A cross faculty team, including Aliy Fowler from the School of Computing, Jane Short and Sebastien Cadinot from the English Language Unit (ELU) and Steve Bailey and Judy Cohen from the Unit for Enhancement of Learning & Teaching (UELT), has been awarded £6,500 from the university's Challenge and Innovative Assessment funds. The award was made in support of the curriculum development project of the campus-wide English Language Development Programme (ELDP).

Taking a 'blended learning' approach (i.e. one which mixes e-learning with more traditional delivery methods), the project will result in a structured, flexible English language programme available both in the classroom and online to all international students. The team will develop a syllabus, supporting materials and assessment methods.

Aliy Fowler is a member of the Computing Education research group and has experience in developing Computer Aided Language Learning applications. She has devised a novel web-based CALL system (LISC) which features language-independent error-diagnosis, meaning that it can be easily adapted for use with many different languages. This system won the University of Kent's Annual Learning Support Prize in 2005, and follow-up research led to the award of "Best Paper" at the 12th International Computer Assisted Assessment Conference in 2008.

Aliy said:

" I am excited that the LISC system is going to be used as part of a programme as extensive as the EDLP. The money awarded for the software development part of the project will be used to design and build an extension to LISC to allow teachers and lecturers to upload, check and assign their own language exercises via an online interface. "

The English Language Unit (ELU), a section of the School of European Culture and Languages (SECL), offers undergraduate degree programmes in English Language, and a range of English Language courses for international students, including the International Foundation Programme.

The Unit for the Enhancement of Learning & Teaching promotes a high quality educational experience through its professional development opportunities for academic staff and academic advice and guidance for students.

Published 8 July 2009
Contact: M.L.Bowman@kent.ac.uk