I have been working in languages at the Open University since June 2005. I was first employed as a Staff Tutor for the West Midlands region. I then became a central academic, and developed several French courses from beginners to advanced levels. I also worked on the design of an online course: ‘Learning how to reuse open educational resources’ and the first OU language MOOC ‘Talk the talk’.
Before joining the OU, I was a senior Lecturer in French at the University of Derby managing French modules on the undergraduate programmes. I was also responsible for the design and delivery of in-company training programmes in French, German and Spanish.
I am now senior Lecturer in French in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics (LAL), and module team chair for L112 French Studies 1 (Intermediate).
My research interests include the reuse of Open Educational Resources (OER) by language practitioners and the development of Open Educational Practices in the context of distance and online language learning. I was one of the main developers of the LORO (Languages Open Resources Online) repository and have been researching in the field of open education for over ten years. My doctorate: ‘Teachers’ practices through adaptation of open educational resources for online language teaching’ is an investigation into the activities language teachers engage with while re-using and adapting OER and the impact of OER reuse on online language teaching. The thesis is available here: http://oro.open.ac.uk/62109/.
I also have a strong interest in teachers' profesional development and I am currently supervising two students who research in this field.
I am particularly interested in the design of online and blended language courses from traditional text-based courses to courses delivered through a Virtual Learning Environment and MOOCs. I am also interested in the creation of OER for language teaching. I contributed many resources to support the teaching of French online. I am also interested in student completion and retention. In 2015, I designed a programme of induction for Level 1 students new to studying a language at a distance and online. Over the last five years the programme has developed and is now available on all LAL modules.
Openness re-examined: teachers' practices with open educational resources in online language teaching (2020)
Pulker, Hélène and Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes
Distance Education, 41(2) (pp. 216-229)
Teachers’ Use and Acceptance of Gamification and Social Networking Features of an Open Repository (2018-01-23)
de los Arcos, Beatriz; Faems, Bram; Comas-Quinn, Anna and Pulker, Hélène
European Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 20(1) (pp. 126-137)
Languages Open Resources Online (LORO): fostering a culture of collaboration and sharing (2011-03)
Comas-Quinn, Anna; Beaven, Mary; Pleines, Christine; Pulker, Helene and de los Arcos, Beatriz
The EuroCALL Review(18)
‘Moving Your Language Teaching Online’ Toolkit: Teachers’ Early Reflections on their Experience and Skills (2022-10-31)
Lindeiner-Strasky, Karina von; Pulker, Hélène and Vialleton, Elodie
In: Stickler, Ursula and Emke, Martina eds. Online Language Teaching: Crises and Creativities. Developing Online Language Pedagogies
Publisher : Castledown | Published : London
Well-rounded graduates – what languages can do (2021-02-26)
Pulker, Helene; Stickler, Ursula and Vialleton, Elodie
In: Plutino, Alessia and Polisca, Elena eds. Languages at work, competent multilinguals and the pedagogical challenges of COVID-19 (pp. 23-35)
Publisher : Research-publishing.net
Learners’ perceptions of online elements in a beginners’ language blended course – implications for CALL design (2015-12-02)
Pulker, Hélène and Vialleton, Elodie
In : EUROCALL 2015 (26-29 Aug 2015, Padova, Italy) (pp. 475-479)
Online revision and assessment on a beginners’ French course: using learning analytics to understand language learners’ behaviors (2014)
Pulker, Helene and Vialleton, Elodie
In : CALICO conference 2014: Open, Online, Massive: The Future of Language Learning? (6-10 May 2014, Ohio University)
The evaluation and re-use of Open Educational Resources in language teaching – a case study (2013-03)
Pulker, Helene and Calvi, Anna
In : OER13: Creating a Virtuous Circle (26-27 Mar 2013, Nottingham, UK)
Teacher's Practices through Adaptation of Open Educational Resources for Online Language Teaching (2019-05-22)
Pulker, Hélène
edd thesis The Open University
Tookit "Moving your Language Teaching Online" (2020)
von Lindeiner-Stráský, Karina; Pulker, Hélène; Barkanyi, Zsuzsanna; Pleines, Christine and Vialleton, Elodie
Open Learn Create