Wicked Problem Project: Final

Script: A Wicked Problem is one which is hard to solve and often requires a creative and innovative solution. The wicked problem I chose to address in my English as a Foreign Language classes was vocabulary acquisition. If you arrive at my classes five minutes before class starts, you’ll most likely see students pouring over lists of vocabulary with Korean translations. While memorization has its benefits, the students rarely learn the exact correct meaning of the words.

To solve this problem, I developed a wicked solution using Moodle’s glossary and games modules. Rather than students using their dictionaries to define words, students would create their own definitions using pictures, audio files, and example sentences – that is sentences from which the meaning can be inferred without a dictionary. Each pair of students would be assigned three or four words and would have to define the words using text, images, and/or audio files. The text files could then be used to create crossword and hangman games from which the other students could study. The audio and image files could be used to create Moodle flashcards which keep track of which words students know and keep drilling them on the ones they don’t. In this way, technology could be used to supplement the student’s aquistion.

As with every technology- integrated lesson, this lesson was informed by my knowledge of the interactions between pedagogy, content, and technology.  We call this the TPACK model. In this slide, you can see the TPACK interactions that informed my teaching decisions. Going clockwise from the top – the technology I chose to use was Moodle. I chose Moodle because the students are familiar with it and use if for their other classes too. In addition, all materials that are uploaded to Moodle can be viewed by the other students in the class. The content knowledge is vocabulary. Rather than having the students only know the (often incorrect) Korean translation for the vocabulary words, I want them to situate the vocabulary words within their already existent vocabulary. I want them to connect the word with its synonyms, antonyms, definition, pictures and example sentences. Finally, the pedagogy used is student-student teaching. Rather than the students using a dictionary or turning to me to help, I’d prefer that they create their own dictionaries so that they can learn from one another.

The project was successful in many ways. The students did a great job of finding pictures and building sentences. I think the knowledge that other students would be seeing their work made the students spend more time building their definitions and example sentences than they might otherwise have done. In addition, the flashcards turned out to be a big hit. The students especially liked using the image files to study. The audio files were less interesting. However, almost all of the students used the crosswords to study and most continued taking them until they got perfect scores.

In addition, I was able to see misunderstandings and correct them before they occurred. For example, one of the vocabulary words was “glamorous.” In Konglish, that is Korean-English, glamorous means voluptuous, so the pictures they’d chosen were of very large-chested women. This was a great opportunity for me to see a misunderstanding and clarify immediately. Instead, I showed them pictures of Victoria Beckham and other glamorous women and discussed why they were a better embodiment of this word.

The final benefit of this project was having the beginnings of a dictionary already in place for my next class. Instead of having the next class start from scratch, I can have them build off the glossary entries that already exist, for example adding pictures or audio to text definitions and vice versa. In addition, they can see good example sentences and learn from the experiences of the classes before them.

The advice I would give to other teachers who want to undertake a similar project would be to be bold! Don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment. Although Moodle can be intimidating to use at first, it is an extremely powerful tool and one that is worth using. The other piece of advice I would give is to pay attention to the details. Make sure everything works perfectly and try every step out before you do it. I had seen that the glossary used text, picture and audio files and that the crossword and hangman games pulled from the glossary so I thought that the games would be able to use picture and audio files, but unfortunately they only use text. Luckily, the flash card module uses audio and pictures, so I was able to use those for studying instead. In short, just do it, but do it well!

If you are interested in learning more about this project, there are several papers I would suggest reading. Wang & Turner discuss the use of wikis in the classroom in their 2004 paper. Szedmina et al. address how student-created dictionaries increase vocabulary acquisition. Finally, Szedimina & Robert note that review games have a positive effect on motivation and understanding of vocabulary words.

To see other similar projects, I would strongly recommend visiting Robin Shtulman’s blog “Beware of the Blog,” where she advocates for the use of a school-wide student-created dictionary. For Moodle newbies, Kristian Still, writer of “Kristian Still’s Blog,” discusses the use of Moodle’s glossary and games modules for vocabulary acquisition. Or, as always, feel free to contact me! I love Moodle and want to share that love with other teachers.

Thank you for listening to my project. I wish you luck in solving your own wicked problems!