Abstract:

Nowadays we frequently encounter a need for a paradigm shift in education, a call for student empowerment and necessity to pursue 21st century learning with all it encompasses. We can also read in the literature that blended learning becomes the norm not the exception. Another frequent paradigm in the age of mobile learning, in other words learning on the go, is the concept of formal informal and non-formal learning and the trend towards curating content and creating our own personal learning environments also known as PLEs. Autonomous or self-directed learning enhancement seems to offer one of the possible answers to a majority of the above mentioned needs. A designed and piloted learning and teaching model using ePortfolio in language learning with the pedagogical principles applicable across fields will be presented. The learning model is based on self-directed learning and consists of several learning phases accompanied with suitable assessment formats providing an outcome in a form of evidence based portfolio. Research methodology applied on the teaching model creation was design based research during which several steps were taken after the course was piloted. There were 3 language teachers and 48 students of all three levels of the university study – bachelor, master, and doctoral study programmes, participating in the first pilot study of the ePortfolio implementation with accent on self-assessment and learner autonomy enhancement. The pilot study was designed for a period of one term and its first run was in progress from the end of February to the end of June 2016 covering 5 months including the teaching and examination period at the University of Pardubice. The pilot study was then repeated three times and the learning model was adjusted after each stage evaluation. Complementary student survey was conducted after every term in order to analyse strong and weak points of the model and identify the most difficult and beneficial phases resulting in goal-setting phase being repeatedly identified as the most challenging learning phase. Based on both the debriefing session of the involved teachers and on the results obtained from the student survey several measures were taken during the course of the design based research. Simultaneously an analysis of self-directed learning outcomes in a form of ePortfolio learning evidence collection was performed providing researches with a plethora of tools and learning outcomes autonomously selected by the students. The study will be accompanied with the SWOT analysis dealing with emerging difficulties, challenges, and opportunities that the involved teachers and students need to face. Additionally, examples of portfolios and formal, informal and non-formal learning instances are going to be presented and analysed as a part of the qualitative research outcomes.

Keywords:

EPortfolio, language learning, evidence, goal-setting, non-formal learning, autonomous learning, blended learning.