Evaluating Language Learning in Hypermedia and Virtual Environments

1. Evaluating language learning in hypermedia and virtual environments CALL 2008 Antwerpen, Belgium August - September, 2008 Gemma Delicado Puerto, PhD, Mercedes Rico;Juan Enrique Agudo;eva Mª Domínguez GexCALL Research Group - University of Extremadura, Spain

2. ABSTRACT Protocol technologies present all types of challenges for educators and learners from teaching practices to assessment. Having moved beyond traditional teaching approaches, hypermedia and virtual environments help people learn through direct experience by performing tasks with real world simulations.

3. ABSTRACT In this context, how can learning be effectively measured in technological environments? Regardless of the answer, it is essential to develop evaluation systems that support all kinds of teaching and learning practices. With this in mind, our paper proposes adaptive hypermedia and online portfolio as two of the assessment methods which may best suit language learning in online environments.

4. CONTEXT Hypermedia technology and educational virtual environments are increasingly being used to create instructional spaces for distance education encouraging learners through direct experience By visualizing concepts and allowing them to carry out tasks simulated from the real world.

5. CONTEXT TECHNOLOGIES challenges for educators and learners from teaching methods to assessment protocols • Moved beyond traditional teaching focused on form rather than meaning • Emerging applications based on interactive simulations, hypermedia and virtual explorations • Oblige teachers to reflect on: • teaching practices • design innovative online activities • devise new evaluation procedures

6. POSING THE QUESTION How learning can be effectively measured in technological environments? • Evaluation systems to support all kinds of teaching and learning practices focussed on: • Collaborative • Interactive • Hypermedia • Virtual approaches

7. FINDING SOLUTIONS Two methods of assessment for diverse kinds of learning occurring in virtual instructions adapting • conventional learning models into virtual environments • hypermedia applications • online teaching platforms

8. FINDING SOLUTIONS Traditional methods of assessment based on: • GRADES (degree to which learners meet teachers' expectations ) • STANDARIZED ASSESSMENTS (completion of standardised test packages relying on reliability and generalizability) • we advocate adaptive hypermedia and online portfolio • As • two types of assessment methods suitable • for • language learning in online environments.

9. ADAPTIVE HYPERMEDIA: MEETING YOUR NEEDS

10. PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT: RECORDING LEARNER DATA

11. CONCLUSIONS How to establish measures and assessment methods to evaluate learning in technological environments -hypermedia and virtual environments? Our proposal has identified Adaptive hypermedia and Portfolio Assessment as specific evaluation systems that efficiently support Online teaching and Learning practices.

12. CONCLUSIONS Adaptive Hypermedia best solution to assess software offers Personalized and flexible teaching providing Adaptation to user features in different areas • Architecture of adaptive systems offers • Important benefits to educational applications: • assigning grades in peer assessment • guiding students through their learning process • helping them to take decisions on their performance

13. CONCLUSIONS Virtual environments, online portfolio assessment using qualitative and quantitative techniques provide reliability and validity within the assessment process in online teaching By reporting on exploratory research into designing information systems for online portfolios

14. CONCLUSIONS Significant benefits that online portfolio information systems offer to • Creating • Distributing • Assessing teaching to a range of stakeholders in superior ways to other assessment solutions and tools

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