What the Data Tell Us About Online Language Teaching

Kathryn Murphy-Judy​

Abstract

Distance learning has been a mode of language education for many years. In the past 15 years, online delivery, a subset of distance education, has witnessed intense growth, thanks in great measure to better digital affordances. Until recently, however, there was no mechanism to chart and track this emergent field.  In 2013, the Basic Online Language Learning Design and Delivery Collaboratory launched its BOLDD Survey. Now in its fourth year, it provides snapshots of the who, what, when, where, how and why of OLE. This presentation shares critical data, but more importantly, it will allow us focus on the designs and practices showing positive impacts on student learning. We will explore some successful online programs and discuss which strategies are best suited to the University of Virginia context.

BIO

Kathryn Murphy-Judy, Ph.D., is Director of the Liberal Studies for Early & Elementary Education and Associate Professor of French at Virginia Commonwealth University in the School of World Studies. She has been active in online learning since 1999, after having produced one of the first online French modules in 1997. She creates and runs the Basic Online Language Design and Delivery Collaboratory, giving workshops on the design and delivery of online learning with her BOLDD colleagues. She has edited and co-edited two volumes on CALL (Nexus: The Convergence of Language Teaching and Research Using Technology and Preparing and Developing Technology-Proficient L2 Teachers) as well as many articles and postings. She is currently working with a team of VCU faculty on a digital curation project to create student-driven OER learning modules.