The results of this workshop were published in Studies in English Language Teaching. The  article is available on researchgate.

This project was about stimulating in-class note taking, through a collaborative note-taking document followed by the construction of an eZB at the end of the course. The eZB was a summary document for exam revision as well as a personalizable virtual document (PVD) to keep and to share outside the classroom. This workshop involved ten participants, all colleagues in the same company, who attended an English language course to improve their work-based and professional English-language skills. While aiming to improve English skills generally, the focus was behavioral, that is, to increase the motivation and confidence of the participants in using English at work.  The methodology took the form of collaborative note taking on a Google doc, which resulted in an electronic class journal (in eZB format) which students would then be able to take away with them at the end of the course. In total, the finished eZB included the following five tabs or ‘chapters’: Full Class Journal, Class Profile, News Reviews, Marketing, ERP, Favorite Moments, and Vocabulary.” (Bellay, Evain, De Marco, 2017)

 

One highly appreciated benefit of the eZB for these adult learners was the possibility for peer-to-peer work similar to the collaborative work they do in the workplace.  Stronger students who were able to take notes in English easily helped the weaker students. The stronger trainees were rewarded because the group progressed faster as the teachers corrected their work and offered verbal recognition for their efforts. The blended learning approach was thus fully exploited.  Although difficult to measure, teachers also noticed an increase in confidence in using a foreign language.

 

This example shows how it is possible to create an eZoomBook after the launch and realization of class activities. In this experimentation, the teacher had total freedom to add to the pedagogical content in the course of the semester. The student input (in-class note-taking, marketing exercises, enrichments, etc.) was, in part, pre-defined, but also largely improvised during the course of the semester. Not all of the workshop activities were in-class activities, but the note taking was, and it included a real-time correction on the part of the teacher. The tool made it possible for the teacher to individualize this part of the feedback. The structure of the eZoomBook was defined at the end of the semester in a brainstorming session: the eZoomBook was then created, and the class journal and class work were injected into the eZoomBook.

 

The examples above show that the potential applications of collective authorship and eZoomBooking are extremely broad: all educational levels, cross-disciplinary projects and group dynamics can benefit from this differentiated methodology.