Robert O'DowdPapers, Presentations and Resourcesfor On-line Foreign Language Education
He can be contacted at this address: robert.odowd@unileon.es |
Organisations and Academic Activity
Tony Fitzpatrick and myself have just published a commissioned paper by TIRF entitled "English at Work: Case Studies of English Language Training for the 21st Century Workforce". Read the executive summary. Read the full study in the TIRF website.
I am currently coordinating a Lifelong Learning programme project on the integration of telecollaborative exchange into university education in Europe. Find out more about the INTENT project.
Melinda Dooly and myself will be publishing a co-edited volume in 2011 on Research Methods in online foreign language interaction and Exchange. I have also published recently chapters in various book collections. Please contact me to see copies of these chapters.
As part of my work in International Relations at the University of León, I've started a blog for international mobility and internationalisation. See it here.
I was recently interviewed on the Cambridge English Language Teaching website on the theme of online intercultural exchange. You can hear the interview here.
In 2009 I organised a workshop at the University of León with the Eurocall CMC Special Interest group. The title of the workshop was Researching Computer Mediated Communication in Foreign Language Education: Issues and Methods. A report on the workshop was published in ReCALL and can be read here. Melinda Dooly and myself are currently editing a book with Peter Lang based on the theme of the conference. The book will appear in 2011.
I am co-editor with Melinda Dooly of a book series for Peter Lang publishers on the theme of Telecollaboration in Education. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for a book in the series, contact me at the email address above.
I am a co-founder and active member of the Eurocall Special Interest Group for Computer Mediated Communication. You can visit the SIG platform here.
Ongoing Projects and Examples of Student On-line Collaboration
I am currently co-editing with Tony Fitzpatrick a book publication based on our European Centre for Modern Languages Project "E-VOLLution 2010: Exploring cutting edge applications of networked technologies in Vocationally Oriented Language Learning". The book is due for publication in 2011.
The E-Vollution team in Graz, Austria.
Our department uses the Moodle Virtual learning Environment to combine contact classes with on-line activities. You will find my Moodle courses for Lengua Inglesa II and IV and English Language and Didactics here.
I recently developed a virtual workshop on online intercultural exchange for future foreign language teachers studying at different universities in Spain and the USA. One part of the workshop was created using voicethread software and can be viewed and heard online here.
Cultura This is a model of online exchange between language learners in León, Spain and Barnard College, New York. We are using a wiki to update and add resources to the online exchange between our students. Feel free to explore the site and see the resources which our students are creating and the online interactions which they are engaging in. Click here for more information about the original Cultura project.
Some videos made by students for their exchange with their American partners can be seen here and here. As part of their on-line exchange, the Spanish students spend a week with their partners in New York. The students' blog from their trip to New York can be seen here.
Recent Publications by Robert O'Dowd
Books
(In press for 2011) "E-VOLLution 2010: Exploring cutting edge applications of networked technologies in Vocationally Oriented Language Learning" (Co-editor with Tony Fitzpatrick).
“Online Intercultural Exchange: An Introduction for Foreign Language Teachers”. (Editor and author of introduction and one chapter) can now be ordered in paper back from Multilingual Matters or from Amazon UK.
“Telecollaboration and the Development of Intercultural Communicative Competence.” München: Langenscheidt-Longman (2006). This book can be ordered directly from Amazon's German site.
Book Chapters
(2010) "Issues in the Assessment of Online Interaction and Exchange" in Guth & Helm 'Telecollaboration 2.0: Language, Literacies and Intercultural Learning in the 21st Century'. Peter Lang Publishers.
(2009) “Entering the World of Online Foreign Language Education: Challenging and Developing Teacher Identities” appeared in the book “Learning Cultures in Online Education” (Goodfellow, R. and Lamy, M-N. eds.) in Continuum Books.. Contact me for more information.
“Combining networked communication tools for students’ ethnographic research” In Belz, J. A. and S. L. Thorne (eds.), Computer-mediated Intercultural Foreign Language Education. Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle (2005). Read it here.
“Intercultural e-mail exchanges in the foreign language classroom” In Angela Chambers, Jean E. Conacher and Jeannette Littlemore (eds.), ICT and Language Learning: Integrating Pedagogy and Practice. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press (2004). Read it here.
Journal Articles
(2010). "Online Foreign Language Interaction: Moving from the Periphery to the Core of Foreign Language Education?" Published online with the Language Teaching Journal.
(2010). Book Review of 'Intercultural Language Activities' in Language Learning and Technology.
(with Ware, P.) 'Critical Issues in Telecollaborative Task Design' (CALL JOurnal). In press for 2009. Read it here.
(with Ware, P.) Peer Feedback on Language Form in International Telecollaboration. (Language Learning and Technology Vol. 12:1). Read it here.
My review of "CALL Dimensions: Options and Issues in Computer-Assisted Language Learning" by Mike Levy and Glen Stockwell is available in RecALL Vol .19 (2), May 2007: 242 -244.
“Report on EUROCALL Regional Event: Telecollaboration: Integrating On-line Intercultural Exchanges into the Foreign Language Classroom”. The Eurocall Review (Issue 10: September 2006). Read it here.
(with Ritter, M.) “Understanding and Working with 'Failed Communication' in Telecollaborative Exchanges”. CALICO Journal 61 (2), 623-642. Read it here.
“Evaluating the Outcomes of On-line Intercultural Exchange” ELT Journal (61,2: 144-152). On-line access here.
“Negotiating sociocultural and institutional contexts: The case of Spanish-American telecollaboration.” Language and Intercultural Communication Vol.5:1 (40-57) (2005).Read it here.
“Guides on the side? Tasks and challenges for teachers in telecollaborative projects”. ReCALL Vol. 16, No. 1 (5-20) (2004). Read it here.
“Understanding ‘the Other Side’: A Qualitative Analysis of Intercultural Learning in a Spanish-English E-mail Exchange”. Language Learning and Technology, Vol. 7, No.3 (May 2003). Read it here
“In Search of a Truly Global Network: The Opportunities and Challenges of On-line Intercultural Communication”. CALL-EJ Online. Vol. 3, No. 1 (June, 2001).
“Intercultural Learning via Videoconferencing: A pilot Exchange Project.” ReCALL Vol. 12, No. 1. (2000)
Presentations
Some recent presentations can be seen here including "Describing the Competences of the Telecollaborative Teacher" at the Eurocall CMC/Teacher education SIG event in Barcelona and " Ensuring maximum benefit from the Erasmus experience for all university members" at the Nice Network event in Zwolle, Holland.
I recently gave a talk to the Spanish Parents' Organisation on the theme of 'La escuela 2.0'. You can see the ppt in Spanish here.In Eurocall 2010 I presented a paper as part of a symposium on training teachers in telecollaboration.
In 2009 I gave a plenary presentation EPAL 2009 in Grenoble, France. You can read a draft of the paper here. A complete version of the presentation will appear soon in the journal Language Teaching.
In 2009 I also presented a 'virtual' plenary talk (see photo above) on virtual student mobility at 'The second international conference on academic mobility. New researches and perspectives' in Tallinn University, Estonia.
In November 2008 I carried out a teacher training workshop in Villanueva de los Infantes in Castilla La Mancha. The powerpoint and the teacher training tasks can be seen here.
In July 2008 I was invited to give a workshop in the summer courses of the Escorial in Madrid. The powerpoint of the session can be seen here in Spanish.
My plenary talk on assessment in online education which was presented at the Eurocall CMC Special Interest Group event in Padua, Italy in April 2008 can be found here. The accompanying photocopies are also available.
I was invited in March 2008 to give a workshop at the Symposium "The Integrationof New Technologies in the language classroom" at the University of Limerick. My powerpoint presentation can be seen here.
Thanks to the Open University for inviting me to give a presentation on Task Design in Online Learning in February 2008. The powerpoint can be seen here.
A powerpoint presentation about developing Intercultural Communicative Competence in Foreign Language Education can be read here. The presentation was made as part of a work to Campus Europae members at the University of Alcalá de Henares in Madrid in January 2008.
You can hear my presentation on the topic 'The Integration of Telecollaboration into University Foreign Language Education: Organisational and Institutional Factors' which I gave at Eurocall 2007 here.
The powerpoints of two recent presentations about different approaches to the background of online intercultural exchange can be found here in English and in Spanish.
You can hear and see the symposium on teacher education and online learning which I gave at Eurocall 2007 with Melinda Dooly, Carmen Ellermann, Tony Fitzpatrick and Carolin Fuchs here.
EUROCALL Regional Workshop: Telecollaboration: Integrating On-line Intercultural Exchanges into the Foreign Language Classroom 19-21 May, León, Spain. More information here
“Spanish-American Cultura: Analysing Students’ Evolving Perceptions in Intercultural Exchange”. My ppt presentation at IALIC 2005 in Brussels, Belgium.
Paige Waire and myself have been awarded a research grant from The International Research Foundation for English Language Education to carry out the research project: E-partners and E-tutors: Telecollaboration as an Effective Means of Grammar Instruction. More information here
Powerpoint Presentation for the ICC annual conference in Graz, Austria (4-6 March, 2005). Presentation
My ppt presentation at IALIC 2004 in Dublin, Ireland. Ethnographic Research at a Distance: Engaging Learners in On-line Interviews with the Target Culture
Useful Links
Videoconferencing for Language Learning An up-dated version of this introduction to how videoconferencing technology is being used for language learning
The Linguistics On-Line Project I am one of the authors of the courses in EFL Methodology and Irish Cultural Studies. Visit the lecture hall for more details.
ICT4LT Probably the best introduction to CALL for language teachers
Moodle is an excellent course management system- a software package designed to help educators create quality online courses.
Cambridge Learner dictionaries on-line
Ennis - My Home Town in Ireland
