Project Evaluation

I think the key item now for me is to actually try to implement this in a real-life classroom setting. For me, success is whether or not the teachers use it. I think the kids will. It's the teachers I'm worried about. And, because they already feel like the school switched platforms on them without input (IT, too for that matter!), I think it's a sensitive time to push anything else that is new, without their input. Nevertheless, now that MACs are here, they need to embrace it. So, I can come in with a possible solution like this.

If I could redo the project, I would get the founders of the Skritter involved from the upfront. I didn't realize until at least half way through the project that it's a band of 4 guys who went to college together and working out of a small office. Essentially this is a start-up company, one that could use some mass-acceptance like an actual trial run in a bilingual school such as mine. They are very responsive to feedback and keen to make this work for schools. So, if I were to implement this for real, I would ask for the following modifications to the program. I know it sounds like a lot, but I work with programmers all day long modifying the user experience of websites. I think this is very doable!

Top 3 suggestions for refinement of Skritter for classroom use:

- Enable group accounts: Re-program site so that 1 user can set up logins for a full class. This enables a teacher/tech resource to create 1 master view for the teacher to more efficiently manage custom vocabulary lists.

- Enable group evaluation. Create a view so that the teacher could have access to each students' evaluation metrics. Skritter already provides for each of her students, but letting a teacher see how all the students fair in comparison enables her/him to have better perspective on what is difficult for the entire class.

- Add in more explanations on the history of words and fun tips to help students remember characters. Including such tips in a multimedia format would be very ideal, since it may touch on additional learning styles.

Techquest Implementation Podcast

Here are a few screen shots of Skritter so you can have a visual of what I'm referring to in my podcast.

Techquest Technology Research by Mary Ostrover

Admittedly, there really is not a lot of institutional research being done on how technology is being used in the Chinese classroom. However, I have tried to supplement this by using alternate methods. I have mostly done my searches using Google.com, Yahoo.com and Baidu.com (The Google of China). I have been various iterations of the terms "Chinese Language Instruction," "Chinese Language and Technology," and more generally (because there is not a lot out there), "Chinese Language Research" and "Chinese Language Education." Another hindrance is that I am not currently in that school system, I have made some educated guesses on parameters, such as budget and implementation.

What’s helped my research

Given my upcoming move to Hong Kong, I have kick started my own Chinese language learning. So this topic is really of great personal interest to me. The fact that I am still friends with teachers at my old school in Hong Kong has been invaluable in informing this techquest. I actually what is going on and what’s feasible at the moment. In particular, I have been speaking to:

-      Elementary school librarian

-      3^rd Grade teacher and team leader

-      Head of Technology, K-12

What’s hindered my research

A hindrance for me in this techquest is that neither my Chinese writing or reading is good enough to truly dig into Chinese educational research about these resources. If it is not written in English, I am not able to use it. I know that research on educational (and even more so research on technology in education) light years ahead in the US however. So, I actually do not thinking I will be missing critical information. Still, it would be better if I could say that for sure. I did find an interesting conference at Ohio State University focusing on integration of Chinese language instruction and technology. While its agenda does not help in my particular techquest, its existence gives me hope that this is a burgeoning field of educational study. There are also numerous resources affiliated with MSU, most notable being the journal of Language, Learning and Technology, specifically created to provide resources for second and foreign language learners and teachers. I have mostly found articles relating to review of programs and as a result, am looking into Scribbles. But, so far the closest pedagogy paper I have found discusses the need to place Chinese character learning in context. It may prove useful however.

Another hindrance is that I do not know if there is budget for any additional classroom equipment. I know there was a recent overhaul this past school year to make the school MAC-only. And, I know the school will find the money if the proposal is right. So, I am not limiting myself in terms of budget, I am just looking to propose the most effective and efficient solution.

So, much of my online search has been trying to filter out the numerous types of software out there, both for learning and inputting. My research is broken into reviewing 2 technologies for the MAC-based the Chinese International School in Hong Kong:

I.             What is the best Chinese character learning software for them (Review and research of Skritter and others)

II.           What is the best Chinese character input tool for them            

Part I: Chinese character learning software

Numerous Chinese software programs exist. Many enable you to customize lists. Among the most widely used include L – CEPS, Rosetta Stone and Skritter. However, it seems from my review of the first 2 programs, the curriculum content is geared towards conversational topics which help people to learn the language through its culture. Topics like “Greetings,” “At the Office,” or “How to order in a restaurant,” are not quite suited to the audience for this techquest – elementary students enrolled in a bilingual school living in Hong Kong. They need a program with content that is more tailored to native Chinese speakers. (Based on personal review of L-CEPS and Rosetta Stone websites) )

Additionally, both L-CEPS and Rosetta Stone ask for user input in Pinyin (phonetic spelling based on Roman alphabet). So, students would miss out on the chance to practice actually writing.  (Based on About.com review here)

I have also created an account at Skritter to begin pressure-testing this software. At first glance, I feel Skritter would help add pedagogical variety to the traditional Chinese classroom because it asks students questions in a variety of ways. It covers the same class material, but uses:

·      audio to help students learn tones

·      digital pen / tablet which lets students write characters directly into the computer

·      more traditional multiple choice questions to ask the meaning of words

·      pop up boxes which presents the origin of some words in a entertaining way.

·      feedback loop to ask students to rate the difficulty level of some questions.

After pressure testing L-CEPS and Rosetta Stone, I feel Skritter is still the best option to explore. What I am very much missing is some research on the use of Skritter. I have been in direct contact with Skritter’s founders directly to ask about research that’s been done on their tool. While they are keen to do some, they have not yet been evaluated this way. There is a potential to partner with them to do such research if the Chinese International school desired. This research opportunity will become part of my pitch to them in the Fall.

Part II. Chinese character input tools

There is a plethora of programs out there, none of which have truly dominated as a platform yet. I needed guidelines to narrow my research focus. As a starting point, I ruled out all PC-only systems since starting this school year, my school will be MAC-only. Secondly, I know that there are two kinds of systems: 1) Students actually write the Chinese character into the computer and 2) Students type the character into a QWERTY keyboard phonetically. I choose to concentrate on the former as the second does not let students practice actually writing the character. Once they learn it, it is ok to revert to phonetic inputting, but I want to find one that reinforces the writing. 

I first went to Apple.com, which touts some unique characteristics of their Chinese character input system: 

• You can use your fingers to write on a Multi-Touch trackpad in Mac laptops. As you write, suggested characters are shown in the same window, letting you choose the right one.
• This tool is integrated into MAC operating system so it can be used with any MAC that runs on a MAC. One button lets you change from inputting in English to Chinese in any program.

Secondly, I wanted to see what was prevalent in Hong Kong. So, I scoured the websites for the key universities in Hong Kong to see what system they were using. This proved fruitless as the information was not available. I then looked at the websites for any sister universities in the US, thinking that US sites might feel more of a need to spell out the tools they use. I finally found one helpful list of Chinese character inputting systems from Yale (which runs an esteemed East Asia studies center at Hong Kong University each summer). I plan to go through this list as a starting point for other technologies. I have looked at MSU's own Confucious Institute which provides a very general lis of resources, all of which appear pinyin-based as well. While none are geared towards elementary students, I will go through them all to see what could be usable.
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* An interesting side-note is that I have learned that the prevalence of pinyin imputting is of great concern to the Chinese government and culture-hawks. They are very concerned that the lack of a Chinese inputting system using characters is eroding the language. As more and more Chinese are inputting characters using pinyin, more English letters are entering their daily lexicon. 

Techquest Project Description – Final

The Four common places of education:

·      Setting: Chinese International School (Full MAC platform across all labs and classrooms)

·      Teachers: Elementary School Chinese teachers

·      Students: All Chinese International School Elementary School Students (Yes, all! At this school Chinese language learning is mandatory.)

·      Subject Matter: Chinese

Problem Background:

The Chinese language is made up of over 50,000 characters. The typical newspaper regularly uses 8,000 characters. The typical high school student needs to graduate with a mastery of no less than 2,000 characters. As a result, much of early language education is devoted to the learning of new characters. Based on my 6 years of experience in a dual-language classroom, here are my personal observations of the K-5 Chinese language classroom:

1.     Be it as a full class or in small groups, instruction tends towards demonstration of how to write a character (in the precise order of the strokes in some form (either in a book, on the board, etc..).

2.     Students “learn” the stroke order through repeated practice drills and various methods of rote memorization (Flash cards, math-like drill software, pneumonic tricks).

3.     Both the enormity of characters covered per grade level (and because it seems there are just so many ways to teach the physical writing of a character), much of Chinese language instruction approach follows a didactic model which enables efficient transfer of a large body of information from teacher to student.[1]

4.     Assessment predominantly falls in the camps of weekly written tests and quizzes (a la spelling test dictations)

5.     Pedagogy seems to vary little across student age and grade level, just the complexity of the characters change.

6.     Reinforcement of lessons with HW produced mixed results due to a very culturally mixed school. Students with at least 1 Chinese-speaking parent (or tutor) fared the best. It was clear that students who did not have the language support at home often had more trouble completing HW and grasping the tones.

The Need or Opportunity:

This type of instruction and learning likely favors a certain type of learner, one who can deal with a rather linear type of instruction and reproduce the finished character at will. The opportunities for technology in this traditional teaching arena are threefold:

1.     To reinforce the classroom content, possibly helping to vary the teaching methodology, which would help both students and the teachers who had to deliver this content.

2.     To vary the content presentation, as well as make it more engaging through the use of multimedia inputs.

3.     Character input methods vary widely. More and more, they are based on the western phonetic alphabet. Once a student inputs a letter, all common characters starting with that sound pop up on the screen and they need to choose the proper character. This is great for inputting, but not necessary good for students who are still trying to learn how to write the character. I am personally learning that is it pretty easy to recognize a character, but much harder to write it from a blank piece of paper. Finding an input method that reinforces writing (as opposed to the recognition) would help early language learners greatly.

Lastly, if character-based languages like Chinese are ultimately resigned to a certain level of rote learning, an opportunity exists to at least try to individualize some aspects of the learning. If the individualized assessment programming is truly intuitive, it may help teachers better diagnose student trouble areas.

Proposed Solution (MAC-based per Chinese International School): My goal is to help my old school in its search for effective Chinese language computer instruction in their new MAC platform. 

GOALS (previously published)	TOOL UNDER CONSIDERATION (new)	Additional Resources (None – All currently exists at school)
Identifying the best program out there that can help support diversity in teaching pedagogy as well as support differing student learning styles.	Skritter.com	Computer Lab / Classroom computers with broadband internet access to use web-based Skritter.com. Students will need to create unique logins.
Choosing a character – input method(s) to streamline the various programs being used at the moment	MAC’s Pinyin Trackpad Handwriting Software	Comes pre-installed with MAC computers

Implementation Plan:

Phase 1 – July, 2010: I do not have access to a classroom at the moment. However, I am taking Chinese writing with 2 other students. I plan to use this small group as a guinea pig to test out my techquest.

Phase 2 – August, 2010: Send this plan to the Elementary Principal and Chinese Computer Teacher at the Chinese International School for consideration and usage in the classroom. While I have not taught there in 10 years, I just saw everyone recently when I was visiting Hong Kong. The Chinese staff of 15 has only changed by 2 teachers since I was there. Everyone else is still there and keen to give some new ideas a try!

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[1] John Bell (Associate Professor, Michigan State University) in “Three Models of Teaching and Learning,” slide lecture from Session 3, course reading.

Techquest Project Description Draft #1

This techquest project is a good opportunity to wrestle with an issue I have had for the entirety of my teaching career. I have not been teaching for 10 years, but now that I am looking to return to teaching (and to relocate back to where I did it—Hong Kong), I want to use this opportunity to look for a solution.

My background

Between 1996-2001, I was a technology curriculum coordinator at the Chinese International School in Hong Kong, a bilingual (English – Chinese Mandarin) elementary school for expat and local students. The students had regular homeroom classes in English and with curriculum much like in the US, but they spent close to a third of the day in Chinese.

I taught a third grade homeroom class, but while they were away in Chinese, I was also in charge of finding opportunities to integrate technology into the classroom curriculum. I had a computer teaching background from working as an elementary computer teacher for 2 years at the American School in Taipei, which I was able to leverage in this new role. However, there was a particular new challenge in Hong Kong that I wrestled with – and that the school is still wrestling with today after so many years. The challenge was helping to integrate technology into the Chinese language curriculum.

I think the truly compelling problem of practice (or opportunity) is that Chinese language learning (and thus, its pedagogy) is so rooted in memory-based learning. You hear anecdotally that the Chinese are masters at memorization, that they can copy and perform straightforward tasks exceptionally well. Yet, they lack for some creativity/individual thought and leadership which Western education is more known for imparting. Of course, the society has much to do with it. However, I feel at a gut level that the cause of some of this lays in the particular nature of the Chinese language and its impact on education, and thus society.

Problem Background

The Chinese language is made up of over 50,000 characters. The typical newspaper regularly uses 8,000 characters. The typical high school student needs to graduate with a mastery of no less than 2,000 characters. As a result, much of early language education is devoted to the learning of new characters. Based on my 6 years of experience in a dual-language classroom, here are my personal observations of the K-5 Chinese language classroom:

•  Be it as a full class or in small groups, instruction tends towards demonstration of how to write a character (in the precise order of the strokes in some form (either in a book, on the board, etc..).
• Students “learn” the stroke order through repeated practice drills and various methods of rote memorization (Flash cards, math-like drill software, pneumonic tricks).
• Both the enormity of characters covered per grade level (and because it seems there are just so many ways to teach the physical writing of a character), much of Chinese language instruction approach follows a didactic model which enables efficient transfer of a large body of information from teacher to student.[1]
• Assessment predominantly falls in the camps of weekly written tests and quizzes (a la spelling test dictations)
• Pedagogy seems to vary little across student age and grade level, just the complexity of the characters change.
• Reinforcement of lessons with HW produced mixed results due to a very culturally mixed school. Students with at least 1 Chinese-speaking parent (or tutor) fared the best. It was clear that students who did not have the language support at home often had more trouble completing HW and grasping the tones.

 

The Problem of Practice: A Need or an Opportunity

This type of instruction and learning likely favors a certain type of learner, one who can deal with a rather linear type of instruction and reproduce the finished character at will. The opportunities for technology in this traditional teaching arena are threefold:

·      To reinforce the classroom content, possibly helping to vary the teaching methodology. I imagine this would help both students and the teachers who had to deliver this content.

·      To vary the content presentation, as well as make it more engaging through the use of multimedia inputs.

·      Or, if character-based languages like Chinese are ultimately resigned to a certain level of rote learning, an opportunity exists to at least try to individualize some aspects of the learning. If the individualized assessment programming is truly intuitive, it may help teachers better diagnose student trouble areas.

Goal of my Techquest

There have been many technological innovations since I was teaching. There are many more ways to input Chinese characters onto a QWERTY keyboard now (the only method back then was a 5-shift structure which gave each symbol its own unique pattern of keystroke. This complexity severely limited student publishing in Chinese. (It was very confusing even to adults). Now, there are so many out there that there is not one consistent one being used. There are better programs (ie: Skritter) that are more customized to one’s lesson plans. Lastly, there were growing pains this past school year due to their transition from PC to MAC. Teachers had just gotten used to PCs when the system changed and are struggling to find MAC solutions. I am going to focus on MAC solutions in my techquest. 

My goal then is to help my old school in its search for effective Chinese language computer instruction, namely focused on:

• Recommending a character – input method(s) to streamline the various programs being used at the moment across both PC and MACs
• Identifying the best program out there that can help support diversity in teaching pedagogy as well as support differing student learning styles.

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[1] John Bell (Associate Professor, Michigan State University) in “Three Models of Teaching and Learning,” slide lecture from Session 3, course reading.