ISPY - Online platform for language learning
Web: http://www.ispy-project.com
Demo ISPY: http://www.ispy-project.com/demo
Summary
The ISPY (Interactive Social Network Platform for Language Learning) project is a project funded by the European Union, which began in November 2010 and will run until the end of 2012. Coordinated by the Department of Networks for Language Excellence of The University of Wolverhampton (United Kingdom), the project aims to open new paths in language teaching throughout Europe, integrating collaboration between students from different countries and using an online learning environment to achieve the objectives set. Thus, a student from the United Kingdom who is learning German, for example, will have advice and support from students in Germany while they complete activities and work towards achieving the language objectives they are learning.
The countries participating in the project (United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland and Romania) have both teams of researchers from different Universities and Research Centers and external evaluation groups that will supervise the development of the Project.
The online learning platform will be available in each of the 6 languages participating in the project and will be the engine that will govern the interaction of the participants and that will host the designed language learning contents.
Why is it called ISPY?
The educational activities and games of the project have as a common thread espionage tasks. Students register and undertake a set of approximately ten modules which are described as spy training missions. The modules will be available in the chosen language (Polish, Dutch, German, Spanish, Romanian and English).
Each module will consist of a text, video, web links, short tasks, tests, audio tasks, tasks to fill gaps, and more extensive tasks that will require supervision through forums enabled on the platform. Once the student has completed all modules are classified as: trained spy!
The administrators of each country will also have the option of adding additional activities, essentially new missions for those qualified as trained spies. During the missions, users will need to learn basic language skills such as booking hotel rooms, using money, telling time, ordering food, organizing meetings, buying travel tickets and reading documents to complete the modules. Users will also have a personal space where they will keep notes and papers.
The University of Wolverhampton will develop digital content but will need additional support to complete the learning platform with the contents of each of the missions.
What is the breadth of the project?
The initial duration of the project is two years although much of the two years will take the writing and development of the content of the course of each language. The working prototype of the platform must be completed by the end of April 2011. There will be a final evaluation of the platform that will begin in February 2012 and will last until June of the same year, being fully operational at the end of the project. After the financing period of the project, the platform will be offered by subscription to the institutions or organizations of each of the countries that want to pay the students' access to the learning platform and the maintenance of it by the staff of the Wolverhampton University.
Student experience
Students from each country will only be able to access materials that have to do with the chosen language of study. For example, a German student must be able to register and view the entire menu in German and if he is learning English he can access the modules in this language. It will be forbidden to access the modules that are in the student's mother tongue so that they cannot change the answers between different language modules.
Students will benefit from a platform that will provide content created by the development group among others. We would also like students individually to be able to maintain a course blog, have access to their own space to keep notes and work in progress (accessible to the teacher), chat with classmates during lessons and access the facility. of forum accessible to all users.
The existence of assessment tools and test creators will be beneficial and will allow teachers in each country to evaluate in a way that is relevant in their context. We have a tool that is incorporated into the platform to create tests and surveys. When the trainees have finished all the missions we would like them to automatically receive a certificate of completion. However, in some countries it may be that students complete only a selection of the available modules. This will be essentially important in those countries that have a highly developed language learning with students who are more advanced than others.
What is the chronology of the project?
Development of the initial platform and access to the website (spring 2011)
Presentation of the platform in June 2011 and its facilities (Spain)
Development of interactive content that begins in June 2011- December 2011 (including multimedia materials, etc.)
Tests in spring 2012
Correction with the final platform May-September 2012
Congress - September 2012 (TBC)
Marketing plan (July / August 2012)
Live ISPY platform by subscription - December 2012
Presentation and licensing
The costs must be related to the provision of a “closed” platform available only to the ISPY development group and its selection of students from March 2011 to November 2012 (approximately 1000 users among the six countries).
