How to create good 21st century language learning tasks
1. How to design good
21st century
language learning tasks
TOM WALTON
tomwalton@gmail.com
http://blogs.ihes.com/tech-elt/
2. What does design involve…?
• teamwork
• collaborating
• brainstorming
• ideas
• being creative
• listening to customers
That applies to language learning tasks just as much as it does to other “products”. If you
brainstorm and are creative, if you design in a team with your peers, if you listen to your
customers (ie. your learners), you “products” will be much better ones…
3. What do we mean by 21st century?
Source: the excellent Writing Prompts blog
http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/
4. outline for the session
1. process of designing tasks on courses
2. +how that process can be imitated
3. products of the process (tasks designed)
4. guidelines for task design
5. the process
This is the process we follow on the technology for language teachers
courses that I tutor on.
As part of the courses, we get participants to design language learning tasks
that they could do with their own language learners.
There are essentially four stages:
1. Participants see some EXAMPLES, and do tasks designed for language
learners as if they were learners
2. We describe our REQUIREMENTS and provide GUIDELINES
3. The participants then use a Moodle FORUM to present rough ideas for
tasks, which –through discussion with tutors and peers – we then
attempt to improve as language learning tasks
4. They work to a DEADLINE, by which they have to present a finished
version of the task on a blog
6. the process (1)
EXAMPLES
audio story: he | she | how met | what happened
tools for recording
tools for sharing (etc)
See http://blogs.ihes.com/tech-elt/?p=1650 for an explanation
7. the process (2)
REQUIREMENTS +GUIDELINES
It must (1) be a project which involves the learners using
technology to (2) create a digital end-product which (3)
they share in some form of digital space
(blog, Edmodo, Facebook, wiki, etc.) and which will
maximize (4) the interaction between the learners and (5)
the amount of English being used and learnt.
It can be done individually, in a pair or in a group of three
In fact, we strongly recommend doing the task with at least one partner: from the
ensuing discussion, you learn so much more!
8. the process (3)
FORUM
from both tutors and classmates
rough idea feedback draft feedback with ss
on forum on shared blog optional
posted ASAP discussion comments
clarification drafting
direction We use this
more comments
collaborative, process
approval amendments approach… one that
final version we also highly
recommend that your
Optional own learners adopt
Skype
Facebook chat
shared Google Docs
etc
10. imitating the process
It’s possible to imitate that collaborative process of task design even without
ever doing a course, if you find a colleague/colleagues to work with.
Your “study buddies” (your fellow “designers”) can be face-to-face in the
staffroom or else peers that you only ever meet online (blogs, Twitter…)
And you are at a huge advantage over a teacher “only” doing an online
course: YOU have learners you can try tasks out on!
Learners are experts on “tasks”: they know what works and what doesn’t,
what excites them and what doesn’t, and what they do and don’t learn from.
Ask your learners! Get feedback from them! They will always improve
your original design for you, for next time!
11. your process
If you do a course If you’re on your own
Advantages Advantage!
• tutor • learners
• classmates
• forced to learn the staffroom
blogs
own blog (private? shared!)
a study buddy
other tools (G Docs, Skype…)
12. your process
Google Docs forms are
incredibly easy to use, and are
an incredibly powerful tool for
collecting feedback from
learners.
Ask them what they think!
Ask them how the task could
be improved!
13. your process
Google Docs forms also
compile stats for you
automatically…
But it’s the open-ended
questions that often produce
the most interesting
feedback…
14. the products
With one exception, the following are examples of tasks designed and
presented on courses I have tutored on.
The second example (the exception) is one a course participant shared on
the course’s social forum, and which lead to a lot of discussion on whether or
not it was a good task (a KEY question!)
NOTE You’ll find some Spanish here, but you if you follow my notes, you
shouldn’t actually need to understand any of it!
15. the products (1)
Here we had a very full
proposal, complete with
objectives etc., but the
author probably ought to
have posted a much
rougher idea much
earlier…
16. the products (1)
We have a series of different
activities, each using
different technologies…
(1) a wiki; (2) Google Docs;
(3) Audacity or Vocaroo for
recording audio…
17. the products (1)
… (4) Google Docs
presentations (which are
like PowerPoint);
… (5) probably another
Google Doc, but still to be
finalised
18. the products (1)
KEY QUESTION
Not too much
technology, not too
many technologies
The tutor’s comments
(posted on the participant’s
blog) draw attention to an
error to avoid at the task
design stage: don’t
overcomplicate things!
19. the products (2)
“Google Maps + (Web) 2.0 task. Perfect!”, was the title of a post on our social forum. But
WAS it really a perfect task, or even actually a good one?
20. the products (2)
The task involved reading the
novel “La sombra del viento” and
pinpointing the locations in
Barcelona mentioned in it on
Google Maps… but very little
collaboration or communication
between the learners
21. the products (2)
KEY QUESTION
How much
interaction is it
going to generate?
*Zooms: assuming your learners are using Prezi, not PowerPoint (.ppt)
22. the products (3)
Proposed for Erasmus students in their first week
living in Madrid
Original idea Looking for a flat in Madrid | Tasks (1)
Write an ad for a flat; (2) Read someone else’s ad; (3)
Write a letter asking them for more details.
Tutor’s suggestion It would “probably be better” to
have all read all the ads and then role-play (F2F, no
tech.) buying and selling the flats to each other
Suggested in presentation | If you’re not teaching learners with those sorts of needs,
“selling” pizzas makes a fun task!
23. the products (4)
Task designed for
an Edmodo group,
in fact with the
course participants
actually doing the
task as an example
25. the products (4)
In fact because Write the story – each
each participant person writes a minimum
writes two lines on Probably better…
their own, they are of 2 lines as many times
not really actually Have learners work together
collaborating. as they like. BUT
face-to-face, possibly NOT
ALWAYS after someone
Take advantage of
(initially) using technology,
face-to-face class
else has continued the
time! to brainstorm and truly
story.
collaborate
26. the products (5)
Proposed as a cross-curricular project, with Art and
English teachers working in collaboration
Original idea On 5 separate blogs, 5 groups of 5 ESO
(secondary school) students write a series of posts
describing the characteristics of different art forms
Final On a single class blog, as above, but illustrating
the posts with their own attempts to imitate the art
forms in simple sketches
… so they CAN’T just steal the content from Wikipedia and Google Images!
27. the products (6)
Proposed for adults learning Spanish in Germany…
Original On a class wiki, individually, learners
describe the places of interest on the stage of the
Camino de Santiago they have been assigned
Final On a class blog, in groups, learners write the
illustrated (but no photos!) diary of a 12th century
pilgrim to Santiago, competing to get there first*
*The proposal was to have a map board with pieces on it to be advanced
according to how good the English was and how creative they were…
Alternative: the diaries of Gandalf, Bilbo and the different dwarves
29. some guidelines (1)
1. the learners using technology
2. to create a digital end-product
3. shared in a digital space (blog,
Edmodo…)
4. to maximize the interaction
between the learners
5. and amount of English being
used and learnt
30. some guidelines (2)
Not too much technology, not too many technologies
recipe for success recipe for utter disaster
• simple •25 laptops
•1 good idea •13 BBs, 12 iPhones
•1 Edmodo group •5 Google Docs
eg. LIFE FEAST •25 Blogs
Learners in different •5 Wikis
countries take a •1 mega task with 14-16
photo a week and
write a 50 word text separate stages
about it •1,250 kilos of teenage
hormones
31. some guidelines (3)
Include an oral presentation stage
• short! (90 seconds, max. 3 slides or zooms*)
• stop mercilessly (but don't fail)
• NO stolen images !!!
• pairs, 3s or small groups
• reason for listening (peer assessment?)
• Q+A session (another 90 seconds)
• help with performance (nerves, good .ppts)
*Zooms: assuming your learners are using Prezi, not PowerPoint (.ppt)
32. some guidelines (4)
DON’T let your learners steal text or
images from the web
DON’T design tasks which can be answered
by copying and pasting from Wikipedia
(etc).
DO have learners produce their own images
(artwork and/or photos)
33. some guidelines (5)
maximise the advantage taken of face-to-face
time and stages, for providing language
and for interaction