Shawn A. Shepard
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interpersonal

Interact effectively with others as peers, subordinates and leaders to accomplish goals.

Work Plan: ESL LMS for Korean-AmericansEDTEC 572: Technology for Course Delivery

ESL LMS for Korean-Americans Work Plan (79KB PDF)

Nathan Blesse, Colleen Jackson, and I worked together on a project to create a Learning Management System (LMS) in MindFlash for an EDTEC 572 team project. We decided to create asynchronous learning on the LMS to teach English to Koreans living in the U.S. The URL above is a link to the work plan we developed to define our roles and responsibilities.

Our strengths complemented each other very nicely. Colleen had no experience with the Korean language or culture, but she had been using MindFlash at work. Nathan didn’t have any experience with MindFlash, but he was trained to teach English as a Second Language (ESL), and  he was living in Korea and teaching English to Koreans; he knew something of the Korean language and culture. I wasn’t familiar with MindFlash, but I had extensive experience in developing and implementing something akin to an LMS in Microsoft SharePoint. In addition, my wife is Korean; through her I had shared experiences with many Koreans living in the United States, and I knew a little of the Korean language and of the difficulties Koreans faced in the United States. Each of us understood the basics of learning theory and web development from EDTEC 540 and 541.

Because our strengths were so distinct, we had very little trouble dividing up the roles and responsibilities to take advantage of them. As suggested by the work plan, Colleen would be our LMS developer, administrator, and trainer; I would be responsible having the English translated into Korean; Nathan would be our language learning consultant; and each of us would develop and implement one course of instruction.

Nathan created a course on how to debate in English. Colleen developed her instruction around a shopping scenario. My course used Google maps and an imaginary trip to an In-N-Out restaurant to learn how to find and follow directions in English on the internet.

For the most part, we developed the course materials independently, including scripts, storyboards, English language recordings, PowerPoint slides, lesson plans, and instructor guides. We met frequently via Skype and collaborated asynchronously for brainstorming sessions, to provide feedback, and to conduct formal and informal peer reviews.
                          
Nathan and Colleen gave me the text they wanted to be translated into Korean. I gave them back recordings my wife had made in Korean and Korean text.

After all of the materials were finalized, we loaded then up to the LMS and Nathan asked some of his students in Korea to test it all out. It all worked very well.