5.3.6 Online Learning Environments

This section focuses on beliefs which highlight the limitations and challenges related to use of OLEs for the teaching and learning of FSFL. Some of the participants in this study quickly dismissed the value of OLEs in the teaching of French. Others simply displayed little enthusiasm for their value. Teachers described the Internet as "merely a resource for research", "a replacement for encyclopedias", "a place to find information", "a free-for all", "just another teaching tool" which "needs to be more easily accessible and user friendly" or simply, "a resource to be used with other resources in the classroom and school." One teacher claimed that "other resources such as books are more helpful" and another that "It needs to be interactive". The portrayal of the Internet as nothing more than a "glorified encyclopedia" to support "web research" highlights the perception of the Internet as little more than books in a digital format: "Too much of what is on the Internet is simply the text in a more readily available format. Personally I can't read too much on my computer screen without getting lost or giving up. A book on the Internet is great but I'd much rather curl up in a big chair with the book in my hand and a soft light". If indeed the Internet represents nothing more than text in another format, what might be its value in the teaching and learning of French? From this teacher’s perspective, its value is overrated:

How many of the FL pages on the net are actually valuable new material that can best be used by s's on line and how much of the FL material is basically books being transferred onto another medium? This seems to be happening a lot, especially on the EFL pages. If this is the case, then aren't we wasting our time on the emperor's new clothes?

In the following excerpt, a teacher compares books and earlier technologies such as cassettes with new technologies. Ease of access and of use are described as the advantages of a technology that offers information identical to that available in books but in a modified format:

Les équipements modernes n'apportent, dans leurs contenus, pas beaucoup plus que les livres et les cassettes de naguère. La forme et l'accès sont plus aisés. Au lieu de déplacer les 21 tomes de votre encyclopédie, vous manipulez un cédérom. A la place d'un manuel d'enseignement, de cassettes audio et de cassettes vidéo, vous trouvez le tout sur un autre cédérom qui vous permet, avantage suprême des liens hypertextes, de passer d'un texte à une vidéo ou à un enregistrement. Au lieu du prof, c'est la machine qui souligne les mots que vous avez mal écrits et qui vous ouvre directement la page du dictionnaire. Et plus loin que votre pauvre bibliothèque familiale, vous passez, avec Internet, les portes d'une immense bibliothèque mondiale. Vous avez tout, maintenant, et ici. Là est le progrès. Les informations sont identiques, la diffusion est modifiée.

Whereas the previous teacher believes that online information is identical to that which is available offline, another questioned the accuracy of this information: "I’m leery of the accuracy of the information on the Internet". Others describe the information as "too advanced for students" or "not always pertinent to Junior High level". Teachers also hold beliefs in relation to the quantity of information found online. One teacher described how "At times you can experience a serious ‘information overload" and another complained that there is "too much info to access". The excess of information led one teacher to conclude: "It is quite easy to become overwhelmed with the available information". The type of information is also an issue. As one individual noted: "there is a lot of garbage on the net". The quality of the information led the following teacher to affirm her belief in the need for the Internet to change: "...mais c'est l'Internet aussi qui doit changer, car il y a encore peu d'informations fiables et encore moins de sérieux dans la divulgation du savoir (je pense notamment à toutes les erreurs / horreurs en matière d'orthographe, pour le français)". For some teachers of French specifically, there is the issue of the language of online information. Teachers observed that "much of the information is in English" that, "there are fewer French sites than English ones" and that "sites must be translated".

In terms of the issue of online information, others may focus less on its characteristics and more on what students and teachers do with this information: "The Internet provides information but it does not teach a student how to use this information". One teacher described how the challenge she faces lies in teaching students to critically evaluate the information they find online: "...j’ai trouve que la principale difficulte etait de devoir prendre le temps d’eduquer les eleves a ne pas prendre pour argent comptant tout ce qu’ils trouvent sur l’Internet et a questionner leurs sources, autrement dit, a faire un travail de journaliste ou d’historian". Another teacher explains how providing students with information is only part of a much larger process:

Information can be shared on the Web, but knowledge can't. One must "make" one's own knowledge by processing the information presented, in other words, by making sense of it oneself. This is why giving students information by presenting them the answer is not giving them knowledge. Students must be coached to develop some higher-order thinking skills to process information and to create knowledge of their own.

Another characteristic of the information which may present problems for teachers is the fact that it is constantly increasing: "The capcity (sic) of computers doubles every 18 months. If you think about it 2x2 is only 4 isn't too bad but when you start doubling 1024 it becomes rather unyielding. With the amount of Information available, increasing daily, we as teachers are finding ourselves overwhelmed". Not only is it increasing, but it is also changing:

Like many have said the hard part is staying on top of the technology. Last week I had found about 6 addresses for my students to find information about castles. The next day when we went into the Lab, one of the addresses had changed. This is a medium that will be ever changing. You cannot write a lesson plan and use it for the next 10 years. You'll be lucky if the information stays the same or in the same spot for over a month.

Accessing the information efficiently is important to teachers. One teacher noted: "I dislike the time one often wastes in trying to find certain information" and another "accessing small tidbits of information may take hours". The skill required to access information is another issue of importance for some teachers who may become overwhelmed when trying to conduct searches:

I am a reluctant participant of Internet use. From my personal experiences, I found it rather like being able to browse thousands of magazines at once. It can be overwhelming although interesting. I have sought found some pertinent information for my courses in the past but I always fell (sic) that it has more to do with luck than with any particular skill or expertise.

Efforts to access information effectively can be hindered by problems with navigation and may explain why certain teachers tend to use the Internet less than they might otherwise: "If I could use the internet without having to search forever to find sites i (sic) think i (sic) would use it more." This teacher attributes her difficulty with searching to her own lack of patience: "I find it difficult to find what I am searching for but that is because I don’t always have the patience to sit and refine my search. I expect instant answers." Refining one’s search may be necessary to avoid difficulties such as this teacher has experienced: "I find it extremely difficult to narrow down the choices supplied by the browser ex 50,000 articles concerning the topic being searched." Sorting through the information and deciding what is useful or pertinent can also present challenges: "Often you have to wade through so much junk before you hit a relevant item. It’s so easy to become distracted bu (sic) other items of interest you may come across".

Problems with navigation led one teacher to note that "the internet is very frustrating". Others noted: "sometimes I get frustrated if i (sic) don’t find what I need" or "I get bogged down and find it frustrating to find nothing after many tries". Links from one site to another may prove disorienting and thus frustrating for some: "I have found that many sites (in any type of research) send the searcher on useless tangents and thus much time is often wasted, and it may become very frustrating". The amount of information supplied as a result of some searches presents challenges to this teacher: "I sometimes find the amount of sites you hit after a search can be very overwhelming and time consuming". A similar challenge was expressed in this comment: "Sometimes it is very difficult to find a narrow enough route to the information needed".

Another aspect of the information which presents challenges is its reading level and the "difficulty of the language". One teacher commented that "The French is often above my students’ heads." and another that "sites tend to be so difficult for weaker French students." The following teacher questions the linguistic and pedagogical value of online material in French: "Since the Internet would require reading and some type of response to the reading, I would think that French Internet sites would not be suitable for my students’ curricular needs". The reading level in particular and the content level in general may present concerns for some teachers especially in cases where children are young: "I am weary about finding sites that would be useful for primary core French". Use of graphics in sites may provide a solution to problems with reading levels: "It would seem most beneficial if sites used graphics rather than text since the reading level of primary students is quite low in French and their ability to decode unknown/known words has not yet been developed".

Problems encountered by teachers in their use of OLEs may lead some to conclude that they are designed moreso for a particular type of student: "My perception of the Internet is that it’s great for children who already know how to read well, classify information, and who have a purpose for use." In the excerpt that follows, a primary teacher describes her beliefs about the value of the Internet for young school children and explains how she adapts sites to suit her students’ needs:

I am a third grade French immersion teacher. I have found that very few French sites are kid friendly, so I always make up some kind of activity sheet to accompany the web site. For example, there's a Canadian site that includes an interactive game called "Les Mineraux et les Metaux: Un tresor a couvrir." By clicking on everyday objects around the house, you get a whole list of the minerals and metals that are found in them. My kids can't read all those names of minerals - plus they don't know what they are - so I made it into a simple treasure hunt. First they have to predict where they would find gold and silver in their house, then they go to the web site and click on the pictures. Within the list of metals, they only have to recognize "or" and "argent." They fill out the activity sheet, we compare predictions and results and in the meantime we have reviewed lots of everyday vocabulary. There are hundreds of kid sites in English, but even if you're lucky to find them in French, they are written for francophone kids and the reading level is usually still quite difficult. So it does take me a lot more time to find appropriate sites and to write up an accompanying activity sheet.

The emphasis on reading is an issue from the perspective of the level of difficulty it may present for some students. However, it is also an issue for this teacher who argues that the Internet’s value for learning does not go beyond its ability to provide reading selections:

But dealing specifically with the Internet. Are we just using it as another source of realia? An athentic (sic) reading selection that the student is to glean information from? I believe there is a greater potential for interaction, however I have not been able to find an educational site that goes beyond the grammar exercises. The computer people don't know how to make something educational and the education people don't know how to computerize (Is that a word?) the education.

The emphasis on reading presents a further concern as explained by this teacher of Core French: "The Internet would have no real value to the teaching of core French since it would not facilitate learning in speaking and listening". The Internet’s capacity to develop oral skills, particularly that of listening, is described by the following teacher as being completely lacking on the Internet: "A major problem - at least for my pupils - is listening comprehension. This important aspect is unfortuantely (sic) completely neglected in the net - at least we have no sound cards in our machines, and I have no idea whether French spoken language is available at all". The belief that the Internet primarily favours text-based learning is an important one given the need to develop listening and speaking skills in language learning: "Oral skills take a back seat to reading. Maybe some day, speaking and listening will be as integral to web sites as text and graphics. When that day comes, the Internet will truly be the language learner's dream".

The pedagogical value of OLEs for learning second languages may be questioned, not only because of the emphasis on reading, but because of perceived limitations of the technology itself:

Mais les équipements ne peuvent parvenir à comprendre l'interlangue d'un apprenant, à comprendre ses erreurs, à le suivre dans son cheminement cognitif, à lui proposer une réponse adaptée à son apprentissage individuel. Les équipements n'apportent pas beaucoup non plus aux principes fondateurs d'approches telles que la suggestopédie, la "total physical response", ou "l’approche naturelle". J'aurais donc tendance à considérer les machines d'aujourd'hui au même titre que les machines d'hier.

The belief described in the following excerpt also compares today’s machines with those of the past. In this case, the emphasis is on the technology’s didactic control:

Ce qui me parait le plus gênant est que l'on retrouve parfois dans la machine une attitude relevant de l'enseignement traditionnel: la machine détentrice d'un certain savoir comme le maitre autrefois, elle ne propose qu'une vérité que l'apprenant ne peut contester, elle présente souvent une seule approche cognitive de la langue, mais surtout, elle ne permet pas à l'apprenant de s'exprimer. Le problème n'est pas nouveau: l'autodidaxie pratiquée avec un livre et des bandes magnétiques rencontrait il y 30 ans les mêmes difficultés. Les problèmes des machines d'aujourd'hui sont les mêmes que ceux des machines d'hier. Les équipements d'aujourd'hui ont beaucoup de limites semblables aux équipements d'hier.

In the previous excerpt, the teacher described the technology’s tendency to dominate the learning process. In this excerpt, another individual argues that it is the teacher who decides on the approach taken by the machine and it is the teacher who can easily use the technology to simply digitize existing classroom practices:

...-la traduction: pas de problème, allez lire les infos dans www.unjournal.fr et traduisez le premier article pour demain; - de la grammaire: pas de problème, allez chercher le texte dans www.texteauprésent.fr et écrivez-le au passé; ou allez chercher la recette du "gratin de courgettes" dans www.lesbonnesrecettesdelamèreMarie.fr et donnez-moi les infinitifs de tous les verbes; - du vocabulaire: pas de problème, allez dans www.lanature.fr et faites-moi la liste de tous les animaux et de toutes les plantes présents sur le site. - de la compréhension orale (est-ce que cela entre dans le "traditionnel" ?): allez écouter les infos sur www.laradio.fr et complétez la transcription suivante... (toutes ces URL sont fictives, bien sûr,... enfin, je pense !) En un mot, on remplace le document papier ou la cassette par un document informatique.

Added to these beliefs about the limitations of the new online technologies, are others which question the value of OLEs for learning. As one teacher explained: "Yes, it does look great to have all these means as helpers in the classroom - but do they really bring that much gain to our teaching output?? As you can see I am rather sceptical, I am afraid that the net is an underestimated time eater and an overrated motivator". Another commented that she disliked "the commercial aspect-the gimmicks for selling and all of the advertising" while another complained that "The Internet does not develop interaction between students. Students in front of a computer screen look like automatons".

In a previous section of this chapter, one teacher described her positive teaching experience with this technology. In the excerpt that follows, another teacher provides a different perspective on chat rooms and their use in the second-language classroom: "I did go to a few Quebec Chat rooms with my gr 12's and they had a ball! They spoke to actual Quebeckers and were very concientious (sic) about how they typed words, and phrased their dialogue. However, the content was superficial and it really served little purpose except to give me extra grey hair!" Another online tool which can be used for language learning is the dictionary. The following teacher’s experience and her beliefs about these dictionaries suggest that there is little value in the tool for language learning: "I have tried any number of on-line dictionaries. Even fairly common words (e.g., blackbird, careful, fireplace) are often not incuded (sic) in the data base, and forget anything out of the ordinary. As for babelfish and others like it, it is a literal translation tool that serves only to amuse, not to educate".