Modular DELTA with ITI Istanbul D1a Course overview

Modular DELTA with ITI Istanbul 1. How Modular DELTA works

DELTA involves three Modules: the exam, the coursework portfolio and the extended assignment. You can do one, two or all three of them. You will receive a certificate for any Module you pass, but if an institution specifies that you should have the DELTA, they usually require that you should have passed all three. You can do the Modules in any order, though most people do them one to three. Most people submit their work for each Module as they finish it, though as all three Modules feed into and support each other, the most effective approach is to do all three courses and only then submit work. You can submit DELTA work (do the exam, submit your coursework portfolio or submit your extended assignment) on the first Wednesday of December or the first Wednesday of June every year.

Module One is the exam. There are two 90 minute papers, with a 30 minute break between them. Through input, projects and exam tasks, we show you the kinds of things that can come up in the exam and how you might deal with them so you can work out how much and what you need to study. This how much and what will vary enormously from teacher to teacher depending on your background and learning history. The ITI exam course consists of ten blocks. Each block includes some input on two or three areas that may come up in the exam, requires you to participate in a group project to explore one of those areas, provides further reading and study ideas and has one or two exam tasks for you to try. You get individual feedback from a tutor on these last tasks. On the part time face to face courses (one starting in September and one starting in March) you attend the ITI offices for 4.5 hours of input a week for 10 weeks. If you choose to do one of these courses on line you have access to the input materials on the same day as the face to face participants and other aspects of the course (projects and exam practice) are the same whether you are face to face or on line. Everyone works together on the projects. How much study time you will need will depend on your background knowledge, but it is likely to be a minimum of 10-15 hours a week. The same course is available in an intensive face to face form in June each year over two weeks. It entails the same ten blocks of input, projects and exam practice, so you should free up your schedule for the two weeks if you intend to do it this way. In this case, you would be making study plans that worked towards the December exam.

Module Two is the coursework You will complete 10 peer observations (where you watch your fellow teachers on the part time course this will involve travelling to other schools) One (on the intensive) or two (on the part time) unassessed teaching assignments (these have a 2500 word background assignment and a full lesson plan). Four assessed teaching assignments (three observed by tutors from ITI and the last observed by an external assessor). On the part time course these will be in your own institution at times that you arrange, on the intensive course they will be in practice classes in the evenings at ITI. A written assignment of two parts (the first part is a 2500 word evaluation of your own practice, the second is 2500 words about a small piece of action research on a technique or method that is new for you). There are fifteen 4.5 hour blocks of input for this Module there is no on line option and attendance is required. We run a part time course each year starting in mid December for June completion and an intensive course each June / July over six weeks (for December completion).

Modular DELTA with ITI Istanbul D1a Course overview

Module Three is the extended assignment You design a course for a group of learners and write a 4500 word assignment about what you needed to know and how and why you went about the whole process. You need access to the group to be able to do a fairly wide ranging needs analysis on them, but do not necessarily have to be teaching them yourself during the process and do not have to teach the course (only design it). This Module is available in both a face to face version and a fully online version. In the face to face version you attend ITI for four 3 hour blocks, usually one every couple of weeks. On line the same information becomes available when the sessions are held. You are encouraged to send in draft versions of your assignment at four stages for feedback from a tutor. We usually run an autumn course over ten weeks for December entry and a spring course over sixteen weeks for June entry. You can do this Module entirely independent of course dates if you are good at working alone and setting your own deadlines. You might wait slightly longer for tutor feedback if you were not working to the suggested deadlines (but equally might not).

2. Moodles, reading and resources

Moodles All of our courses are blended to a greater or lesser degree and run via Moodles. This means there is a web site for you and the other participants on your course. It gives information about what is happening, has things for you to do, to read and places for you to upload work. The Moodle is only accessible to course participants, tutors and sometimes participants from past courses. On Modules Two and Three it is mandatory that you upload your work there as we are legally obliged to store it for a certain period. Once you have paid your deposit you should receive a key to the Moodle for your Module. They usually have basic information and ideas up in the early stages of the course and more and more is added as the course goes on. All Moodles stay up and open to access for at least a year after course input blocks finish.

Reading and resources If you are doing a face to face course ITI has a good range of books available to borrow. If you are doing Module One or Three entirely on line you will need to work out how you might be able to access reading. Even on face to face courses there are likely to be quite a few of you trying to borrow things at the same time, so it is worth finding alternative access if you can. Many people have friends or colleagues who have studied the DELTA or a Masters recently. Also consider buying second hand. On face to face courses, participants often cooperate as regards book lending / sharing. If you attended or teach at a university, they will usually give you access to library facilities. Some adult language schools also have reference books for teachers. On Module One and Module Two there are one or two books that have wide coverage and are well worth buying see later individual recommendations. If money is no object there are lots of books that are useful, but most of us have to think more strategically than that. There are many links on the Moodle for each Module directing you to a variety of free reading resources on line. Do the pre course task (D1b) to work out what to focus on for reading. Specific reading is given in a lot of the guideline documents on the Moodles, but there is also a reading list (D1c) which you should have received along with this document.