Australia’s peak body for English language colleges, English Australia, has created a series of professional development courses focussed on online learning in a bid to increase the amount of Massive Open Online English Courses (MOOEC) offered by its members.
Launched in collaboration with International Education Services (IEC) which last year debuted the world’s first English language MOOC, the sessions will train teachers to teach language more effectively using MOOEC technology.
“Our aim is to develop the capacity of our sector to the increasingly important area of online learning”
“Our aim is to develop the capacity of our sector to the increasingly important area of online learning,” Sue Blundell, English Australia’s Executive Director, said.
Participants will be shown how to plan an online lesson during the initial session, learn about best practices in online English language provision and receive guidance on how to identify engaging content and construct a lesson using MOOEC’s authoring tool.
Blundell told The PIE News that the project is an exciting opportunity for English Australia to “play a leading role” in online learning.
“We know that some of the larger global ELT organisations have been developing their capacity in this area, but the role we are playing here as an industry association is to make this approach accessible to all of our colleges, no matter their size or resources,” she added.
IEC’s MOOEC currently offers more than 50 lessons developed by 15 universities and colleges. Chris Evason, Managing Director of the not-for-profit IEC, said that the MOOEC community is already “vibrant and strong” in Queensland.
“English Language teachers have access to tools that have never been available before and at no cost,” he said.
“With English Australia’s support, we are looking to expand this opportunity for teachers to participate across the country and take the service to a new level.”
