Beyond the Classroom

In many (Belgian) universities radical rethinking and reorganisation of the teaching/learning process is currently being undertaken, partly in response to the challenges of the Bologna declaration. The underlying principle is that students have to take charge of their learning: they are active participants, not passive consumers, which ties in with current theory and research findings. In practice, this includes group work and projects, and in many cases a reduction of class time. In EFL similar changes are happening. Class time is used mainly for those elements of the learning process that demand physical presence, viz. speaking/discussing, while reading, writing and some listening can be developed beyond the classroom. The fear, however, is that if such activities are relegated from the classroom, they will simply disappear and the quality of learning be reduced. One solution lies in the extension of the classroom - the virtual classroom - leading to a qualitative improvement in the learning that goes on in the classroom. Using Claroline, a platform developed at the UCL, which takes account of the demands and needs of learners by creating an environment where all the resources are available, students can learn/revise syntax, widen their lexis, improve their listening in controlled situations, develop their writing skills in various genres, get personalised feedback, and most importantly, interact with each other and the teacher. Claroline can be used to support an entirely self-sufficient virtual classroom, but here it will be shown that because some learning takes place beyond the classroom, the actual and the virtual complement each other - and increase the quality of the whole. What is described here is of the nature of a practical innovation rather than a controlled experiment. The aims were to encourage students to write and increase their self-confidence in doing this. While fluency is the main aim in class, writing aims to improve accuracy, which in turn w