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May 2006 | |
April 2007: Last step: the booklet and CD Rom! This is the last project year. Is it all over? Not quite! We still haven't finished our job: we still have to finalise the case studies, write the handbook and put together the material for our CD-Rom. So the team got together on April 13/14th and discussed the outcomes of the Central event in Graz and the work that has to be done. Although examinations, social obligations, illness and bad weather conditions tried to prevent us from getting together, we managed to meet - even if one of us could only join us via Skype: while we enjoyed summer temperatures and wonderful sunshine in Graz, Ana Margarida was just recovering from a 25 degree temperature drop and snowstorm in Ohio, USA. By the end of the meeting the picture of our outcomes was much clearer: we evaluated our video recordings, sorted out website issues and decided on the structure and content of the final publications. Some of us will have to meet again over the next two months - in order to make interviews and video recordings, hopefully with fewer obstacles this time. What will happen next in the LCaS project? February 2007: Central event, Graz (Austria) The Central Event of the LCaS Project, the last in a series of three events, took place at the ECML in Graz from 15-17 February 2007. In total 27 participants - mainly teacher educators or teacher trainers for language teaching at secondary and university level - took part in the event. They came from 26 countries, 25 of which were ECML states and one participant came from Russia.
The participants had received extensive pre-reading material on the LCaS Project and on the use of case studies in language teaching, before the workshop. The material made the distinction between case studies and similar task- and problem-based approaches such as project work, global simulations and webquests. The participants were also invited to have a look at the LCaS case studies and to send their comments to the trainers using the form developed by the LCaS team.
During the workshop, the participants had three days of lively discussions on case studies and related approaches. After a general introduction to the LCaS Project the participants worked on:
. how to use language case studies in class,
. how to design a language case study, and
. how to teach this approach in teacher education and teacher training.
The LCaS team took some extra time to explain the methodological background to the case method and the differences between the case study approach and similar approaches, as this had appeared to be problematic at the previous workshops. The second day was totally dedicated to making case studies and the participants developed interesting scenarios, such as the problems related to the construction of a new power plant in Albania, cosmetic surgery, cyber-holism, anorexia bulimia in the fashion industry, and violence in school.
On the third day the group discussed aspects of evaluation and assessment, the co-operation between language teachers and subject-area specialists, and teacher education and teacher training. LCaS team member Ana Margarida Abrantes gave an introduction to the teacher training modules via the internet, from her current base at the Cape Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where she is spending a research year.
The workshop was carried out by Etain Casey (United Kingdom), Marija Lesnik (Slovenia) and Johann Fischer (Germany), with support from Ana Margarida Abrantes (Portugal).
The participants and the trainers enjoyed three fruitful days of work. The feedback from the participants was very positive and stimulating for the LCaS team. It appeared that the participants got a clear picture of what a case study was (and was not), what distinguished a case study from a project, a global simulation or a webquest, how to use case studies in class and how to make one's own case study. However, there were still some open questions regarding evaluating case study activities, i.e. how to evaluate oral group presentations and written group reports. The LCaS team now hopes that the participants will spread the Case Method and the use of the LCaS case studies.
The Central Event was accompanied by an enjoyable Austrian evening on the first day, organised by the Austrian Association in co-operation with students from the Department of German as a Foreign Language at Graz University. The evening was organised around Austrian geography, traditions and the typical food from the various regions. The following evening the German speakers from the LCaS team and the participants organised a "yodel" course based on a text by Loriot and a song by Hubert von Goisern - an activity which caused similar amusement among the participants.
What will happen next in the LCaS project?
October 2006: LCaS Preparatory meeting Workshop 2007 On October 6th and 7th, 2006, the LCaS team met in Graz in order to prepare the central event to take place in Graz on 15-17 February 2007. The team also discussed the results of the 2nd regional event, which took place in Dublin (Ireland) on 11-13 May 2006, and started working on the final LCaS publication.
May 2006: LCaS - 2nd regional event, Dublin (Ireland) The 14 Irish participants came from all parts
of the country, and the six international participants financed by the
ECML from Andorra, Austria, the Czech Republic, the "Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia", Slovenia and Switzerland. The workshop was
carried out by Etain Casey (UK) and Johann Fischer (Germany) with the
assistance of Marija Lenik (Slovenia). It was co-ordinated by Mary
Ruane (Ireland) under guidance of the ECML, represented by the Executive
Director, Adrian Butler, and the Irish Department of Education and Science,
represented by Paul Caffrey, Modern Languages Inspector. What will happen next in the LCaS project? See also LCaS Workshop report. August 2005: LCaS team meeting The LCaS team met in Graz on August 19 th and
20 th, 2005 in order to analyse the results of the first LCaS regional
event, which took place in Oulu (Finland) in March 2005, to plan the second
regional event, to take place in Dublin (Ireland) in 2006 and to plan
the next steps in the project activities. The team members were pleased to hear that the first
regional event was very successful. The evaluation forms showed that the
workshop had a real impact on the participants’ teaching as it will
in one way or another lead to changes in their curriculum due to the integration
of case studies in their teaching. The workshop participants gave useful
recommendations on how the case studies could be changed or improved.
These suggestions led to deep discussion among the LCaS team members.
The LCaS team also planned the second regional event,
which will be preceded by a pre-conference online tutoring session and
which will focus on how to train language teachers to use case studies
in language teaching. Finally, the group planned the structure of the teacher
training modules and handbook and started writing scenarios on teaching
situations where teachers introduced case studies into their teaching
or familiarised colleagues with the case study approach and where they
encountered various obstacles and problems. What will happen next in the LCaS project? The LCaS team will revise the existing case studies,
develop further case studies, continue the piloting process and develop
the teacher training modules. These will be piloted in the second regional
event to take place in Dublin in 2006.
A total of 19 participants attended this workshop. Participants
came mainly from Finnish universities, and the seven international participants
came from Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway.
The workshop was carried out by Etain Casey (UK) and Johann Fischer (Germany)
and co-ordinated by Lisa Lena Opas-Hänninen (Finland) under the guidance
of the ECML and the Finnish Board of Education. During the three-day workshop the structures of four new case studies were developed. The group will now set up a workshop website in Oulu and continue the development of case studies on this platform. On the suggestion of the Finnish Board of Education, this platform shall function as a resource centre where language teachers can upload their own case study and use material developed by colleagues in other countries or at other institutions. In the evaluations participants referred to shortage of time for using case studies in class or for making them. Their existing syllabi was a major obstacle for introducing case studies (or any other changes) in their teaching. Nevertheless, all participants promised to try the LCaS case studies, to pass the information about the project on to their colleagues or students or to adapt and develop the new case study ideas developed during this workshop and make a case study that suits their own needs (e.g. case study for teaching Danish). What will happen next in the LCaS project? The LCaS team will now develop teacher training
modules to accompany the case-studies and plan the second regional event
which will take place in 2006. This second event will focus on the teacher
training side of the project: Workshop participants will receive theoretical
information on the use of case studies, and completed LCaS case studies
for analysis before the workshop as preparatory reading; the workshop
itself will then concentrate on how to train language teachers to use
and possibly to make their own language case studies which will be of
great interest to teacher trainers. The group met in Graz on October the 8th to plan our first regional event, which will take place in Oulu, Finland. It will be a busy schedule for the participants, but one that will have an added cultural theme. There will be some surprises! We are currently finalising our case studies on the following topics: Piloting of these case studies will start soon at secondary schools and universities. We now have a framework for teacher training modules, which will accompany the cases. We will be presenting a fuller draft of these modules at the regional event. April 2004: team meeting reportThe LCaS team had its first project meeting in Graz
on April 23rd and 24th, 2004, and spent two days working intensively on
the next steps of the project.
LCaS is also:
Over the next few months the team will develop twelve case studies for the use in language teaching, pilot the case studies and develop training modules for the first regional workshop to take place in March 2004. The team will meet again in Graz on October 8th and
9th, 2004. |
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