STATEMENT OF PROFESSIONAL WORK IN PROGRESS
Currently, I am working in a variety of projects that aim to help me become a better lecturer and researcher.
Last year, the University of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) invited me to teach a Graduate course within their Master’s program. The experience was so successful that, at the beginning of Fall semester 2019, they invited me to be a member of their Research Group LEIDE, a group that investigates the role of identity, emotions and technology in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Currently, we are in phase 1 of the project, working on preparing surveys that will be distributed to students in the following months. After that, we will meet to analyze the data and assess the validity of the results. Finally, we expect to publish the results in an indexed journal.
To be better lecturer I need to be an excellent researcher. I believe that it is crucial to continue developing research skills, that is why, being part of this research group is so important to me. In order to bring to my class innovative activities, I need first to conduct rigorous research related to the theoretical framework that support the pedagogical activities that I design with digital tools, and to assess their success in the classroom using adequate assessment tools that will help me objectively analyze whether they achieve the expected pedagogical goals.
Consequently, to be able to be as rigorous as possible in the implementation of technology in my teaching practice and curriculum design, I am planning, together with Dr. Dolores Barbazán Capeáns (LAIC, Columbia University) on applying to one of the Provost’s Hybrid Learning Course Redesign and Delivery Grants offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). We are currently defining our proposal that will focused on evaluating the use of Artificial Intelligence in the teaching and learning of Spanish.
Furthermore, I would like to mention the work I am conducting with other lecturers to redesign Intermediate Spanish II. In Spring 2019, Angelina Craig-Florez, who received a Provost’s Hybrid Learning Course Redesign and Delivery award by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) asked me to join the team, and since then I have had the chance to piloting multimodal digital resources created for this course. On top of that, this semester, I started developing and creating pedagogical materials for this course that have been already integrated in the website that Angelina Craig-Florez created to present the course content. This opportunity opened my eyes to the multiliteracies approach and how technology can become an ally to bring to the teaching practice interactive, and attractive activities created from authentic materials, such as, newspapers articles, short movies or radio podcasts. This collaboration has brought many positive outcomes, like participating in NEALLT Conference at the University of Pennsylvania and presenting the work to different members of Columbia University. In Spring 2020, I will teach this course again, so I will continue piloting the multiple digital activities created and designing new ones. I will also have the opportunity to develop a better understanding of the digital tools used to create these activities: H5P and learningapps.
For the past few months, and the months to come, I have been working in multiple publications. One of the most important, it is a chapter that I am writing with Dr. Belén Mateos (University of Valladolid) about the use of technology and microtexts in the teaching and learning of Spanish. The book will be published in 2020 by Peter Lang Publishing Company and it is titled Microrrelato hipermedial: proyección significativa, pragmática y performativa y aplicaciones didácticas (Ana Calvo Revilla y Eva Álvarez, Cord.). I am also working on two more papers, both related to the impact of using technology in the teaching and learning of Spanish.
My goal is to be an excellent educator and researcher, however, there is always room to learn new teaching approaches, digital tools and, therefore, room to improve. For me, it is crucial to be up to date with the implementation of technology in the teaching and learning process, as well as to be aware of the most current methodological developments related to the teaching of applied linguistics to foreign language. To achieve these goals, I am planning to attend a set of conferences and workshops that will give me the chance to discover new trends related to the use of technology in the teaching of foreign languages:
After attending these academic events, I plan to share with my colleagues what I will learn as well as the results of my undergoing research by presenting workshops and seminars at LAIC and LRC. I am also, at the moment, waiting to find out whether I am the recipient of one of the LRC professional development grants.
To finish, I would like to point out two more projects that I will be working on in the following months. The first one is the creation of a 3300 course, I am passionate about curriculum design and I would like to develop my own course for advanced learners. The second one is my collaboration with Northwestern University that invited me next Spring to conduct seminars about the use of technology in the Foreign Language Classroom as part of the curriculum redesign that the Foreign Language Program is undergoing.
This is a work in progress, as the title states, and I am sure that in the months to come more doors will open to new and exciting projects.
Last year, the University of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) invited me to teach a Graduate course within their Master’s program. The experience was so successful that, at the beginning of Fall semester 2019, they invited me to be a member of their Research Group LEIDE, a group that investigates the role of identity, emotions and technology in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Currently, we are in phase 1 of the project, working on preparing surveys that will be distributed to students in the following months. After that, we will meet to analyze the data and assess the validity of the results. Finally, we expect to publish the results in an indexed journal.
To be better lecturer I need to be an excellent researcher. I believe that it is crucial to continue developing research skills, that is why, being part of this research group is so important to me. In order to bring to my class innovative activities, I need first to conduct rigorous research related to the theoretical framework that support the pedagogical activities that I design with digital tools, and to assess their success in the classroom using adequate assessment tools that will help me objectively analyze whether they achieve the expected pedagogical goals.
Consequently, to be able to be as rigorous as possible in the implementation of technology in my teaching practice and curriculum design, I am planning, together with Dr. Dolores Barbazán Capeáns (LAIC, Columbia University) on applying to one of the Provost’s Hybrid Learning Course Redesign and Delivery Grants offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). We are currently defining our proposal that will focused on evaluating the use of Artificial Intelligence in the teaching and learning of Spanish.
Furthermore, I would like to mention the work I am conducting with other lecturers to redesign Intermediate Spanish II. In Spring 2019, Angelina Craig-Florez, who received a Provost’s Hybrid Learning Course Redesign and Delivery award by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) asked me to join the team, and since then I have had the chance to piloting multimodal digital resources created for this course. On top of that, this semester, I started developing and creating pedagogical materials for this course that have been already integrated in the website that Angelina Craig-Florez created to present the course content. This opportunity opened my eyes to the multiliteracies approach and how technology can become an ally to bring to the teaching practice interactive, and attractive activities created from authentic materials, such as, newspapers articles, short movies or radio podcasts. This collaboration has brought many positive outcomes, like participating in NEALLT Conference at the University of Pennsylvania and presenting the work to different members of Columbia University. In Spring 2020, I will teach this course again, so I will continue piloting the multiple digital activities created and designing new ones. I will also have the opportunity to develop a better understanding of the digital tools used to create these activities: H5P and learningapps.
For the past few months, and the months to come, I have been working in multiple publications. One of the most important, it is a chapter that I am writing with Dr. Belén Mateos (University of Valladolid) about the use of technology and microtexts in the teaching and learning of Spanish. The book will be published in 2020 by Peter Lang Publishing Company and it is titled Microrrelato hipermedial: proyección significativa, pragmática y performativa y aplicaciones didácticas (Ana Calvo Revilla y Eva Álvarez, Cord.). I am also working on two more papers, both related to the impact of using technology in the teaching and learning of Spanish.
My goal is to be an excellent educator and researcher, however, there is always room to learn new teaching approaches, digital tools and, therefore, room to improve. For me, it is crucial to be up to date with the implementation of technology in the teaching and learning process, as well as to be aware of the most current methodological developments related to the teaching of applied linguistics to foreign language. To achieve these goals, I am planning to attend a set of conferences and workshops that will give me the chance to discover new trends related to the use of technology in the teaching of foreign languages:
- SEDLL XIV International Symposium April, 6-7-8, 2020
- Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO) Seattle, Washington, May, 2020 Conference
- Séptimo Coloquio internacional sobre la enseñanza del español CEDELEQ 7, Montreal (May, 2020)
- LRC CALL Workshops
After attending these academic events, I plan to share with my colleagues what I will learn as well as the results of my undergoing research by presenting workshops and seminars at LAIC and LRC. I am also, at the moment, waiting to find out whether I am the recipient of one of the LRC professional development grants.
To finish, I would like to point out two more projects that I will be working on in the following months. The first one is the creation of a 3300 course, I am passionate about curriculum design and I would like to develop my own course for advanced learners. The second one is my collaboration with Northwestern University that invited me next Spring to conduct seminars about the use of technology in the Foreign Language Classroom as part of the curriculum redesign that the Foreign Language Program is undergoing.
This is a work in progress, as the title states, and I am sure that in the months to come more doors will open to new and exciting projects.
