Virtual English Course Language Center University of Ibague Abstract The idea of an English Virtual Course language Centre

at University of Ibagu seemed to be a useless curiosity. However, I has been finally possible to turn it into a real product to face a new age of education with the help of Information and Communication Technologies in our geographical and cultural environment. So far, we have developed two versions for English distance learning with face to face meetings, supported by ICT. The first one called Prototype 1 used free public resources from the Web, due to the apparent technological knowledge shortage at the time and the second one corresponds to an authored course in which all the activities are run on our Website on the LMS free platform Moodle. Both versions are based on a pedagogical proposal which mixes the typical principles of computer assisted learning and the social constructivist pedagogy. Goals The English Virtual Course pretends to meet regional language learning necessities, providing updated and financially reachable quality solutions for prospective learners, increasing the educational impact of the University of Ibague, and considerably reducing the expenses for those students whose geographical situation, time, schedules or transportation conditions keep them from taking the regular courses at institutes or universities or even students who have approved all their subjects at University and need to study eight English Levels as a pre-requisite for graduation. Its also suitable for people from small villages and towns far away from the capital city so they can access alternative opportunities for language learning without leaving their places. Description The proposal is based on providing the students with some options for them to start building their own learning of English basic grammar and functions, which they can use later in communicative linguistic contexts. Interactive activities come immediately after a topic presentation and change from repetitive to reflexive as the course progresses. These activities on line provide feedback which is typical in Computer Assisted Learning Programs. As the student advances to the next course, this feedback is enriched with corrective and didactic explanations informing the students about their errors and providing advice and links to review the topic.

The themes are provided in an integrated and sequential way which increases the complexity in a progressive way. Activities have been designed to provide opportunities to contextualize what students have learned, so they can develop wider range language competencies. The forums provide spaces to ask questions, pass comments and allow the creation of a friendly community atmosphere which favors learning. The interaction among the students allows the learning process to occur as a social activity: virtual most of the time and person to person in the programmed meetings. We also emphasize the development of social competencies, because we believe that is a way people can learn to achieve tolerance and respect among each other. This is something we need badly not only in Colombia, but all over the world. There are group and individual, collaborative and cooperative activities. Our self evaluation proposal lies on the use of a portfolio, where the students keep record of their homework, compositions, input, learning observations and everything they think might help to support the 10% of the final grade. We pretend to encourage people to increase values such as honesty and objectivity through self-evaluation.

The tutor is available all the time, ready to help students solve the academic or technological problems that they may encounter. Communication with the tutor includes MSN, chat, e-mail, mobile and telephone resources. They are the key tool to help the tutor not only communicate with the students, but also to give them their oral tests and assessment which can also be taken personally. Results The surveys among the students of Prototype 1, who were teachers from the university, acknowledge the proposal in a clear and functional way from the pedagogical viewpoint. The second version was run with students from the university and the results were very good keeping in mind that the sample was not very big. From 20 students registered 18 passed their written and oral tests and 2 failed. The proposal has undergone two stages: Prototype 1 was run using the Yahoo groups and the Authored version was run on the LMS free platform Moodle. Conclusions By now our country has already started moving towards a culture related with self learning through the use of computers and Internet. As time passes, the incidence of Technology in cultural changes is undeniable. We mustnt forget

that the lack of a proper technological infrastructure in our context is fact that doesnt help creating this new learning culture. Four years after the course started, it can be said that many people have benefited from our virtual course, reaching the necessary competences to achieve their goals, especially students from San Jos Technological Center, who only need three levels to graduate. Most of our students who have completed three levels sequentially came from Technological Institute San Jos. Other students from the university have satisfactorily finished four levels in a shorter time than regular courses. Many others have registered and started the course but deserted it. When asked about the reason why, some of them recognized it was hard for them because they are not used to technology or they dont have many autonomous learner skills. There is still a lot to be done, but the age of e-learning, mobile learning and connectivist learning has already began. Nevertheless we have to keep an eye on the fact that given our social and economical condition, the educational solutions offered have to be reachable not only for an elite, but for every citizen all over our Colombian territory. That requires a great improvement in our technological conditions. It means the Educational authorities have to take good care to provide infrastructure, networks and make sure that every school has access to the advantages of technology in education. Otherwise, technology could just enhance the gap between social classes and their educational opportunities. Pedagogical Dimension From the fact that most students registered in the course have managed to answer correctly their homework and passed their tests, we can infer that they have reached the proposed competences and therefore we must suppose in those cases the pedagogical proposal worked as expected. Answering surveys, students have stated that the parts of the course where they consolidated their learning the most was when they did their interactive activities and when they corrected their homework. Communicative Dimension The functional communication mainly occurs between students and tutor. Communication among students is very poor and it is basically limited to the Communicative Group activities proposed in the course, such as sending e-mails to each other asking for or giving information. The Social Dimension

Asynchronic Forums show that in most cases students participate but do not interact. Sometimes theres a gender factor that stops boys or girls from sending emails to each other. In general students are a bit shy and avoid to communicate with other students, or see it as unimportant for their learning process. This shows that some students take it as a self learning course and dont get really aware of the importance of keeping a close communication with their classmates. Trying to get synchronic communication by means of chats was not functional due to the difference in personal schedules and some technical difficulties. No chats were undergone. Administrative Dimension Many administrative aspects still have to be improved such as incorporating the grading system to the platform so the tutor only has to input the grades and Platform does all the figures. Also, the use of the Platform internal message should be encouraged. Technological Dimension Although the functionality of Moodle by means of content, evaluation and administration tools make a very friendly learning environment where the student can reach all the resources that the designer has prepared to facilitate the learning process, it is sensible to think of adding Moodle and course tutorials for students to improve their performance in the technological aspect. The lack of a graphic designer and the technological shortage when the course was developed, turn into mandatory the checking and redesign of the art, graphic design and animations all along the course. It is also recommended to implement blog and SCORM as theyre useful tools that can be successfully used in social learning. Web 2.0 tools such as podcasts will definitely improve the listening comprehension possibilities of the learner by providing much longer MP3 sound files and also opens an alternative for the students to send their oral production for their assessment by the teacher. Videos and Slides also have to be included to emphasize and strengthen understanding and therefore learning the use of vocabulary and expressions as well as modeling communicative situations. Including a wiki will provide students and teachers with a tool to elaborate collaborative written work.

This course, due to emerging technologies and social software and as any technological product, needs to be constantly updated, so as it improves, propitiates the University with the opportunity for construction of knowledge and new learnings for teachers, designers and administrative staff. Carlos Hernando Ortiz Leyva Universidad de Ibagu

http://www.unibague.edu.co/~chortiz/giele/Virtual%20Course%20Language %20Center.doc http://www.unibague.edu.co/~chortiz/giele/Propuesta%20de%20Modelo %20Educativo.doc