realTIC-UOC
- Main investigator:
- Appel, Marie Christine
- Area:
- Arts and Humanities
- Area of specialization:
- Education and ICT
- Affiliation center:
- Faculties
- UNESCO codes:
- 5701, 570111, 570507, 58, 580107
- Collaborates with:
- e-Learn Center
- ODS:
- language learning
- communication
- gamification, game
- ICT Information and Communication Technologies
- educational psychology
- online collaborative learning
- teaching innovation
The group's researchers are interested in technology-mediated teaching of foreign languages. The two specific areas studied are i) the development of digital communication skills in online education and engagement (including motivation, emotion and socialization) and ii) the didactic processes in technology-mediated language teaching ̈in virtual learning environments, with a special focus on the virtual classrooms of the UOC's Centre for Modern Languages.
The group is interested in formal and informal environments, and both closed and open courses, such as MOOCs. The group also studies language teacher training, and, as part of the studies on engagement, takes part in a number of projects on didactics and gamification.
Virtual exchange and online teacher training
Within the framework of the European PENSA project, we conduct research into the development of the autonomy of learning and global citizenship in virtual exchanges. An additional line of research is the training of teachers in online and/or hybrid/HyFlex teaching for virtual exchange coordination and design. This line also encompasses the work of the doctoral candidate Dunia Martínez Fortuny supervised by Dr Christine Appel on the UOC's doctoral programme in e-Learning.
Gamification
As part of the GamiTIC R&D project, we have designed a study on the gamification of error and the links with student engagement. We are currently collecting data from the UOC Centre for Modern Languages' English courses, and we are planning to replicate the study in the French courses next semester. We aim to use the data to address gamification questions and the three dimensions of engagement: behavioural, cognitive and emotional.
We will also gather gamification data in in-person, blended and HyFlex courses with EOI (Spanish Official School of Languages) teachers, who have collaborated with the GamiTIC project since 2019. This project is carried out in conjunction with the UB's realTIC team led by Dr Joan-Tomàs Pujolà.
Engagement and emotions in online collaboration
We are exploring funding options for this line. We are already conducting research: Dr Jackie Robbins' PhD thesis (2020) and the thesis being prepared by PhD student Blanca Cristòfol Garcia under the supervision of Dr Appel on the UOC's doctoral programme in e-Learning.
We have also started working with Denmark's Aarhus University to research virtual exchange dialogue on conflict during the pandemic lockdown. We are participating in a proposal for an ITN project within the Horizon programme.