A Study on the Blended Teaching Mode of English in Vocational Colleges Based on SPOC Platform

School of Culture and Tourism,Wuxi Vocational College of Science and Technology,Wuxi,China Email:674778639@qq.com

[Abstract]The information age has given birth to the reform of English teaching mode in vocational colleges.Based on the constructivist theory and blended learning theory,this study integrates the emerging teaching resources presentation mode“SPOC mode”and“blended teaching”,and uses information technology to provide intelligent,personalized and diversified teaching methods and means for classroom teaching,integrates the tutorial system teaching concept,innovates the traditional classroom teaching of Vocational English,and constructs SPOC of Vocational English.

[Keywords]SPOC;vocational English;blended teaching mode

Introduction

With the continuous development of information technology,there are many network information technology platforms,such as MOOC and SPOC.SPOC is a small private online course which is used to describe MOOC courses used by a small number of people.However,the essence of SPOC is to open MOOC courses for students at school,and increase teachers’online tutoring and classroom teaching,so as to improve students’learning effect and really make college students on campus benefit from high-quality MOOC resources.Based on SPOC platform,vocational English teaching mode has also changed accordingly.This paper constructs a SPOC based blended teaching mode of Vocational English,which has the advantages of blended learning and SPOC.The core idea is to improve students’interest in learning English and improve their comprehensive English learning ability through private,customized and high-quality tutor system teaching and the combination of online and offline teaching methods,so as to further promote students’deep learning,deep understanding and ability improvement.

Research review

Research status abroad

The research on SPOC in foreign countries mainly includes the following three aspects:the research on the concept and advantages of SPOC;the research on teaching mode and the classic cases of teaching practice.This concept was first proposed by Armando fox,director of the MOOC laboratory at the University of California,Berkeley.After that,Harvard opened its first SPOC course called“copyright.”Professor Armando Fox believes that the primary goal of SPOC is to increase the participation of teachers and students(Fox,2013,pp.38-40).Professor Robert Lew believes that SPOC makes online learning go beyond the duplication of current courses and creates the innovation of teaching process and teaching mode.In terms of teaching mode research,most of them construct the teaching mode suitable for the courses based on the blended learning mode,which can be roughly divided into two categories:one is to use SPOC as a supplementary copy of classroom teaching proposed by Marco Piccion,and the other is the mode of SPOC online learning before class and experimental practice in class formed by Bastien and others by means of flipped classroom.

Domestic research status

The concept of SPOC came into being in 2013,and the domestic research on SPOC started in 2014.Since then,scholars have been actively studying and discussing it.Sang Xinmin(Sang,2014,pp.12-15)believes that SPOC teaching mode is a special blended learning mode developed in the university classroom application process after the wave of MOOC.Kang Yeqin(Kang,2014,pp.85-93)believes that SPOC can not only promote the brand effect of universities,but also improve the teaching quality in colleges.It is a low-cost sustainable development mode of MOOC.He Bin and Cao Yang(2015,pp.22-29)believe that SPOC is the innovation of MOOC teaching process.In terms of foreign language teaching:Wang Na et al.(2016,pp.85-90)believe that SPOC flipped classroom is an effective learning mode.It provides resources,environment,time and space for the occurrence of effective English learning by integrating online courses,mobile learning,social networking and English teaching classroom.

Definition and theoretical basis of related concepts

Definitions

This study defines SPOC,blended teaching mode and SPOC’s blended teaching mode.By defining the concepts related to SPOC,the purpose of defining the nature of curriculum teaching mode in this study is achieved.

SPOC

SPOC(small private online course)is a small-scale restricted online course.As a typical curriculum paradigm in the“post MOOC era”,it integrates MOOC education ideas,and also integrates micro class,minority teaching and intensive education,forming a unique personalized and easy to implement blended teaching education mode of SPOC.

Blended teaching mode

The blended teaching mode is a mixture of any teaching elements which are conducive to enhancing teaching effect and optimizing teaching methods,including three levels:The first level is face to face classroom teaching and online learning or E-learning.The second level is the mixture of teaching and learning,which aims to realize the integration of teachers' teaching and students' learning.The third level is the mixture of learning and learning,learning refers to knowledge learning,and learning refers to the transfer and application of knowledge.

Blended teaching mode of SPOC

The blended teaching mode of SPOC is based on SPOC platform,taking blended teaching as the concept,using SPOC’s unique education mode to mix learning and learning,which is deep learning.With SPOC teaching resources,it is a kind of“online”+“offline”teaching which combines the advantages of online teaching and traditional teaching.Through the combination of the two kinds of teaching organization forms,the learners’learning is guided from shallow to deep learning.It not only requires students to complete the construction of knowledge,but also to be able to transfer the application.

Theoretical basis

Constructivist theory

Constructivist learning theory is one of the most famous learning theories.In the process of learning,learners’personal learning experience and autonomous participation have a positive impact on the learning effect of the course,because effective learning is based on the learners’experience background and acquired through the learners’active knowledge construction.Constructivism advocates teachers to organize exploratory teaching activities.Through the construction of specific learning and communication situations,it can provide necessary enlightening help for learners and promote learners to actively carry out meaning construction.Therefore,“situation”,“cooperation”,“communication”and“meaning construction”are the four key points that teachers need to pay attention to in the process of designing learning environment(Qu,2008,pp.70-78).Constructivist learning theory and its related situational cognitive learning theory both emphasize the importance of situational design,and propose that learning should be based on the situation.The design of learning situation should be conducive to learners'mutual cooperation,promote them to share opinions,exchange information and explore problems,so as to achieve deep understanding and application of knowledge.

Blended learning theory

Blended learning theory is an integrated teaching mode to adapt to learners of different knowledge levels,different learning purposes and different learning resources.Blended learning theory comes into being with the development of computer and information technology(Tong,2016,pp.59-60).After the mixed learning theory originated in the west enters the field of education in China,it realizes the combination of advantages of traditional teaching and online teaching(Duan,2017,pp.47-49).The teaching process can be based on any form of teaching technology(usually expressed as network information technology),and can be based on different types of courses In order to achieve better teaching effect,different teaching methods should be combined organically.

Construction and application of blended teaching mode of English in Vocational Colleges Based on SPOC platform

Based on the trend of Vocational English teaching reform,the comparative analysis of traditional teaching mode and blended teaching mode under the background of informatization,and the theoretical basis of SPOC platform,the basic framework of blended teaching mode of Vocational English based on SPOC platform is constructed.Through the combination of SPOC platform,MOOC and comprehensive English combined with the design principles of SPOC blended mode,this paper constructs a blended teaching mode of Vocational English based on SPOC platform.The framework of the model mainly includes three stages:making teaching objectives,implementing teaching and evaluating teaching implementation effects.The three teaching stages are not independent.Teaching objectives provide direction and standards for the implementation of teaching.The quality of teaching implementation effect is directly related to students'learning effect and affects students'final comprehensive evaluation results.Real time teaching evaluation can effectively adjust teaching objectives.To provide guidance basis,they restrict each other and serve as the premise and basis for each other.

Stage of making teaching objectives

The establishment of teaching objectives mainly aims at two aspects:one is to cultivate students'comprehensive ability to use language and improve the quality of foreign language talents training in vocational colleges;the other is to improve English teaching mode in Vocational Colleges and create an efficient English classroom under SPOC blended teaching mode.

To promote the comprehensive development of students' comprehensive language quality:Comprehensive English course is a basic course for English majors.It focuses on the training of comprehensive language ability such as listening,speaking,reading,writing and translation,so as to promote the comprehensive development of students'language comprehensive ability.Through the multi-dimensional cultivation of students'language knowledge,ability and emotional attitude,students can consolidate their basic language knowledge and expand their international vision in the course of learning.It can promote the development of students' abilities of collecting and processing information,analyzing and solving problems,autonomous learning and self-management,communication and cooperation,and creative thinking; it can also cultivate students' scientific outlook and improve their learning Students’interest in learning language and improving their comprehensive language application ability.

To improve the efficiency of English Classroom Teaching:teaching is not only to impart knowledge,but also to enlighten students’mind,stimulate their potential and teach them to learn independently.Efficient English classroom should include three aspects:First,to improve classroom efficiency,that is,to achieve a high degree of classroom achievement,students' solid mastery of knowledge,and high scores in classroom tests.Second,to maximize classroom benefits,that is,to achieve a high degree of classroom development,in which students have strong interest in learning,good at expression,rapid improvement of ability and comprehensive quality development.Third,to achieve the best classroom teaching effect,that is to say,classroom satisfaction is good,classroom teaching objectives,forms and content achieve a harmonious unity,to achieve the effective combination of process and results.

Implementation of teaching stage

Through the combination of MOOCS platform,MOOCS and classroom teaching in Chinese universities,the informatization teaching environment is constructed.The implementation teaching mainly includes four links:information-based teaching preparation; online independent preview; special training for breaking through key and difficult points in class; and application transfer of online intensive training after class.Under the guidance of constructivism theory and blended learning theory,the SPOC learning platform based on love course completes the construction of knowledge meaning and application transfer under the full play of students’main role and teachers’leading role.

Information based teaching preparation:teachers carefully prepare the content of each unit before class,and record students' autonomous learning video.According to the teaching plan and syllabus,relevant learning materials such as videos,documents and rich texts will be placed on the MOOC platform of China University,and preview and unit test questions will be released at the same time.

Online autonomous preview:the classroom is no longer the main place for learning knowledge,and students spend most of their time on platform autonomous learning,realizing the transformation from acquiring knowledge in classroom and books to learning knowledge in online learning space.Through the mobile or computer-based MOOC platform,students can watch the recorded preview videos,integrate learning resources,discuss topics,and complete preview exercises and unit tests.

Special training to break through the key and difficult points in the course:the blended teaching method,interactive teaching method and heuristic teaching method are adopted to change the attitude of students from passive acceptance learning to active inquiry learning,and the role of teachers from knowledge authority to information navigation and learning method instructor.Through organizing group discussion and group report,teachers lead students to participate in classroom activities,give students the initiative in class,exercise students'language application ability of listening,speaking,reading and writing,and let students give full play to their learning initiative in class.

After class online intensive training application transfer:through“the online basic knowledge self-study +classroom expansion knowledge teaching + online troubleshooting”online blended teaching mode,the traditional teaching mode can be transformed into information-based teaching mode.For the doubts or ideas existing in the learning of online task points and classroom knowledge expansion,students can post in the platform discussion area for help at any time through computers or mobile phones.Through discussion and exchange,not only can the emotional communication between teachers and students be deepened,but also help students consolidate their own knowledge points and apply and transfer new knowledge,further promote the generation and improvement of students'comprehensive language ability.

Evaluation of teaching stage

In the aspect of course teaching evaluation,a comprehensive evaluation system of Comprehensive English course teaching is constructed with the help of MOOC platform of China University to comprehensively evaluate the online learning effect and classroom learning effect of students.MOOCS and MOOCS in Chinese universities provide a rich online evaluation system for course teaching and support diversified teaching evaluation forms.The online evaluation contents provided by the platform include the number of platform visits,online discussion,check-in,online classroom interaction,course video viewing,document/rich text reading,watching live courses,unit tests,examinations,etc The evaluation content covers the whole process of students'learning.According to the teaching needs of Comprehensive English course,we select part of the evaluation content to form the online evaluation system of the course.At the same time,in order to support the further improvement of the course evaluation system,teachers add students' offline learning evaluation content according to the actual teaching situation,and set the corresponding score proportion,which is tracked in real time through the platform Statistics of students' learning data can generate students'scores at any time and summarize them into comprehensive scores.

Evaluation method:Using the teaching organization form of“offline + online”,the comprehensive evaluation of students’information-based learning effect is carried out through“online platform evaluation(50%)+ classroom evaluation(30%)+offline homework(10%)”.Evaluation type:In combination with the teaching objective of cultivating students’Comprehensive English application ability in listening,speaking,reading and writing,the students’learning process and effect are comprehensively evaluated in the form of“formative assessment(60%)+ summative evaluation(40%)”.Among them,formative evaluation mainly includes attendance(check-in)(5%),watching teaching video progress(15%),online discussion(5%),course visits(5%),classroom performance(10%),group report(10%)and homework(10%);summative evaluation mainly includes unit test(15%)and final examination(25%).

Evaluation content:Online platform evaluation(70%)includes six contents:course visits(5%),attendance(check in)(5%),watching teaching video progress(15%),online discussion(5%),unit test(15%)and final examination(25%);offline evaluation includes classroom performance(10%),group report(10%)and homework(10%).

In a word,the ultimate goal of constructing SPOC blended teaching mode of“information teaching preparation+online platform self-study+offline guidance and development+comprehensive evaluation”is:Based on a new concept of SPOC platform,it deeply integrates modern information technology and curriculum links,integrates tutorial system teaching into SPOC platform vocational blended teaching mode,realizes personalized teaching and learning mixing,combined with online The off-line unique advantages further reflect the student-centered,teacher-led way to update teaching ideas and innovate English teaching mode in vocational colleges.

Conclusion

Through the combination of SPOC platform,MOOCS and comprehensive English in Chinese universities,relying on constructivism theory and blended learning theory,this paper constructs the three stages of setting teaching objectives,implementing teaching and teaching evaluation of Vocational English based on SPOC platform.The three stages complement each other and influence each other.SPOC platform online independent preview,offline personalized tutoring,and online whole process formative evaluation contributes to the construction of blended teaching mode.The construction of SPOC based blended English teaching mode in vocational colleges is helpful to improve students'autonomous learning,further improve their comprehensive application ability of listening,speaking,reading and writing,so as to cultivate compound foreign language talents with international vision.

Acknowledgements

“Research and Practice of English Blended teaching Mode in Vocational Colleges Based on SPOC Platform”(Cb/2020/03/17)by Research on the 13th five year plan of Educational Science in Jiangsu Province.