62 Standard 6: Communicating with learners and observing their progress. • As students were working in-class on their Community Fair booths, Paul circulated unobtrusively, using a rubric sheet to note and assess the language skills they were employing. The completed assessment sheets – which were shared with the students in their personal Avenue ePortfolio – helped Paul understand where individual learners might need additional help. • In the days following the Community Fair, Paul invited each student pair to tell him about their experience. Using the BigBlueButton video meeting platform, he video-recorded the self-assessment feedback session, then posted the video as a permanent artifact in each team member’s ePortfolio. VIGNETTE 3: ROBIN PEACE CULTURALLY RELEVANT COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING Précis The Idea Robin Peace, an instructor with the LINC program at the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association, became aware some years ago of her learners’ interest in – but lack of information about – local Indigenous history and culture. While enrolled in a LearnIT2Teach training program, Robin was introduced to the idea of creating a technology-assisted WebQuest. It impressed her as an engaging way to teach listening, speaking, writing, and technology skills while introducing learners to a culturally relevant topic. The result was a four-week, 100-hour WebQuest module within the 30week LINC program, using videos depicting aspects of Indigenous culture – trapping, beadworking, ribbon skirts, and collecting maple sap – as the subject matter. The Learners Robin’s students are newcomers to Canada at CLB levels 2-4 – the basic level of English language ability. Typically, a class of 20 students is about equally divided between males and females. The age range is wide – from 18 to 80 – with the majority in the 20 to 45 range. The course referenced in this vignette included learners from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Mexico, and Myanmar, among other countries. The learners represent a range of technology skills from limited (e.g., can use a Smartphone to make calls and take photos) to moderately advanced (e.g., can use a laptop to access games, conduct searches, exchange email, and use software for tasks such as wordprocessing). The Approach The two main goals Robin set for the WebQuest were to help learners understand a short video and a Google Slides presentation about Indigenous cultural traditions (listening), have them collaborate with classmates to prepare and deliver a presentation about a cultural tradition (speaking), and post a reflection on a cultural tradition from their own experience (writing). In addition, the WebQuest required learners with limited digital skills to learn computer basics such as how to use a desktop computer, access information on the Avenue eLearning platform, participate in an online forum, and develop a short presentation using Google Slides software. The course in which the WebQuest CC-BY-NC-SA 2025 New Language Solutions Avenue Instructor Standards for Technology-Enhanced Language Learning, version 1.2
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