Innovation in Language Learning

Tuija Alasalmi is a blended learning specialist at Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Finland. She graduated in English Philology in the University of Turku in 2005 and completed the teacher's qualification in 2008. She has previously worked within vocational education as a teacher of English and Swedish, e-learning specialist, training coordinator and project manager. ICT in learning has been her number one professional interest since 2006 when she participated in an international Comenius project Learning and Teaching Efficiently focusing on web 2.0 technologies (LTE, 2006-2009, funded by the European Social Fund).

She has designed and procuded various e-learning courses and has substantial experience on administrating online learning platforms such as Moodle, Fronter and Optima. Her research interests include using different applications and social media tools in learning as well as pedagogically motivated teaching methods in online and distant learning. The latter is currently being developed in the learning programme of Community Interpreting at Diaconia University of Applied Sciences. This development process is likely to be the subject of her postgraduate studies in the future.