This is the general FAQ, for questions about the (co-)tutors, see → here.
- Is there a fee to participate?
- Do I need to be Deaf to participate?
- Does the (m)OOC propose ASL courses for American learners?
- What profile do I have: tutor or learner?
- Can I get a language certificate by participating in E-SCALE?
- How many hours of work will this require?
- Is there a particular day/time I need to be available?
- What type of technology do I need to successfully participate in this event? Is it ok to use on-campus resources (e.g. public labs)?
- What will be the topics of the courses?
- Do I need to be of age to participate?
- When will I know if I’m selected?
- I have an idea to share or a problem to report!
Here are the answers to the questions you sent us. If you don’t find what you are looking for, please contact us.
PRICE
Being a (m)OOC (Massive Open Online Course), E-SCALE is open to all and completely free of charge. 🙂
DEAF
No one here will ever ask for your audiograms! But of course the (m)OOC is primarily aimed at signing learners who don’t have access to a well adapted foreign language training.
TRAINING
WARNING: E-SCALE doesn’t propose ASL courses for American learners or LSF courses for French learners! There are a lot of organizations that do this very well. The (m)OOC is not intended to replace this type of training. Please go to such places and enroll in a face-to-face class if you wish to start learning the sign language of your country.
The E-SCALE (m)OOC fills a gap where precisely there isn’t any offer (free or not). That is the reason why we can propose this pedagogical experience in the form of a (m)OOC that offers free access to knowledge.
Reminder: To register for the E-SCALE (m)OOC, you have to master a written language AND a sign language. The (m)OOC gives you then the opportunity to meet other signing participants in order to communicate and acquire, by interaction, the basics of their languageS. To be fair, you therefore must contribute TWO LANGUAGES as well for the other participants.
TUTOR, CO-TUTOR OR LEARNER?
• Learner
as learners, you are the main actors of the (m)OOC. While discovering the language and the culture of your peers, your mission is to make the platform alive. You will be offered individual and group activities to improve the languages you do not master. You will take part in the 8 weeks training: 4 weeks of collective work, followed by 4 weeks of quadrem group work.
• Tutor/co-tutor :
as tutors, you will have a real pedagogical counseling role towards the learners. You have linguistic competencies in at least one sign language (ASL or LSF) and one written language (French or English). You are capable of simulating the learners in order to encourage interactions among them.
To help you, you will get support from co-tutors as well as 4 weeks of preliminary training on the (m)OOC platform. There you will discover on the one hand the learning environment and on the other hand you will take part in activities by yourselves, as if you were in the learner’s position. Thus your engagement a priori lasts 12 weeks: 4 weeks of training [“pre-(m)OOC” – at the end of which we will decide together whether you continue as a tutor or not] + 8 weeks of (m)OOC with the learners (according to the number of participants, a readjustment will be possible before the beginning of the last 4 weeks).
→ *For the FAQ about tutors and co-tutors, see here.
| LEARNER | TUTOR (+ co-tutor*) | |
| Role | take part in the activities swap facts and ideas on one’s culture |
Pedagogical counseling of the learners stimulate the learner’s motivation to optimize interactions among them |
| Training | Altogether: 8 weeks 8 weeks of training • 4 weeks “in common” • 4 weeks “in quadrems” |
Altogether: 12 weeks 4 weeks of tutor training (“pre-(m)OOC”) 8 weeks of training • 4 weeks “in common” • 4 weeks “in quadrems” |
CERTIFICATION
The E-SCALE platform is not intended to deliver language certificates. Besides, the (m)OOC doesn’t actually offer language courses per se, but a form of “learning together and from each other”, where you share your knowledge with the other participants.
As the learners progress within the course, they can earn badges which reward accomplished work or acknowledge outstanding contributions for example.
A confirmation of participation will be delivered to people who involved themselves regularly over the 8 weeks. The invested efforts can also be adduced in the European Language Portfolio (personal “language passport/biography”).
WORKLOAD (learners)
At least 2-3 hours of work weekly are required from each learner. Synchronous sessions (where all learners are on-line on the same time) last 60 minutes at straight. For the assignments done asynchronously however, each participant is free to organize his learning sessions as he prefers – in small doses or calmly in one go during the week-ends for example. We try to also offer several supplements and exercises to watch on your mobile devices, during subway/bus/tram transports, at breakfast or elsewhere.
SCHEDULE (learners)
The synchronous sessions and the “cafés/meet-ups” will be scheduled accordingly to a timetable that fits best both for the American and the French participants. Everything else can take place asynchronously. A regular following of the forum discussions is recommended.
EQUIPMENT & KNOW-HOW
• You need at least:
– a webcam,
– a good internet connection allowing video transmission (speed and quality),
– a keyboard allowing easy text input,
– a browser to access webpages.
Working from a public computer is perfectly ok (we just need to match opening hours when scheduling synchronous sessions).
• Required computer skills:
Everybody should be able to record a video, upload it to a website (video-sharing platforms) and add closed captions. No special mastery of any complicated technology is required, tutorials will be provided for every software we include and we count on peer support to give advice if necessary.
TOPICS
You really already want to know which topics will be dealt with? Well no, we won’t reveal them yet – let’s keep a little suspense. 😉 But do know that E-SCALE will be the occasion to review some fundamental components of our Deaf cultures, to compare our learner backgrounds and to project ourselves together into the future…
AGE
There is no age limit to enroll in E-SCALE, but the contents are principally aimed at adults. Since the interactions will be recorded, participants are asked to sign an authorization (informed consent form). If the participant is not of age, this document shall be signed by his legal representative.
CONFIRMATION
A few days before the (m)OOC starts, you will receive an e-mail with you authentication codes for the platform. In the meantime, feel free to join the facebook group of the (m)OOC participants 2015.
YOUR OPINION
Do you have a comment, a suggestion, some feedback? Please give us your ideas and opinion about the E-SCALE concept. We will work hard to improve it. We are sure that we can provide a free and amazing Deaf E-space with your ideas. Let’s start to create it together!
Just feel free to comment, report about problems or ask questions HERE 🙂
E-SCALE 