One of the ongoing projects at the University of Glasgow is the development of an online self-reflective tool entitled ‘My Languages Profile’. This takes the form of a One Note Class Notebook administered through Glow. The intention is to create an online tool through which students can be supported to work on their own linguistic development as well as reflect on the pedagogy of teaching languages. Students can collate resources, record and evaluate their own progress as well as share and comment on each other’s ideas.
Currently, specialist undergraduate primary trainees are sharing lesson plans and resources with their colleagues who have chosen other specialisms. For postgraduate modern languages specialists the ‘My Languages Profile’ also offers the same forum for recording and evaluating their development as languages teachers, albeit with a different focus. It is hoped that both sets of students will continue to use the ‘My Languages Profile’ as they continue into their career in teaching. There are a number of sections in the Profile including a series of ‘I can’ statements within which students can add files, images, web links and videos as well as ideas and comments. In the case of the primary trainees, the Profile forms part of a ‘flipped classroom’ approach to teaching languages and is aimed at promoting student independence as well as facilitating more in-depth discussion of pedagogy. Next semester, data will be gathered on the students’ use of the Profile with a view to evaluating its effectiveness and adapting it for further use. We should also gain insight in to the ‘flipped’ approach and its appropriateness in this context, informing both modern linguists and initial teacher educators in general.
Examples of pages from the Profile can be found here: