Researching the effect on Motivation and English Skill Improvement

when Implementing Project-Based Learning with Web 2.0 Tools,

Online for use in a Korean University EFL Setting

Benjamin Nesbit

Jesse Elam

May 16th, 2009

1
 Table of Contents
Table of Contents................................................................................................................2
Ryan, E. L. (2002). A handbook of self-determined research. Boydell & Brewer: .........27

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of whether or not online, project-based learning
activities are effective in improving English ability based on the four core areas of
English: Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing. Also studied were student
motivation, participation, and collaboration using web 2.0 technologies to
present project-based-learning assignments. The paper explains how the research
was conducted and discusses the outcomes of that research.

Introduction

University students studying in Korea typically enter their first-of-two, 15-week

semesters in early March. The Tourism students at Paichai University are no
different in this regard. The students studied were third and fourth year Tourism
students. All students registered for the class and volunteered to participate in
the on-line study. Some students were Chinese exchange students, while others
were native to Korea. Additionally, some of these students are required to take an
English Speaking course that is taught by native speaking teachers, since a
commonly accepted style of teaching and assessment is through lecturing and
testing in Korean Universities. Typically, students will follow along with the
lecturer as he/she methodically moves through the book, playing the CD when
appropriate, and offering opportunities for questions when needed. Additionally,
students are allowed some time to pair up, memorize, and recite the pre-
fabricated dialogues provided in the book. This usually is what determines the
student’s participation grade for the class. Further assessment typically includes
one mid-term examination and one final examination. These types of exams
given have a range of styles depending on the lecturer and the level of the
students. Some tests are given as multiple-choice exams while others are strictly
oral tests. English teachers in this setting are given a great deal of freedom in
conducting their lessons. This provided a good platform from which to run this
study since there was no concern about superiors or how the class curriculum
had to be conducted.

Problem Statement

Currently, native Korean speakers and native Chinese speakers rank at the
bottom among readers, listeners, speakers and writers of English as a foreign

2
language. This can be seen, according to ETS, (2006) in the extremely low scores
reported on the TOEFL iBT, a standardized English test that assesses Reading,
Listening, Speaking and Writing abilities. Korean students rank in the bottom
35th percentile among all test takers worldwide with Chinese ranking in the
bottom 40th percentile. While the reasons for these low test scores can be
debated, there is no debating that students in the classroom are notably quiet
when it comes time to speak, quite shy when it comes time to read and write.
Typically Korean students are only comfortable with listening. This is not
surprising since the most popular method of teaching in Korea is lecture-based.
This is especially true at the university level where as many as 50 students may be
asked to sit in on an English “conversation” lecture. This style of lecture-based
teaching is so ingrained in society that students are not even comfortable talking
to each other in the classroom. This is especially true among students who are
learning English as a Foreign Language. Part of this problem is due to cultural
difference. One such culture difference appears to be that Asians are raised to
focus on a world of relationships whereas Westerners are brought up to
understand a world of objects. (Vercoe 2006) Koreans seem to greatly value the
distinct roles between student and teacher.

What seems apparent is that part of a teacher's role is to speak while part of
student's role is to listen. When students step outside of their listening role, as
would be the case in a conversation class, it can be seen as disrespectful or as
showing off in front of their peers. Furthermore, Korean teachers will be openly
critical toward students if they ask questions since this can be viewed as a direct
challenge to a teacher’s authority.(Eng,2000) As such, students are limited by the
comforts of their culture when learning to speak English in the classroom. If
indeed there is a chance that learning can come about through peer interaction
and reflection, as is the case with Project-based Learning (Thomas, 2000) then
surely, Korean college students are being robbed of this opportunity.

In addition to the cultural differences revolving around relationships, the lack of

interest by teachers to implement non-lecture-based teaching methods into the
classroom is another part of this issue. Part of it stems from a lack of concern that
students will learn. Part of it comes from teachers feeling helpless teaching an
English “Conversation” class to students who can't speak English. And part of it
could stem from a lack of training, experience, or success using non-lecture-
based teaching methods. In a typical lecture-based classroom, students are forced
to focus on only one of the core English skills, listening. By incorporating more
project-based learning (PBL) assignments online and utilizing web 2.0 tools to do
so, the results of our research showed that students made improvements on their
ability to read, speak, and write, and on their listening skills. However, the
benefits of PBL didn't stop there. We also found students to be more motivated
and participatory when given project-based learning assignments.

The purpose of this study was to determine if implementing project-based

learning opportunities online for students is an effective method to increase
perceived learning in college-level English learners. To guide our research, we

3
sought answers to the following questions:

1) Do student skills increase after producing PBL work for their work?

Since Korean and Chinese students are seemingly failing to make significant progress in
their English abilities, finding out if PBL increases students’ skills was the justification
for this question.

2) Are students more willing to participate in a class that offers them the
opportunity to make projects?

As stated in the problem, Korean and Chinese students are often hesitant to participate
in English classes. This question was aimed at trying to determine if PBL increased
participation.

3) Are Korean students adept at working online to produce projects?

It was only assumed that Korean and Chinese university students are capable and
comfortable working online and this question aimed at finding out if that assumption
was correct.

4) Does Project-Based Learning work well in, and with an online, web 2.0
environment?

Students were asked to use Web 2.0 tools to complete assignments, so this question
guided us in finding out how successful students were in completing those assignments.

Methods

This study was an action inquiry. As stated before, participants were Chinese and
Korean students from an undergraduate course at PaiChai University in South
Korea. The researchers in this study were graduate students from the University
of Colorado, both enrolled in the Research in Information and Learning
Technology course, both studying in the second year of the Masters of Education-
eLearning program. The class that participated was one that met once a week,
every Friday at PaiChai University. The course itself was a 3-credit hour course
and one that met for 3 hours each time. The face-to-face meetings were held in a
classroom that had computers at each desk along with a video projector that was
hooked up to the teacher’s computer. This overhead projector was used to
present step-by-step presentation.

The research was conducted over an 8-week period, from the beginning of the
Spring semester, to the mid-term point. The class was set up as a hybrid class, in
which one researcher, hired by PaiChai University as an English instructor, met
with the class for lecture and book work face-to-face on Friday, while both
researchers coordinated on assignments for students' project-based work online,
each week. The second researcher was living in Japan at the time and working as
an English instructor. Both researchers served as instructors and researchers for

4
this study.

For the project-based assignments online, students were invited via e-mail to the
social networking environment, Ning. This platform allows students to engage in
a wide variety of activities, such as posting pictures, uploading audio files and
videos, planning events, chatting, emailing, and much more. The site provides a
great deal of flexibility in planning and implementing project-based learning
assignments. This was where students completed all of their out of class
assignments and where all of the student data was collected for use in this study.

Materials/Media Rationale

The course notes were converted into Scribd documents. Scribd is a free Web 2.0
tool that allows users to upload documents to a server which then encodes the
documents with html that can be embedded into a web site. Using Scribd made
the notes globally accessible and easy to read or print directly from the course
site. Each week, we posted a new discussion topic and help forum where students
are able to elaborate on the lecture information and interact with each other.
Videos, podcasts and images were utilized to encourage student motivation,
participation, and interaction online.

Students also had the opportunity to make blog posts for reflection, upload
pictures, videos, mp3s and other types of files to establish active learning online.
To support students, online tutorials were created using Jing. Jing is a free Web
2.0 tool that allows users to record up to five-minute-long, narrated screen
shares. This tool was essential in giving students step-by-step instructions for
technical issues they ran into using the Web 2.0 tools in their assignments.

The first step in this research process was to get students registered on the Ning
site. Students were presented with a step-by-step screen share tutorial from the
free Web 2.0 application, Jing to assist in getting them registered. After all
students were registered on the Ning site, they were able to participate in the
initial survey that was posted there. This survey asked the students to rank their
own perceived English ability before participating in the online portion of the
course. (See appendix A)

After students took the survey, they were given their first discussion-based
learning assignment. With the exception of the mid-term project, all of the
students’ online assignments were discussion-based and served as extensions of
lectures that were given during class on Friday. Each week, the students were
given assignments online that correlated with the lectures. Students were asked
to participate in the discussions each week by Wednesday night at midnight and
were encouraged to interact with their peers in the discussion forums so as to
improve their participation grade. The week-by-week breakdown of the
classroom lectures and online assignments can be seen in appendix G. These
types of assignments were used to gage how motivated students were to
participate in online work.

5
The mid-term project was a free-choice topic that related in some way to the field
of Travel and Tourism, and as such, students had full reign over the content that
was added to their project. Student projects were submitted for evaluation and
comment on the Ning site. By using Ning, analyzing the data was more
manageable since all of it was in one place.

After the mid-term projects were completed and graded, students were then
given a post mid-term project survey. It was designed to help the researchers
determine if the students had seen improvements in their English abilities and
skills, and an increase in motivation. Additionally, this survey helped collect data
on student collaboration. (See appendix B).

Upon completion of the mid-term projects, to help triangulate the data, the
teachers were given a survey from which they evaluated each student individually
(See appendix C). This data was helpful in measuring students’ view of their
motivation and participation online against the teachers’ views.

Students were then asked to complete a peer reviewed scoring chart while
viewing the mid-term project presentations during class (See appendix D). The
students used a scoring rubric to guide them in their scoring (See appendix E).
While the main purpose of having students score their classmates’ projects was to
help triangulate data, this type of class work noticeably became a social activity as
students were eager to see the response of their peers as their projects were
viewed on the movie projector in class.

This online course work was presented in a way that allowed the students some
time to adapt to the online environment over the first two weeks. Additionally,
because the course was a taught as a hybrid course, students had the opportunity
to come to class to work on assignments and ask questions. The online portion of
the class was designed to measure student participation, motivation, and social
interaction with classmates. Additionally, the students were being exposed to
web 2.0 tools from which they would be using to present their finding for their
mid-term, project-based learning assignment.

The reason for measuring perceived ability in students is that measuring

student's perception of their learning offers students a more reflective approach
to their learning. Ultimately, individuals are in control of how much they learn,
and by reflecting on the increase or decrease in their own abilities, students will
learn more. This reflection is an essential part of learning as it allows learners the
opportunity to make connections and develop a more complex and deeper
understanding of the subject material. (Zull, 2002)

Data Collection

Overview

6
 Throughout this eight-week period, the data was collected and analyzed in four,
two-week quarters. Data was collected through surveys, the online social
networking website, Ning, grade books, trend analysis and Literary Review. The
triangulation of data is related directly to the action research questions at hand.
Below you can see an illustration of our triangulated Data.

Triangulation of Data

Research Question Data Source Data Source Data Source Data Source
#1 #2 #3 #4
1.) Do student skills Student Survey Teacher Survey Average Grade
increase after (See appendix (See appendix Book Analysis Literary Review
producing PBL work A&B) C) (See appendix
for their course? G)

2.) Are students more Student Survey Teacher Survey Ning

willing to participate in (See appendix (See appendix Participation Literary Review
a class that offers them A&B) C) (See appendix I)
the opportunity to
make projects?
3.) Are Korean Chinese Student Survey Midterm Grades Ning
students adept at (See appendix (See appendix Participation
working online to A&B) C) (See appendix
produce projects? I)
4.) Does Project-Based Student Survey Teacher Survey Midterm
Learning work well in a (See appendix (See appendix Comparison
Web 2.0 environment? A&B) C) (See appendix
H).

Data Collection Instruments

1.) Student Survey

Surveys were created using the Web 2.0 tool, Survey Monkey, and were
distributed to students online through the class website that was created in Ning.
The surveys were a combination of matrix of choice and rating scale style
questions that aimed at having student rate their own perceived English abilities
and student attributes. These surveys were completed at the beginning of the
semester, before they began working together online, while a follow up survey
was given after students completed their online, mid-term projects, about half
way through the semester. Students were prompted during the classroom lecture
to complete the survey during class time. This face-to-face administration was
helpful since some of the students had some difficulty understanding exactly
what some of the survey questions were asking.

7
2.) Teacher Survey

To assist in triangulating data, the professors conducted student evaluations in

the form of an online survey, again produced with SurveyMonkey. The survey
questions were similar to those used on the student survey and provided the
professors an opportunity to rank each individual student's attributes on a scale
between one and five. Both instructors completed surveys; however, some fields
didn't apply because of demographics. One professor didn't have a chance to
analyze the students in the classroom since his research was being conducted
from Japan, rather than Korea. As such, he was only able to evaluate some of the
student’s abilities, particularly those that could be evaluated from work done
online.

3. Ning Participation

Ning is a social networking tool that for all intensive purposes, served as a
Content Management System (CMS) for the online portion of this course. The
professors created a site that allowed students to participate in discussion forums
create blogs, post calendar events, and much more. For this study, Ning was used
to measure student participation in an online setting. Using Ning, students were
able to submit assignments, participate in discussions, and post their mid-term
projects. Data was collected using Classroom evaluations instructional time-line
(Sagor p. 77-78)

4. Mid-Term Grade Comparison

There was a comparison done of last year’s student average mid-term grades with
this year’s mid-term grades. The tool that was used by students to create their
projects is a collaborative Web 2.0 tool called Voicethread. Students were scored
using a rubric that measured use of media, student collaboration, and overall
content. The main difference between the student projects this year and last year
is that students were required to work in PBL methodology this year, whereas last
year projects were simply individual assignments.

5. Average Grade Book Analysis

Grades for students registered in this 3-credit course are based on student
attendance-including whether or not the students came on time, participation in
classroom conversations, participation in discussion surveys online, and
participation in project-based assignments online. The following is an analysis of
the students` average participation scores distributed over the four quarters
leading up to the mid-term.

Literary Review

These days there is little research that has been done on incorporating social

8
networking web 2.0 applications such as Ning, into a university setting. The
results of this research could open up doors for other interested university
professors to apply technology and project-based learning into their course. We
hope that the research we have conducted will unveil a new, successful style of
teaching university students in Korea and Asia.

In recent years a huge number of Web 2.0 technologies have been developed
around the world, and this number continues to multiply day by day. Educators
in many different educational fields are utilizing these valuable tools to achieve
their learning objectives and to add greater instructional value to their courses.
The results of the questionnaires posed to 101 EFL teachers indicate that a
majority of EFL teachers do actually use the Internet for their teaching purposes.
(Hee-Jae Shin; Jeong-Bae Son 2007). This literature review is concerned with
the current application of Web 2.0 in online environments and how they can be
integrated into ESL and EFL teaching through collaboration and project based
learning. We will be analyzing case studies, scholarly journals, and on-line digests
as the basis of our research and attempt to develop a correlation between
ESL/EFL, Web 2.0, collaboration and project based learning as a positive trend.

Introduction

Language training in Asian countries seems to be based on repetitive grammar

and vocabulary practice with no chance for reflection or social interaction. This
Behaviorist approach works at lower levels, but is not suitable for higher levels of
proficiency. Antonie Alm makes this clear when he stated that the stimulus-
response approach might be appropriate for the acquisition of lower thinking
skills, but it has only limited success at higher proficiency levels where more
complex structures involve conceptual learning. (Antonie, 2006) For conceptual
learning to flourish, it is imperative to have social interaction. "The need for
relatedness can, for instance, be seen in approaches which emphasizes that most
people not only learn better in a social context, but that they also take on new
ideas (and language) because of the interaction with others" (Vygotsky, 1978;
Hymes, 1971). Being EFL educators, we have been looking for a way to develop
and integrate social content into our teaching environments. Our aim is to
uncover the underlying benefits of using these tools and how they can be applied
in the educational setting.

To this end we must ask ourselves:

• Does students' learning increase after they produce collaborative projects

on-line?
• Does Problem-Based Learning work well in the Web2.0 environment?
• Are students more motivated to learn language through social interaction?

To answer these questions we must look at Web2.0 technologies to identify their

educational value. In this review we will be able to see a correlation between the
current and possible applications of project based learning, collaboration and

9
Web2.0 in ESL/EFL education.

In researching for data, we relied mostly on the Auraria Campus Library Journal
Databases (available through the internet) in addition to Yahoo and Google.
Another valuable search engine we used was called refseek.com. We used search
phrases such as “web 2.0 tools and EFL,” “project-based learning and ESL,” and
various combinations of both along with other search terms to find articles
pertaining to our research. Upon finding relevant articles, we then evaluated the
reference section, which often provided more web-based resources relevant to
our research. The following provides a summary of our findings.

Web 2.0 Educational Values and Application

The Internet has changed over the past decade. At one time it was used to provide
information in a way that was similar to what one might find from reference
books in a library. However, since around 2004 (Albion) the World Wide Web
has undergone extreme changes. There has yet to be one exact definition to be
formed on what this second World Wide Web is; however, through our research
the most robust definition of Web 2.0 is defined as follows: Web 2.0 encompasses
a variety of different meanings that include an increased emphasis on user
generated content, data and content sharing and collaborative effort, together
with the use of various kinds of social software, new ways of interacting with web-
based applications, and the use of the web as a platform for generating, re-
purposing and consuming content." (Albion). This new Web is also commonly
defined as the read/write web.

Whereas, in the past we used Web 1.0 as consumers, passively taking in

information that was presented to us, how students and teachers interact and
contribute to the information that is presented. Additionally, educators now see
the Internet as a participative medium as opposed to just a source of information.
There are many different learning theories that can be demonstrated using
Web2.0 technologies, which are also quite useful in the ESL environment. Be it
through the use of social networks, wikis, podcast or blogs, Web 2.0 allows users
to interact with how the content is being presented, and add to the organization
of such information rather than just observing it. (Albion, p. 7) Below is a list of
learning theories that became the basis of our research.

Learning Theories

1.) The Self-Determination Theory is concerned with competence, relatedness,

and autonomy. Competence refers to feeling effective in one’s ongoing
interactions with the social environment. Relatedness refers to feeling connected
to others. Autonomy refers to being the perceived origin or source of one’s own
behavior. Autonomy concerns acting from interest (Antonie, 2006). Through
social networking tools, such as Ning, students will be intrinsically motivated to
interact with each other and learn English through interaction. This self-
determination theory adopts a dialectic view and explains motivation as:

10
“interaction between an active, integrating human nature and social contexts that
either nurture or Alm: call for autonomy, competence and relatedness impede the
organism’s active nature” (Ryan & Deci, 2002, p. 6). It has been recognized that
CALL (Computer Aided Language Learning) can positively influence language
learner motivation (Egbert, 2003; Fotos, 2004; Warschauer, 1996). Though
CALL can be used simplistically as a vocabulary training utility that utilizes
Behaviorist approaches with positive and negative re-enforcements to motivate
students, as we saw before, we have the opportunity to use Web 2.0 tool
differently. Whereas the Behaviorist model assumes the need to create a stimulus
for motivation, the self-determination model focuses on how to support one’s
natural tendencies to learn (Antonie, 2006). Referring to self-determination
theory, Internet-based language-learning environments can be motivating
because of their potential to support basic human needs. (Antonie, 2006).

2.) The Social Learning Theory utilizes learning through interaction. Students
have the ability to learn from one another in a collaborative manner. This theory
is concerned with self-motivation, including external, vicarious and self-
reinforcement. (Bandura, 1997). As a way to organize a class and present
content, Ning, as a social networking tool, allows instructors the freedom to
present learning objects in a way that suits the needs of their own personalized
classroom to promote social interaction. In the case of our research, we used
Ning to employ most of our learning strategies. Ning can be used to post RSS
feeds from which supplemental learning can take place. These feeds prove as
valuable learning tools and have a range of quality from simple blog post rss
feeds, to video presentations from major companies, to even research articles
published from organizations. In an online environment, this supports both the
social, supportive, active, reflective, and relevant learning values that are so
important to effective to the social learning theory. To date, web
technologies have moved toward a Web 2.0 standard whose core value is
social networking. In the Web 2.0 online environment, social networking is a
concept, which emphasizes collaborative user-to-user interaction (Vickery, 2007

3.) Project-Based Learning Theory - states that the best way to learn is to
experience the action at first hand. PBL system of learning and teaching has
several goals. For example, the development of an attitude and critical judgment,
team work, independent reasoning and study habits. Today there are some
Mexican universities as ITESM (Monterrey Superior Education
Technological Institute [18]) that have already adapted their courses to this
teaching system. Where student acceptance was particular good, self-
transformation of knowledge was achieved ( Ignacio González Alonso, Mercedes
R. Fernández Alcalá, Jose A. López Brugos, 2007 ). Project-based learning allows
students to work together to solve real world problems that are relevant to them.
(Edutopia Staff, 2008) In project-based learning activities students are
essentially finding the answers to their own questions. The students decide on
which part of the subject they'd like to learn more about and then they set out on
their own in search of answers.
Teachers take a back seat while the students demonstrate their own mastery of

11
materials. On the benefits found, increase of quality of works, reducing
administrative work per student, increased motivation, no cheating, more
students in classrooms, getting transversal competencies, increasing teachers
performance and teaching learning were noticed. ( Ignacio González Alonso,
Mercedes R. Fernández Alcalá, Jose A. López Brugos, 2007 ).
Project-based learning lets students identify their own learning needs [17]. This
methodology creates a different skills acquisition, transmits the responsibility to
learn away from teachers, and puts it on the students. ( Ignacio González Alonso,
Mercedes R. Fernández Alcalá, Jose A. López Brugos, 2007 ). We utilized PBL in
our research by using a Web2.0 program called VoiceThread. A VoiceThread is a
collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos
and allows people to leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a microphone
or phone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). After the students have taken
the second and final perceived English ability survey, there was an increase in all
of the participants’ perceived English ability.

Web2.0 and Collaboration

Obviously the Web provides vast amounts of knowledge for students to use for
their research. Web 2.0 applications allow students to organize information and
to reconstruct it in a way that makes sense to them. Because the culmination of
any project-based learning project is the collaboration and presentation of the
findings, Web 2.0 applications lend themselves well to allowing students to
collaborate with each other and to present their findings. Students who use Web
2.0 tools improve both their abilities to collaborate and present information.
Development of these skills occurs even among learners at low levels of
language proficiency (ERIC Development Team, 1998). Web 2.0 allows students
to reconstruct information and present it with many different online applications
and tools. Within the group work integral to projects, individuals' strengths
and preferred ways of learning (e.g., by reading, writing, listening, or speaking)
strengthen the work of the team as a whole (Lawrence), while students present
their newly acquired knowledge to the world.

ESL/EFL and Web2.0

The development of Web 2.0 over the last few years has opened up a number of
new interactive, collaborative applications that can be used for learning English
as a Second or Foreign Language. The Internet can also be a useful tool for
collaboration among ESL/EFL learners locally, nationally or globally. It can be
used to acquire information from a large number of language resources for a
variety of purposes (Daugherty & Funke, 1998; Gonglewski, Meloni & Brant,
2001; Moore, 1996; Pennington, 1996; Ryder & Graves, 1997; Singhal, 1997;
Smith, 1997; Warschauer, 2000). Whereas the original Web 1.0 served up fixed,
static pages of information meant for observation by viewers, Web 2.0
applications allow users to interact with, and contribute to the information being
provided. While Web 1.0 offers English as a topic of discussion, Web 2.0

12
applications allow students a platform from which they can learn, a place where
they can adapt the information being provided, for their own personal use. They
can communicate either on a one-to-one or a many-to-many basis any time they
need from school, home or work. Therefore, it is not surprising that many
ESL/EFL teachers have embraced Internet-assisted language teaching (IALT)
and have developed new ways of using the Internet with their students (Hee-Jae
Shin; Jeong-Bae Son 2007). Essentially Web 2.0 provides students with the tools
necessary to adapt the static English provided for by Web 1.0 to their needs in a
way that helps them actively become a part of the English language community
(Antonie, 2006).
Some Web-based software learning systems have features that enable students to
engage in threaded discussions. Students from certain cultures that discourage
public disagreement discover a freedom to disagree provided by the impersonal
nature of technology. (Michael Morgan, 2008). Web 2.0 tools lead to
collaboration; this collaboration opens the door for project-based learning, which
can all be used to assist ESL students in a number of ways as we can see by the
list below.

Collaboration and Problem-Based Learning in Web 2.0 environments

• Builds on previous work

• Integrates speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills
• Incorporates collaborative team-work, problem solving, negotiating and
other interpersonal skills
• Requires learners to engage in independent work
• Challenges learners to use English in new and different contexts outside
the class
• Involves learners in choosing the focus of the project and in the planning
process
• Engages learners in acquiring new information that is important to them
• Leads to clear outcomes
• Incorporates self-evaluation, peer evaluation, and teacher evaluation
(ERIC Development Team, 1998)

Research Findings

The process of data analysis included the use of a matrix to sort the data and
identify the most common stories within. Since some of the questions didn't fit in
the same category, two different sifters were created to better identify the
evidence being sought after. Focus was placed on 4 main areas, each
synchronized to the action research questions; Motivation, Participation, Skills
and Success. In the charts and graphs below; trends, high averages and data
change were analyzed.

The process of completing a data analysis for this study included using a matrix
to sort the data and identify the most common stories within. Since some of the

13
questions didn't fit in the same category, two different sifters were created to
better identify the evidence we were looking for. We focused on 4 main areas
from our action research questions; Motivation, Participation, Skills and Success.
The charts and graphs above we analyzed for trends, high averages and data
change.

Evidence of Motivation

In this chart we can see that the in-class participation and motivation of students
increased with the introduction of PBL, which was Quarter4.

(Appendix J)

The following graph shows that the students’ on-line motivation decreased in the
third quarter and then rose again during the PBL assignment.

14
(Appendix I)

Evidence of Participation

The majority of students saw themselves as good at socializing in a group work

project. Teachers also felt student socialization abilities were very strong and it
seems to be related to the socialization benefit that correlates with using PBL.

Student attitudes on their attributes Teachers Students

Social Skills
Strong (1-2) 40.9% 29.4%
Average (3-4) 50% 58.6%

15
 Weak (5) 9.1 11.8%
(Appendix A & B)

Evidence of Behavior Change

Looking at the following chart we can see that the students didn’t feel that their
reading ability changed throughout the semester.

Student attitudes on their abilities Pre-Survey Post-Survey

Reading (student self-ratings)
Strong (1-2) 21.1% 29.4%
Average (3) 47.4% 35.3%
Weak (4-5) 31.6% 35.3%
(Appendix A & B)

The following chart shows that students felt PBL learning, socializing and
planning were most important in group work.

Student attitudes on importance during group work (Highest Averages)

Pre-Survey (student self-ratings)
Learning 47.4% (9)
Socializing 36.8% (7)
Planning 42.1% (8)
(Appendix A & B)

The line graph below shows that the students interacted more on the Internet
with the application of PBL project.

16
(Appendix I)

Evidence of Aptitude on-line

It can be seen in the following bar graph that over 50% of the students feel they
enjoyed online learning more than classroom learning.

(Appendix B)

The following bar graph shows that students had a higher average grade in their
PBL this year with the integration of more technology.

17
(Appendix J)

Evidence of skill improvement

The following graph shows that 94.1% of student felt like they made
improvements with technology.

It can be seen in the following chart that five students felt that their speaking skill
also became stronger.

Student attitudes on their abilities Pre-Survey Post-Survey

Speaking (student self-ratings)
Strong (1-2) 15.8% (3) 23.5% (4)
Average (3-4) 42.1% (8) 70.6% (12)
Weak (5) 31.6% (6) 5.9% (1)
(Appendix A & B)

Evidence of PBL Success

18
Students` feeling about working in a group increased from Average to Good.

(Appendix A)

(Appendix B)

Findings

1. Student participation slowed down as the semester moved on, but

increased with PBL.

2. Students felt that they were more motivated with the inclusion of PBL.

3. Students enjoyed working in groups and favored social interaction.

4. Students’ participation was directly related to their feelings about their

19
 skills.

5. Students' feelings about their perceived abilities changed with the

application of PBL.

6. Students enjoyed working in an online learning environment.

7. Students' gained more confidence about their skills when they worked in a
collaborative environment.

Present findings persuasively and with sound reasoning (accounting for

alternative explanations) Link the findings directly to the research
questions.

Most of what was found from this study was not surprising. It was assumed that
students would respond well to project-based learning and it appears that they
did. Students participated more online, after being assigned a group project. The
students participated more in an online setting when given the project
assignment and they also appeared to be more motivated to learn as was stated in
their follow up surveys.

The findings in this study seem to tell the same story. It appears that Korean and
Chinese college students studying EFL in a hybrid course setting do make
improvements in participation, motivation, and overall English ability when
asked to do project-based learning tasks online. This is evidenced in the change
in students’ grades, self-assessment and teacher assessment before and during
PBL. There was a change of behavior in the students' self-assessments, while the
data from the trend analysis shows an improvement in grades, in addition to
participation having increased toward the last quarter of Ning participation.

Alternative Explanations

It was found that student motivation and participation increased when given a
PBL assignment. The findings from this study seem to correlate with the
research done in the Literary Review on motivation and participation increasing
when PBL is used. However, one thing that should be strongly considered is the
fact that the students were given the PBL assignment as a mid-term project. As
such, there was a large number of points assigned to each project, thus greatly
affecting student grades. While PBL was part of what motivated the students in
this study, it is also likely that students were motivated by the large point total
given to the mid-term, PBL assignment. Thus students were motivated by the
idea of getting a good grade, not just on participating in a PBL project.

It should be noted that a significant drop off took place in the third quarter in
regards to participation. The third quarter was very challenging for the students
and some of them may have just given up due to lack of understanding. While it
would be easy to say that students were simply overwhelmed with coursework for

20
other classes or that they were just being lazy, this is not a fair judgment of what
may have been going on. Perhaps there was something else going on. Perhaps
there needed to be more attention paid to this part of the study.

Relationship to Literary Review

A number of other relationships were found in the learning theories in our

Literary Review, which we have based our entire Ning project on. These theories
include:

1.) The Self-Determination Theory - concerned with competence, relatedness,

and autonomy.

· Some students felt their listening and reading skills increased.

· 9 students felt that their speaking skill also became stronger.

· Students' participation is directly related to their feelings about their skills.

2.) Social Learning Theory -which utilizes learning through social experiences.

· Students’ classroom skills increased during the PBL project.

· Students` feeling about working in a group increased from Average to

Good.

· Students are more curious and they are more motivated to finish projects
in a group.

· Students enjoy working in groups and favor social interaction.

3.) Problem-Based Learning Theory (PBL) -feels that the best way to learn is to
experience the action first hand. The PBL system of learning and teaching has
several goals. The development of an attitude and the ability to critically judge,
building teamwork and independent reasoning, and the development of study
habits are all goals sought after in PBL.

· Students participated more on-line during the PBL portion of the class.

· Students can gain more confidence in their skills when working in a

collaborative environment.

· Students feel that they are more motivated with the inclusion of PBL.

21
Upon completion of a trend analysis that evaluated the project grades from the
Fall 2008 semester with the project grades from the Spring 2009 semester, it
appears that students made improvements in social skills and overall
participation by creating project-based learning projects as a part of their course
curriculum. This is no surprise since the literature that was reviewed previously
showed that students benefit socially from participating in project-based-learning
projects. All aspects of this are quite provable by the data provided.

Project-based learning allows students to work together to solve real world

problems that are relevant to them. In project-based learning activities students
are essentially finding the answers to their own questions. The students decide on
which part of the subject they'd like to learn more about and then they set out on
their own in search of answers. In completing their project students were able to
choose any topic they wished that applied to Tourism. The researchers saw a very
favorable outcome in student participation because of this.

The findings in this survey can serve the EFL community as support to use
project-based learning in an online setting with university students. Students
responded favorably to working in groups to produce presentations. They also
seemed generally motivated to participate in online discussions online each week.

Environmental Impact

Student Impact

As mentioned in the introduction, Korean and Chinese students often feel

somewhat uncomfortable practicing their English skills in a classroom setting.
Because students were able to participate in discussions and project-based
assignments from the comfort of their own home computer online, some of the
apprehension they feel in a face-to-face setting was eliminated. Additionally,
because students were given control over their education, as is the case in
project-based learning, they were able to enjoy a new sense of motivation to
learn. At the same time, because of the nature of the online environment
provided for by Ning, students now have projects that they can take with them
from the class. This will likely produce a greater sense of satisfaction than had
they just been along for the ride in a lecture-based class.

Impact on PaiChai University

It should not go unnoticed that the amount of work done this semester in this
PaiChai course was far beyond that of what is required by the school itself. The
instructor, who was hired by PaiChai University, as is often the case in EFL
classes in Korean universities, was given complete control over what the
curriculum could be. This is worth mentioning since all too often, foreign
instructors who are hired by universities in Korea are easily able to get by doing
very little in the way of preparation, paying attention to detail, and following up

22
with students in regards to the activities and assignments that are presented.
While there was no data collected on this matter, it is likely that the students felt
they gained a great deal from participating in this class. As such, when they
discuss their university experience with those outside of class, they will likely say
positive things. This in turn, will serve to enhance the image of the Tourism
department and of PaiChai University as a who

Personal Impact

For us, just being able to conduct our first action based research project has had a
great impact on our own abilities as EFL professionals and future e-Learning
Specialists. As first time researchers, we have learned an incredible amount from
our professors, the graduate level coursework we participated in this semester,
the work and research of other researchers, from the actual research we
conducted and the drafting of this paper, and from each other. Additionally, and
not to be undervalued, the research and incorporation of project-based-learning
and Web 2.0 tools, has brought us a sense of empowerment as to our ability to
teach EFL at the university level and online. At some point, having the confidence
and knowhow used to conduct this research, we both relish the idea of submitting
a research paper like this one to a popular EFL Journal such as KOTESOL or
Asian EFL Journal.

Negative Impacts

While the positive impacts of this work certainly outweigh the negative, it would
not be fair to say that there were no negative effects of conducting this study.
One such negative effect for the researchers and teachers involved was the
amount of time and work involved in preparing and implementing everything.
Additionally, since both instructors were also the primary researchers in the
study, keeping these roles separate was difficult and as such, became somewhat
stressful. Moreover, since more data needed to be collected than we had
originally thought, some of the time that had been planned for lecturing was
eliminated. This meant that one of the Friday lectures on the Travel and Tourism
industry had to be eliminated and replaced by a day of collecting additional data.
While the overall effect of this is minimal, it should be noted as a negative effect
of doing research as an instructor.

Conclusion

Project-based learning and collaboration integrated into the ESL environment

using Web 2.0 technology seems to be a positive trend in the knowledge
acquisition process. Project-based learning functions as a bridge between using
English in class, and English in real life situations outside of class (Fried-Booth,
1997). Information gap activities (where the assignment can only be completed
through sharing of the different information given each learner), learner-to-
learner interviews, role plays, simulations, field trips, contact assignments
outside of class, and process writing with peers prepare learners for project work.

23
(ERIC Development Team, 1998) Activities that engage learners in
communication tasks and in peer- and self- evaluation helps create the proper
classroom environment. (ERIC Development Team, 1998)

The data from this study showed that, with the exception of reading ability,
students felt their overall skills increased. PBL played a large part in producing
such gains. By giving students an opportunity to search for answers to their own
questions and having them interact within a group, students were forced to use a
their language skills along with collaborative and technological skills.
Additionally, because students were given the choice of what their PBL topic was,
they were more enthusiastic in completing it and therefore, more eager to
participate online and more motivated to do well.

The participants in this study also proved they are extremely capable of working
online to produce projects. While the overall English and technical ability of
students varied somewhat, all students were able to functionally adapt to the
online environment they were required to work in. At one point during the
semester, students were unable to properly embed the rough copy of their mid-
term projects. This was due to the instructors, lack of an explanation on how to
do this. However, after distributing a step-by-step video screen share from Jing,
students were able to follow the tutorial and later embed their projects, thus
demonstrating their proficiency in the online environment.

Using Web 2.0 tools to create media presentations online for use in PBL is a
relatively understudied topic. In fact, it is rather desolate as far as published
works go. However, the combination using Web 2.0 tools for use in PBL certainly
is a good one. The students in this study showed a great deal of interest in
participating in the Ning site. Each student demonstrated this interest by
completing a PBL project presentation using the Web 2.0 tool, Voicethread.
Additionally, 50% of the students in the class even reported that they prefer
participating more online than in the actual classroom.

As more and more Web 2.0 applications are produced each year, it is important
to stay abreast of how we can integrate them into our classrooms online and in
person as teachers of ESL and EFL. As we found in our research, project-based
learning is an effective approach to teaching English as a Second or Foreign
Language. And since Web 2.0 applications lend themselves so nicely to
producing projects, language acquisition through projects produced via Web 2.0
tools only seems a logical next step. Lastly, as new technologies emerge on the
new read/write web, we’ll work hard to stay at the forefront of how we can
responsibly apply these technologies to optimize learning.

24
 References

Albion, P.R. (2008) Web 2.0 in Teacher Education: Two Imperatives for Action.
Computers in the Schools, 25(3). Retrieved March 2, 2009 from
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a906683599~db=all

Alm, A. (2006) Call for autonomy, competence, and relatedness: Motivating

language learning Environments in Web 2.0 The JALT CALL Journal 2(3).
Retrieved March 28, 2009 from http://jaltcall.org/journal/articles/2_3_Alm.pdf

Alonso, I.G., Alcala, M.R.F., Brugos, J.A.L. Progressive Evaluation and Auto
Evalation Through Wikis Retrieved March 22, 2009, from
http://72.14.235.132/search?
q=cache:xk1sWlxZkH8J:es.geocities.com/hugo_pardo/gonzalez_alonso.pdf+PR
OGRESSIVE+EVALUATION+AND+AUTO+EVALUATION+THROUGH+WIKIS
.+Ignacio+Gonz%C3%A1lez+Alonso,+Mercedes+R.+Fern%C3%A1ndez+Alcal
%C3%A1,+Jose+A.+L%C3%B3pez+Brugos+Computer+Science+Department.
+33204.+Campus+de+Viesques,+Gij%C3%B3n,+Asturias/+Spain.
+gonzalezaloignacio%40uniovi.es,+uo184703%40uniovi.es,+brugos
%40uniovi.es&cd=1&hl=ko&ct=clnk&gl=kr&client=firefox-a

A Bandura, (1997) University of Denver Online TIP, Social Learning Theory,

Retrieved May 10, 2009, from: http://tip.psychology.org/bandura.html

Brannick, T., Coghlan, D. (2005). Doing Action Research in Your Own

Organization. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications Inc.

Carney,N., Foss, P., McDonald, K., Rooks, M. (2007, October). Project-Based

Learning Activities for Short-Term Intensive English Programs

25
Asian EFL Journal 23(2) Retrieved February 17, 2009 from
http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/pta_Oct_07_ypf&nc&km&mr.php

Daugherty, M., & Funke, B. L. (1998). University faculty and student perceptions
of Web-based instruction. Journal of distance education, 13(1). Retrieved March
28, 2009, from http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol13.1/daugherty.html

Edutopia. (2008, February, 28) Why Teach With Project Learning?: Providing
Students With a Well-Rounded Classroom Experience. Retrieved April 9, 2009,
from http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning-introduction

Eng. K.H. (2000, August). Can Asians Do PBL? CDTLBrief 2(2) Retrieved
February 28, 2009 from http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/brief/v3n3/sec2.htm

ERIC Development Team (1998, January 00). Project-Based Learning for Adult
English Language Learners, Retrieved March 24, 2009, from ERIC database.
Fried-Booth, D. L. (1997). "Project work." (8th Ed.) Oxford: Oxford University
Press.

ETS. Test and Score-Based Summary for TOEFL Internet-Based Test. Retrieved
February 26, 2009 from http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/TOEFL-SUM-
0506-iBT.pdf

Gonglewski, M., Meloni, C., Brant, J. Christine (2001, March) Using E-mail in
Foreign Language Teaching: Rationale and Suggestions The Internet TESL
Journal, 7(2) Retrieved April 2, 2009, from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Meloni-
Email.html

Hymes, D. H. (1971). On communicative competence. In J. Pride and J. Holmes

(Eds.), Sociolinguistics. Penguin, 1972. Excerpt from the paper published 1971,
Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press.

Kern, R., & Warschauer, M. (2000). Introduction: Theory and practice of

network-based language teaching. In M. Warschauer & R. Kern (Eds.), Network-
based language teaching: Concepts and practice (pp. 1-19). New York: Cambridge
University Press.

Moore, P. (1996). Reading and writing on the Internet. The Australian journal of
language and literacy, 19(4), 317-329

Pennington, M. C. (1996). The power of the computer in language education. In

M. C. Pennington (Ed.), The power of CALL (pp. 1-14). Houston: Athelstan.
Ryder, R. J., & Graves, M. F. (1997). Using the Internet to enhance students'
reading, writing, and information-gathering skills. Journal of adolescent & adult
literacy, 4(4), 244-254.

Shin, H.J., Son, J.B. (2007, January). EFL Teachers' Perceptions and

26
Perspectives on Internet-Assisted Language Teaching Call- EJ Online, 8(2).
Retrieved March 28, 2009, from
http://www.tell.is.ritsumei.ac.jp/callejonline/journal/8-2/h-js_j-bs.html

Singhal, M. (1997). The Internet and foreign language education: Benefits and
challenges. The Internet TESL journal, 3(6). Retrieved March 19, 2009, from
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Singhal-Internet.html

Smith, B. (1997). Virtual Realia. The Internet TESL journal, 3(7). Retrieved
September 12, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://iteslj.org/Articles/Smith-
Realia.html

Ryan, E. L. (2002). A handbook of self-determined research. Boydell & Brewer:

Thomas.J.W. (2000, March). A Review of Research on Project-Based Learning.
Retrieved February 25, 2009, from
http://www.edutopia.org/teachingmodules/PBL/PBL_Research.pdf

Vygotsky, L. (1978) Mind in society: The Development of Higher Psychological

Processes. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Vercoe, T. (2006, September). Taking Advantage of Cognitive Difference of

Asians and Westerners in the Teaching of English
Asian EFL Journal 8(3) Retrieved February 6, 2009 from
http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/amme/oxford-2006.pdf

Warschauer, M. (2000). On-line learning in second language classrooms. In M.

Warschauer & R. Kern (Eds.), Network-based language teaching: Concepts and
practice (pp. 41-58). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Zull, J. (2002). The Art of Changing the Brain. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus
Publishing, LLC.

27
Appendix A: Pre-Participation Survey

28
29
Appendix B: Post Mid-Term Project Survey

30
31
32
Appendix C: Student Evaluation Survey (Completed by Teachers)

33
Appendix D: Peer Evaluations

34
35
36
Appendix E: Mid-term Scoring Rubric

Multimedia Project Scoring Rubric: Scoring Guidelines

Multimedia Collaboration Content

The integration of media
objects such as text,
Score graphics, video,
animation, and sound to
represent and convey
Levels
information. Videotapes
which include sound and
images fit this definition.
Working together jointly to The topics, ideas, concepts,
accomplish a common knowledge, and opinions that
intellectual purpose in a constitute the substance of the
manner superior to what presentation.
might have been
accomplished working alone.

37
 Students have used Students were a very effective Meets all criteria of the
multimedia in creative team. Division of previous level and one or
and effective ways that responsibilities capitalized on more of the following: reflects
10-9 exploit the particular the strengths of each team broad research and
strengths of the chosen member. The final product application of critical thinking
format. All elements was shaped by all members skills; shows notable insight or
make a contribution. and represents something understanding of the topic;
There are few technical that would not have been compels the audience's
problems, and none of a possible to accomplish attention.
serious nature. working alone.
Presentation blends 3 or Students worked together as The project has a clear goal
more multimedia a team on all aspects of the related to a significant topic or
elements in a balanced, project. There was an effort issue. Information included
8-7 attractive, easy-to-follow to assign roles based on the has been compiled from
format. Elements include skills/talents of individual several relevant sources. The
original student work. members. All members strove project is useful to an
With minor exceptions, to fulfill their responsibilities. audience beyond the students
all elements contribute who created it.
rather than detract from
the presentation's overall
effectiveness.
Presentation uses 2 or Students worked together on The project presents
more media. There are the project as a team with information in an accurate
some technical problems, defined roles to play. Most and organized manner that
6-5 but the viewer is able to members fulfilled their can be understood by the
follow the presentation responsibilities. intended audience. There is a
with few difficulties. Disagreements were resolved focus that is maintained
or managed productively. throughout the piece.
Presentation uses 2 or Presentation is the result of a The project has a focus but
more media, but technical group effort, but only some may stray from it at times.
difficulties seriously members of the group There is an organizational
4-3 interfere with the viewer's contributed. There is structure, though it may not
ability to see, hear, or evidence of poor be carried through
understand content. communication, unresolved consistently. There may be
conflict, or failure to factual errors or
collaborate on important inconsistencies, but they are
aspects of the work. relatively minor.

2-1 Multimedia is absent

from the presentation.
Presentation was created by
one student working more or
less alone (though may have
received guidance or help
from others).
Multimedia score = Collaboration score =
Copyright San Mateo County Office of Education
Project seems haphazard,
hurried or unfinished. There
are significant factual errors,
misconceptions, or
misunderstandings.
Content score =

38
Appendix F: Deviation from the Original Plan

As, is to be expected in any action research inquiry, there were some changes
along the way that should be noted. When the opportunity for this research first
came about, a plan was made in regards when and, to which methods would be
used to collect and analyze data. The original schedule is posted below.
Immediately following this schedule is a summary of the changes that occurred
during the actual 8-week research period. While the dates that most of these
actions were done didn’t change very much, it is worth noting that four major
changes came about in regards to the actual research methods.

Action Breakdown
2/28 Submitted Action Research
Proposal w/ Data Collection

39
 Methods
Create tutorials on how to navigate Ning

Get participants registered on Ning

Design projects based on book work

Begin working on literature review

Work on Data Collection Plan

Submit Update Data
3/14
Collection Plan

Distribute Perceived English Ability survey

4/11 Literature Review
Data Analysis
Final Action Research
4/25
Report
5/16 Final Submission of Report
Continue implementing projects
Continue literature review
Write literature review
Begin working on Data Analysis
Continue implementing projects
Administer the test
Analyze data
Write data analysis report
Distribute Final Perceived English Ability
Survey
Revise and submit final report

The first major change was in the number of major projects that students were
assigned during this 8 week period. Originally, the teachers planned on assigning
4 major group-based assignments for students to complete. However, having to
complete all of the data collection in just 8 weeks, made this more difficult than
originally thought. So, instead of assigning four major projects, the teachers
assigned only one. This allowed researchers to scrutinize that single group
project in greater detail while still allowing the teachers to continue on with their
curriculum without any great delay or disruption. As it were, the teachers
sacrificed three face-to-face lecture classes in order to: describe the project and
help the students brainstorm topic ideas, research and work through any
problems or technical issues that came about in using the Web 2.0 tool,
Voicthread, and watch, score, and survey students upon completion of the major
project respectively. This ultimately worked out better since the teachers were
able to use the one single group project as a mid-term project. Instead of
requiring four major group projects, students completed the rest of their PBL

40
based assignments on a week to week basis, individually, typically presenting
their ideas in the discussion forum. Interestingly, this change in major project
quantity, lead to a greater focus on how motivated students were to participate in
the online portion of the course as a whole. While students showed a high level of
participation in the group project at the mid-term point in the semester, what
was of interest was the dip in participation and apparent motivation online, in the
quarter leading up to the mid-term. This seemingly subtle change in number of
projects required, completely altered the entire research project and brought
about the second major change.

Instead of simply measuring student’s perceived English ability, as was originally

planned for, researchers and instructors worked to now measure motivation
levels of students online. And, instead of simply asking the students to rate their
perceived English abilities, students were asked to rank a whole host of
educational skills (as seen in appendices A and B).

The third alteration was the change in the Web 2.0 presentation tool that was
used to present the major project. It was originally planned that students would
use the Web 2.0 program, Flowgram to do their online, group presentations.
However, the teachers ran into technical issues using Flowgram and weren’t able
to make a tutorial sufficient enough to help the students utilize the tools available
in the program. As is often the case with new and free Web 2.0 tools, Flowgram
was available in its beta version, complete with glitches and server crashes. As
such, the teachers and researchers decided that Voicethread would be a better
Web 2.0 option. While at first this change in direction was disappointing, what
came about from it was better research. This is because Voicethread was used a
semester earlier at Paichai university for Chinese and Korean students in the
same Tourism class. By accessing the previous semester’s student grades for the
Voicethread projects, the researchers now had a way to better triangulate the
mid-term project data when analyzing it.

In keeping with the theme of triangulating data, the last major change that was
implemented was the introduction of additional surveys to help get a better all
around sense of what the data meant. With triangulation in mind, researchers
had the teachers complete a survey to rate each student’s abilities. This allowed
researchers to look past just the student’s evaluation of their own abilities, and
compare it with that of the teachers’ evaluations. Additionally, a peer review
scoring of the mid-term projects, completed by the students during class also
added to the triangulation and well-roundedness of the data.

41
Appendix G: Breakdown of Weekly Lectures and Project-Based and Discussion-
Based Learning Assignments

Week 1 Lecture: Syllabus/Introductions

Assignment(s): N/A

Week 2 Lecture: Why Do People Travel?

Assignment(s): 1) Post an introduction of yourself

2) Many motives inspire people to travel. List the first

10 you can think of. (I’ve listed one to get your
started.)
1. To sightsee

Now boldface the two motives above that are the most
important to you when you travel.

Finally, do you consider yourself to be a Dependable,

42
 a Venturer, or a Centric? Explain which label you
chose for yourself, and why, below:

Week 3 Lecture: The Air Transportation Industry (Part One)

Assignments(s): Everyone has a different priority as to what’s most

important. If you were to fly on a red-eye next week
from Incheon to Paris, France, what would you
consider most valuable? Rank the following from 1-10
(10 is the least important and 1 is the most important)
Then explain why you chose your first and last
rankings. Lastly, please comment on at least two of
your classmate's posts! (Try using ebedded questions
(p.23 Wajnryb) to be practice being polite)

Food served on the plane, Pitch between seats,

Recline of seats, Good on-time performance of the
flight you’ve chosen, Nonstop flight, rather than a
direct or connecting one, Price of ticket, Type of
aircraft used, The possibility that you can upgrade
with your mileage, Whether there will be in-flight
movies, Pleasant experience on a previous flight you
had with that airline

Week 4 Lecture: The Air Transportation Industry (Part Two)

Assignment(s): Using the Internet, or any source available to you,

figure out the best/cheapest air routes that could get
me from Incheon Airport to Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and back again (round trip
ticket) or get Jesse from Tokyo International Airport
to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and back
again (round trip ticket). Try to set up the fewest
connections possible. Below is a fictitious example.
Please use this format.

Outbound itinerary:

Korean Air Flight #254: Depart Incheon, July 2,

7:50P.M.; arrive San Francisco, July 2, 3P.M.; Depart
San Francisco July 2, 3:50P.M.: arrive Philadelphia
July 2, 6:40P.M.

Return itinerary:

American Airlines Flight #212: Depart Philadelphia,

August 1, 7:30A.M.; arrive Los Angeles, August 1,

43
 10:40A.M.; Depart Los Angeles August 1, 1:10P.M.;
arrive Incheon August 2, 5:20P.M.

Cost: U.S.$753.00

Week 5 Lecture: The Hotel and Lodging Industry

Assignment(s): Share Your Lodging Experience: This week, we'd like

to hear you tell a story of the best, worst or most
memorable experience you've had staying in an
accommodation of any type.

Week 6 Lecture: The Travel Agent Industry

Assignment(s): 1) Travel Agencies in Daejeon: Please answer the

following questions.

1.Which travel agency would be the first you’d

call in Daejeon? Why?
2. Which one is your second choice?
3. Do any agencies in Daejeon have specialties?
Which specialties do they offer?
4. Which ones have websites (provide the site if
available)
5. Are there any franchise Travel Agencies in
Daejeon? Which ones are the best?

2) Festivals in Korea: Korea has a ton of Festivals each

year. However, there is a problem. I don't know when
they are! I tend to always find out about a festival
after it's already happened! Now, it's your job to get
me prepared so I can travel Korea and see what there
is to see! This week, we'd like you to add one or two
festivals to our new "Calandar of Events" tab.

44
Appendix H: Grade Comparison

Last Year This Year

20 19
20 28
15 18
22 20
30 26
18 29
21 22
29 23
20 25
24
22
26
22
28
21
Last Year This Year
22.5 23.33333333

45
Appendix I: Ning participation grades

Q1 3/6 - Q2 3/20 - Q3 4/3 - Q4 4/17 -

Total
Student 3/13 4/2 4/16 4/30

Park, Woong Jong 4 14 8 5 31

Kim, Min Sung 2 4 4 1 11

Shin Joo Ho 6 9 3 1 19

Wang Ying 4 2 0 0 6

Jun Moon 6 1 0 1 8

Jang Guen 4 3 2 2 11

Jo Rak 7 5 0 0 12

Go Yang 6 3 0 1 10

Kim In Kyoung 7 1 0 0 8

Jeong Jong Gu 6 8 1 1 16

Hong Se Min 6 7 5 3 21

Yoon Hye Jeong 9 6 3 1 19

Kim Cheong 3 5 2 0 10

Park, Jae Heung 6 2 2 1 11

Lee Ahm 4 2 0 0 6

Park Jae Won 7 1 0 0 8

46
Sa Gang 7 6 3 2 18

Jeon, Hae Yeon 6 2 1 2 11

Joong Mae Won 6 1 1 1 9

Park Jong Hyun 6 0 0 0 6

In Tae Song 8 2 1 1 12

Xeng, Xuemei 5 1 0 0 6

Appendix J: Classroom participation grades

Quarter1 Quarter2 Quarter3 Quarter4

Average 9.2 8.4 7.6 8.3

47