Examining the role of Small Private Online Courses in ELT

Abstract

Innovation in ELT increasingly involves greater choice for students and diversity of delivery methods. The trend is to combine online and face-to-face student-teacher interaction through blended-learning pedagogy. While credit-bearing language courses are an essential part of a university curriculum, shorter blended-learning workshops called SPOCs (small private online courses) are not only taken on a voluntary basis, but also become valuable as focused language skill are delivered intensively and time-efficiently. If they are part of an existing course, they are geared towards complementing face-to-face classroom learning rather than replacing it (Wu, 2017) and due to their operation on a smaller scale, they are extremely targeted and timely in terms of meeting student needs. Additionally, they are characterized by higher interactivity, collaboration, sharing, and autonomy in learning. The development of SPOCs began when an exemption policy was introduced for our first year EAP course. Thus, the Centre could meet a wider range of student needs while making strategic and effective use of staff time. Three SPOCs will be piloted this academic year, namely, Concise Writing, Impactful Presentations and Intercultural Communication. The SPOCs team will share their experience of producing these courses and examine the potential and constraints of adopting this pedagogical approach.