Blended classes didn’t just start with COVID-19. Julie Damron spent the last 10 years helping build BYU’s online Korean classes—and recently won an award.
If you had to choose, which would you pick as the most effective form of language-learning: in-person teaching or online? Would you be surprised if both were just as effective?
That’s what Teaching Professor Julie Damron (Korean Linguistics and Pedagogy) discovered during her work developing BYU’s online Korean programs. Using that knowledge, she’s been an integral part of creating BYU’s blended Korean language classes for undergraduates—courses that mix in-person and online learning to help students achieve success. Damron’s years of dedication to the project have recently been acknowledged with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and Language Connects Foundation Award for World Language Instruction Using Technology.
The Path to Achievement
Long before COVID-19 hit in 2020, BYU’s Korean program recognized the growing demand for Korean language classes among high school and college students. With only 43 high schools offering Korean classes nationwide, BYU stepped in to fill the gap, offering remote and blended options for beginning and intermediate students. This means that while many programs and institutions struggled to transition to online learning when the pandemic hit, the Korean program was prepared to hit the ground running.
As COVID-19 guidelines began to allow a return to in-person learning, Damron became curious about the effectiveness of each approach: in-person, blended, and online learning. She compared the achievements of in-person students to the remote and hybrid students and discovered that all of them performed equally well. Damron gained valuable insights from that ongoing research and used them to enhance the curriculum by incorporating the most effective elements of each approach, resulting in the blended Korean courses the program currently offers.
However, she didn’t do all this alone—Damron credits the programs’ success to the teams she’s worked with to develop them. “Creating a worthwhile blended or online course requires it to be interactive, engaging, and challenging,” she says. “It must involve opportunities for practice and assessment, teacher-student interaction, and student autonomy. You definitely need a team to create a good course. At BYU, we have the talented people and resources to make it happen.”
Where to Next?
You can't leave a live online course unattended.
When it comes to next steps, Damron says the Korean program plans to continue along the same path, building on their successes. “We know what we’re doing is working. We’ve tested it,” she explains. “Our focus now is to keep pace with advancements in online learning technology. It requires constant attention; you can’t leave a live online course unattended.”
Damron is particularly excited for future projects where she can bring together and work with teams again—it’s one of her favorite aspects of her role as a professor. “I love bringing together skilled individuals who excel in their specific areas,” she says. “We can collaborate effectively and efficiently to complete better projects more quickly. Beyond teaching, this has become a passion of mine.”
Interested in learning Korean? Check out the program here.