Developing a framework for delivering a personalised online digital literacies professional learning course for in-service ESL teachers
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Digital literacies are a critical aspect of being an active and engaged member of 21st century society, and it is important to provide English as a second language (ESL) speakers with opportunities to develop their digital literacies in English. However, pedagogy and content specifically focusing on digital literacies are routinely lacking in initial ESL teacher training. Compounding this is that in-service ESL teacher professional learning is often not focused on digital literacies or does not adequately consider the specific contextual constraints and sensitivities that in-service ESL teachers face. Therefore, a professional learning course that is focused on digital literacies and personalised to individual ESL teacher contexts is needed in order to address this gap. This paper discusses the need for in-service ESL teacher training on digital literacies and presents the nascent development of a framework that will be used to deliver personalised online professional learning (POPL) that addresses these needs. The framework incorporates four critical aspects of effective professional learning: personalisation, social constructivism, situatedness, and extended time frames.
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Developing a framework for delivering a personalised online digital literacies professional learning course for in-service ESL teachers
- 1. Developing a framework for delivering a personalised online digital literacies professional learning course for in-service ESL teachers Trisha Poole University of Southern Queensland
- 2. Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
- 3. Digital literacies • Complex • Contested • Critical • Cultural
- 4. Digital Literacies for English language learners and teachers Learners • Critical skill in modern society • Need to learn about DL in English, and in Australian context • Engaged and productive members of society Teachers
- 5. Professional Learning • 4 keys to effective professional learning • Extended timeframes • Personalisation • Situatedness • Social constructivism
- 6. Personalised Online Professional Learning (POPL) • Digital literacies & your ESL classroom: How can it work? • Designed for in-service ESL teachers • Addresses key content area of digital literacies and how these can be embedded into your daily teaching and learning activities • Limited number of participants • Starts in January 2019
- 7. POPL Key 1: Extended timeframes • 20–30 hours in total • 10 weeks • = 2–3 hours per week Example self-study schedule
- 8. POPL Key 2: Personalisation • Related to your context – your classroom, your learners, you • Ability to choose your own path through content • Receive feedback on your own experiences and situation
- 9. POPL Key 3: Situatedness • Related to your context • Uses your experience and knowledge • Investigates your situation • Investigates your learners’ situations
- 10. POPL Key 4: Social constructivism • Opportunities for networking • Sharing of experiences • Learning from others
- 11. POPL framework
- 12. myPOPL: Feedback • What do you think? • What would you like to see in this course? • What would you like to do in this course? www.mypopl.com
- 13. Thank you!
- 14. References • Belshaw, D. (2014). The essential elements of digital literacies. In. Retrieved from http://digitalliteraci.es • Coldwell-Neilson, J. (2017). Assumed digital literacy knowledge by Australian universities: Are students informed? Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference, Geelong, VIC, Australia. • DeMonte, J. (2013). High-quality professional development for teachers: Supporting teacher training to improve student learning (ED561095). Retrieved from Washington, DC: https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp- content/uploads/2013/07/DeMonteLearning4Teachers-1.pdf • Dudeney, G. (2011, October 15-16, 2011). Digital literacies and the language classroom. Paper presented at the 19th Annual KOTESOL International Conference, Seoul, Korea. • Dudeney, G., Hockly, N., & Pegrum, M. (2013). Digital literacies (1 ed.). Harlow, UK: Pearson Education. • Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2004). Digital Literacy: A Conceptual Framework for Survival Skills in the Digital Era. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 13(1), 93. • Guskey, T. R., & Yoon, K. S. (2009). What works in professional development? Phi Delta Kappan, 90(7), 495-500. • Jisc. (2008-2014). Digital literacies. R&D project. Retrieved from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/digital-literacies • Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (Eds.). (2008). Digital literacies: Concepts policies and practices. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. • Timperley, H. (2011). Realizing the power of professional learning. Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill Education.
Notas del editor
- Hello! My name is Trisha Poole, and I am doing my PhD on professional learning for in-service ESL teachers. My background is in teaching English to speakers of other languages - both teaching English language learners and English language teachers. I am currently a Professional Learning Consultant at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, Australia. I have over 19 years of experience in the areas of TESOL and professional learning, and I am keenly interested in digital literacies as I believe that they help empower people to become active and productive members of the modern digital society that we live in.
- This is a situation that our learners could face at any point. This could be a classroom, a boardroom, a group job interview. There are certain expectations set here – that the computers will be used (effectively) and the Internet is a valid source to inform the activities that are being undertaken here. But the question is – how do we know whether our students will be competent in such a situation? How do we know that they have the necessary digital literacies to engage here and to understand how participate effectively? This is not just an adult situation. A similar scenario could be easily generated for our primary school students and high school students – computers, tablets, and mobile devices are part of the reality of modern classrooms, and the EALD classroom is – or should be – no exception. So, how do we make sure that we are preparing our students well? It starts with understanding digital literacies and why they are important for our students, and particularly EALD students.
- Digital literacies are a critical part of helping our students to become engaged and active members of modern society. These skills permeate our everyday lives to the extent that some believe that these are innate skills. They are not innate. They are learned. While the digital divide has been rebuffed as a general concept around why some people seem to have a greater affinity for technology and others don’t, it still doesn’t address the core of digital literacies and the impact of these on our everyday lives. Let’s start with a general understanding of digital literacies, because they are an increasingly complex concept, and they are often contested because there are so many different interpretations of what they include, and these interpretations evolve as technology evolves. A broad understanding of digital literacies is that they are the skills and abilities that you need to live, learn, work, and flourish in 21st century society – a digital society, and to be an active and productive member of society. For example, it is understanding how to use social media to gain maximum effect in a social campaign; it is knowing how to evaluate online information in a post-truth world. These are the skills that everyone needs to be learning - they are not something that comes naturally to you, to me, to anyone. We need to learn these skills, just like we need to learn to read and to write. However, exactly what these “digital literacies” entails is contested. Some focus on microskills like uploading a photo to an online photo album or adding a photo to a social media post. These microskills have evolved from basic computing skills (e.g. turning on a computer, creating a document and saving it) to include these computer literacies and others, such as the digital creation, problem solving and innovation. It has moved from personal computers through to all sorts of mobile devices. Others focus on the macroskills – conceptualisations – of information, data, and media literacies (e.g. evaluating a news for source for credibility and currency), and digital identity and wellbeing. Neither of these perspectives are wrong – they are complementary and support each other. However, it does make it a very complex and contested space, even though it is critical. Of particular importance to our EALD students is the element of culture. Doug Belshaw defined eight essential elements of digital literacies that should be considered when thinking about digital literacies in terms of skills and conceptualisations. His states that culture is critical to understanding digital literacies, and it should be considered first by everyone, but it is particularly important for us – ESL teachers. Belshaw states that “[d]igital literacies are not solely about technical proficiency but about the issues, norms and habits of mind surrounding technologies we use for a particular purpose.” (2014, p. 45). That is, “[a] large part of what [is meant] by the Cultural element is bound up by an understanding of context.” For us, that is the context of Australia and our classrooms. We’ll come back to this later, but keep in mind this little bit of information. Online banking in South Korea requires extensive use of bank-certified security programs (five, at last count, with the bank I use) that must be installed before you can even try to log in. They don’t work on a Mac, but my primary computer is a Mac. In Australia, online banking is simply a matter of having a username and password. Why the differences and complexities? This is something that an adult ESL learner from South Korea face, and it requires them to have a strong understanding of digital literacies in the Australian context.
- Our English language learners need a little more support in developing their digital literacies regardless of their age and background, as you might be thinking when considering the cultural element of digital literacies. Not only are digital literacies a critical skill in modern society, but our ELLs need to learn about digital literacies in the Australian context, in the Australian culture, as well as the English language culture. It is worthwhile noting that these digital literacies will differ in different English-speaking countries, too. For example, what could be accepted in the United States might not be accepted in Australia. A simple illustration of this is the political discussions that happen on social media in the States vs. those in Australia. Recently, a Twitter user with the account “TheRealScoMo” and the same name as the new Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, was inundated with congratulatory tweets about his new Prime Ministership in Australia. He is actually a professional basketball player, but handled it well. This speaks to two things: those who were congratulating him not realising the mistake and TheRealScoMo being savvy enough to use the situation to create a bigger fan base. Our ELLs also need digital literacies so that they can be more engaged and more productive members of society. Our English language teachers also need help with digital literacies as it is clear that, almost regardless of the type of ESL teacher training they have done, it probably would not have covered digital literacies in sufficient depth. A sector survey undertaken in late 2015 showed that of the 446 courses available to ESL teachers-in-training in the 28 universities that offer postgraduate qualifications in TESOL, Applied Linguistics, and similar, only 18 courses alluded to digital literacies – none used this term explicitly, but 4 used recognised synonyms of it (e.g. literacies for the 21st century). This means that only 4% of courses available to ESL teachers-in-training might have contained information on digital literacies. If you were lucky enough to have chosen one of these courses, well done! But it is clear that there is a significant need support with digital literacies for our in-service ESL teachers.
- According to the literature, such as Timperley, Guskey & Yoon, DeMonte, and Coldwell-Neilson (see the reference list at the end), there are four keys to effective professional learning. They are extended timeframes, personalisation, situatedness, and social constructivism. Let’s look at these quickly. Extended time frames – it's not just a 2-hour session one afternoon after school or a one-off, full-day session before term starts; it allows the ESL teachers time to think about, to act on, and to reflect on ideas that are presented in the course. Personalisation – participants, ESL teachers in our case, are applying their learnings in their context, with their students, in their locations, with their advantages and disadvantages Social constructivism – participants can chat with like-minded colleagues, swap ideas, share stories, make it real. I’ll add another one that fits with the modern world – it’s not explicit here, but it is important. The professional learning should be able to be accessed 24/7 so that the participants can access it when they have time so that they can manage their competing demands. This means that it will be online, which also lends itself to the social aspect.
- The course that I have designed using these four keys to effective professional learning is called Digital literacies & your ESL classroom: How can it work? It is designed for in-service ESL teachers. It addresses the key content area of digital literacies and how these can be embedded into your daily teaching activities. This topic was selected because there is a significant need for this type of professional learning and the course also aims to help develop your digital literacies. There is a limited number of places in the course – currently 30 places – so it will retain its collaborative and personal feel and experience. The course will start in January 2019.
- The first POPL key is that of extended timeframes. In this course, this is enacted by having the course run for 20–30 hours over ten weeks. That’s an average of 2–3 hours per week. This aligns with DeMonte’s suggestion that a professional learning course should run for more than 14 hours for maximum effect. The image shows a potential schedule for the course, although I would think it might not be in simple chunks like this. Instead, you might do one hour on Monday, one hour on Tuesday, and then try implementing something on Wednesday or Thursday. Each participant is different and each participant will want to spend different amounts of time on different topics and activities. The guideline of 2–3 hours per week is an average. Some weeks might be more, some might be less. Note that the course is flexible, though, in that if you have more time one week than another, you can do more in that week.
- The second POPL key is personalisation. This is where you can personalise the course to your situation – your context – your classroom – your learners. You have the ability to choose some of your own paths through the content to concentrate on the areas that interest you most or are most relevant to you. Each week will have opportunities for this, and you can continue down these paths as long as you wish, even when the course brings you back to the next part of the content. You will also receive feedback on your own experiences and situation if you participate in the forums with others, or if you decide to engage more through sharing more of your experiences and observations. As you can see in this image, the Going deeper section allows you to choose one of three areas to go deeper in understanding how digital literacies can appear in your context – primary school, high school, adult education. Once you click on your context, you will find more specific information. You can come back again and choose another area, too, if you like.
- The third POPL key is that of situatedness. Think of this as the context – remember that Belshaw stated that a large part of the Cultural element of digital literacies is bound up by an understanding of context. This is crucial to English language learners as they bring different cultural contexts with them to the classroom. In this key, the focus is on relating the content you are learning about to your context – making it real for you and your learners. It uses your experience and knowledge, and investigates your situation, and your learners’ situations. For example, this activity asks you to connect what you’ve been learning to what your ELLs might be experiencing. It encourages you to ask them what their experiences have or have not been so that you can better understand them and their needs. There are three sections that help you understand your ELLs’ situation in more detail and to go deeper with it. Then you can reflect on your responses and share with your colleagues to see how these experiences, expectations, and examples are similar or different according to your context.
- The fourth POPL key is social constructivism. This is an opportunity for you to connect with colleagues, share experiences, and learn from others. It includes opportunities for networking, too. These activities are spread throughout the course in different areas in an attempt to build this into a regular part of your interactions in the course. The example here uses content from your previous reflection and asks you to share with a colleague to see how it is similar or different, and to see how similar/different background contexts can result in similar/different needs.
- Using these four keys to effective professional learning – that is, extended timeframes, personalisation, situatedness, and social constructivism – the following POPL framework was developed. This underpins the learning cycle presented in the course and it has some key features. At the centre of everything is what you innately bring to the course and experience – your personal context, your classroom context, and your personal views, understandings, and experiences. The course learning process starts and ends with reflection activities: the initial reflection activity leads to the driving question of the week. Once the driving question is answered, then the connection and personalisation to your context is made. Then, there is some content – some things that you can learn – which then leads to the situation and construction of knowledge. This then comes back to contextualisation, and a final reflection for this part. This final reflection leads to the next part (next driving question), and the process begins again. Throughout this process, there are opportunities to delve deeper – go down different paths or adventures in your learning – but you always come back to this cycle.
- Now we’re at the part where I ask you for feedback. This course hasn’t been implemented yet, but it is going to be run in January 2019. What do you think about it? What would you like to see in this course? What would you like to do in this course? The image here is from the website where the course will be delivered. The site has more details listed there now, as well as a sign up form where you can register your interest. You won’t be held to this – it just means that you’ll get an email about the course in January with more specific details about dates and times. Some points about what’s in it for you: It’s free! You can get a certificate of completion if you complete the identified activities You get to learn about digital literacies and how to embed them in everyday learning & teaching
- Thank you for coming to my presentation today. I would really value your feedback, so if you want to think about it and let me know later, please take a flyer and head to www.mypopl.com to register your interest in the course or contact me to provide feedback. You can also add your name to the sign up sheet at the back, and I’ll send you an email with the link to the site and updates on the course.