- SSP Project title: Designing active and collaborative in class activities in SLAT7807 for ongoing forms of formative assessment and in-class engagement
- Student Partners: Alicia Gazmuri, Daichi Kobayashi, Franciele Spinelli, and Zhiyi Liu
- Staff Partners: Dr. Noriko Iwashita and Dr. Seb Dianati
- Project length: Approximately 8 months
- School of Languages and Cultures - HASS
The masterpiece aim
Revitalize the course ‘Classroom Second Language Processes: Theory, Research, Practice’ (SLAT7807) through addressing challenges that students and staff experienced while teaching and/or taking the course.
This idea came from our own experience as former students of the course and our desire to provide future students with a better learning experience.
Showcase of the project (summary of the project)
Getting ideas for our masterpiece...
Semi-structured interviews were conducted by students partners. In these interviews, 8 SLAT7807 former students and 2 tutors were invited to reflect on their experiences as teaching or taking the course. The data collected helped the team identify and reshape the aims and outputs of this project.
Semi-structured interview questions
- General
- If you were the course coordinator, what would you do to improve the course?
- Is there any sort of extra support you’d like to have had during the course? If so, what type of support?
- Assessments
- What would you improve in each of the course assignments?
- Are there any other types of assignments would you prefer to have? Is so, which ones and why?
- Online teaching
- What tools would you use to improve the online teaching of the course?
- How would you keep students engaged in online classroom?
Masterpiece 1: Welcome Video
This video was created to provide a brief introduction into the SLA7807 course from the student partners’ perspectives. In the video, student partners explore (1) the overall aims and objectives of the course; (2) the differences of this course in comparison to other Second Language courses in the Applied Linguistics program; and (3) what they were able to learn in course, among others.
Masterpiece 2: Mini-research assessment supporting materials
Mini-research guidelines, samples, and steps
To support students with the mini-research assessment, we created a Padlet with a range of supporting materials, which included:
(1) A clear timetable to help students notice what they should do for completing this assignment in different phases;
(2) A list of databases and bibliographies to support students to find appropriate and high-quality references as well as get some ideas of topics for their research project; and
(3) Revision and adaptation of the assessment guidelines and sample student papers available on Blackboard.
Poster guidelines, samples and tips
For the poster presentation assignment, we created a Padlet, which included:
(1) An overview of what to include in a good-quality poster;
(2) Short videos introducing how to make an attractive poster through the use of different tools, e.g., Canva, and PowerPoint; and
(3) Short videos with samples that illustrate what kind of poster can be regarded as a satisfying one.
Poster tips video
Masterpiece 3: Weekly reading and reflection assignment revision
Students and staff partners collaborated on a list of suggested questions for the weekly reflection/reading assignments. More interactive questions were also created on Inspera (an e-assessment platform) to provide learners with a range of different reading/reflection activities that required them to practice different learning skills. The proposed new questions focused on:
(1) Helping students link theory from the assigned reading to their teaching/learning experiences; and
(2) Develop critical reading and summarising skills.
Inspera activities
Posters for the weekly reflection and article summary/critique
Masterpiece 4: Article Presentation supporting materials
A Padlet was created to help students with the article presentation assignment. This Padlet contained:
(1) Videos with tips on how to prepare for an article presentation;
(2) Sample article presentation from former students;
(3) Tips on how to critically analyse an article; and
(4) Instructions on how to record an online presentation using Zoom or Kaltura.
How to prepare an article presentation video
Tips to improve your article presentation video
Masterpiece 5: Peer feedback online module
To help students understand the goals and benefits of peer feedback, we created an online module via H5P. This module also aimed at providing students with instructions and examples of how to provide high-quality peer feedback, particularly for article presentation assignments.
How did we collaborate to design our masterpieces?
- Fortnightly face-to-face or Zoom meetings: Agree on tasks, share the workload and plan the next steps of the project
- WhatsApp group: Talk about more immediate needs and share our progress on the designated tasks
- Google drive folder: Work on documents in cooperation, such as Co-developed plan and retrospective report. Provide feedback on other team members’ work
- Trello board: Set tasks, organise the project materials and track the project progress
Our Trello board
Partners' reflections
Alicia Gazmuri (student partner)
There are many takeaways from working on this project. We were able to learn and reflect on how to create more engaging and relevant pedagogical materials. Most importantly, we gained valuable insights on how to target our current or future learners’ linguistic needs and interests through the use of different visual and auditory techniques and approaches. One of the most salient learning relies on the further experience we gained in terms of recording and editing videos. As technological tools and online teaching are increasing in popularity and demand, having the ability to articulate our ideas in front of a camera and use a software such as Adobe Rush are critical, and enhance our pedagogical and employability skills.
Daichi Kobayashi (student partner)
SSP is such an amazing opportunity for UQ students without a shadow of doubt. I learned how to enjoy unexpected challenges with people from different backgrounds. To be honest, I was not confident if I could make the most of the teamwork. However, once I started to listen to other members' ideas actively, my world changed. I ended up having so much fun.
Franciele Spinelli (student partner)
I am so glad to be part of such a great team! One of the reasons for the success of this project was that we all played an active role towards the completion of different tasks. Students and staff partners collaborated in an equal manner, and were all willing to communicate and listen to the feedback from different parties. This experience reminded me that a strong partnership relies on teamwork, active engagement, positive attitude, and good communication. I am so blessed to be able to work with these supportive, committed, and enthusiastic colleagues.
Zhiyi Liu (student partner)
As a TESOL student, who has the dream to be an English teacher in the future, I was able to develop my insights into how to choose, adapt, and create appropriate and effective teaching and learning materials in order to stimulate students’ interests and help them overcome potential learning problems. Using/creating interesting but informative videos can not only draw students’ attention but also make their learning journey more flexible and autonomous. With the development of technology, different digital materials and online teaching and learning activities have increasingly grown recently. In this SSP project, we were able to explore and experience different technological tools, such as Padlet and Inspera, which inspired me to think about the effectiveness of technologically supported teaching and learning. This has also enhanced our employability skills and pedagogical creativity.
Seb Dianati (staff partner)
Successful student partnership moves away from the methodical forms of education towards one concerned with change, starting with the question ‘Why?’ From this position, the collective ‘why?’ is where successful partnership begins. ‘Why are we expected to learn this way?’, ‘Why are we assessed like this?’, ‘Why does the institution provide support in this particular way?’ Once staff and students search for a better 'Why?', we start to change the way we view the purpose of the classroom, the teacher and the student. These questions not only form the successful ingredients for successful partnership, but they have also become the bedrock of all initial student partnership discourse.