Here - EnglishAgenda - British Council

Figure 4: Student created listening taskThe ‘exams page’ held links to past papers and the exam timetable was displayedthere. A ‘Web resources’ page included links to the television show ‘The Apprentice’,which was a current BBC programme about business which we discussed in class.It also included links to websites for language practice and other business resources.I did not have data on the number of student visits per page as this was not availableon my version of PBWorks, so the popularity of pages could only be judged bydiscussions in class and by contributions made by students.Teacher and learner interaction patternsIn the face-to-face class there was an informal atmosphere but I set objectives,controlled tasks and set the pace. When I introduced the blend with wiki, Idemonstrated it in class and closely monitored its use in order to encourageparticipation and troubleshoot learner difficulties. Later, tutor and individual learnerinvolvement went through phases as learners became more competent and needsor interests developed.As student participation increased and the wiki evolved as a result, I began toquestion the nature and extent of my online involvement. The challenge was tobalance my presence on the site with the learner’s contributions and decide howmuch I was going to correct or ignore mistakes and to advise on content. I wantedto minimise learner inhibition and anxiety but to encourage a collective sense ofresponsibility (see Figure 5). I tried not to correct mistakes but if they were significantand remained unnoticed for a few weeks I would highlight them in a different colour.I also tried to hold back in class discussions of wiki content to allow learner noticingof errors and control of the space.Using a wiki to enhance the learning experience on a business English course | 167