E-learning in Interpreting didactics: students' attitudes and learning patterns, and instructor's challenges

Abstract

The use of digital and web-based technology in interpreting classrooms has been extensively adopted and researched in countries like Spain, Italy and Denmark since the beginning of the new millennium. Nonetheless, in Malaysia such a platform has only recently been introduced. Thus, along with Universiti Sains Malaysia´s Accelerated Programme for Excellence (APEX) plan to transform nurturing and learning by raising student-centred learning, adopting alternative assessment, and promoting a technology-enhanced education system, e-learning was incorporated into interpreting courses taught in the Bachelor of Arts in Translation and Interpreting degree programme (BATI). It is the only Translation and Interpreting degree programme in Malaysia and was established in 1992. E-learning was first introduced in Semester 1, 2009/2010. This article discusses the building blocks of e-learning in the interpreting courses, the necessary improvisation that has been carried out in the teaching and learning methods due to the unavailability of a digital laboratory, the students' learning patterns with regards to e-learning, the students' attitudes towards e-learning, and the challenges faced by the instructor in deploying e-learning as part of teaching and learning in interpreting.