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If English is your second language, attending college in the United States can be daunting. There鈥檚 less familiarity with coursework vernacular, and even finding your way around campus poses challenges. Krisztina Domjan, an 国产小呦女 professorial lecturer, devised a way to make life a little easier for ESL students. In a nutshell, she blends various technologies and apps to simplify the learning process in a diverse classroom.

For her efforts, AU鈥檚 Center for Teaching, Research and Learning recognized her with a Jack Child Teaching with Technology Award. 鈥淚 was super proud and just humbled,鈥� says Domjan, part of AU鈥檚 School of Professional & Extended Studies.

Among the best parts of this experience? At the CTRL luncheon in May, she got to explain her interactive teaching, and she鈥檚 hoping other professors will adopt similar methods.

鈥淚 gave a presentation so colleagues could understand what the award was for, and I was happy because people were taking pictures of the slides,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o I thought maybe they鈥檙e going to try this.鈥�

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One-Stop Learning

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Earlier in her teaching career, Domjan noticed limitations in using Microsoft Word. She has nothing against Word鈥攑eople take their technological preferences quite personally!鈥攂ut she wanted a system with fewer document attachments. For assignments, Word docs were frequently misplaced, the wrong attachments were occasionally sent, and other technical problems arose.

鈥淚 thought, 鈥榃hat if I don鈥檛 use separate documents for every single assignment? I can let my students just compile everything in one portfolio,鈥欌�� she recalls.

After reading about Google Docs, she felt it allowed more flexibility. She incorporated other apps, such as Google Keep and Screencastify, to facilitate a one-stop, interactive learning destination. With every major assignment in one place, the professor can measure the student鈥檚 growth, and the student can track their own progression. In addition, Google Docs enables hyperlinking, so she included instructional videos in the template.

鈥淚t鈥檚 basically just using all these tools, so students can stay organized and focused,鈥� she explains.

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Understanding the Technology

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So far, the feedback from her students has been overwhelmingly positive. 鈥淎t first everybody鈥檚 confused. They think, 鈥榃hy is there only one document? We鈥檙e used to creating separate ones.鈥� But I have a 60-page template, and the essence of each course is already in the template. So it鈥檚 almost like they just have to fill in the blanks,鈥� she says. 鈥淥nce they see that, they say, 鈥極h, OK. So this is what we use for the entire semester.鈥欌��

Domjan uses this for AU鈥檚 English Language and Training Academy, a full-time, intensive ESL program. She teaches academic writing and research writing鈥攕ubject matter with ancillary benefits to students as they take other classes.

They鈥檝e also analyzed other forms of technology during class. She assigned her students a paper on social media, and they researched issues such as cyberbullying, internet addiction, and how false information spreads.

Even in a non-online, face-to-face class, she believes that sharing information digitally is sometimes more efficient. Communication during office hours is ephemeral, whereas this template empowers students to learn at their own pace.

鈥淓specially when ESL students come to my office, if I give them too much information鈥攐r I use a word they don鈥檛 understand鈥攖hen it鈥檚 not as helpful,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut if I give them the same feedback with a video, they can listen to it and look up the words that they don鈥檛 understand.鈥�

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The International Experience and Mentoring

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Domjan teaches mostly international students at AU. She鈥檚 well-positioned to mentor them, because she鈥檚 walked in similar shoes and can relate to their experiences. Domjan grew up in Hungary, earned degrees in the United Kingdom, and immigrated to the US in 2003.

鈥淚 can definitely connect, because I know what it meant to live in different countries. Learning what the locals do and how they do it. When you arrive in a new country, there are probably 100 people telling you 500 things that you should definitely do,鈥� she notes. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 the practicality that they need. Sometimes students ask me, 鈥業 lost my passport.鈥� 鈥業 can鈥檛 find this.鈥� 鈥楳y laptop is broken.鈥� 鈥榃here do I go?鈥� So they need a person who just says, 鈥極K, do this, do that. Here鈥檚 a number.鈥欌��

In her teaching of English, she鈥檚 hoping to improve upon how she was taught in Hungary. She thinks ESL pedagogy in the pre-internet years was flawed almost everywhere, but again, technology changes everything.

鈥淵ou were given a list of vocabulary words, and then you find an English equivalent, memorize everything, and then you test,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚 realized that doesn鈥檛 help anyone. So the first thing that I did was try to find pictures. Then thanks to Google Images, we find out much more about the words, and it sticks a lot faster and easier.鈥�

Living in a rapidly changing society, Domjan is a strong advocate for lifelong learning. As a student, she might pursue an 国产小呦女certificate in . Having worked with instructional designers in the past, she鈥檚 discovered that idea maps, visual images鈥攐r any nonlinear teaching techniques鈥攁re worth exploring.

鈥淚 know that every student has a different approach to an assignment, and I just try to reach them through various channels.鈥�