrum, 2009).”
With:
“…many school teachers will resist the notion that they have to be able to
manage a moodle, when their schools employ an IT person to do that. In this
range of new skills being demanded, I believe teachers best expertise lies in the
language and intercultural domains, they can look for technical support.
(Respondent feedback to Round 1) “
“I think it is vital for the teacher to CHOOSE the tools but not to be an expert in
USING the tools... (Respondent feedback to Round 2) ”

19. The Constructivist Pedagogy Dilemma
“Teachers also need the pedagogical competence to work with digital
technologies, understanding how contemporary pedagogies and literacies fit
with web 2.0. That means they need the skills to deal with the heavy monitoring
and mentoring demands of social constructivism… (Pegrum, 2009).”
“Rather than being responsible for imparting knowledge (which in some cases
she may not possess), her task is to scaffold the construction by learners of
shared knowledge…(Lewis, Chanier and Youngs, 2011)”.
How constructivist should we be? Respondent from Round 2:
“As for ‘organising culturally and linguistically rich tasks’, I don't think this teacher-
led approach works in a constructivist learning exchange.”
But this exclude alternative, equally legitimate approaches to
telecollaboration?
Respondent from Round 1:
“If this survey is only geared toward socio-constructivist learning, you could stress
this in the instructions or by giving a definition of the term ‘telecollaborative
teacher’.”

20. The Institutional Integration Dilemma
Suggestions for Round 2 from Participants:
“The teacher can ensure that … the exchange is fully recognised by the
learners' institution.”
“Having sufficient 'weight' within his/her own institution to ensure that
management backs up the telecollaborative project at every point.”
“…someone, probably the individual language teacher involved needs to have
some strategic skills to approach colleagues and management to move
project initiatives up from individual teacher level to departmental/school
level.”

21. The Socio-Affective Dilemma
Suggestions for Round 1 Participants:
“I think ‘can do’ is too narrow an interpretation of competence myself and a
Delphi technique should also collect insights into values education etc…”
Moderating and conflict-management skills (they are not strictly speaking
'pedagogical skills'. Maybe you need an extra category of skills (socio-
affective)?
“showing empathy…[with partner-teacher]”
Problem: How can these be identifed, assessed and developed in teacher-
education programmes?

22. Eliminated Descriptors from Round 1-2:
The TC Teacher can… use the resources available to them in their own institution to
ensure sufficient access to ICT for their students to carry out the exchange effectively
The TC Teacher can… locate and reserve computer laboratories in their institution
provide students with language structures and vocabulary which they can use in their
online interaction
The TC Teacher can… make students aware of the differences between online and
face-to-face interaction
The TC Teacher can… use a battery of examples from previous exchanges to
illustrate to learners appropriate use of language, how to deal with intercultural
communication breakdown etc.
The TC Teacher can… interact appropriately online with their partner-teacher and the
participating students, using aspects of ‘netspeak’ (i.e. emoticons) when appropriate
and attending to online communication norms (e.g. responding to emails relatively
quickly)

23. The Delphi Method:
Round 3:
“I still think that a general list of these competences is a great achievement
already - with all of them being important - and if at some point you or sb. is able
to maybe design descriptors that differentiate between 2-3 competence
levels for each main point that would be still another achievement.”

24. Descriptors for different
Competence Levels?

25. How to Train & Assess Teachers
in these Competences?
•Modelling good practice in under-graduate and post-graduate courses
•Teaching practice with mentors who are proficient users of technology
•“The best teacher preparation occurs through collaborative apprenticeship, and the
modelling of effective classroom technology practices by both methods teachers and
school-based mentors is thus critical to pre-service teachers’ own professional
development in the educational use of information and communication technologies
(Brown & Warschauer, 2006: 619).”
•Portfolio-based learning (EPOSTL for TC Teachers)

26. How to Train & Assess these Competences?

27. Moving forward in CMC
FL Teacher Education
•One example of dealing with Teacher Education for one area of ICT/CMC
•Need for further work on what FL teachers need to know in order to work
effectively in other areas of CMC, data-based learning, mobile learning etc.
•Need for models to be sufficiently generic to reflect needs and contexts and
tools over a long-period of time – avoid technology-specific models

28. Thank You!
• Contact and suggestions welcome:
• robert.odowd@unileon.es
• http://www3.unileon.es/personal/wwdfmrod