Isabel Borrás
Interests: Instructional design theory and application, teacher training, electronic hypertext writing, and the social and academic impact of emerging learning technologies.
The projects Comparte seeks to further developmental research and its application to technology-supported instruction from K-12 to post-secondary education, and, in the last resort, to improve the level, quality, and accessibility of education within the context of the new information society. The project will utilize the conceptual framework offered by the domains of instructional technology (design, development, evaluation, management and diffusion) for researching, theorizing, and practicing instruction from a plural perspective (Seels & Richey, 1994). Within such framework, it will first design and develop three interrelated products including an articulated research procedural model, a www-based scalable and multi-leveled research resources database, and a www-based interoperable, content-diversified, and culturally sensitive graduate course on educational research. The project will then evaluate those products formatively and summatively, and, finally, it will report on the processes, tools, and outcomes of those evaluations.
A Multimedia Environment for Instructional Research. (CD-ROM) (1997-1998).
A modular multimedia system that may serve as a model for helping educational practitioners to carry out evaluations of computer-assisted instruction in local contexts. It includes two sets of experimental multimedia programs featuring automated systems to track the performance and process outcomes associated with their use. The system equally includes three management tools, "Create Account," "Log-On," and "Data Browser," which respectively facilitate the researcher's assignment of subjects to the experimental treatments, the subjects' access to the assigned experimental program, and the researcher's browsing of the experimental data. The package was used for implementing two master's research projects in foreign language instruction. Application of the system demonstrated its effectiveness and impact on the master's students' interest in instructional research types and methods.
Four Studies in IT Design and Second/Bilingual Language Acquisition
Title: "Effects of collaborative courseware design on the quality of task-elicited talk of second semester college students of Spanish."
Description: An investigation of the effects of collaborative learning strategies applied to courseware design on the complexity and quantity of talk generated by task-based communicative activities performed by college students of Spanish.
Student: Kathleen Sheahan (sheahan@rohan.sdsu.edu)
Date begun: Fall 97
Title: "Effects of motivational courseware design on the writing processes and outcomes of college students of intermediate Spanish."
Description: An application of ARCS' motivational learning model to the investigation of the effects of courseware extrinsic relevance-enhancing strategies and task intrinsic relevance on the writing gains of college students of Spanish.
Student: Maria Coronel (mcoronel@mail.sdsu.edu)
Date begun: Fall 97
Title: "Effects of three types of collaboration using computer-networked writing tools on the writing performance of college students of intermediate Spanish."
Description: A longitudinal study of the effects of three types of pair work grouping, based on the three-level use of the features of an electronic writing tool, on the writing performance and learning styles of college students of Spanish.
Student: Anne Cappiello (annecapp@pacbell.net)
Date begun: Summer 98
Title: "Development and evaluation of a literature-based, technology-enhanced Spanish course for 9th grade bilingual students."
Description: An investigation of the effectiveness of a Spanish course, which uses web and electronically delivered non-traditional content materials and comprehensive evaluation procedures, to help underprivileged 9th grade bilingual students to achieve language proficiency standards and increase their self-esteem.
Student: Consuelo Manríquez (cmanriqu@mail.sandi.net)
Date begun: Winter 98
The Foreign Language (FL) Teacher Training Project
Project Summary
Learning and Applying Pedagogical and Technological Knowledge: Research into the Application of Multimedia Learning Tools for FL Teacher Training.
Isabel Borrás, Project Director & Principal Investigator
- National Language Resource Center
- San Diego State University
- US Department of Education
- Center for International Education
Duration: January 1997- December1999
- The Foreign Language (FL) Teacher Training Project focuses on the development of theory and research-based multimedia tools for training instructors in foreign/second languages. More exactly, the project investigates the effectiveness of a collaboratively designed CD-ROM which addresses training in four ways: 1) through the information found in a searchable FL annotated bibliography database and in two collections of FL syllabi and sample activities; 2) through the video excerpts of a module which portrays elements of FL classroom teaching such as activities, teaching resources, lesson structures, students grouping, and teacher-student interactions; 3) through the information and the samples of a module on classroom communicative testing; and 4) through the components of a module on teaching materials which includes information about textbooks and realia, four experimental courseware, and selected software samples created with FL-oriented authoring tools.
- It is expected that the results of the project might provide guidance for the design of hybrid materials, CD-based and WWW-linked, which may help pre- and in-service FL intructors to cost-effectively implement foreign/second language curricula.
| Copyright ©1997-1999, I. Borrás | Updated: February 3, 2000, by Isabel Borrás |
