Authoring materials through online collaboration: a report on a pilot teacher development project
by Fiona Joseph

As online learning looks set to stay in vogue for the next few years at least, teachers may feel under pressure to incorporate new technology in their teaching. At the same time the web and email have given teachers the potential to collaborate 'virtually' on projects with others all around the world. Imagine teachers in, say, Argentina and Russia working together from their PCs to produce materials for their respective classes.

In April this year Flo-Joe began a pilot teacher development (TD) project to explore this scenario. (At the time of writing this article, the project is approximately halfway to completion.) Although the Flo-Joe site offers Cambridge exam teachers a chance to get together and debate issues through its bulletin board Teacher Talk Forum it had been noted that postings were slow and sporadic, certainly compared to the extremely lively Student Forum! Could teacher collaboration work more effectively if it were structured around a course? This was the impetus for the pilot TD project.

The course was called 'Materials Development for Exam Classes' and was advertised in Flo-Joe's e-newsletter to about 800 FCE and CAE teachers. The 'hook' was two-fold: the chance to learn more about "the latest collaborative learning techniques" (primarily email and bulletin boards) and the opportunity to work with other teachers around the world to produce materials for their exam classes. The course was free of charge and we set a limit of twenty course members. Registration was through an online form and questionnaire and there were no formal assessments, but participants were expected to commit at least 2 hours per week to the course.

About the course
(Extract from course outline)
The project has the following general aims:
- through collaborative activities to develop materials for use in class with Cambridge examination students
- to offer participants hands-on experience in learning in an online environment
- to explore how email and bulletin boards can be utilised to foster asynchronous learning

Profile of the participants
The Materials Development course attracted interest from all over the world, and the group who eventually enrolled were from the following countries: Greece, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Iran, Mexico, Argentina and the UK. All of the participants were experienced teachers. Some had taught Cambridge exam students for many years and were now working as or had had previous experience as UCLES examiners. Others, however, were relatively new to the challenges and pressures of preparing students for English language exams.
Some participants already had experience of authoring materials (mostly in-house) and were keen to move one stage further in sharing their work with a much larger audience.
In the pre-course questionnaire many participants rated their email skills as Very Good, their general internet skills as Good, and their ability to use bulletin boards as Okay or Poor. Only one participant had experienced learning online before. This had a clear implication for the course design, namely to ensure familiarity with the tools of communication, particularly DC Forum, which was the bulletin board selected for the project.

The role of the course leader
The role of Peter Travis, the course leader, was intended to be that of facilitator, rather than teacher/lecturer. This consisted of preparing the course material in advance, moderating the bulletin board, guiding participants and providing email support at the beginning. It was important to state this explicitly at the start of the course: "I will participate in your group activities if I feel that I have something to offer or can help bring together diverse postings. However, it is important to note that I should not be seen a playing the role of 'teacher'. It is clear from the messages in the bulletin board that we are all very experienced and as such should feel able to contribute equally to the project." (Extract from a posting to bulletin board.)

Organisation and induction
The participants were put into FCE and CAE groups (four to five per group) depending on their interests and areas of expertise. Email and bulletin boards were to be the primary tools of communication between the course leader and the participants. Before the course began the participants were asked to complete an induction task to familiarise themselves with the bulletin board, in particular, and the features that would be useful on the course.
As a kind of virtual ice-breaker, each participant was invited to send a message of introduction via the bulletin board to the rest of the group. This was useful in building the sense of community and friendship that can be critical to the success of collaborative working (Berge, 1995). These initial postings make fascinating reading and reveal the diversity of experience and talents of the groups and also their shared commitment to enhancing their professional development, (either learning to "teach more innovatively" and/or to "learn more about the internet as a teaching tool/resource".)
The induction task itself asked the participants to work together to find out answers to a list of questions such as 'If you want to make a link to a website in your message what do you do? Or 'How can you make use of icons to express your emotions within a message?' Each group worked in collaboration to answer the questions before agreeing on a final version, which was then posted in the bulletin board for everyone to read.

How the materials were produced
The materials development came out of a sequence of 4-week activity blocks. Each 'block' was devoted to a theme and the groups were supplied with an authentic text and given the following guidelines:

Example Topic: 'Work and Leisure'
1st week:
a. Analysis of texts for appropriate Reading and Use of English/English in Use task.
b. Group decision on areas of individual responsibility.
2nd week:
Work on area of individual responsibility with support from colleagues. Communication through email and bulletin board.
3rd week:
Pre-publication evaluation of materials in the group. During this time editorial changes can be made.
4th week:
Publication of completed materials for other groups to comment on.

Lessons learned
Although the course is not yet completed, we have been delighted with the quality of the materials produced so far, and all the materials will be showcased on the Flo-Joe site in the near future. The following observations are worth noting:
1. The retention rate has been fairly high but one particular group suffered due to a number of unexpected withdrawals. One of the remaining participants said: "I was disappointed at how many other teachers in my group dropped out without warning, making it impossible to finish the collaborative project completely."
2. Tutors need to be sensitive to the pressures faced by full-time teachers: ("It was the hardest time of the year. Exams, exams and exams!") There should also be time built in to allow for slippage of deadlines.
3. It is also easy to underestimate the amount of time required for course developers and tutors. ("Instructors find that planning, developing and distributing course materials needs a substantially greater lead-time…than may be anticipated at first." Berge, 1995.) This point should be noted by FE and HE institutions in the UK that look to save teacher time through the introduction of online learning!

To end on a positive note, the final word should come from the participants themselves (a selection of comments from the mid-course questionnaire):

"I've enjoyed both having contact with different teachers from all over and producing some materials."
EW Switzerland

"Enjoying working in an anonymous fashion, communicating with people you know
nothing about and waiting to see what comes of it all. Enjoying it all."
OB, Australia

"I enjoy the contact with a wonderful team and the feedback I get from them….I believe that the most important ingredient is the members' commitment."
SF, Argentina

"It's also great suddenly to get to know teachers with similar interests who now seem to be within reach."
SG, Romania

References and URLs
Berge, Z.L. (1995). Facilitating Computer Conferencing: Recommendations From
the Field. Educational Technology. 35(1) 22-30.

Flo-Joe's Home Page
http://ww.flo-joe.co.uk

Flo-Joe's Teacher Talk Forum
http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/fce/teachers/ttalk.htm

Fiona Joseph is the co-founder of Flo-Joe, the online portal for students and teachers preparing for Cambridge FCE and CAE. She is the author of a number of Cambridge exam coursebooks and between 1992 and 2000 she was a lecturer in EFL/Linguistics at the University of Wolverhampton. She can be contacted by email at: fiona@flo-joe.co.uk

Back