Blogs

While this journal isn't specifically for language learning, it does have research about teaching with technology, if you're interested in that field :)

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl

Table of Contents

Editorial

	Editorial: Volume 13, Number 3	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Terry Anderson	i-iv

Research Articles

	Odyssey of the mind: Social networking in a cyberschool	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Michael K Barbour, Cory Plough	1-18

	Motivation levels among traditional and open learning undergraduate students in India	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Shashi Singh, Ajay Singh, Kiran Singh	19-40

	Development and validation of the Online Student Connectedness Survey (OSCS)	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Doris U Bolliger, Fethi A Inan	41-65

	Quality assurance in e-learning: PDPP evaluation model and its application	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Weiyuan Zhang, Yau Ling Cheng	66-82

	Creating a sustainable online instructor observation system: A case study highlighting flaws when blending mentoring and evaluation	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Marthann Schulte, Kay Dennis, Michael Eskey, Cathy Taylor, Heather Zeng	83-96

	Mapping the interplay between open distance learning and internationalisation principles	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Pumela Msweli	97-116

	Economies of scope in distance education: The case of Chinese research universities	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Fengliang Li, Xinlei Chen	117-131

	Teaching time investment: Does online really take more time than face-to-face?	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Rebecca Van de Vord, Korolyn Pogue	132-146

	M-learning adoption: A perspective from a developing country	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Shakeel Iqbal, Ijaz A. Qureshi	147-164

	The development of distance education in the Russian Federation and the former Soviet Union	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Olaf Zawacki-Richter, Anna Kourotchkina	165-184

	Delivery of open, distance, and e-learning in Kenya	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Jackline Anyona Nyerere, Frederick Q Gravenir, Godfrey S Mse	185-205

	Learning in educational computer games for novices: The impact of support provision types on virtual presence, cognitive load, and learning outcomes	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Claudia Schrader, Theo Bastiaens	206-227

	Examining interactivity in synchronous virtual classrooms	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Florence Martin, Michele A Parker, Deborah F Deale	228-261

	A preliminary examination of the cost savings and learning impacts of using open textbooks in middle and high school science classes	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	David Wiley, John Levi Hilton III, Shelley Ellington, Tiffany Hall	262-276

	Using self-efficacy to assess the readiness of nursing educators and students for mobile learning	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Richard F Kenny, Jocelyne MC Van Neste-Kenny, Pamela A Burton, Caroline L Park, Adnan Qayyum	277-296

	Identification of conflicting questions in the PARES system	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Avgoustos Tsinakos, Ioannis Kazanidis	297-313

Book Notes

	Book review - Quality assurance and accreditation in distance education and e-learning: Models, policies and research	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Kay Shattuck	314-318

	Book review - The publish or perish book: Your guide to effective and responsible citation analysis	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
	Michael Barbour	319-321

Full Issue

	IRRODL Volume 13, Number 3	PDF
		1-327

Good Morning everyone!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! :-)

I just wanted to write a quick note to talk about the offering of the comprehensive exams.  Generally speaking the comprehensive exams is offered once every year for our online students. Usually this exam is offered every May (mid-May).  This, as I understand it, is the case because our program only admits new students in September so everything is scheduled as starting on September and ending in May. As I understand it, there have been one or two instances of December comps for the online program, but I am not sure what the factors were that lead up to that - this is something that I am checking out now.

Our On-Campus program does have comprehensive exams in December, so if you are indeed done with your coursework, and feel ready to take the exam, you don't have to wait until May to take the exams, you can come on-campus to take the December comprehensive exams.  If can't make it into Boston to take the exam in December, but still want to take the exam, please email aplingonline@umb.edu.  I can collect any such requests and present them to our exam coordinators and they can take your request under consideration.

Dear Applied Linguistics Students,

I'm writing to inform you that Prof. Macedo has stepped down as chair of the Applied Linguistics Department, and that I have been selected as his replacement.

I don’t regularly teach in the online program, so let me provide you with some background information about myself. I have been teaching at UMass Boston for 25 years. Within the Department of Applied Linguistics, I teach courses dealing with language theory, structure, and use: Linguistics (601), Phonetics/Phonemics (627), and The Structure of the English Language (629). Several years ago, I taught 629 online, and I hope to be able to teach another course in the online program very soon.

I conduct research in the area of corpus linguistics. Linguists working within this branch of linguistics analyze large computerized databases of spoken and written language to study the structure and use of English and other languages. You can read more about the research I do on my website and also look at past syllabi from the classes I teach: http://www.cs.umb.edu/~meyer/

In closing, I would like to thank Professor Macedo for his many years of service to theDepartment of Applied Linguistics. He has been instrumental in developing the department to the point that students can now earn an MA in Applied Linguistics both on-campus and online. I wish Professor Macedo continued success in his teaching and with the two grants he is currently overseeing.

Sincerely,

Charles Meyer

This goes out there for all you CALL (computer assisted language learning) fans :)

New issue of ReCALL is now available online at the library: http://search.proquest.com/publication/43616?accountid=28932

Even though there is a 1 year embargo (i.e. you can't access the most recent issue), you can get it through InterLibrary Loan for free! :-)

Vol 24, No. 2, May 2012

Editorial

• The use of videoconferencing to support multimodal interaction in an online
  language classroom
  Regine Hampel and Ursula Stickler
• Beyond learner autonomy: A dynamic systems view of the informal learning of
  English in virtual online communities
  Geoffrey Sockett and Denyze Toffoli
• Exploiting a corpus of business letters from a phraseological, functional
  perspective
  Lynne Flowerdew
• Mobile Assisted Language Learning in University EFL Courses in Japan:
  developing attitudes and skills for self-regulated learning
  Mutsumi Kondo, Yasushige Ishikawa, Craig Smith, Kishio Sakamoto, Hidenori
  Shimomura and Norihisa Wada
• The Effects of Captions in Teenagers’ Multimedia L2 Learning
  Lwo, Laurence and Michelle Chia-Tzu Lin
• Using a stance corpus to learn about effective authorial stance-taking: A
  textlinguistic approach
  Peichin Chang

I wish to extend my heart felt congratulations to the 2012 graduates of our Applied Linguistics program!  Having gone through the program myself, I know that it is concurrently difficult, but also very rewarding, and reaching that finish line is only the beginning!

Last night, at the department dinner, I had the pleasure to meet in person and have a quick chat with Noé, Adrienne and Adriana who have come to Boston for the commencement ceremony. Even though I am the new guy on the applied linguistics team, it was really great to online colleagues in person and I hope to see see you at graduation today (I'll be floating around :-)  )

Also, on behalf of the Applied Linguistics Department and the online faculty, I am very happy to announce that Alison Howard has been awarded the 2012 Outstanding Online Student Award. Since Alison began in the Applied Linguistics Program in 2010, she has consistently impressed us all with her high degree of commitment to her studies and to our online community of scholars. Considering her academic record, it does not surprise any of us that she should be leaving the program with a High Pass on the capstone exam. Please join me in congratulating Alison!

In the past, out Ning profiles have only indicated whether you are an online, or on-campus student.  Starting today, I have added another category, Alumn!  If you have graduated, please feel free to update your profile to indicate that you are an alumna or alumnus!  Also, please join our Alumni sub-group on ning, and, if you want, check out our Alumni group on LinkedIn. It is true that in the past our Alumni groups have been dormant, however I do hope that we can keep in touch, see you back here and on LinkedIn!

Again, congrats to my fellow alumns (and keep posted for photos of the ceremony!)

AK

This is for those fellow applied linguists who are interested in computer assisted language learning :-)

We are happy to announce that Volume 16, Number 2 of Language Learning & Technology is now available at http://llt.msu.edu. This is a Special Issue on "Hegemonies in CALL" and was guest edited by Marie-Noëlle Lamy and Mark Pegrum. The contents are listed below.

Please visit the LLT Web site and be sure to enter your free subscription if you have not already done so. Also, we welcome your contributions for future issues. Check our guidelines for submission at: http://llt.msu.edu/contrib.html.

Sincerely,

Dorothy Chun and Mark Warschauer, Editors

Language Learning & Technology

http://llt.msu.edu

----- FEATURE ARTICLES -----

Power within Blended Language Learning Programs in Japan

by Don Hinkelman and Paul Gruba

Interactive Whiteboards in State School Settings: Teacher Responses to Socio-constructivist Hegemonies

by Euline Cutrim Schmid and Shona Whyte

Caught in the Web: Overcoming and Reproducing Hegemony in Azerbaijan

by Cara Preuss and Carolyn Morway

Promoting Dialogue or Hegemonic Practice? Power Issues in Telecollaboration

by Francesca Helm, Sarah Guth, and Mohammed Farrah

----- COLUMNS -----

Special Issue Commentary

Hegemonies in CALL

by Marie-Noëlle Lamy and Mark Pegrum

Emerging Technologies

Challenging Hegemonies in Online Learning

by Robert Godwin-Jones

Action Research

Edited by Greg Kessler

Building Computer Skills in TESOL Teacher Education

by Margo DelliCarpini

Announcements

News From Sponsoring Organizations

----- REVIEWS -----

Edited by Paige Ware

Foreign language learning with digital technology

Evans, M. (Ed.)

Reviewed by Elodie Vialleton

TESOL Technology Standards: Description, Implementation, Integration

Healey, D., Hanson-Smith, E., Hubbard, P., Ioannou-Georgiou, S.,

Kessler, G., and Ware, P.

Reviewed by Dafne Gonzalez

Evaluating computer-assisted language learning

Leakey, J.

Reviewed by Deborah Crusan

Criterion for English Language Learning

Educational Testing Service

Reviewed by Hyojung Lim and Jimin Kahng

----- CALL FOR PAPERS -----

Special Issue: Game and Play Activity in Technology-Mediated L2

Teaching and Learning Edited by Jonathon Reinhardt & Julie Sykes

I think I have developed a workaround the signup issues.

The main issue seems to be that email notifications are not going out in a timely manner, or email notification and account confirmation are not going out at all! This means that if you created an account and waiting to hear back, you might never hear back from the system!

So, in order to work around this issue I have:

• Made the first page visible to everyone (members still need to login to see more information, but at least this way more people can see the "sign up" link on the top right)
• Removed the requirement to confirm your email address before you're allowed to create a profile (and thus be approved by the umbapling admins :-)  )

I have tested this work around with a couple of my emails and it seems to work :-)

My apologies for Ning's snafu :)

AK

As I was cleaning up the digital space where the comprehensive exams took place this morning I noticed that some students has emailed me on Blackboard in March asking for tips about studying for the comprehensive exam; D'oh!  

I am sorry that I missed your message! I honestly wasn't expecting anyone to email me on Blackboard about the comprehensive exam :-)  It is now too late for the most recent group of test-takers to benefit from any advice I have, but I thought I would post something here anyway for those new to the program, and those who haven't taken the comprehensive exam yet.

The comprehensive exam isn't about rote knowledge; it's not about regurgitation of facts, but rather it is about a synthesis of knowledge and information that you have gained throughout your studies in applied linguistics.  Having felt the pain of studying for the Applied Linguistics comps, and having taken the comps as well (a couple years ago) I know what you will be going through.  I thought I would start a series of blog posts on here to help alleviate some of that anxiety over the comps :-)

So, my first tip for studying for the comps is to start early! I wish someone had told me this when I started the applied linguistics program, it would have helped me study in a different way (or perhaps alleviated some of the stress felt around having to read everything all over again in order to revise!).  I will be writing more about note taking strategies in future posts, but for this one I will start you off with the basics:

Each course has a syllabus of readings. When you read, you may highlight, write in the margins, or doodle on the page. The worst thing that you can do is read, but not make any notes.  This is a sure way to forget about the readings three semesters down the road :-)  You may retain some of the essence, but won't necessarily remember something important to refer to in the exam.  Strategic underlining, highlighting, "aha" moments in the margins and reactions in the margins are your friends! They act as road markers that jog your memory a few semesters down the road when you have to reference them again :-)  

In the on-campus program, there were some seminal readings that came back in a couple of classes.  Don't throw away your highlighted, underlined, annotated articles! Use them again for the second class that uses the same reading - you can add to your insights already existing in that first annotated version of the article.  Also, don't throw away any articles until you are done with the program - you will need them for the comps.

What about my articles?  I still have all mine.  I packaged them up, put them in a waterproof bin, threw in some desiccant and put them in the basement.  Every not and again I need to go back and reference one of them.

More comprehensive exams tips coming soon!

Happy Friday everyone (and to those of you taking the comprehensive exam, good luck :-)  )

The department has recently come up with a tentative schedule for Spring, Summer and Fall semesters from 2013 to 2016! You can see the tentative schedule here: http://umbapling.ning.com/group/theclassroom/page/tentativeschedule

You can also discuss the tentative schedule in the Classroom Group discussion boards here: http://umbapling.ning.com/group/theclassroom

This schedule represents where we want to be in the next few years, especially with regard to electives!  I am a big advocate of choice, so I tried to propose as many electives as possible in the next few years (especially in the summer).

Now, having said this, this schedule is only tentative, it's not etched in stone.  We still have to figure out instructor assignments so that these courses can run, and if courses don't have sufficient enrollments, or if we can't find an instructor to teach a specific (elective) course, it may get cancelled. If you are really excited about a specific elective take the opportunity to talk about it in the classroom group. Obviously if enough students are interested in a specific elective we can figure creative ways of getting faculty (especially people not already on our staff) to come teach those courses :-)

Hello everyone,

Here's a bit of information on the cleanup and improvement process here on our online social. First of all, some groups are gone! I am sorry if I axed one of the groups that you had created, or been a member of, but it seemed like most activity centered around the main forums instead of groups. So, in order to keep things a bit neat, I removed all groups, except for the ones that deal with administrative news, procedures and issues.

In the future, as our network evolves, we can revisit the issue of groups as a place for SIGs (special interest groups) to congregate and talk about something specific.

As far as improvements go, there are now two new ways of logging in! I've created a connector for LinkedIn and a Windows Live. This means that if you have a Windows Live account (aka a "hotmail" email address) or a profile on LinkedIn, you can connect those to your account here! What's the benefit? Well, if you forget your Ning password, or if you change email addresses and can no longer log on, or...just experience general log-on weirdness - you always have a back door to enter! I personally have my Yahoo, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts tied to my login here, so in case I forget what my password is, I can always log in.

More updates and cleanup to come over the summer :-)

We received some sad news in the department today. Professor George Smith passed away a couple of days ago. Professor Smith taught APLING 601 (Linguistics) and APLING 625 (Second Language Acquisition) in our online program.

Here is the full university broadcast:

April 24, 2012

MEMORANDUM FOR: University Community

FROM: Winston Langley, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

SUBJECT: Passing of Retired Professor George W. Smith

I am writing to inform you that retired faculty member George W. Smith passed away peacefully at home on April 22, 2012, after a long illness. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, he earned a B.A. and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia. He taught at St. Paul’s College in Virginia and, in 1971, joined the University of Massachusetts Boston as a professor of English Renaissance literature.
In mid-career, Professor Smith’s interest in stylistics led him to conduct research in computational linguistics. He wrote Computers and Human Language (Oxford University Press) and developed expertise in applied linguistics. Professor Smith helped to design and implement the M.A. Program in Applied Linguistics and, after retiring in 2005, continued teaching its online courses through December 2012. He enjoyed restoring the William Otis Lincoln House, his residence in Hingham since 1977. Active in the Hingham Historical Society, he surveyed historical properties in the Lincoln Historic District and restored the antique maps that appear in the Town history, Not All Is Changed by Francis Russell and Lorena Laing Hart, his lifelong friends. He enjoyed country music and followed the Red Sox, the Celtics, and the Patriots. Professor Smith leaves his wife of 46 years, Louise Z. Smith (Professor Emerita of English); their daughter Allison and her husband David Keefer of Wollaston; their son George and his wife Jessica (Bernier); his sisters Nancy and Jennifer Smith of Methuen; two grandchildren; and many friends.

Memorial services will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Hingham Public Library, 66 Leavitt St., Hingham, MA 02043; or to Hospice of the South Shore, 100 Bay State Drive, Braintree, MA 02185-9060.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I enabled Twitter and Facebook integration for our APLING network. What does this mean? Two things, actually! The first thing is that you can connect your facebook and/or twitter account with your umbapling.ning.com account and you can then use your facebook or twitter account to logon (one less password to remember!)

The second thing that this integration enables is cross-posting. If you want to post something in both twitter and this network, you can check off the little twitter checkbox and your status update will also be sent your twitter account :-)

More improvements coming soon!

Hi everyone,

I've been dormant for a while, but I am back! Those who've seen my previous introduction post know that I was a student in the face to face program a few years back, and I was the technical advisor for this social network.

A few years have gone by and I am now back in the in the community with a new role. I am now the Program Coordinator for the Online MA program in Applied Linguistics. I am currently getting acclimated with what's happened up to now in the program, but I am looking forward to working with the faculty to try and get some more electives online, to clean up, and improve, our social community and in general to move the program forward. If you have questions please feel free to drop me a line on here, or by email (a.koutropoulos@umb.edu). I don't yet have a computer I can work with, but as soon as I do, I will add my skype contact info on here as well.

I look forward to workign with you all! :-)

AK