Examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills

Examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills

This article was published in the BRAC University Journal [© 2016 Published by BRAC University]

Bibliografische gegevens
Hoofdauteur: Dutta, Debashismoy
Andere auteurs: BRAC Institutes of Languages
Formaat: Artikel
Taal:English
Gepubliceerd in: © 2016 Published by BRAC University 2016
Onderwerpen:
Virtual writing session
Collaborative learning
Blending
Synchronous instruction
Online toegang:http://hdl.handle.net/10361/6774
id 10361-6774
record_format dspace
spelling 10361-67742019-09-30T03:20:56Z Examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills Dutta, Debashismoy BRAC Institutes of Languages Virtual writing session Collaborative learning Blending Synchronous instruction This article was published in the BRAC University Journal [© 2016 Published by BRAC University] This paper focuses on the learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on wiki based virtual writing sessions while investigating the effectiveness and challenges of such blending in a demand-driven English language course for mid-level BRAC managers who are in need of improving their English writing skills. It shows how a psychological barrier-free ideal writing environment was created for the managers through DevNet, a wiki spaces based platform, during a eight-week-long course. In particular, this paper assesses the strategies followed to fill the vacuity of instructor’s physical absence and also to involve the participants in collaborative learning. Qualitative data collected from the learners and the instructors through interviews was analyzed to understand learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on virtual writing sessions, to measure the effectiveness of those sessions, and also to identify the challenges in blending information and communication technology (ICT) tools in the English course for the professionals. Findings show that blending of wiki sessions with regular face-to-face (F2F) classroom sessions significantly improves learners’ writing skills and helps them to reflect on their classroom sessions by using own language, commenting on peer posts, arguing against peer-views as well as appreciating good writing and new ideas. This paper emphasizes the need of synchronous instruction, thought-igniting deferential feedback and parallel arrangement of the wiki-session contents with F2F classroom sessions to help learners develop their writing. Opportunity for asynchronous activities, however, always remains valid because of the comparative permanence of the written posts in the DevNet. The paper also highlights how similar strategies can be adopted, especially for professionals, through ICT-based media in a fast-changing web-based era. Published 2016-11-08T06:16:49Z 2016-11-08T06:16:49Z 2016 2016-10 Article Dutta, D. (2016). Examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills. BRAC University Journal, 11(1), 47–55. 1811-3079 http://hdl.handle.net/10361/6774 en 9 pages application/pdf © 2016 Published by BRAC University
institution Brac University
collection Institutional Repository
language English
topic Virtual writing session
Collaborative learning
Blending
Synchronous instruction
spellingShingle Virtual writing session
Collaborative learning
Blending
Synchronous instruction
Dutta, Debashismoy
Examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills
description This article was published in the BRAC University Journal [© 2016 Published by BRAC University]
author2 BRAC Institutes of Languages
author_facet BRAC Institutes of Languages
Dutta, Debashismoy
format Article
author Dutta, Debashismoy
author_sort Dutta, Debashismoy
title Examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills
title_short Examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills
title_full Examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills
title_fullStr Examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills
title_full_unstemmed Examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills
title_sort examining learners’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of blended wiki sessions to improve professionals’ writing skills
publisher © 2016 Published by BRAC University
publishDate 2016
url http://hdl.handle.net/10361/6774
work_keys_str_mv AT duttadebashismoy examininglearnersandinstructorsperspectivesontheuseofblendedwikisessionstoimproveprofessionalswritingskills
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