How do Our Virtual Environment Foster Learning?

A Kindergarten, Bogotá, Colombia

Picture taken by Jonathan Acuña (2017)

How do Our Virtual Environment Foster Learning?

An answer for LLO Lead Teacher Rob Boyle

 

         An online instructor mentor at Laureate Languages Online (LLO), Mr. Robert Boyle, put out a thought-provoking question I felt like mulling over it for some time before giving it an honest answer coming from my teaching experiences at LLO, my expertise in education, and after feedback sessions with Rob. I have been working with bellows and anvil and hammers to shape my current way of teaching that has produced positive results in learners I have taught in various projects at LLO, and much of what has been my active learning as an online instructor is due to his modeling of virtual teaching. And virtual teaching has parallel features when compared to regular teaching.

         How do our virtual environment foster learning? Well, it is important to remind ourselves that learning is “a process of obtaining knowledge to change human behavior through interaction, practice and experience” (iEduNote, 2017). And learning is not just meant to happen in brick-and-mortar spaces where there is a cohort of students assigned to an instructor; the same can happen in virtual scenarios. Though many skeptical educators will wager their heads against the possibility of learning in an online environment, especially when it comes to language learning, the fact is that students construct their knowledge of the new language in participatory learning environments successfully.

Bearing in mind the four basic characteristics of learning by the OSHAcademy (2015) in F2F or now in virtual spaces, they can be explained as follows when it comes to learning English within an online environment.

[1] Learning has a purpose.	When learners enter a language class, they have a purpose to fulfill. Like-minded students will agree that in their case they study English because it can help them -later on in their professional life- to attain opportunities that monolingual individuals cannot aspire. English opens doors!      “The learner’s goal or purpose is of chief importance in the act of learning” (OSHAcademy, 2015). As online instructors we must relate learning material and classroom production tasks to the learner’s goals. We must make students long to have sight of their future in class because of their language training.
[2] Learning comes through experience.	In the planning on an online (or F2F) class, the instructor gets to include learning tasks that are extracted from experience (schemata) in the real world. The reproduction of these simulations in the virtual class prepares them to face situations they already have (or will have) to face in real life. The online English class does provide a replica of real-life scenarios to practice the language!      As virtual instructors we must provide learners with real experiences that are meaningful and appropriate to the content of a lesson. A strong link between reality and the class production activities needs to be created. We do not just want to reproduce, e.g., a template conversation (in low levels) but to see how they can modify it to serve their purposes in the class activity or future conversations in the real world.
[3] Learning is multifaceted.	“An instructor who thinks his job is only to train a student’s muscle or memory is wasting his own and his student’s time” (OSHAcademy, 2015). The online English classroom also provides learners chances to be exposed and learn more than the language. Living the experience of learning a language virtually, along with the interaction with peers, results in positive changes in the way students see, think, feel, and react to distance learning. Learning English virtually is a multifaceted experience!        Based on Li & Lalani (2020), “some research shows that on average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom.” If this statistical fact can be transferred to the virtual English classroom, the way a class is structured (planned) will allow for meaningful sets of practice. “If the lesson time available for the activity is seen as a container, then this should be filled with as much ‘volume’ of language as possible” (Ur, 1996). And this volume  will bring practice of social and soft skills along with content rehearsal.
[4] Learning is an active process.	Learning English across a full gamut of activities linked to real-life scenarios turns it into an active process. Learning triggers a change in behavior because of the classroom simulations and experiences in preparation to real-life scenarios; all this is active learning through collaborative language tasks. All these activities in the online English classroom are to sprout up and bring life and success to students.      “Learners who are really engaging with the language must be attentive; loss of attention means loss of learning time” (Ur, 1996). Learning cannot be dimensioned as passive or using lower-thinking skills; it is for this reason that Bloom’s Taxonomy must be inverted to structure collaborative, active tasks that go beyond remembering and understanding. As stated by Lewin (2020), just listening to a teacher involves lower order thinking skills.

         Learning in virtual scenarios may be a great fit for the instructor and for the students. Online synchronous lessons literally put language learning in the palm of a learner’s hand because it can foster student English language development. At LLO our virtual environment does provide room for active, collaborative learning along with the four basic characteristics of learning and their corresponding features and nuances when we think of language learning.

References

iEduNote. (2017). Characteristics of Learning (Explained). Retrieved September 14, 2020, from iEduNote.Com: https://www.iedunote.com/characteristics-of-learning

Lewin, L. (2020, September 1). El Aula Invertida. Escuela para Directivos en Laurate Languages. Buenos Aires, Argentina: ABS International.

Li, C., & Lalani, F. (2020, April 29). The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Changed Education Forever. This is How. Retrieved September 14, 2020, from World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/

OSHAcademy. (2015). Characteristics of Learning. Retrieved Setiembre 14, 2020, from OSHATrain.Org: https://www.oshatrain.org/notes/characteristicsoflearning.html

Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Languge Learning - Practice and Theory. Cambridge GB: Cambridge University Press.

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