Regine Hampel

Profile

Regine Hampel is a Senior Lecturer in Modern Languages at the Open University. As Director for Postgraduate Studies in the Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET) she has overall responsibility for coordinating the work within the postgraduate area (PhD, EdD and MRes). Previously she was part of the Department of Languages where she convened the Open Languages Research Group within CREET. She was also involved in the German programme offered by the Open University, chairing e.g. a new level 2 German course that uses an innovative blended approach. Regine’s research focuses on the use of technology in the context of language learning and teaching. She publishes regularly, disseminates her work at national and international conferences, and has been invited to speak at various events. In January 2011 she took over as Assistant Editor for System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics.

Teaching Interests

From 2000 until 2010 I was involved in all German courses (from beginners' to final-year degree level) offered by the Open University. This included producing new courses as well as running existing courses and I led the production of the new level 2 German course with my colleague Christine Pleines. L203 Motive combines traditional course materials with DVD-ROMs and a Moodle-based virtual learning environment in a blended approach. My academic responsibilities included writing the business appraisal and the syllabus, planning and producing course materials, drawing up the assessment and the tuition strategy, designing the use of the VLE, and leading a team of academics and academic-related colleagues. Once the course was up and running I was responsible for running and maintaining it.

I played a major role in introducing online tuition via Lyceum in several German courses at a time when synchronous tuition was still in its infancy. Our course team gained an OU Teaching Award (2001-2002) for "Integrating Internet-based real-time audiographic conferencing tools into distance language-learning", thus recognizing its innovative character. My involvement included task design, developmental testing, tutor training and the organization of student induction as well as chairing the departmental Lyceum Group.

Research Interests

Since joining the Open University in 1999, I have built up an international research profile in the area of computer-mediated communication. My research focuses on online tools such as virtual learning environments (VLEs) and synchronous audio and videoconferencing and their use in educational settings. My overall goal is trying to contribute to a theoretical and pedagogical framework for online learning which goes beyond a narrow cognitive approach but includes sociocultural theories of interaction and collaboration as well as taking into account the multimodal nature of the new media. This has fed into numerous articles, book chapters and conference contributions as well as the co-authored book on Online Communication in Language Learning and Teaching (with Marie-Noëlle Lamy) which I was invited to write for Palgrave in the Research and Practice in Applied Linguistics series, edited by Chris Candlin and David Hall.

At the Open University I was convenor of the Open Languages Research Group. We run a monthly Research Forum with internal and external speakers and in 2003 hosted a major international conference on "Independent Language Learning: New Research Directions". I am also a committee member (as well as a founding member) of the BAAL (British Association for Applied Linguistics) Special Interest Group 'Multimodal Communication', which organizes an annual event (seminar, conference, symposium). In 2007 I led the organization of a two-day seminar at the Open University on "Spoken Online Learning Events" which was funded by BAAL and Cambridge University Press.

Current Research

Over the past years I have been involved in a number of projects, which have attracted internal and external funding. These include:

- DOTS (Developing Online Teaching Skills), funded by the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), 2008-2011

- Medienpass, funded by the European Commission (Leonardo da Vinci Programme), 2007-2009

- Study on training tutors how to teach collaboratively online (in conjunction with the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain), 2007-2008 (see Hampel 2009)

- Spoken online language learning, 2-day seminar at the Open University, funded by BAAL/CUP, 2007

- Project on the use of VLE tools for language learning and teaching, partly funded by the British Academy, award of OU Teaching Award for Associate Lecturers involved in the project, 2006-2007 (see Stickler and Hampel in press)

- Study on task design in beginners language courses (German and Spanish), funded by the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, 2003-2006 (see Hampel 2006)

- Collaborative project between the Open University (with Jim Coleman, Lesley Shield and Mirjam Hauck) and Monash University, Melbourne Uschi Felix) examining the effectiveness of multimodal online language learning at a distance, funded by the Australian Research Council and the British Academy, 2003-2006 (see Hampel et al. 2005)

- Study with Uschi Stickler exploring on tutor training for synchronous audio conferencing, 2003-05 (see Hampel and Stickler 2005; Stickler and Hampel 2007)

- Internally funded project investigating different forms of CMC (audiographic conferencing, Instant Messaging, etc.) and their benefits for language learners, 2002-2004 (see e.g. Hampel 2003; Hampel & Hauck 2004)

For a list of publications please visit the Open Research Online website (http://oro.open.ac.uk/)

Publications