April 5, Friday  • 1.30p – 2.30p • Moore 258 • Dongping Zheng, Ph.D Assistant Professor, Second Language Studies, UHM

This presentation showcases the process of design and participation of a graduate level course offered in the Department of Second Language Studies, SLS680P: Tasks, Activities, and Learning Environments. Grounded in the ecological dialogical framework of learning and the concept of design of learning environments, the presentation intends to fulfill 3 goals: 1) to demonstrate how a course can be dynamically designed to foster a distributed cognitive system/community in which both students and the instructor develop expertise reciprocally; 2) to further explain how to wisely utilize publicly available social networks to facilitate learning and augment community building; and 3) to share practical tips on how to organize a blended learning course that can cultivate optimal learning experiences in online, offline and face-to-face environments.