Mathias Schulze, Grit Liebscher, (Waterloo) and Su Mei Zhen (Changsha) p.1-25
2007 Issue 1
Abstract
The Geroline project comprised the development of and research for two elementary and one intermediate German language courses which are delivered online for university-level distance education. The course materials include a commercially produced textbook package and our online materials which constitute a task-based learning environment by providing guidance and structure to the learning process. We discuss relevant aspects of the pedagogic design of our learning environment, its theoretical foundations and aspects of a study of the efficacy of the learning design. Insights into student perception of different course components and aspects were gained through the analysis of qualitative data from questionnaires and interviews. Our analysis of the numeric test data shows that there is no significant difference in attainment between the group who studied online and largely independently and the groups who were taught on campus. Using a task-based language teaching framework for our online courses helped students who chose to study online to achieve similar learning outcomes as their peers in the on-campus groups.