The first component of the course is concerned with theories of learning. Widdowson (1994) argued that in order to develop, teachers need "the disciplinary authority of theory [and] to know how to use it as a condition for inquiry" (p.20). A fundamental assumption in course EL2210 is that knowledge and application of the disciplinary authority of theory is essential to make one's way meaningfully and constructively with respect to electronic ESL resources. In the first component of the course, student-teachers are introduced to relevant theories of learning based on work by Levy (1997) and Jones & Mercer (1993). They consider behaviourism, constructivism and socio-cultural theory derived from the work of Vygotsky (1978).

The student-teachers are first introduced to Levy’s (1997) proposal that computer use in language learning can be categorized into two broad divisions as a useful way of classifying computer operations and applications. Levy contends that materials (software or online wares) that are intended to instruct promote the use of computers as tutors, while materials which allow users to achieve other tasks (word processing, concordancing and so forth), promote the use of computers as tools. A good deal of CALL software and a number of English language (ESL) websites can be characterized as being of the (Levy) tutor type.

The student-teachers are then introduced to behaviourist learning principles. In this view of learning, one set of observable conditions (stimuli) can be related to another set of observable conditions (responses) with emphasis on what the learner does and the response(s) that s/he is led to give. For instance, the key principle of the Skinnerian law of operant conditioning is that the correct or desired behaviour is reinforced. The reason for beginning with this theory of learning is that much CALL software exhibits certain behaviourist learning principles, particularly early generation CALL software which is still widely used. For example, programs such as Storyboard, Gapkit and Clozemaster are based on stimulus/response patterns. Strict behaviourist learning principles dictate that no feedback should be given when an incorrect response is made. In practice, however, many of the CALL software programmes, like the three examples above, which exhibit elements of behaviourism depart from this stricture in that they give information on both correct and incorrect responses. This kind of operant conditioning, though undoubtedly influential, has been and continues to be much criticised. With respect to language learning these criticisms are particularly germane. Reinforcement of fixed, specific behaviours does not relate well to language use where learners are faced with novel situations and need to produce novel responses to them.

Both behaviourism and constructivism tend to promote learning as an individual endeavour. Jones and Mercer (1993) characterize behaviourism as a way of describing how people learn in terms of individual thoughts and actions, and constructivism as how individuals adapt to the complexities in which they operate. Electronic English language resources, which engage learners individually, have much in common with these approaches to learning. However, a weakness of individual models of learning is that they take no account of the social character of most learning, particularly language learning. The social nature of classroom processes and language learning can more appropriately be characterised by the notion of teaching and learning. A great deal of learning (learning about ICT is no exception) involves the sharing of knowledge. Learning word processing or how to use e-mail programs, for instance, results in knowledge and skills that allow other kinds of information to be shared through print outs, file transfer or electronic mail. Used in this way, computers and their programs are, in Levy's terms, tools. In this view of learning, people share knowledge and understanding in order to create a new socio-cultural resource.

A theoretical framework that relates to such a social, communicative, culturally oriented view of learning can be found in the work of the Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky. The student-teachers study how Vygotsky’s ideas give prominence to the role of language in cognitive development, problem solving and learning, and how he emphasizes the essentially social nature of cognitive change. The significance of these ideas for the role of the computer in the learning process and the teacher’s role in relation to computers in the classroom is the potential of computers to reorganise classroom instruction and make possible the extension of education beyond the classroom. However, as Shive (1999) has pointed out, computers have no intrinsic pedagogy; the direction of the reorganization depends on teachers and their understanding of ICT. Hence the emphasis in this course on the student-teachers’ development of meaningful and constructive knowledge with respect to electronic English language resources.

The second component of the course is concerned with collaborative exploration, assessment and evaluation of ESL software. The student-teachers work in small groups to explore a range of CALL software from a university database (Appendix One). In addition to considering the software within the frameworks of behaviourism, constructivism and socio-cultural theory, they have to construct instruments for the purposes of reviewing and evaluating the software. For this task they receive input from the resident lecturer, they view on-line examples of evaluation instruments (Robb, 1996) and examine instruments developed by previous cohorts of students at UBD. Particular use is made of the work of Hubbard (1988) with respect to evaluating software for computer-assisted language learning, and that author’s highlighting of the difficulties and challenges of the judgmental process. The parameters that commonly challenge evaluation of CALL software according to Hubbard (op. cit.) include:

• the novelty of the field;
• the problem of "skimming" the software (as one might a textbook) and obtaining an overview;
• the complexities of branching and multiple pathways;
• visual, auditory and animation dimensions; and
• interactional aspects (extent of student control, extent of software response to input and so forth).

However, as Hubbard points out, concentration on these issues alone ignores the important and fundamental issue of approach (Anthony, 1963). Following Hubbard’s ideas the student-teachers in this course endeavour to develop evaluation instruments which provide information about how software will help improve a learner’s proficiency in the target language. This means that apart from considering the design features and how the software operates, the student-teachers must also take into account what methodological possibilities are offered as well as the approach inherent in the software. Hubbard’s (1988) use of approach means "the set of underlying principles that outline a set of conditions for successful language learning and that, in turn, often follow from a theory of language acquisition and provide the foundation for specific classroom methods and techniques" (p.228). His views, therefore, relate to the work already undertaken by the student-teachers in considering theories of learning in the first part of the course. There is also, significantly, a wider relevance to Hubbard’s views for the student-teachers who study sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics as well language teaching methods concurrent to a EL2210. A representative evaluation framework, which incorporates ideas and suggestions from previous cohorts of students, is at Appendix Two.

Once students have completed their exploration of CALL software and their input concerning evaluation issues is completed the student-teachers, working in small groups, choose a CALL software program to trial and evaluate using the instruments they have designed. This completed, they are then required to evaluate the application, utility and effectiveness of their instruments. This collaborative task is well suited to the student-teachers at UBD. Commentators on Bruneian culture and society (Blunt 1988; Maxwell 1996) have characterised it as collectivist in orientation with preferences for group solidarity and cohesion. This results in UBD student-teachers having a high level of appropriate skills and behaviour for cooperative small-group tasks. Moreover, the pedagogic justification for the collaborative nature of this particular task is that the exploratory, problem-solving aspects of it are highly pertinent to collective analysis, trial and resolution. In learning theory terms it is a constructivist task encompassed by a Vygotskyan style socio-cultural procedure. It also allows the students to utilise their collectivist propensities to aid each other in resolving the challenges the task poses.

The third component of the course is concerned with assessment and evaluation of ESL websites as resources for teachers and students. For this, the student-teachers work individually to construct instruments to review and evaluate ESL websites. Again, they evaluate the application and utility of their instruments. The assessment and evaluation of websites is also conducted in the context of the theories of learning with which the course commenced. This time the students have input from the remote lecturer as well as the resident lecturer and they view some examples of instruments developed by previous cohorts of students at UBD. The website evaluation task is an individual assignment which builds on the collaborative analysis, trial and resolution procedures of the software evaluation previously undertaken. However, some of the elements that need to be considered for evaluation with respect to websites are different from those that are significant in CALL software evaluation. In learning theory terms, it is a task with clear elements of constructivism embedded in it.

It is in this component of the course that the input from the remote lecturer is particularly utilised. The student-teachers take part in online tutorials concurrent with the development of their website evaluation instruments. These tutorials are aimed at consolidating and extending the knowledge and skills of the student-teachers by making available expertise otherwise lacking at UBD. The pedagogic paradigm, remote expert, resident tutorial group, resident lecturer/backup facilitator, has certain practical strengths one of which is its flexibility. As it is not tied to any particular platform, portal or communications application, it can be implemented in a wide range of environments and can withstand unanticipated electronic resource and delivery issues. The flexibility of the model has permitted retention of the on-line delivery component of the course despite changes in available technology.

An illustration of this flexibility is outlined below. Initially Microsoft NetMeeting was used, an application which contains a rich set of conferencing features including text-chat, full duplex audio, video, and a collaborative ‘whiteboard’ area where figures may be drawn and images pasted. NetMeeting also allows others in the meeting to use an application on a remote computer with its ‘share’ feature. A trial run established that there was not enough bandwidth¹ at UBD to utilise all features successfully. As a result, the procedure was revised so that input from the remote expert was presented and reflected through the text-based chat feature, augmented by the ‘whiteboard’.

The flexibility of the pedagogic model made it possible, on another occasion, to deal creatively with the issue of bandwidth when it was a considerable limiting factor. The remote expert was on a short-term placement in a rural area of the Southern Philippines, where telephony infrastructure is rudimentary, unreliable and supports only slow data transfer rates. In such low bandwidth networking situations, groupware applications are impractical, so the model was implemented using a Java-based synchronous text chat applet. We chose to use the synchronous text chat application in WebCT²; however there are alternatives currently available on the WWW, many of which are free³. This platform proved both flexible and functional as there was no requirement to install or configure applications; the Java applet is accessed through any version 4+ Web browser. The remote expert was able to participate from wherever the Internet could be accessed. The Java applet platform was functional as it was tolerant of low bandwidth connections and supported the creation of multiple ‘rooms’ or channels for small group discussion.

Regardless of the specific platform upon which the conferencing is established, the results of the tutorial discussions and reflection are satisfying. The student-teachers consider the advantages and disadvantages of websites and applications from an English language teaching and learning perspective and use their findings to aid their construction of instruments to review and evaluate ESL websites. Furthermore, the text-based chat environment appears to invite a more equitable contribution from all participants. Students who might be reluctant to speak up in the ebb and flow of virtual debate are afforded the opportunity to make a considered contribution in the text-based debate. The text-based environment, therefore, may promote a more critical perspective than might be achieved in an audio-visual medium. Finally, as all discussions are logged, a valuable record is available with which to design follow-up sessions and refine our model. Clearly, the tutorials impart strong socio-cultural aspects to the website evaluation task.

The primary purpose of the student-teachers’ website evaluation task is the same as it is for the software evaluation; that is to provide information about how the ESL website will help improve a learner’s proficiency in the target language. This is more challenging when dealing with websites than with software as the complexities made possible by linking often result in a confusing array of possibilities. Furthermore, the ever-increasing range of ICT possibilities offered on the Internet means that user-friendly website design is an important issue often, sadly, overlooked. In Brunei limited bandwidth and access speeds tend to emphasise the relatively media-poor nature of ESL websites. For instance, video is very slow, though this situation could improve with the recent introduction of a new system. Jabatan Telekom Brunei, through its ISP, Brunet, has launched E-speed which offers greater speeds and enhanced bandwidth. The drawbacks of this new system are its relatively high installation and running costs.

As stated earlier, an essential supposition informing this course is derived from Widdowson (1994). Further comment from that writer is pertinent to the evaluation tasks.

Freedom of action is meaningless without limits: these are, negatively, constraints when they inhibit action, but they are, positively, necessary enabling conditions. The crucial thing is not to deny the disciplinary authority of theory, but … to make it relevant as a set of bearings to find your own way (1994: 20).

The fields of CALL software and English as a second language websites are domains where "necessary enabling conditions" are needed for teachers to make their way meaningfully and constructively. One important reason for beginning the course with a consideration of learning theories is to provide the student-teachers with the "authority of theory" in order to "enable" their discernment of the underlying principles inherent in the resources they evaluate.

The two evaluation assignments in the course would be characterised by Luke (2000) as rich learning and assessment tasks because of their exploratory, problem-solving aspects. Brief consideration was given to having the student-teachers evaluate software and websites using existing instruments, but this was not, in the view of the course lecturers, a realistic option. This is in part because there are few existing instruments for evaluating electronic resources but also that the needs of the student-teachers are best served by the current approach. In the volatile world of ICT, dependent, non-critical modes of thought would hardly equip student-teachers to face and deal with the unexpected and unpredictable issues and circumstances that they will certainly encounter. As Luey has commented about the influence of ICT on professional lives, "people need to be trained to learn and change, while education seems to be getting more specific" (cited in Oppenheimer 1997: 10). The analogy with print-based English language resources is again apposite. The book is a technology which is established in form and has a long tradition which is not subject to radical change. Electronic resources, whether they are software or online wares, are the focus of continuing change. The development of CD-ROM technology and the coming of digital electronic technology have considerable implications for multimedia enhancement of teaching resources. In such capricious circumstances it is important to avoid what Eastment (2001) calls "the hype of ICT" and to help the student-teachers acquire a knowledge base that enables them to have the capacity to extend and refine their skills after their training in a principled and systematic way.

In the software evaluation, a group task earlier characterised as constructivist encompassed by a Vygotskyan socio-cultural procedure, the student-teachers deal with two broad issues: what to evaluate and how to communicate the findings. These issues relate to the work of Hubbard (1988) and learning theory already outlined. The evaluation task also requires the student-teachers to decide, firstly, what English language instructors should single out for particular scrutiny and, secondly, how the resultant findings can best be communicated. A fundamental problem which CALL software presents with respect to evaluation is the difficulty of gaining both an overview and a sense of the detail of programmes simultaneously. This is because computers present information in linear patterns. Interaction is restricted to what can be accessed at the moment and it is seldom possible to conduct, or assess different activities concurrently. As Meisling (cited in Oppenheimer 1997: 10) comments "a computer… gives you tunnel vision". Comparative evaluation is therefore restricted by the limits of the technology in a way that does not happen with print materials. The process of data collection for evaluation of CALL software is therefore unavoidably time-consuming.

The second broad issue the student-teachers must resolve is how to communicate their findings to other teachers. To do this, the student-teachers generally resort to using a combination of rating scales where appropriate (five-point Likert scales being the most popular) and comments. This enables a reader to gain a quick impression from the rating scale and detail from the comments. The problem of presenting an overview, limited by the linear way in which CALL software tends to operate on computers, is a problem of the technology which an evaluation instrument cannot resolve. One student-teacher, commenting about the difficulty of establishing the categories of evaluation, remarked that "many of the components in each category are interrelated both inside and outside the category" (Norazimawati, 2000: 8).

In the website evaluation, an individual task which is constructivist in nature, the student-teachers again face the issues of what to evaluate and how to communicate the findings. In this case, these issues are compounded by the potential data communications capacity of websites. The combination of text, graphics, audio and video combined via hypertext, that are increasingly features of ESL websites present additional challenges when it comes to evaluation. As was the case with CALL software, there is the obvious challenge of gaining an overview of a website and communicating it to other teachers. The student-teachers generally opt for a strategy which offers a brief description of the site being evaluated including some information about notable features and the probable intended clientele.

The student-teachers usually undertake this evaluation task by using the categories developed for evaluation of the CALL software as a starting point. There is overlap such as in certain design features, what methodologies are possible, what learning theories are implicit in the materials and activities of the site. However, there are also new categories determined by the information and communications technology of the World Wide Web. The student-teachers often expand the category design features to include, for instance, FAQs, pop-ups, pull down menus and windows as well as comments facilities since these are increasingly common on websites. They have also developed a category to evaluate ICT used to reinforce or enhance learning, including such features as e-mail and print facilities, downloads and links to other (similar) materials or sites.

The whole issue of navigation within and between websites has been seen as increasingly important because sites have tended to become more and more loaded with information, much of it useless. For instance, many sites now carry advertising or even commercial downloads which require payment. In this regard, one difference between navigating in CALL software and navigating in ESL websites is the need for precise pathways through the proliferation of materials that can clog some sites, an issue that doesn’t arise in CALL materials. Here again, the need to promote critical modes of thought in the student-teachers is evident. A number of prominent educators in the United States (cited in Oppenheimer 1997: 13-14) have raised the issue of information as opposed to understanding with respect to the Internet. David Eastment (2001) talks of the conflict between quantity of information and quality information, between information and knowledge or wisdom. The student-teachers have been quick to realise the increasing importance of evaluating these features in websites and conveying the findings in their evaluations.

Another issue that has resulted from the increasing complexity of websites and the intrusion of commercialism is the question of how information about these sites is best communicated. The student-teachers have used a combination of rating scales and comments with respect to CALL software thus giving a reader a quick impression from the rating scale and providing detail in the comments. However, at a recent in-service workshop (Prescott, 2001), in which students from the past two cohorts of the course worked with local ESL teachers, the consensus of opinion on this issue was that rating scales were increasingly inadequate to provide useful evaluative information about websites. Comments were necessary to convey increasingly complex sets of information. The representative framework in Appendix Three shows this development, an evolution that was increasingly evident in the student-teachers’ work in the last university academic session.

Eastment (2001) has promoted the idea of evaluating as a competency needed by teachers who wish to use the resources of the Internet. A number of his ideas with respect to evaluation of websites (currency of material, accuracy of the language, authority and URL information) are important considerations for dealing with electronic English language teaching materials. The relative freedom, or anarchy (depending on viewpoint) offered by the Internet means that anyone with a little knowledge can establish a website. The student-teachers in the course have identified outdated sites, inaccurate language and questionable status of site developers as some of the pitfalls that the unrestricted circumstances of the Internet allow. As the student-teachers have pointed out, the need for teachers to have critical, evaluative tools to detect such perils is obvious.