The role of a teacher/coach in the supporting network

The students will find their way on the platform intuitively, the feedback the system provides will steer them towards necessary personal improvements. Spot On Learning's support desk will monitor their progress and keep them on track by sending email tips. This model is for the largest part a 'self-service model'. Some students however, need some help by (online or local) teachers to improve fast enough. In our experience about 20% of the students need to follow an acceleration program to reach their learning goals in time.

Which participants get (local) teacher support?

Spot On Learning has developed an acceleration program for participants in our Maritime English program that need extra support to reach their learning goals fast enough. Our experience is that on average 80% of the participants are fine with our largely self-service video programs on EnglishCentral and some personal tips our support desk will send to them while they make progress on their own. This means that about 20% needs some extra support in order to make enough progress towards their required level. That support is provided by local or online teachers chosen in close cooperation with our clients.

How are the candidates for extra support selected?

In most cases, we have standard rules to decide who needs extra support. All Spot On Learning language programs start with a level test, sometimes we use more than one testing method. This provides us with enough information to decide if a participant needs an acceleration program to reach his or her goals in time. Normally these rules apply:

1. If the participant is more than one full (CEFR) level below the required level we need to speed things up (20 CEFR points below mean of required CEFR level range)
2. If the participant has subscores that are more than 7 points below the overall score we normally decide to work on that specific low score in an acceleration program.
3. If the participant has started with the normal 'self-service' video courses and gets stuck, we analyze the data and contact the participant, we can then decide that an acceleration program is necessary.

How does the acceleration program work?

The acceleration course will normally take 6 - 8 weeks. The teacher decides what the exact program of each participant will be. She assigns 'online homework' and spends the time to discuss progress and draw conclusions about learning results and next learning activities. Each week the participant has some work to do on his own, which will then be evaluated by the teacher. The teacher will give feedback and discuss things in a Zoom session or by email, to make sure the student has learned enough about the subject. For each participant, a teacher has half an hour per week available to coach the participant and provide support.

Learning Material available for teachers to use: learning paths

Learning Paths are online assignments for the participant. Each learning path has a subject that is relevant for seafarers. A learning path contains theory and test questions. The participant first works on his online assignment, then the teacher can take the time to evaluate his results and further discuss the subject.

These learning paths are available:

1. Question words, asking and answering questions
2. Receiving orders and instructions and checking if you have understood what has been asked
3. Giving orders and instructions and checking if someone has understood you correctly
4. Talking about the present (grammar basics, using the present tenses)
5. Talking about the future and the past  (grammar basics, using the future and past tenses)

Learning Material available for teachers to use: EnglishCentral courses

These extra courses on EnglishCentral are available:

• Grammar courses and videos
• Pronunciation dashboard and videos
• Vocabulary courses and videos

Learning Material available for teachers to use: extra tests

Apart from the courses, we have extra online level (placement) tests available.

• Quick Grammar test
• Full Placement test including writing assignment

The growing collection of learning material

Our teachers can add to the collection of online learning material. Also, at Spot On Learning, we are ourselves continuously developing new content and methods. We are building a community of stakeholders in the learning process of our participants. All members of that community can help develop new learning material. Please contact Eelco Kraefft at Spot On Learning in Amsterdam if you have ideas or suggestions.

Client level on www.my.spotonlearning.eu: all on the same screen

Spot On Learning shares progress information about the participants they are responsible for with the teachers. This is what we call our 'all on the same screen program'. All information is available online. The teacher can log in to my.spotonlearning.eu and check progress and results 24/7.

If a teacher notices that a participant in an acceleration program is not making the efforts agreed on (and needed) he or she will let Spot On Learning's support desk know that the participant is 'not on target'. This information will then also be shared with the training coordinator, which is often someone at an HR intermediary (for instance a crewing agent) or the training department of an employer or principal. The coordinator can act on that information or can share information about why the participant cannot make the effort that is being asked from him.

Teacher Level on EnglishCentral

Participants receive a lot of feedback on their learning activities when they use the EnglishCentral platform:

• weekly or monthly progress towards learning goals
• personal word lists (and the possibility to be quizzed about them)
• personal pronunciation dashboard

A lot of data are collected while participants are learning. Teachers can access reports based on these data when they access EnglishCentral as a teacher. Some of the reports available for teachers (for 'their' classes) are:

• Watched videos
• Speak points
• Lines recorded
• Spoken videos
• Pronunciation
• Quizzed words

Analyzing these reports makes it easy for teachers to find out what language skills need improvement urgently for each participant. Pinpointed interventions are very effective and help participants learn faster.

Step by Step Instructions

Please go to the following link for the Step by Step instruction for the client level: https://my.spotonlearning.eu/753/step-step-instructions-for-teachers.htm

Spot On Learning Support Desk

If you need any further assistance, please contact our support desk.