junio - noviembre 2013
ISSN 2007-5480

TIC

Do B-learning Basic Courses at UAM-A Develop Students’ Autonomy?

Gabriela E.Cortés Sánchez*
Vida Valero Borrás**
UAM-A

Abstract

The UAM-A faces several challenges including giving an answer to every change of a globalized world.Trying to solve one of these challenges, the Coordination of Foreign Languages decided to develop b-learning courses of English for promoting autonomy in our students’ learning, among other things. This research aims to show the results of these two pilot courses (levels I and II), and their effects on the autonomy in learning English.

Keywords

Blended Learning (B-Learning), Virtual Rooms, Autonomy, Moodle Platform

Introduction

Universities are facing many challenges and one of them is to respond to all economic, social and cultural needs of a globalized world. The UAM-A, trying to solve these challenges, has updated its plans and syllabus for every major. Among the most important changes is the incorporation of a foreign Language as a requirement for students to enter to the areas of concentration or to complete their University studies. Then, the CELEX decided to develop B-learning courses besides other things to promote autonomy in our students´learning.

This research aims to show the results of the two trials of the B-learning courses, English I and II, and if they have had any effect on the development of the autonomy in the learning of our students.

Literature Review

In this particular project, of E-learning, “Virtual Classroom” takes a central role as it will be the virtual place meeting where the English courses I, II and III concentrate the learning process. The virtual classroom is a telematic environment in a website that allows the delivery of e-learning. Normally, in a virtual classroom, students have access to the course syllabus, study the information and activities designed by the teacher. You can also use interactive tools such as discussion forums, live chat, break-out sessions, quizzes, instant messages, and e-mail.

However, the “virtual classrooms” should not just be a mechanism for the distribution of information, but theyshouldalso be a system where the activities involved in the learning process can take place, in other words they must allow interactivity, communication, application of knowledge, assessment and classroom management. (Ruben, 2007).

Because English courses, at the UAM-A aim to develop 4 skills (reading, listening, writing, and speaking it is virtually impossible to develop the last one in an e-learning course, it is a must then to explain   a fundamental concept called Blended Learning . Among the different definitions of Blended Learning (BL) one of the most simple and accurate is the one that says “ thatit is the way of learning that combines on-siteclassroom learning with on-line components using virtual spaces". (Coaten, 2003) Thus, the concept receives other denominations as “flexible learning” (Salinas, 2002), or” hybrid model”(Marsh, 2003).

In blended learning, the teachers have a traditional role, but they use every benefit offered by the web platform where the educational environment is hostedbypublish announcements, to attend tutoring distance and to assist the students as an educator through traditional classroom courses. The way to combine both depends on the course in question. The on-site classroom and on- line training courses provide more flexibility and possibilitiesthan when you attend a traditional on-site- courses, but they require just as much dedication and focus on the learning process. They also foster autonomy because they demand more responsibility from students.

It is noteworthy that to implement these courses we have made use of the platform Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) administered by the Office of Education Virtual UAM-A. Moodle is an advanced management system (also called virtual teaching-learning ‘VLE’), ie, an application designed to help educators create quality online courses.

Aspects of autonomy

Autonomy in learning refers to the ability of the student to develop and to organize their own learning process.

The learner becomes the protagonist in the process of learning: the classroom is considered the social space in which the learning and the interaction occurs.

In the field of the Didactics of languages, H. Holec (1980) defines autonomy as the “ability of students to manage their own learning”. This should not be understood as an innate ability, but as a capability that is acquired through the development of Metacognitive strategies.

The student becomes, depending on the attitude of the teacher in relation with its autonomy, co-responsible with the Professor, in the process of planning, development and evaluation of the curriculum.

It is unanimously supported by all researchers that students need to be trained to be more autonomous. Anyway, our opinion is that the training of the student is done best taking into account the subject that is being studied, in our case the foreign language, and the process should be gradually done.

Students who work with the philosophy of Autonomyare resistant, most of the time,  to go back to the old learning and teaching styles, and to return to former teacher-centered methods.

The decision to incorporate the autonomy of the student in our classes could be taken as a convenient and easy experience to carry, but it is not. This action plan requires organization, a continued effort, especially at the beginning of the experience.

It is important as a University to prepare our future graduates to be professionals capable of coping with changing situations. Trim (1988: 3) points out that no school can provide its students all the knowledge or skills they may need during their lifetime and the best training that can be offered to the student is therefore the ability to continue later. The comprehensive training of our students requires that the professors take more radical positions that they have to learn and how it must be done. We are not going to be constantly by their side to dictate the skills needed, however it is likely that they have access to means that enable them to obtain skills by themselves.

It is not advisable that a teacher decides to change in a radical way his/herway of working. Those who are really successful are those who have tried this gradually, stopping, reflecting, controlling, and stoppingagain when necessary. In other words, better little and well than a lot and bad. The best way to begin is the same activities we always work with. We know that there are activities which promote more autonomy than others, but courses on-line promote this. The professor creates and sets sceneries with new knowledge: sheets, publications, blogs, videos, audios, and others. Information is decentralized from its author and the target focuses on the student.

Levels of autonomy

Level, for this context, is understood as the intensity in the relations of interdependence that are established between the teacher and the students in a parallel way with the activities in the class. We use the scale offered by Vera Batista (1995:6).

Level 0 and 1: The teachers develop very controlled activities guided by him/her. The student follows the exact instructions given to complete the activities.

Level 2: The teachers control/guide partially the activity, but this leaves a margin for the student to develop certain autonomy.

Level 3: The teachers don’t control the activities or they do it just a little, and the student develops the most his/her autonomy.  Another way to understand this level will be the relation that the students establish skills of decision, election, or responsibility.

Level 3 is the highest level a teacher must expect from students.

The project

To start this project it was decided that the first courses to be offered online were English I and II. At first,we planned the courses to be absolutely on-line. But after analyzing the nature of the subject it was decided that it would be better to offer a blended course (B-learning). Two days we would have on-site classroom sessions and one on virtual room.  The students would have the following advantage: they could choose when to take the class (morning, afternoon, evening, Wednesday, Friday, etc...), which exercises they want to solve, how long they would be on-line, etc. The activities on the virtual room would include the development of three English language skills: listening, writing and reading, but also included vocabulary and grammar activities. In the on-site classroomsessions teacher would give emphasis to activities that develop speaking skills and the intercultural competence.

The virtual classroomsof UAM-A contains:

First Trial (English I)

In this first trial of the B-learning course 36 studentswere enrolled. 13 were men and 23 women. Most of them put their photo.Four did not pass the course. Two of them did not complete the exercises in the classroom or present oral examination.

A forum was also opened to discuss the election results of June 2012the students response was enthusiastic and nourishing.

At the end of the Course the students answer a questionnaire about the four following topics:

  1. Enter to the virtual room
  2. Activities
  3. Results of Learning
  4. Suggestions to improve the Virtual Room

34 of the 36 registered students answered the survey. 63% were women and 37% men. The oldest one was 51 and the youngest 20. The average age was 24.6 years.
The majors of the students were the following:

Major of the students who answered the questionnaire
Business Administration 15
Law 7
Economics 1
Graphic Design 4
Architecture 5
Sociology 2
Physics 2
Total 36

(Figura 1)

As you can see in chart number 1, most of the students were of Management, secondly the students of Law and the least number of students were from Sociology and Economics.

Because the central topic of this study is autonomy in learning, we only present for this work, the results of the sections III and IV, which we consider answers relevant for the analysis of the main topic.

Section III Results of Learning

Question 1

Most useful activities
Audio 38%
Grammar 30%
Writing 16%
Reading 16%
Total 36

(Figure 2)

Most of students mention as the most useful activities: audio activities, in second place the grammar ones, and in the last place the activities of reading and writing.

Question 3

100% of the students expressed that the activities least useful were reading and writing.

Question 4

100% of the students reply that the activities they used to review and prepare the on-site classroom,sessions were useful.

Question 5

77% of the students had the opinion that it was enough to have one session on line. The remaining 23 % said no.

Question 6

59 % of the students would accept to take the course two days on line and one in a face to face session. 41% said they wouldn’t.

Question 7

100% of the answers were in favor of taking a b-learning course with a one session on line and two in a face-to face session.

Section IV Suggestions to Improve the Virtual Room

The section 4 of the questionnaire had three questions significant for this study:

Question 3

50 % of the students thought they would like to have more activities in the virtual room and [...]

Question 4

80 % of students would like to have help on line.

Question 5

95% want to have more feedback about their answers and exercises.

Second Trial Results

On the second trial of a B-learning course (English II) 60students registered in the virtual room. 36 were women and 24 men. Most of them put their photo. Four did not pass the course and, they did not complete the exercises in the classroom or present oral examination.

A forum was also opened in the virtual room, but this time was about their favorite vacation. There were more than 300 participations.

At the end of the Course the students answered a questionnaire about the four following topics:

  1. Experience in e-learning
  2. Aspects of Autonomy in learning
  3. Suggestions to improve the Virtual Room
  4. Difficulty of the exam on line

 

56 of the 60 registered students completed the survey. 30 were women and 26 men.  The oldest one was 56 and the youngest 20. The average age was 35 years.                                                                                                                                                                                         
The majors of the students were:

MAJORS
Management 23
Law 9
Sociology 2
Economics 1
Architecture 2
Graphic Design 3
Industrial Design 1
Computing 4
Industrial Engineering 3
Mechanical Engineering 2
Enviromental Engineering 1
ChemicalEngineering 1
Electronic Engineering 1
Employee 1
   
Externalstudents 2

(Figure 3)

Most of the students were from Management and there were many from Law.
We will only present in this paper, the results of the two sections related to the main topic, Autonomy.

Section about Experience in E-Learning

Question 1

73% of the students answered they had already taken an on-line course and 27% responded, it was their first experience.

García Ramos, J.Manuel (1992). Recursos metodológicos en la evaluación de programas. Bordón, 43,461-476.

House, Ernie R. (1992).

From those who answered yes in theresults shown above, their replies were:

1 course on line 2 courses on line 3 courses on line e 4 or more courses
12 14 4 11

(Figure 4)

Question 3

The courses on line the students had taken before were about:

Their majors

English

Other

30

16

2

(Figure 5)

Question 4

Results for the question that if they would like to take another B-learning course of English were:

46 10
YES No

(Figure 6)

Question 5

Reasons the students gave in case they answered no in question four:

Second Section

Aspects of autonomy in learning

Question 1

The opinion of the students about the virtual room English II as a didactic source for teaching and learning was:

Extremely useful Very useful Quite useful Useful Little useful Not at all useful
2 20 18 10 5 1

(Figure 7)

Question 2

The students answered that they found the tasks of the virtual room:

Impossible to do With too many technical problems With a lot of problems With some problems With lack of problems Without problems
1 2 5 21 22 5

(Figure 8)

Question 3

The students replied that the support for the virtual room given by the UAM-A was:

An extraordinary allocation of media A very good allocation of media A  suitable
allocation of media		 A modest
Allocation of media		 A little allocation of media No allocation of media
1 2 5 21 22 5

(Figure 9)

Question 4

The percentage the students spent on the virtual room compared with the one spent in the on-site classroom session was:

  > of 50% Between
25 % and 50%		 Between
10 %and 25%  		Between 5%
And 10%		 5% Not any time
10 19 17 7 3 0

(Figure 10)

Question 5

The results to know if the students were in favor of self-learning as far as it is organized and systematized were the following:

Very much in favor In favor Little in favor Not at all in favor Indifferent Against
9 31 13 0 3 0

(Figure 11)

 

Question 6

The students considered that the on-site classroom sessions in relation with their usefulness were:

Extremely useful Very useful Quite useful Useful Little useful Not at all useful
18 27 6 5 0 0

(Figure 12)

Question 7

The students considered that the self-learning on-line sessions compared with on-site classroom sessionswere:

Extraordinary more  useful Very more useful Moderately useful Less Useful Little useful Not at all useful
18 27 6 5 0 0

(Figure 13)

Question 8

The most useful self-learning component is:

Periodic
Evaluations		 To explore the suggested
Web pages		 Presentation of the activities in the face-to-face sessions Check in group the exercises assigned by the professor Solve exercises by myself A tutorial
2 3 8 12 28 3

(Figure 14)

Question 9

The students think that it would be more useful for learning English as a foreign language:

Only with on-site classroom courses With on-site classroom courses  (50%>) and
Sessions on line (<50%)		 With (50%<) on-site classroom courses and
Sessions on line (50%>)		 With on-site classroom courses (50%) and
Sessions on line (50%)		 With  on-site classroom courses (50%<) and
Sessions on line (50%> and extra activities		 Only with an on-line course
9 20 3 10 14 0

(Figure 15)

Question 10

The students answered that a good alternative for an on-site classroom course would be:

Tutorials given by the professor Chapters of recommended books Suitable Software for learning
English		 Tutorials given by the professor and material to evaluate it. Chapters of recommended books and material to evaluate it. Suitable Software for learning
English and
Material to learn it
16 4 8 17 4 7

(Figure 16)

Discussion of the results

On the first trial in the section “Results of learning”the students commented that the most useful activities were the ones about audio and grammar, and the least useless were the ones of vocabulary and reading. It attracts our attention that the last ones were mentioned the same number of times as the least interesting. This could be because they are considered the easiest skill or, on the other hand that the format of the reading exercises were not attractive. These answers must be considered to be analyzed in a future paper in order to know if the factors which influencedthem were the majors they are studying, their learning style or if the format of the exercises were more attractive. The mentionedanswers are very important to be taken into account because one principle of autonomy in learning is that the student becomes co-responsible with the teacher in the process of planning, development and evaluation of the syllabus.

About the questions if their sessions on line had helped them to review, prepare and improve their performance in the on-site classroom sessions, most of the students answer yes.

We believe this information supports another very important aspect of autonomy in learning; changes don’t have to be radical. The tasks given by the teacher were partially controlled, but it gave them a chance to select the ones they wanted to solve to prepare the class and they also decided when to do it.

About the second trial of B-learning courses we can affirm we got more information about the benefits for our students and if they really helped to develop autonomy in learning. First of all, we realized that almost every student of the course English II had taken an on-line course. From those students many had taken more than 2 courses on line and 30% were of English. We think our students are developing skills to cope with changing situations, and sometimes, teachers are the ones who are not prepared for these changes. Our attitude is negative and we want to continue being the protagonist of the process of learning and teaching.

82% of the students expressed that they would like to take another B-learning course of English. This makes us believe that those pupils have developed empathy for this way of learning and it would be hard for them to go back to the old learning and teaching styles and to return to former teacher-centric schemes.

We also found a group of students (10) who are not in favor of this alternative and they prefer not to take again a B-learningcourse. They show in their answers lack of development in autonomy in learning. For example the one who saidthat sessions on-line are a waste of time or the same as missing a class is reflecting lack of autonomy because there were a lot of different activities with their answers. They were interactive and they give you feedback immediately. Some prefer the traditional sessions because they are easier, in other words, the professor organizes, prepares, chooses the material they have to study. They don’t have to think, or make an effort to decide what or how to learn.

It is also interesting that a big part of students expressed to have spent a lot of time on the virtual room, and that more than the half were in favor of self-learning. Nobody was against. These students reflect that they are in a phase of training to be autonomous, they liked their traditional classes, but they also believed that their sessions on line were quite useful.
We can confirm this group is in grade 2 of autonomy where the teacher controlled or guided partially the activities, but she left students a margin to develop certain autonomy. For instance, many students chose as the most useful self-learning component, to solve exercises by themselves, and they also thought it would be a good idea to have 50% of sessions on line and 50% face-to-face.

Reflections


The b-learning courses of English I and II have had positive results in their trials and a good reception by our students. We have also confirmed that our decision of offering our three basic courses of English in the system of B-learninghas been adequate, among many reasons because it promotes that students begin to be responsible about their learning andoffers options of strategies and materials on- line that motivate them to develop autonomy.

Another benefit is that we are preparing our future graduates to be professionals capable of taking decisions, to be responsible and to make elections. We have to understand we are not going to be constantly by their side to dictate the skills needed. Better that we help them to get the skills by themselves.

We would also like to state that we are on the right way to train our students to be more autonomous. Littleby little we will take them to our goal, build skills that will benefit them in their studies, work and personal life.

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Bartolomé, A. (2001). Universidades en la Red. ¿Universidad presencial o virtual?

Calderón, T y Mercau, M. (2012) Perspectivas de los alumnos sobre la Plataforma Moodle de Virtuami como complemento de los cursos de nivel básico e intermedio de inglés en la UAM Iztapalapa en Relingüística (11).http://relinguistica.azc.uam.mx/no011/

Coaten, N. (2003).Blended Learning.Educaweb (69)
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* Gabriela Cortés Sánchez:Profesora investigadora titular “C” en la UAM-A.  Actual Coordinadora de la CELEX de UAM-A. Licenciada en Letras Inglesas por la UNAM y maestría en Aprendizaje Humano de la Universidad de Brunel.

** Vida Valero Borrás: Licenciatura en Derecho y Maestría en Lingüística Aplicada. Profesora-Investigadora titular “C” tiempo completo en la UAM-A. Coordinadora académica de los cursos Sabatinos de COVI en la UAM-A.

 

Reserva de Dererchos-INDAUTOR: 04-2010-060210103400-203
ISSN 2007-5480