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Translating Pedagogy into Technology 127 8 Translating Pedagogy into Technology: Techno-Pedagogic Aspects of a Sino-UK e-Learning Project Christoph Zähner Introduction This chapter uses eChina-UK’s CUTE Project (see Marsh et al. this volume, pp. 95–107) as a case study to examine some technical and implementation aspects of a collaborative Sino-UK e-learning endeavour. It argues that, prior to considering any technological choices and implementation options, e-learning projects must establish a firm methodological basis and that the technical implementation must be able to support the chosen pedagogical approach. In the case of CUTE, a methodology was chosen that focuses on autonomous learning with appropriate learner support, community building, integrated scaffolding and an appropriate blend of face-to-face (F2F) with online elements. This chapter does not attempt to justify the CUTE methodology (Brewster et al. 2005; Marsh et al. this volume, pp. 95–107) but instead discusses the technological consequences that follow the initial methodological decisions. Apart from the methodology chosen, a range of other factors affect both the choice of platform and the other facilities made available to the learner in the e-learning environment. These factors include the availability of existing platforms, the features offered by these platforms, their flexibility and extendibility, the local expertise at the client site, the management structures in place, as well as issues of maintenance, cost and so on. The particular choices adopted by the CUTE Project are explained, and alternatives, with their advantages and disadvantages, are discussed. The chapter then focuses on the implementation procedures adopted for CUTE. The project used a rapid prototyping methodology based on a modified form of what is known as eXtreme Programming (Beck 2005). This approach relies on a series of user needs analyses, implementation and testing iterations which involve all project participants: end-users, pedagogical staff and technical staff. Advantages and disadvantages of this process are discussed and alternatives sketched out. 128 Christoph Zähner Next, the chapter exemplifies how some of the pedagogical requirements, established during the initial methodological groundwork, are realized through specific technical implementations. The discussion concentrates on two aspects of the system: • scaffolding in the context of language learning; • providing feedback to the users of the system, both learners and tutors. This chapter concludes with a brief reflection on how far CUTE was able to meet its initial expectations from a technological perspective, and what lessons can be learned from the implementation for the development of future e-learning systems of a similar kind. Methodology The starting point for CUTE was its task to produce a programme that would help Chinese academics quickly and effectively to increase their competence in the use of academic English, in both written and spoken forms, for classroom lecturing, presenting at conferences, writing academic papers and so on. The programme was to be developed jointly between the Department of Continuing Education at Tsinghua University in China and the Language Centre of the University of Cambridge, and it was intended to have a very substantial e-learning component. After initial discussions, both sides agreed that the programme should be driven by the adopted language learning and teaching methodology and that generic e-learning strategies would have to follow that methodology rather then the other way round. The aim of the project was, in the first instance, to build a smallscale , fully functional prototype and use it in a pilot to verify the suitability of the methodology adopted, before attempting to produce a large-scale implementation of the programme. Unlike other approaches to e-learning, CUTE aimed from the outset at a principled division of labour between F2F and online elements. While some e-learning strategies ultimately aim to provide the learner with the equivalent of one-to-one tuition (SCORM: ADL 2004), this was never the intention of CUTE. The CUTE methodology presumes that language learning activities can be divided roughly into two areas: those that require or at least greatly benefit from direct human interaction (e.g. negotiation of meaning, discursive skills) and those that can be practised by the individual learner making use of technological support (e.g. listening comprehension, preparation for speaking). Depending on the availability and level of sophistication of the technological environment, there is of course some overlap between the two areas, but there is a fundamental belief that certain aspects of language learning require direct humanto -human interaction. Language learning (and language use) involves the interplay of a number of cognitive processes, including the construction...

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