Mandarin Chinese online: Yes, it can work!

On Saturday, Sept. 27, LEARN NC’s Bobby Hobgood and Ann Marie Gunter of the Department of Public Instruction will give a presentation at the UNC Global 2008 Symposium of Asia in the Curriculum at the FedEx Global Education Center at UNC - Chapel Hill.

The description of the presentation, entitled “Mandarin Chinese online: Yes, it can work!” is below:

Language teaching and learning online creates opportunities for students who can’t otherwise participate in traditional classroom settings. This session demystifies the process for teaching and learning a world language through online, asynchronous courses. The presenters will take you inside online language courses and how they function to move students toward proficiency and performance. As an example, we will explore the development of Online Mandarin Chinese courses developed by LEARN NC in collaboration with the NC Department of Public Instruction and the NC Virtual Public School. The session features a guided tour of Levels 1 and 2 Mandarin Online Chinese courses being taught to NC high school students. The presentation includes:

• Demonstration of the technologies used to teach Chinese language online
• An overview of the scope and sequence of this series of courses
• A “walk-through” of a typical week of learning
• An examination of the roles of the instructor, conversation coach, and distance learning advisor
• Evaluation data from students and Distance Learning Advisors
• Description of quality assurance components including instructor preparation and resources to prepare schools for including online language courses
• Information about content to be shared from the courses
• Announcement of online course Teaching World Languages Online: An Online Course for Developers and Instructors