Uses of CANVAS and MPL in blended courses for learning Portuguese as a foreign language
This work is situated in the Applied Linguistics field in relation with the study of new technologies in education for teaching and learning Portuguese as a Foreign Language and Brazilian culture in the online mode known as hybrid or blended courses. Our purpose for this project came from the recognition of the real interest from our students in learning Portuguese and Brazilian culture, as well as recognizing a great demand for flexible courses that do not require a daily attendance to campus.
Our three main objectives are (1) to study and research virtual learning environments; (2) to assess them on the creation and facilitation of PLE courses taught half online and half onsite; and (3) to contribute to the production of scientific knowledge. The learning platforms selected for this study are CANVAS and MyPortugueseLab (from Pearson), and our institution (SFC) has already adopted both platforms.
The methodology dealt with research, theoretical and practical studies, starting with literature review about PLE education, online language teaching, and learning in virtual learning environments (VLE). Subsequently, workshops, courses and tutorials were held in order to know how useful the selected platforms were in practice. At this stage some online courses and teaching materials were developed and implemented on a trial basis.
As we mentioned before, our school formally supports PLE through LMS (Learning Management System) such CANVAS, so students get the application once they are registered. However, MPL (my Portuguese lab) has to be purchased by the students, but the advantage for SF students is that several of our departments work with Pearson’s platform so it is easy for the students to learn how to use the platform for our course. It was the ideal platform for us since most of the students taking Humanities, Public Speaking, Economics, and other courses know how to use it already. And our main goal was to use it for HW only. Among the other platforms for teaching foreign languages, we thought MPL was the most appropriate. I personally was impressed by Pearson’s platform at a seminar given a couple of years ago in Ybor City, Tampa.
(Project presented at the FFLA Conference, 2015)