{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]],"date-time":"2026-06-10T16:21:01Z","timestamp":1781108461255,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"IGI Global Scientific Publishing","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2012,7,1]]},"abstract":"<p>This article describes the affordances of social media and networks for online Elementary German courses that have been taught at the University of Pennsylvania since 2010. These online courses were created to provide students the opportunity to take Elementary German as part of the language requirement for Penn credit during the summer months when students are away from campus. Like their face-to-face counterparts, the online courses are grounded on the principles of communicative language teaching and learning but clearly reveal the potential of these principles to maximize participation, promote learner autonomy and influence student outcomes when applied to collaborative online learning spaces. This paper explains the pedagogy behind the online courses, outlines their relationship to the face-to-face language classroom, and describes how student interactions are key to the learning process. It considers the importance of electronic and digital literacy (Warschauer, 2006) to the growth of new methodologies, materials development, assessment, articulation, intercultural competence, and student progress. This paper also compares the instructor\u2019s experiences of teaching in the online environment with those of the face-to-face classroom and discusses how these distinct and separate learning spaces are in many ways related and can inform each other. Finally, the author considers new possibilities for language learning through emerging technologies.<\/p>","DOI":"10.4018\/jvple.2012070105","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,2,5]],"date-time":"2013-02-05T17:27:52Z","timestamp":1360085272000},"page":"81-94","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Building a Model for Online Distance Courses Through Social Media and Networks"],"prefix":"10.4018","volume":"3","author":[{"given":"Ed","family":"Dixon","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Pennsylvania, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2432","reference":[{"key":"jvple.2012070105-0","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1057\/9780230118003_6","article-title":"Integrating digital technologies in education: A model for negotiating change and resistance","author":"T.Berger","year":"2011","journal-title":"Digital education: Opportunities for social collaboration"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-1","first-page":"209","article-title":"The role of technology in second language learning","author":"R.Blake","year":"1999","journal-title":"Learning foreign and second languages"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-2","first-page":"23","article-title":"From web pages to distance learning: Technology in the foreign language curriculum","author":"R.Blake","year":"2009","journal-title":"Teaching literature and language online"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-3","author":"D.Cambridge","year":"2009","journal-title":"Electronic portfolios 2.0: Emergent research on implementation and impact"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"37","DOI":"10.1057\/9780230118003_3","article-title":"Web 2.0 digital technologies in education","author":"C.Chaka","year":"2011","journal-title":"Digital education: Opportunities for social collaboration"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"81","DOI":"10.1057\/9780230118003_5","article-title":"Educational networking in the digital age","author":"C.Costa","year":"2011","journal-title":"Digital education: Opportunities for social collaboration"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-6","first-page":"309","article-title":"Exploring zones of interactivity in foreign languages and bilingual education","author":"D.Coyle","year":"2005","journal-title":"Distance education and languages"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-7","first-page":"178","article-title":"Course design for the distance learner of Spanish: More challenges than meet the eye","author":"C.Garrido","year":"2005","journal-title":"Distance education and languages"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-8","first-page":"297","article-title":"Intercultural competence","author":"M.Guillerme","year":"2000","journal-title":"Routledge encyclopedia of language teaching and learning"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-9","first-page":"131","article-title":"Task design for a virtual learning environment in a distance language course","author":"R.Hampel","year":"2010","journal-title":"Task-based learning and teaching with technology"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-10","first-page":"197","article-title":"The enactment of task design in telecollaboration 2.0","author":"M.Hauk","year":"2010","journal-title":"Task-based learning and teaching with technology"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-11","first-page":"1","article-title":"Autonomy and the distance language learner","author":"S.Hurd","year":"2005","journal-title":"Distance education and languages"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-12","unstructured":"Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., & Haywood, K. (2011). The 2011 horizon report. Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http:\/\/net.educause.edu\/ir\/library\/pdf\/HR2011.pdf"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-13","author":"C.Kramsch","year":"1993","journal-title":"Context and culture in language teaching"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-14","first-page":"1","article-title":"Introduction: Perspectives on online pedagogy","author":"I.Lancashire","year":"2009","journal-title":"Teaching literature and language online"},{"key":"jvple.2012070105-15","unstructured":"Martyniuk, W. (2006, May). Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR) \u2013 a synopsis. 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