SOW for teachers

A Pre-University Digital Literacy Course for B2-C1 users of English

PRINCIPLES

Content and sequencing  
Principle #1: Implicit teaching of language systems in a communicative, hybrid (reallife and virtual) setting. In order to ensure that our students are able to make sense of language creatively, as well as know the linguistic features that governs it, scrum teaching is structured so that the students are exposed to an environment where they, through negotiating for meaning, uncover generalizable linguistic features. A student reads and listens / views information individually before students come together in small groups discussing their findings. Ultimately the group will share their findings with the rest of the class to see what general features that has been discovered. The teacher functions as a facilitator and only adds linguistic features to the students who seem to have overlooked some essential aspects.  

Format and presentation  
             Principle #2: Motivation through interaction with technology. By incorporating the Internet as a source of information, the Scrum Methodology and Trello technology in our teaching we hope to connect with the students, as well as reaping the many benefits that technology brings to the classroom: experiential learning, motivation, enhancing student achievements, authenticity, interaction, individualization, accessibility and global understanding while receiving and producing English as a global language. Also, the AWL Highlighter , AWL Finder, and AWL Tag Cloud may contribute greatly to students’ academic registers. 
 
Monitoring and assessment  
             Principle #3: Frequent consideration of students’ needs. We also believe that our students’ needs should be assessed and taken into account on a regular basis. The information we gain through this ongoing assessment will be analyzed as the course progresses in order to make sure that the course suits our learners’ needs. This process may even lead to increased motivation among the students due to them being able to see their own progression while also having their voices heard. 

GOALS

KNOWLEDGE GOALS 

By the end of this course the students will know more ins & outs of digital information literacy which they will need for success in academic study. Students will be able to… 
o know the 5 competence areas of EU Digital Competence
o incorporate academic reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. 
o incorporate high-frequency academic vocabulary.  

…to read critically and to be able to…

…to listen critically and to be able to…

…to write academically and be able to… 
o recognise discourse patterns and employ them in their own writing. o incorporate an academic tone.
o incorporate high-frequency academic vocabulary.  

…to express themselves orally in an academic setting and be able to…
o use academic vocabulary appropriately 
o prepare and deliver a professional presentation. 
o ask and answer relevant questions 
o take their audience into consideration when making judgments  
o participate in discussions effectively 

AWARENESS GOALS 
By the end of this course the students will be equipped with the language learning strategies they need in order to continue to develop their academic language. Students will be able to…
o comment upon their own language use 
o keep a reviewed vocabulary journal 
o analyse different discourse-patterns

SKILLS GOALS  
By the end of this course the students will know how to employ computer technology for academic purposes and be able to… 
o expand their vocabulary by using

AWL highlighter to highlight all the AWL words in a text, 

AWL finder to find detailed information about words in the Academic Word List, with definition, pronunciation, word family, collocation.

AWL tag cloud  allowing representation of the words in a more visual way as a tag cloud.                         

o to find relevant sources online.  
o cite electronic sources. 

ATTITUDE GOALS 
By the end of this course the students will have gained confidence in digesting academic texts by critical reading and listening and expressing themselves in speaking and writing by using academic language on themes of digital information literacy.  

Needs Assessment Plan  

           Start the course with needs assessment activities that give both subjective and objective information about students’ current and future needs. The tables below gives an overview of the different activities that will be discussed in the following pages as well as their duration and when they will occur within the course.