Return to Examples of technology-enhanced learning at AU

Janice has been working at the International English Centre in Aberystwyth University for the last ten years.

Recently, they have been making great use of flipcams to encourage student participation in seminars.  It was particularly helpful for international students who were reticent about speaking english in front of a crowd of people.

By filming the students, Janice was able to play back the clips to the students, giving feedback at certain points.  Janice found that by watching themselves giving the presentation while she explained the feedback, students were able to take in and understand the feedback a lot more.

For international students, they were recorded speaking for one minute about a topic picked from a hat.  During the feedback process, they were able to speak about how they felt talking in English while watching their video.  Initially, the students were very worried about their presence and appearence while they spoke.  By recording them and playing it back, there was a vast improvement in their confidence when speaking English.

Janice also found that the students were much happier to help each other and share advice and tips while watching the recordings of each other, which was another added benefit.

Janice has had tremendous feedback from the students, all positive about the use of the technology.  They like the idea of being able to go to a corner and record themselves talking about their feelings on issues, rather than being forced to speak in front of the whole group and lecturer.

School of Oriental and African Studies

In addition to her other work, Janet has been working with the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London on several cross-culture language programs.

You can find more information on this, as well as a video of the seminar here.