Evaluation of Curriculum Materials (2)

Basic Grammar Course as a Cyber College Graduation Program by YBMSISA

Course Name: English Grammar
Course Length: 15 weeks
Students: College Students (English Major)
Level: Elementary to Intermeidate Low
Textbook: Basic Grammar in Use (Cambridge University Press)

Video-recorded lectures of a textbook by the instructor are included in the curriculum in most online language courses in Korea. In other words, an instructor and his or her own style and method are often considered as core components in the initial process of developing the curriculum rather than assigned after the curriculum is set. Sometimes, a whole curriculum is canceled or modified depending on the recruitment of the instructor. Therefore a particular rubric should be applied to the assessment of online course in Korea.

I chose a basic grammar class of a cyber college graduate program run by YBMSISA. Basic Grammar in Use published by Cambridge University Press is the textbook for the class. The program adopted a video-recorded lecture previously made for an online grammar class, but applied other necessary implements to be approved as an official college graduate program stated by the government. This interesting combination of both informal and formal education aspects has offered me a chance to think of how to see different forms of courses of today.

Since it is the basic grammar course for Korean students who are in EFL surroundings and developed according to the standard by the government, those categories related to ESL/ELD standards in yellow rubric do not make the case however I gave some points where I could find some evidence that parts of descriptions of ELD standards can be applied. Articles related to four domains and addressing needs of English learners at every level in them in the category of Instructional Resources couldn’t be applied as they are to the course since it was not a comprehensive course but a basic grammar course through video-recorded instructions. The textbook Basic Grammar in Use doesn’t have teachers’ Edition. As stated above, since the course already included the lecture by a set instructor in the curriculum, the article about it in the category of Material Design seems irrelevant. However this kind of online college graduate programs also assigns manager professors who are in charge of all the other jobs except for giving classes such as giving assessments and grading besides the lecture professor who does the video lectures. Therefore I think Teachers’ Edition may flexibly be replaced by manager professors’ manual for this kind of system. I also think it should be considered whether the manager professors should be regarded as instructional resources in this system. If so, the scores in III Instructional Resources where they will play roles to handle what are described in it will be different.

My rubric is designed for online English courses in informal sectors. So I have found out it should also need modification according to aspects of formal education setting as a college graduate program. The delivery mode along with advanced but convenient technologies and appealing graphics are very important aspects to decide the success of an online course in informal sectors, however in formal sectors assessments and grading count, thus the importance of interaction between the instructor and the student doubles, which not many students in informal sectors feel as necessary.

The course earned 4.0 point average out of 5.0 from yellow rubric, scoring relatively high in Instructional Content and Assessment and low in Material Design and Instructional Resources. In contrast, the result from the evaluation by my rubric has higher scores due to the points earned from technologies and media related categories. Yellow rubric assesses resources and materials of the course with the more detailed articles than mine whereas mine has more focus on what it looks like and how it is run such as technologies and media, which accounts for the majority of the budget in the field. The biggest difference is that yellow rubric is for general offline English courses in formal education while mine is for evaluating online courses in informal sectors. There should also be a consideration for the standards to apply; ESL/ELD standards are irrelevant in courses in Korea. The rubrics for different types of online courses in Korea also seem necessary as well as the universal one for the effective assessment.