Pioneering online program set for renewal

February 14, 2007

One of the world's first fully online degree programs, introduced by the University of New England in 2001, is to undergo a renewal process to maintain its position as a showcase of distance education practice.

More than 200 students around the world are currently enrolled in UNE's Master of Arts (Applied Linguistics) program (MAAL), and more than 100 have completed the program. Dr Karen Woodman, who coordinated the development of the program, said it had been particularly popular with graduates wanting to become teachers of ESL (English as a Second Language) and ESL teachers needing to upgrade their skills.

The MAAL program has just received University grants totalling $156,000 (including $96,000 from UNE's Distance Education Project Advisory Committee) for its "strategic renewal" over the next two years. Dr Woodman (pictured here) said the process would begin with the collection of information from current students, graduates, and staff members that would "inform the revision of MAAL units incorporating the latest technology".

Dr Woodman's experience abroad last year will contribute to that process. She spent nine months in California as a Visiting Professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies – one of the English-speaking world's leading centres of expertise in language teaching, translating and interpreting. (It has given its name to the "Monterey Model" of language teaching.)

Working in the Institute's Graduate School of Language and Educational Linguistics, Dr Woodman not only taught a unit titled "Principles and Practices of Language Teaching", but developed an online version of the unit with the benefit of her experience at UNE.

In the course of that project she learnt new techniques for the incorporation of video footage into online programs. "Video footage of experts speaking on a particular topic can 'personalise' an online course," she said, "and can help students to develop a sense of critical awareness by providing different perspectives from a range of authorities."

Dr Nick Reid, the coodinator of the MAAL program at UNE, said the "strategic renewal" of the program could well involve the development of more extensive – and more technologically advanced – use of video, and Dr Woodman's experience at the Monterey Institute would be a valuable resource in that process.

While in the United States, Dr Woodman explored the opportunities for UNE graduates to continue their studies at the Monterey Institute, which is entirely devoted to postgraduate teaching. She also attended last year's annual International TESOL ("Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages") Conference in Tampa, Florida, and will return next month for this year's conference in Seattle. At the Seattle conference she will assume the role of Chair Elect of the organisation's Teacher Education Interest Section, and will become Chair in 2008.

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Dr Karen Woodman displayed here was taken during her time in California.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at February 14, 2007 05:29 PM