PART A - Description of Need or Opportunity

The Problem
A major problem we have teaching English in Korea is vocabulary. The Korean education system emphasizes rote memorization of terms rather than focusing on how to use the words. In reading class, we address that by having the students create "Vocabulary Logs," where they write down 1) the word 2) the part of speech 3) the definition or a synonym and 4) an example sentence.

The example sentence is the most important part of this task as the sentence should be written in such a way that a reader should be able to understand the meaning of the word from the sentence. For example, "The room was xxxx," would not be a good sentence since you can't guess the meaning of the vocabulary word (represented here by xs). In contrast, "The room was xxxx; there was nothing in it," would be an excellent sentence. The reader can guess that the vocabulary word is "empty."

Since theses sentences are difficult to create, students are allowed to use dictionaries, the internet, etc., with the understanding that the sentence must convey the full meaning of the word. They are also aided in this task by the "understanding vocabulary from context" activities we complete in class. They are shown how to guess the meanings of words through techniques such as recognizing synonyms, antonyms, and guessing from context. Then they are encouraged to use these techniques when writing  examples sentences. However, even with this amount of support, creating example sentences is difficult, and it's not clear that it's not just another type of memorization.

The Solution
I plan to use the Glossary and Game Modules in Moodle to address this issue. The Glossary Module allows students to create their own dictionary. They can enter in a vocabulary word and define it using text, pictures, audio, and/or video. The Game Module can then be used to create crosswords and hangman games using the definitions from the Glossary. 

This solution addresses the problem as it helps to spread out the workload. Rather than having each student create their own individual log, I will have pairs of students create definitions for half or a third of the words. The students will then vote on which sentences they want to use to study and only those will be used in the games. This provides extra scaffolding for the students as they can receive feedback from their peers and instructor before the quiz. In addition, the students can view other students' work and learn from their examples. Finally, the students will be required to complete the crossword and hangman games showing that they are able to correctly recognize contexts in which to use the vocabulary.

This solution also addresses the UDL principle of allowing students to choose how to define the word (ex: picture, text, video, and/or audio) and which of these they would like to use to study. The definitions that are not chosen for the games will remain in the glossary for students to study with if they wish.

Scope of the Project
This scope of this project is one session - a two-month period. The tool will mainly be used outside of the classroom although classroom time will be used in the first week to introduce the technology and method of use. Unfortunately, as I am sabbatical this session, I will not be able to implement this until after CEP 812 has finished.

Research
Research supports the use of wikis in the classroom. Wang & Turner (2004) found the following:
"Wiki collaboration systems encourage student-centered learning environments ... The class wiki becomes a central repository of knowledge acquired and expressed by students in the class. As a result, the class develops a sense of community ownership of course content, and students become active contributors in each other's learning."

In addition, it has been shown that student-created dictionaries have a positive effect on vocabulary acquisition. Szedmina et al. (2005) showed that
"Often the user does not have a clear idea of the context in which the word can be used, and either goes for the 'trial-and-error' option, or relies on the use of that word in his native language ... sample sentences included in OpenDict will hopefully be of help to users of English in order to avoid using the the right expression in the wrong way."
They also not that "(The Wiki system) is self improving while it is used. When someone finds a better translation for a certain vocabulary item, they can alter the dictionary."

Finally,  Szedima & Robert (2004) note that the use of review games are useful.
"As a user of this multimedia application the student is given to opportunity to work (and enhance his knowledge) by himself. There are two options in the application to choose from, ‘practice’ and ‘test’. When going for the ‘practice’ option, the solutions of the exercises can be immediately checked. This enables the student to set his own learning pace. It is a well-known fact that one’s learning pace is individual, and unfortunately, it is inevitable that the teacher’s teaching pace will be too fast for certain students, and too slow for others. While practicing on his own, the student does not have to take into account anyone else’s (fellow students’) learning pace, but work in his own time."

In addition, similar projects have been done at other schools, demonstrating that other teachers have found this technique useful. For example, Robin Shtulman, in her blog "Beware of the Blog," writes a proposal for a school-wide vocabulary wiki. She highlights the benefits of this project including: vocabulary building, community building across grades, friendly competition, critical thinking, community building across roles, technology skills, archive, and opportunities for kids with different learning styles. Kristian Still also discusses the use of Moodle glossary and games to help students learn vocabulary in her blog, Kristian Still's blog. She says that she edits the students' entries rather than having them vote, which may be a more time-effective strategy although it fails to provide feedback on mistakes.

The tools I chose to use for this project are Moodle Glossary and Moodle Games. I chose these tools because our school already uses Moodle so it will be familiar and easy to access. In addition, I liked that students are able to use pictures and audio to define the words as well as text.

Indicators of Success
The most obvious indicator of a successful project will be higher scores on vocabulary quizzes. This will show that the students studied more and/or had a better understanding of the vocabulary words. In addition, at the end of the session students will be asked on their program evaluations whether they enjoyed using the Moodle to learn vocabulary or not. This will indicate any change in motivation based on the use of glossary and games.