Instructors: Yo Nonaka, Ari Petrus, Kenji Ogasawara, Erika Florentina
How many students were enrolled?
Two classes were offered, with a total of just under 40 students.
What was the class format?
All classes were conducted live.
*The video shows Dr. Ari Petrus teaching a class from his home kitchen while actually making Indonesian fried noodles. He explained how to make the fried noodles in Indonesian, and the students asked questions in response.
It seems you were able to implement various initiatives unique to online language classes. Could you please tell us more about the specific goals and content of these initiatives?
We made efforts to increase opportunities for students to speak, aiming for classes to be as interactive as possible. By frequently using Zoom's breakout rooms, we promoted collaborative learning and were able to achieve effective learning outcomes.
The contributions of the SAs (Student Assistants) were remarkable. During class, we had the SAs speak freely using Zoom's chat feature. By having them provide commentary related to the lesson, as well as Indonesian society and culture, in sync with the instructor's lecture, students remained engaged. This allowed us to conduct the class in a three-way interactive format involving the instructor, the SA, and the students.
In addition to Zoom and Webex, each instructor tried various tools. For example, in conversation classes taught by native-speaking instructors, we used an app called Wheel of Names to decide the speaking order in a game-like manner, allowing students to answer questions from the instructor or ask each other questions. For composition practice, we used Flipgrid, where students would write a composition, upload a video of themselves reading it, and then other students would comment on it, facilitating group learning. Furthermore, for listening and writing assignments, students used Edpuzzle to answer questions while watching a movie, and we used Quizizz for reviews in a quiz format. Through these initiatives, students were able to enjoy tackling a variety of assignments.
Please tell us about the students' reactions and the effects of these methods.
Since these were all new initiatives, we were initially concerned about the learning outcomes. However, by maintaining an interactive class format while incorporating methods unique to online learning, we believe we achieved results that exceeded our expectations. With the burden of commuting eliminated, there were almost no instances of tardiness or absence, the submission rate for assignments was high, and many students were focused and engaged in every class. Although many of the students in Intensive 1 were first-year students, the frequent use of group work meant that the online class also functioned, to some extent, as a place to make friends.