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2022.06.18Seminarsinformation

Summer 2022 MF Training Check-in #3

Our third and last synchronous check-in meeting for the Summer 2022 MF Training was taken place on Saturday, June 18, 2022.

 

 

Since the topic of our last session was on digital literacy, the teachers shared their own experiences and observation on how competent their students tend to be with their digital competency as well as their own competency. It has been noted that digital literacy is a broad and multimedia field, so it was agreed with many of the teachers that some students have already equipped with their digital literacy while others have not. Therefore, it is significant for us teachers to have sense of the students’ level in their digital literacy. It is also significant for us to be aware of our own level in digital literacy so that we can accommodate our students as well as ourselves. The following figure shows types of digital literacy that needs to be taken into consideration.

 

 

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-dimensions-of-digital-literacy_fig1_327252152 

 

As the pandemic has crept in our lives, digital literacy has rapidly increased and been redound in academic lives. Of course, this rapid dissemination may cause digital divide among the teachers and our students. It has been salient in COIL courses as the students from certain countries have higher digital competency while others have limited knowledge with digital literacy.  

 

Another issue that was raised during the discussion was that the students living in certain parts of the countries often face intermitted internet connection because of the weather, the environment, or even the time zone. Therefore, it is crucial for COIL practitioners to foresee these potential glitches and come up with backup plans which can be executed when such glitches or divides occur.

 

Another point that was highlighted is that most of the Japanese students are not familiar with digital platforms. It has been suggested that before they enter the COIL course, they should be introduced to external support such as YouTube tutorial videos to navigate them and familiarize them with digital tools.

 

In order to avoid such glitches and divides, it was suggested that teachers need to create materials as authentic and relatable as possible. The following figure shows practical guidelines to make our materials “relevant”.

 

 

Source: http://esheninger.blogspot.com/2019/04/5-ways-to-create-relevant-cultures-of.html

 

Also, this model can be useful when assigning students to present themselves. We need to let the students find the common ground that is relevant to the topic in class and to the whole students.

This strategy can be utilized as ice breaking activities at the beginning of the class, and it opens up opportunities for the students to be comfortable being in an online class. One of the suggestions was to use TikTok or YouTube video to warm up the class.

 

If you would like to know more about the program, please check out the following articles:

Check-in Meeting # 1

Check-in Meeting # 2