Keywords

1 Consortium

The partners perform various tasks within the project. The distribution of tasks and milestones formulated in the application are discussed and evaluated in regular virtual and face-to-face meetings. A precise allocation of the individual work packages has already been made in the application. The PH Steiermark is mainly responsible for the extension of the intelligent dictionary and didactic advice in the creation of spelling exercises. Graz University of Technology is technically implementing the individual work packages. The two practice schools test new functionalities and give feedback on usability. Based on their feedback, adjustments to the system are made as required.

The LPM as coordinating institution is integrated in all work packages and creates didactic materials for teaching such as lesson preparations for the individual spelling categories. Like all other partners, the LPM is also responsible for the dissemination of the project.

2 Writing Lessons at School - Analogue Writing Versus Digital Writing in a Blog

In school, a wide variety of texts are written in the classroom. In German lessons in the area of writing, process descriptions, narrations and stories are written. In factual lessons, texts are written on the respective subject matter. Students also write texts in religion, visual arts and music.

All these texts are often written in analogous form in the booklet and then ideally read and improved by the teacher. This requires the students to correct what they have written until the text is finished, which in turn requires the complete rewriting of the text again and again, which slows down the completion of the text. In addition, the complete rewriting of the text is not motivating.

Since the analogue text is only available in the booklet, it is not or rarely read by others. The author of the text - in this case the pupils - has no audience. Unless the teachers give other pupils the opportunity to read or present the resulting texts (exhibition, posters …). This means that an essential aspect of writing texts is lost in analogue text production. Texts are usually written for others to pass on information to the reader. This has a negative effect on the pupils’ motivation to write. It is often very low due to the missing readership of the text and decreases more and more in the course of school attendance. Wanting to write often turns into having to write.

In the digital form of writing on a blogging platform the procedure is similar. Students write their text. The teacher gives feedback. On the one hand, this can be in terms of content. On the other hand, spelling can also be discussed in the feedback. The students improve their text.

Here, a first advantage of writing with digital media becomes clear. Pupils do not always have to rewrite the text after the teacher has corrected it, but can continue writing and improve the text once it has been written.

After completion of all improvements in the context of the writing conference between teachers and pupils, the text is published and is then available for reading to an audience (fellow pupils within the class community, within the school community or all users of the Internet). The resulting text thus gains an audience. Hence, the pupils’ motivation to write increases because the text can be read by others.

3 Relevance of Spelling

Spelling is of great importance in all areas of life. The legibility of texts is increased and facilitated by standardized spelling. Misunderstandings are avoided if words are orthographically correct. Especially in the school system, but also in professional life in Germany, the importance of spelling is very high. In primary schools there is a separate grade for spelling and in secondary schools the results are rated one grade lower if the spelling is not sufficient. In professional life, too, great importance is attached to correct spelling in many professional fields. This goes as far as that applicants handing in application documents with poor spelling are not considered when selecting potential new employees.

4 IDeRBlog ii Tool for Free Writing and Spelling Improvement

The blogging platform IDeRBlog ii picks up on this by enabling a phase of automated spell checking after the creation of the text throughout the process of text creation described above.

The procedure remains basically the same as described above. However, after the text creation phase, students are given feedback on the text they have written and the spelling errors it contains by clicking on “Check now”.

The feedback is differentiated between that of the “intelligent” dictionary and that of the intelligent dictionary.

In the “normal dictionary” a potential error is displayed. Students can use the normal methods of finding the correct spelling of the word. They look words up in dictionaries. They ask questions or they search the Internet for the correct spelling. After having improvement their text, students can click on “check again” to see if the word is now spelled correctly (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
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Note of the general dictionary in IDeRBlog ii (Screenshot https://iderblog.eu 22.01.2020)

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The feedback from the intelligent dictionary relates to the mistake made by the students and gives specific feedback on the error to improve the word. After reading the feedback, students should be able to correct the mistake immediately using the feedback. This requires knowledge of spelling strategies (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
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Note of the intelligent dictionary in IDeRBlog ii (Screenshot https://iderblog.eu 22.01.2020)

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In this phase of spell checking the self-written text, students receive feedback on their spelling mistakes. This makes it easier for them to improve their spelling skills. At the same time, they apply the spelling strategies they have learned and internalize them by applying them during the improvement process. The described improvement process suggests an increase in spelling competence.

Ideally, the students improve their texts until they are presented correctly and then hand them over to the teacher.

This correction process, which is carried out by the students, makes the teachers’ work easier, as they receive texts from the students that are ideally free of errors.

However, context-based spell checking is not available even in the dictionaries used in IDeRBlog ii. Therefore, it is possible that teachers will find a few more mistakes in the text and report them back to the students. This feedback will also give students an insight into the finite nature of the digital improvement of texts due to the technical structure of spell checkers, which will only allow a context-based improvement of misspellings to a limited extent by 2020.

Apart from that, teachers mainly focus on content corrections of the text and give students feedback on the content of their texts. By using the platform IDeRBlog ii, a digital writing conference between teachers and students is possible. Due to the fact that they can communicate with each other asynchronously.

The aim of the writing conference is to produce a well written text, which will be published in the final step. Only the students can publish the text they have written after the teachers have given their approval.

5 Digital Texts Versus Analogue Texts

The texts created and published by the pupils can be read by members of the class, school-wide or by all users of the Internet, depending on settings made by the teacher. Thus, the texts and their authors gain a potential readership. In addition, classmates can comment on texts being read within the class or school community after registration. Hence, the text loses its static character and becomes dynamic through the interaction between reader and author. Readers and authors enter into an asynchronous dialogue with each other.

6 Media Competence

By writing with digital devices as described above, the pupils not only acquire German language skills but also the media skills they urgently need for their future life in a digital society.

In addition to basic skills such as orientation on the computer keyboard and the basics of writing with digital devices for example punctuation, the basic handling of the input device is also trained. Switching on and off as well as the correct operation of the browser will be learned. These skills are more likely encompassed in the area of “operation and use”.

But also, competencies in the area of “acting safely and thinking about media” are addressed by using the platform. Dealing with each other in digital communication is not only theoretically trained, but also applied in acting on the platform. The effect of texts can also be discussed in class, as can the way we deal with each other on the Internet. Likewise, competences in the safe use of the Internet are trained while using the website. The competent use of passwords can also be addressed while working with the platform in class. At the same time, students directly apply the acquired knowledge.

In this way, the platform pursues a subject-integrated approach in which digital knowledge and skills are imparted in German. The acquisition of skills goes far beyond the basic skills of the operator and user. A particularly large number of skills are developed in the area of “communication and safe handling when using the Internet”.

7 Easy Usability

Despite all the complexity of the platform, attention is paid in all areas to increase the usability of the platform. Navigation within the platform is kept as simple as possible so that students have little difficulty in using the platform. Usability tests were carried out in the first phase of the development of the platform with students who gave important hints for the improvement of the platform. Whenever new functionalities are programmed into the platform, they are tested by the practice schools and their feedback flows back into a continuous improvement process.

8 Learning Analytics and IDeRBlog ii

The learning analytics approach, first systematized by Mohamed Chatti and colleagues in 2012 [1], plays a major role in the IDeRBlog ii platform.

Chatti and colleagues [1] describe learning analytics (LA), or educational data mining (EDM), as a process of collecting and evaluating data in digital environments and provision of materials to the learner based on the evaluation. IDeRBlog ii has implemented this approach of LA or EDM.

All of the words of the intelligent dictionary are assigned to 22 spelling categories. The systematics of the different spelling phenomena were developed by the project team, as well as the intelligent dictionary that picks up the spelling phenomena. All misspelled words of a student in the intelligent dictionary are evaluated and assigned to the corresponding error categories. After a certain number of misspellings (50) and written words (500) a qualified statement can be made about the spelling problems of the student. This evaluation is made available to each student (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.
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Evaluation display of the error focus for students of general dictionary in IDeRBlog ii (Screenshot https://iderblog.eu 22.01.2020)

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Students will be provided with “online exercises” or “worksheets” for the individual error focus of the students, which may vary from student to student. These can be worked on in exercise phases and thus improve their spelling competence in their individual error focus.

To refresh knowledge, one online course is available for each error category, which is to be worked on by the students. The individual courses are all structured in the same way. They offer a mixture of knowledge transfer and application of the knowledge acquired within the course. In all courses, care is taken to alternate analogue and digital practice phases.

On the first page, the spelling phenomenon is explained. The knowledge acquired on page 1 is to be applied on the second page by the students working on a corresponding online exercise which focuses on the respective spelling phenomenon. On the third page there is a phase of knowledge transfer paired with an offline exercise in which the students apply their acquired knowledge. On page 4 the students are provided with another online exercise to work on. Finally, the students can download and print out a worksheet, which can also be worked on at home.

Thus, IDeRBlog ii makes an important contribution to individualized spelling learning.

The evaluation provided to the students can also be viewed by the teachers. In addition, the teacher’s view shows the spelling mistakes of the individual students, sorted by spelling category, so that the teacher can see a detailed performance level of the students. This allows an individualized support of the students in other teaching scenarios as well. Teachers can also view the performance of the entire class. This gives them important information for planning their lessons (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4.
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Example of a directory of misspelled words by students (Screenshot https://iderblog.eu 22.1.2020)

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The evaluation adapts to the learning progress of the students and is not static. This means that it changes automatically according to the texts written by the students. Hence, the student evaluation loses its static character and is always up-to-date through the use of the platform. This is a great advantage for teachers and makes their work easier, because they do not have to evaluate the spelling skills of the individual students anymore, but can always access the current evaluation with one click.

9 Exercises in IDeRBlog ii

The exercises and worksheets used in IDeRBlog ii are mostly the result of online research. Researched exercises (online or print) were assigned to the corresponding spelling categories and sorted by level of difficulty. In the IDeRBlog project, the PH Vienna has created and published exercises in areas where few or no exercises were found. The same happened with worksheets created by the LPM in the first phase of the project.

All exercises have been reviewed and checked by the partner consortium. Special attention was paid to the correctness of all exercises and worksheets. Other criteria included common file formats in the print exercises and age-appropriate explanations in the online exercises.

All exercises referenced in IDeRBlog ii can be accessed by students in the student area “Practice” as well as by teachers in the adult area without registration at IDeRBlog ii.

10 The Teachers and Parents Site on the Platform

In principle, the platform is divided into the “Children’s World” (http://iderblog.eu) and the “Teachers and Parents Site” (https://iderblog.eu/fuer-erwachsene/aktuelles/). The structure of the children’s page and its possibilities for pupils were discussed above. On the teachers and parents site, teachers in particular, but also other users or interested parties can get an overview of the platform.

Besides the provision of the above mentioned online (https://iderblog.eu/fuer-erwachsene/uebungsdatenbank-online/?no_cache=1) and print exercises (https://iderblog.eu/fuer-erwachsene/uebungsdatenbank-print/?no_cache=1) sorted by spelling mistake categories, users can get an insight into the structure of the platform. A total of 15 videos describing how to use the platform are available for teachers (https://iderblog.eu/fuer-erwachsene/uebungsdatenbank-print/?no_cache=1). In addition, teachers have access to a manual describing how to use the platform. A user manual for pupils can also be downloaded and made available to pupils when they use the platform (https://iderblog.eu/fuer-erwachsene/materialien/handbuecher/). Another supporting material is the digital self-learning course, which also explains the basic use of the platform (https://iderblog.lpm.uni-sb.de/moodle/course/view.php?id=4).

Teachers are also provided with an overview of the idea and the main features of the platform as well as the basic requirements that students should meet before they start working on the platform.

In the materials section, teachers will find information about possible scenarios for using IDeRBlog ii. It is explained how and in which teaching scenario IDeRBlog ii can be used. The goals to be achieved in the field of media education when using IDeRBlog ii are also presented in the adult area.

Especially interesting in this context are the writing occasions (https://iderblog.eu/fuer-erwachsene/schreibanlaesse/). The 100 writing events contain ideas about what pupils can write on the platform if they have no idea what text to write (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5.
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Writing occasions sorted by topic (Screenshot https://iderblog.eu 22.01.2020)

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The writing events are arranged according to topics and contain not only suggestions for what the pupils can write about but also tips on what the pupils should think about during the writing process.

The writing events are published digitally, but can also be downloaded collectively and used as flashcards. This gives the pupils the opportunity to choose topics for writing in other lesson sequences and to use them in an analogue writing process (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6.
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Example: Writing occasions (Screenshot https://iderblog.eu 22.01.2020)

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Teachers can subscribe to the IDeRBlog ii newsletter, which informs about news and is published monthly. Teachers can also get an overview of the next training dates in the area of further education.

11 News in IDeRBlog ii

The IDeRBlog ii platform will be funded as part of the European Erasmus+ project from 2018 to 2021. The follow-up project is divided into different work packages. In the following, the changes of the platform that will alter the use of the platform will be addressed.

In order to expand the user groups, a second design of the platform will be created, so that older pupils can also use the platform with an appropriate design according to their age.

The process of writing on the platform will be didacticized so that pupils can enter the headline in an extra field. This way every text has a headline, which is also better displayed on the platform.

Texts can be provided with keywords so that they are easier to find. This additional function makes it easier to find texts as well as to work with the pupils in media education. Keywords or tags can be discussed in class. By using this function pupils become aware of the necessity of keywording content to make it easier to find it.

The teacher’s comments after the text has been submitted by the pupil are highlighted. This allows students to find teachers’ improvements or comments more quickly and incorporate them into their text.

Copyright free images can be incorporated into texts, so that the appearance of the texts and the blog changes. By implementing images, the aesthetics of the individual blog posts is increased. Additionally, other teaching scenarios become possible. For example, it is possible to describe images and thematize their appearance or content in blog posts. The possibility of adding images to the blog allows media-pedagogical content to be discussed with the pupils when using the platform. Copyright aspects in the use of images on the Internet are taken into account in the lessons (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7.
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Screenshot https://learningapps.org 25.01.2020

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It should be possible to use created Blogs in other digital scenarios. For this purpose, an export function of blogs or individual contributions will be programmed. The exports can then be processed digitally. An export as a word processing file is planned in order to be able to further process blogs. This makes it possible to create a student magazine from blogs. The possibility of a PDF export is also planned. Or teachers can export blogs or blog posts in EPUB format so that they can be read in other contexts.

In IDeRBlog ii the intelligent dictionary will be extended. While about 500 words have been included in the dictionary so far, the vocabulary will be extended to 1200 words. The selection of words is based on an analysis of the blog posts written by students. In addition, the words to be recorded are compared with the total vocabulary and the number of words in the existing spelling categories to ensure a valid spelling analysis of the students.

In IDeRBlog ii, own exercises are programmed to enable students to work on the spelling phenomenon they encounter individually e.g. to work with exactly the words they misspelled. The exercises are additionally displayed within the evaluation and can be worked on by students during the exercise phases. By programming and providing own exercises it is also possible to provide students and teachers with an evaluation of the exercise results.

In addition to purely technical changes, IDeRBlog ii also creates other pedagogical materials that are made available to teachers for their lessons. For each spelling category, lesson preparations are made available that can be integrated into the spelling lessons of the respective class. Each teaching unit is designed for 10 lessons and can be used or adapted by teachers. The teaching units correspond to the latest didactic requirements. During the preparation of the lessons, great importance is attached to teaching students in analogous teaching scenarios. However, phases are also included which enable digitally supported learning. This must always be seen in relation to the equipment available at the school.

In order to illustrate the use of the platform, another 15 videos will be produced which explain and discuss the use of the new functionalities. These videos will be integrated into the platform at appropriate places, but are also available in the teachers’ area.

12 Scientific Aspects in the Digital Storage of Data in IDeRBlog ii

By storing the data in the IDeRBlog ii platform, many different scientific statements can be made in the field of research for writing and spelling in German. The amount of data and submitted texts is much higher than in normal studies. This also allows for more valid evaluations, because the validity of the data increases due to the large amount of data. At the end of 2019, 12000 texts were available for evaluation.

The total number of data can be analyzed in many different ways, some of which are described below. The selection of analyses should be seen as an example and does not claim to be complete.

With the totality of all written texts, statements can be made about the length of texts depending on the age group. The assumption is that older students write longer texts than younger students. By evaluating the written texts, however, more precise statements can be made on the basis of the available data.

The texts as a whole can be used to analyze the active vocabulary of students. Since the texts are not always influenced by the teacher’s instructions, an exact evaluation of the vocabulary in its entirety is possible. Regional differences can also be worked out when evaluating the data.

A regional analysis of the spelling performance of students using IDeRBlog ii is also possible. Thus, it may be possible to make statements on the different spelling performance of students depending on the regional dialect used. It is also possible to make statements on the spelling performance of students in different federal states.

If IDeRBlog ii is used continuously, the change in spelling competence of students can be assessed in long-term studies. Likewise, the change in text length when using IDeRBlog ii can be determined. And these are just some possible scenarios.

13 Summary

To sum up, the blogging platform IDeRBlog ii encompasses three out of four aspect of German language learning. Pupils can write, read and comment on texts. They are supported during their writing process by the feedback of the intelligent dictionary, in order to improve their spelling abilities. In addition, students enhance their media competency while working with IDeRBlog ii, ranging from the proper handling of their passwords to acquiring adequate online communication skills. What is more, is that from a research point of view the platform offers through the implementation of learning analytics not only an analysis and evaluation of each students or every single classes orthographic abilities, but a whole new level of data concerning orthography research. Hopefully, allowing researchers to gain new insights into the acquisition of spelling abilities.