technology integration - Chinese online teaching project

My final project is to design a website with several lesson units of Chinese language and culture. The website aims at students of beginning level with no Chinese background. So far it’s still at the early stage, and there have no registered students yet. I will keep working on it and hopefully in the near future I will be able to observe students learning Chinese with online technology.

To examine my final project, I invited two graduate students to view my websites. One has never contacted Chinese language and culture, but she has learned certain online technology, such as Google Earth, Wikispaces, Skype, etc. The other has learned Chinese in China for two years, but he doesn’t know anything about Web 2.0 and its products. After trying my online courses and technology, they told me their problems and suggestion.

My online class is composed of two parts: Chinese language and culture. It can be either a pure online Chinese learning resource for students who want to study at home; or a supplementary learning tool aside from Chinese class at school. Students can choose both sections or take one at a time. According to the foreign language standards of Michigan, students are supposed to use the language to communicate and express, and obtain the cultural knowledge of the nation.

Therefore, content on the website is both instructional and inspiring. For language section, I designed three modules: pronunciation, characters and dialogue. I recorded Chinese initials, finals and four tones, and put the pronunciation regulations as well as related pronunciation practice. Besides, I showed the stroke orders, and radical parts of Chinese characters. In the end, I put one dialogue with the function of inquiring and suggestion.

For language section, I chose five topics that students may have interests in: Chinese festivals, Chinese clothing, Chinese Religion, Chinese land and cities and Chinese wedding. Each topic is one module. The main technology includes videos, slideshows and Google Earth pictures. Students will start the module by going though the materials that I have prepared for them, then they will have group discussion, online researching, or make digital stories as their presentation. Students are supposed to learn the Chinese culture, explore for more information by themselves (individually or group work), share their finding online, and think over the uniqueness of the culture (What has cause it? What’s the main difference? What changes have taken place and why? What are the constraints and affordances?)

I used Wikispaces as the platform for my online Chinese education. For the teaching materials, I used the following applications: audio, video, slideshow, Google Earth, Skype, Del.icio.us. I used Google Calendar as the class calendar where I can put the syllabus and online meeting reminders. Google Docs is where students can check the homework they have finished, as well as share the work they have done.

After students register online, I will have a short survey about students’ knowledge background and motivation. Then I will organize the size and number of classes. Generally speaking, I will put similar knowledge background students in one class. On my online classes, I have prepared both visual and auditory learning materials for different students of different preferences. Students first need a short period of time to learn to use the applications that will be used in their online Chinese classes. After that, the class will begin. Students may check the Google Calendar for the class schedule and the due time for homework. They will have their own blog account and post their homework, including text paper, digital story, co-edited report. I will add their blogs into my Google Reader, so I can read their posts at the first time and give them immediate response. Usually every weekend there will be an online meeting via Skype. Students can ask questions, practice speaking Chinese with the teacher.

All these technologies enable the online class keep moving on. Student can enjoy their study progress in a convenient, interesting yet educative environment. The technology integration also offers students with many ways of learning. They can meet teachers online regularly; they can launch group activities with their study buddies via co-editing applications; they can arrange their schedule and take classes at their own pace, etc. The graduate student who helped to check my website was amazed by the concept of teaching and learning a language on Internet, also he was fascinated by the applications used for education. His favorite two applications were Google Earth, where he found many tourist stops he once been to; the other was videos (YouTube and Slide.com), which made online learning environment more vivid.

However, before he could enjoy the lessons, he had a hard time struggling with the web 2.0 applications. He had to install some software (Google Earth), and spent a long time to get familiar with it. People can’t totally appreciate the advantages of technology until they know how to use it. I assume these online teaching applications, in spite of their affordances, may impede study progress to some people.

There are group learning activities in each module. Students will share their ideas with their online classmates, and finish online researching work together. Sometimes they are required to co-produce a report, while sometimes they will check for their study buddy’s work. In short, as I design exercise and learning activities for students, I tried to create a social environment of constructivism. In the online teaching part, I will lead students to think and compare, and then take away my scaffolding, so students will explore on their own. Behaviorism will be seen in pronunciation practice. I linked a great amount of online pronunciation exercises on my website.

Technology plays an important role in my online Chinese classes. First of all, most of the teaching activities happen via Web 2.0. Besides, by using the online applications (e.g. Del.icio.us, videos), students can improve their metacognition and memory. Also, some applications help me to know better about students’ understanding (e.g. students will make digital story with narration on some cultural topics). Last, different types of applications fit students’ different preference (e.g. some are more visual).

collaborative tools

Last Tuesday we learned collaborative editing tool – NoteMesh and Yugma. NoteMesh is a free service that allows students in the same classes to share notes with each other. First of all the teacher needs to create an online class, then invite students to join in. The users, including teachers and students, can post and edit the text files together for free. Teachers can use this tool to publish resources online and ask students to read and write on it. Or, it can be used as a group researching tool that each student can update the latest progress of the work. This is especially useful for college students who take different courses and may not be able to meet their group members frequently. The constraint is there is no trace for each editor, and there is no way to save the edition history. If someone messes up with the work, there seems to be no way to “undo” it.


Yugma is a free web collaboration service that enables people to instantly connect over the internet to communicate and share content and ideas. I think this tool is especially useful for hosting study groups or tutoring sessions, for hosting virtual conference or other social events. Anyone in the group can make marks on the images or sent messages to the rest of members. This function can save people’s time because group members can post questions instantly and get instant replies, and they don’t even have to go out of their home or office! I can see this being used for class activities like debate, and I would like to try that on my students.