Collegial evaluation of online English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses

Abstract

[EN] This paper reports on a joint pilot study project between two universities in Ecuador and Sweden to develop a practical working framework for the evaluation of each respective institution’s online/blended courses in English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The basis for the evaluation is the Conversational Framework (Laurilland, 2012), later developed in the form of a MOOC course in online and blended learning. This course is offered by the Future Learn social learning platform, which offers a large variety of online courses from a consortium of universities worldwide. The teaching and learning of ESP is characterised as the development of learner concepts and practice through interaction between the instructor and learner peers through collaboration and interaction. The learning process in ESP is envisaged using the Conversational Framework in terms of six basic learning types: acquisition, collaboration, discussion, inquiry/investigation, practice, and production. Our work reports on the process of assessing each other’s online courses in terms of the extent to which opportunities are provided for students to engage in these learning types. Results from this pilot study suggest that the Conversational Framework can provide a simple, robust, and transparent basis for the initial evaluation of online courses.