Leaders:
Sean McMinn (Center for Language Education, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

Co-Leader:
Patrick Desloge, (Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong)

Source of funding:
The Hong Kong University Grants Committee (UGC)

Summary:
This project, in which HKUST is the lead partner, aims to create an environment, opportunities and resources for both teachers and learners of English to develop digital and English communication skills. By directly connecting an HKUST common core course, an HKU experiential learning programme, and online and physical digital literacies labs, we will create new opportunities that will enable students to: (1) learn digital communication skills and (2) become more critically aware of their English language development. We will do this by providing students with both theory and authentic experiences, by promoting reflective learning through digital media production and through developing best assessment practices for digital literacies.

A project such as this will (1) allow learners to prepare for their future, literate lives in a digitally mediated world; (2) match learners’ literacy practices in out-of-class environments; and (3) engage and empower learners to participate in language and literacy instruction. Current research suggests that by empowering students with the abilities to create digital media through authentic tasks, we will enable them to engage with the target language (English), create opportunities to reflect on language development for professional and academic communicative purposes.

This project is in progress and its work will continue until 2020.

Presentation:
Creating a Multimodal Online Digital Literacy Lab (MODLL) to enhance language teaching and learning. 38th ThailandTESOL International Conference 2018. January 25-27, 2018