Abstract
The article is devoted to the problem of online TEFL course writing vis à vis students’ attitudes to e-learning looked at from two different perspectives: macro and micro. The former involved a large-scale study based on two surveys tapping into (n1 = 398; n2 = 331) related to e-learning, carried out at the College of Foreign Languages in Czestochowa, Poland; the latter was a small-scale qualitative investigation of the College students’ opinions on a particular e-course in progress, informed by regular feedback sessions with three student-reviewers who had volunteered to take part in the said course and evaluate it. In the course of the two studies, it was possible to delineate the following characteristics of a good online course: ample choice as regards both content and form; a good balance between teacher control and learner autonomy; multi-source supplementation to lecture content; teacher-student and student–student interactivity; and easy access to handouts and revisions.
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Notes
- 1.
The author’s interjected comments are italicized.
- 2.
All of the online courses had to be completed before student enrolment started.
- 3.
The percentage/grade relation may be different for different schools and universities. Yet, the 60 % and 67 % thresholds quite popularly correspond to numeric grades 3.0 and 3.5, respectively. The following discussion is based on this assumption.
- 4.
An e-learning authoring tool enabling the conversion of ppt presentations into slideshows with elements of interactivity and voice-over narration.
- 5.
A Moodle-based presentation tool which allows for page-by-page presentation of content. Each page can contain: embedded audios and videos; pictures and photos; tables and graphs; different quiz options (multiple choice, true/false; short answer; essay; etc).
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Turula, A. (2014). Micro- and Macro-Perspectives on Students’ Attitudes to Online Classes. In: Pawlak, M., Bielak, J., Mystkowska-Wiertelak, A. (eds) Classroom-oriented Research. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00188-3_10
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