Course Syllabus

Course Description

In this course we will explore over three hundred digital tools in the context of task-based language teaching.  After an introduction to task-based learning, participants will have the opportunity to evaluate a wealth of web-based and non web-based digital tools, design digital tasks, explore authentic assessment tasks, and develop task-based lesson plans and a digital-task based syllabus.  

Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be highly aware of the wide range of digital tools available and will have a deep resource bank of digital-tasks to choose from when developing task-based lessons within their own language courses.  For those interested in how this course address the Common Core Standards for K-12 in the United States please check out this link to the Common Core Standards related to technology.

General Requirements

Students should be interested in implementing task-based language teaching and digital tools in their language classrooms.  Due to the collaborative nature of this course, participants will be expected to contribute to the list of digital tools and tasks discussed throughout the course.

Requirements for a Course Certificate

To receive a course certificate, participants will need to show active participation in the weekly discussions throughout the six week course.

Code of Conduct

Please review the Code of Conduct specified by Canvas Network.

Costs

All tools and resources required for this course are either free or have a free version.

Time Commitment

You can expect to spend 4-6 hours a week on this course. Hopefully, you will enjoy the collaborative nature of this course and spend well over 6 hours a week with the discussions.

Student Expectations

Students can expect a reply to personal messages to the instructor within 48 hours.  Unfortunately, due to the number of participates, the instructor will not be able to personally grade the assignments.  However, the instructor will actively monitor and participate in the weekly discussions.

Getting Help

If at any time you need help within the Canvas Network, please click on the Help link in the upper right corner of any Canvas page or follow this link to Canvas Network's Help page .  After clicking on the Help link in the upper right corner, a pop-up window will appear where you can submit a course-related question to ask your instructor, search the Canvas Guide for answers to common questions, ask the Canvas Network Community a technical question, or request a new feature for Canvas Network.  For general course-related questions, please post your question in the Questions and Comments discussion for this course.

Instructor

Brian E. Hutchinson (Canvas Network profile)
Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Online Learning and Instructional Technology
Gyeongju University

Course Modules

Week 1: (Optional) Canvas Student Orientation
Week 1: An Introduction to Task-Based Language Teaching
Week 2: An Introduction to Digital Tools for Task-Based Language Teaching
Week 3: An Introduction to Authentic Assessments
Week 4: An Introduction to Task-Based Lesson Planning 
Week 5: More Digital Resources for Task-Based Language Teaching
Week 6: An introduction to the Task-Based Syllabus

Accessibility

For those who would rather use a free text-to-speech program to listen to the articles, read Med Kharbach's article, 10 Free Text to Speech Tools for Educators, or Lori Kaufman's article, The Best Text to Speech (TTS) Software Programs and Online Tools, try out a few of the free text-to-speech programs mentioned in the articles, and choose the one that you prefer.  If you would rather purchase a text-to-speech program that provides a selection of more natural sounding voices, read the Software Review Boffin's post Text to Speech Software Reviews.

Getting Started

Click this link to the Course Home Page or

Click this link to the Modules Page