2024 Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning (CLTL) Workshop
The Fall 2024 winner of the Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning workshop award, Fostering a Community of Practice: An Initiative to Build an OER Repository of Teaching and Learning Modules is held at Yale Center for Language Study on October 18 – 19, 2024.
Organizing Committee
Angela Lee-Smith (Yale), Heeyeong Jung (Brown), Hi-Sun Helen Kim (Harvard), Ji-Young Jung (Columbia), Meejeong Song (Cornell), Yuseon Yun (Princeton)
Workshop Coordinator: Please reach out to Angela Lee-Smith (angela.lee-smith@yale.edu) for information or inquiries about this workshop.
Workshop Overview
The primary goal of this workshop is to collaboratively build an OER repository for language teaching and learning modules. Recognizing the prevalent challenges within language education—such as inequitable access to educational resources, the unsustainable practice of updating and selecting educational materials, the prohibitive costs of traditional textbooks, and their rapid obsolescence—this initiative is founded on a deep understanding of these issues. With this context in mind, our concerted efforts aim to create, share, and implement newly developed OERs as practical strategies to confront these barriers head-on. This workshop focuses on developing and applying innovative OERs that address and seek to alleviate these widespread challenges. Through this initiative, we are committed to transforming language education by leveraging OER to build a more accessible, sustainable, and engaging learning environment for all.
The workshop is structured thoughtfully, showcasing successfully developed OERs highlighting their practical applications and successes in enriching language teaching and learning. This segment provides useful tips for participants, aiming to equip them with actionable insights for creating and implementing OERs effectively. Following the showcase, a panel of representatives from various language centers will discuss their support strategies, collaborative efforts, and the vital role of institutional backing in the successful implementation and scaling of OER initiatives. Building upon these foundational segments, the workshop culminates in hands-on breakout sessions. These sessions are the centerpiece of our workshop, where participants will actively engage in drafting their own OER modules using a previously provided and guided template. This immersive, practical experience ensures a deep, comprehensive understanding and application of OERs, taking participants from inspiration and institutional support to hands-on creation.
The OER repository that will result from this workshop will be hosted by Yale, leveraging the WordPress platform through institutional licensing to ensure the accessibility and adaptability of the resources. Consortium of Language Teaching and Learning (CLTL) members, including language centers, the language faculty community, and administrators, will collaboratively undertake the repository’s management and sharing responsibilities. This collective approach will allow the participating stakeholders to benefit from the expertise and engagement of a vast network of educational professionals dedicated to enhancing language teaching and learning.
Open to the public, the repository invites broad access to innovative educational resources. Module contributors will gain access through their home institutions’ language centers, fostering a vibrant community of practice among educators. During the workshop, participants will draft modules for language teaching and learning. Post-workshop, they are encouraged to refine their modules and submit them to the consortium’s OER initiative team, thus contributing to the repository’s growth and sustainability.
This workshop serves as a springboard for a collaborative initiative focused on developing an OER repository. It aims to address immediate educational challenges and catalyzes ongoing teaching resource development and sharing. The initiative committee will work closely with language centers to promote, encourage, and facilitate contributions to support the continued growth and expansion of the repository after the workshop. This includes organizing events such as consortium forums and share fairs, establishing a sustainable and evolving educational resource, and sharing practical tips and support.
As the workshop wraps up, participants will depart with tangible, practical outcomes—collaborative module drafts ready for further development. Post-workshop, they will refine these drafts and contribute to the module repository, marking the CLTL community’s united effort to enhance teaching practices and accessibility through shared professional development and the co-creation of OER.