Educational Technology Unit Case Studies
Student PowerPoint Presentations
Dr. Nigel Harkness, French Studies, School of Languages, Literature and Arts
THE MODULE
The overall aims of the module, French Studies B, level 1, is to develop the students’
French language skills, their knowledge of France as a country and the French as a
nation. The objective is to enhance the students’ language development – the ability
to express and communicate ideas in French.
There are approximately 135 students with A-level and Leaving Certificate with a
background in French attending the module. They have a diverse range of ICT skills,
but the standard of skills is improving from year to year. The majority have the
confidence to work with ICT and the group work involved in this element of the
module encourages them to help each other.
The teaching methods adopted for this module include discussion type seminars and
group work. The students use a book which explores contemporary issues in
France, supplemented by journal articles. Work consists of writing short pieces on
these issues and doing translations.
THE ICT ELEMENT
The ICT element forms part of the Français Pratique 1 element of the module, which
takes up one hour per week and for which the Stage 1 French class is broken into
groups of between 15 and 20 students. These seminar groups are further subdivided
for the ICT project into groups of about 3-4 students. The student groups are given
up-to-date topics to research using the Internet. Tutors spend approximately 1 hour
talking through the topics for projects with the students. Students then prepare and
present this topic to the class by way of a PowerPoint presentation. This forms part of
the assessment. The student presentation is about 15 to 20 minutes. The aim is to
develop their presentation and information literacy skills. For some of the topics, the
only source of information is the Internet: newspapers, government sites, etc. Some
students already have good information literacy skills from A-Level but they need to
work on evaluating Internet resources, particularly with regard to ensuring information
on the web is up-to-date and authentic. A worksheet has been prepared to address
this and will be used with incoming first years.
The group presentation integrates two sets of ICT skills, the use of PowerPoint and
effective use of the Internet, and develops other key skills, presentation and group
work skills. Internet searching expands their knowledge of topical issues in France.
They also learn from each other’s presentations.
INCENTIVES TO INNOVATE
This Level 1 module was restructured three years ago. There were three factors to
introducing change:
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Educational Technology Unit Case Studies
1)
2)
3)
The department was looking for innovative assessment methods;
There was a growing awareness of the need to embed ICT skills in the
curriculum and to develop the use of ICT for French. Students were already
required to use word processing skills but it was felt that more could be done;
French Studies wanted to make more use of the Language Centre facilities and
also to collaborate on a joint project with the Centre.
SUPPORT
There was an impact on staff time in the six months preceding the introduction of the
ICT element. This focused largely on sorting out student training and putting
together the documentation that would be needed. Discussions on how to assess the
module have also taken up some time, as this was a new type of assessment and it
has undergone refinement over the subsequent years. There was also the need to
help tutors set up equipment in rooms for classes in the French Studies building.
However, the practice now is to book rooms in the Peter Froggatt Centre or the
Language Centre where facilities are available.
French Studies received support from the Training and Assessment Unit and the
Educational Technology Unit within Information Services. The lecturer also had
considerable support from the Language Centre in training students in the use of
PowerPoint. Students were also encouraged to attend the PowerPoint training
provided by the Information Services Training and Assessment Unit, and were also
directed to computer-based learning packages. There has been a fall off in numbers
attending training sessions however. However, it is perceived that there is a growing
level of confidence among students in learning and using PowerPoint.
EVALUATION
This module was popular with first year students during the first year of delivery.
Working on a contemporary topic in France was relevant to them and they
appreciated learning a new, transferable, ICT skill, which, in turn, boosted their
confidence. The experience of undertaking PowerPoint at Level 1 is having a positive
impact on what they do at level 2. They did feel, however, that it involved a lot of
work for something that did not seem to count for much in the module. French
Studies did not give it sufficient weight in that first year.
The weighting given to this ICT element has been increased slightly during the
second year of delivery of the module. Overall satisfaction among students remained
high. They like doing something that is a little different for assessment. They are
applying their French in a slightly different way.
There was some unease at the beginning among staff as no one was really using
PowerPoint as part of their teaching. One or two staff raised their own ICT
awareness and began to use PowerPoint presentations. The fact that students are
researching topics themselves is seen as a positive move.
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Educational Technology Unit Case Studies
EFFECTS OF ICT EMBEDDING
The following lists summarise how the PowerPoint presentation has helped particular
aspects of the module.
Effects on the teaching processes
 The balance of control is shared between tutor and students. The
presentation is student led. There has been a slight change in the delivery of
the teaching in that there are two weeks of live student presentations taking
over class time, but the students are still speaking and hearing French and
learning about France. As further added value, presentations can be used in
follow-up sessions to clarify grammatical points, etc.
 Students are given a formative assessment in the first semester, which forms
part of a class assessment.
Effects on the learning process
 The high quality of presentations shows that there is good student motivation.
 There is some evidence that dialogue with peers or tutor is happening but it
varies with the group. In carrying out research for their topic, students are
contacting other French people they know and getting in touch with
organisations in France.
 Collaborative group work is a new activity to students at Level 1.
 The introduction of the ICT element has increased the student load.
Effects on learning outcomes
 The module addresses research skills.
 Within the context of Level 1 there is evidence of some critical, analytic skills.
 Students are enhancing their ICT skills which will be of benefit to them in
other areas of their studies. They are learning to work within a group, to learn
collaboratively and to manage their own time. Their communication skills,
both oral and written, are enhanced also.
Effects on module management
 There was initial impact on staff time in organising training for students and in
the preparation of documentation for training. Discussions on how to assess
the module have taken up some time, as this was a new type of assessment.
LOOKING FORWARD
For now the module is fairly well established and will run in its current form for next
year. It sits very nicely within the module unit. It is probably not now as innovative as
it was. The Department is keen to further the University strategy on skills to embed
ICT in learning and teaching. Further development of the module would be the use of
a web page as a repository and a delivery method. The tutor would like to introduce
the topic of evaluating Internet resources with the students and to provide more
guidance on making presentations.
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