--- Forwarded Message from "Noel Eyre" <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 10:22:04 +1300
>From: "Noel Eyre" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: language lab experience

Greetings Ursula and listserv participants

Last year the Auckland University of Technology ( NZ) School of
Languages prior to replacied one of its aging Tandburg language labs.
Prior to its replacement the teachers in the department engaged in a
sometimes spirited discussion on the adantages and disadvantages of of
analogue vs digital (not multimedia).  In the end we bought a more
modern analogue Tandburg.   The primary considerations that swayed us
were:

1. We had a considerable library of audio cassettes which would take
months and much labour & $$ to convert to digital.

2. We wished to be able to provide cassettes of language lab sessions
that students could take home.

3. We wanted the language lab to be available for self-access by
students without the need for supervision of the lab.

4. Ease and confidence of use for both students and teachers was an
important criteria.
a. We have many part time staff and we don't have the resources for
frequent in-service training that was perceived to be required would
be required for a digital lab vs an analogue one. (this assumption may
be a bit presumptious)
b. Quite a number of staff  admit tro being "techno phobic" and are
presently more comfortable with 'real' buttons and 'real' cassettes
rather than 'vurtual' buttons and sound files.

What we wanted was a language lab that combined both analogue and
digital. Our perception was that digital language labs have not yet
matured, that they were basically structured like the familiar anlogue
labs but using digital media.

The primary advantage of a digital lab is the speed of transfer of
material from the teacher console to the student recorders.

We compromised and bought a bay of very fast cassette copiers which
can copy one master cassette  to 15 copies at 15x speed.

Next year or the year after, we may be replacing another language
lab, at that point we will reconsider, hopefully by then digital
language labs will be more mature.  A multimedia lab used for
languages purposes may also be an option.  I would be interested in
hearing the experience of CAN 8 users.

Regards

Noel Eyre
School of Languages
Auckland University of Technology
[log in to unmask]




>>> LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]> 01/22/00 02:23am >>>
--- Forwarded Message from Ursula Williams <[log in to unmask]>
---

>Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 13:36:47 -0500
>To: [log in to unmask]
>From: Ursula Williams <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: language lab experience

John asked me to post this to the list. I suspect this might generate
some
discussion on LLTI, so I will encourage him to join. Here's his
post:

May I ask your help?
>>
>> Our institution currently has a fairly traditional Language
Learning
>> Laboratory (analog audio carrels, video carrels, etc.).  We plan
to move
>> from a traditional analog facility to a computer-assisted digital
facility
>> this summer and a small committee of faculty users is assisting in
the
>> planning and implementation stage.  We would be interested in
hearing from
>> any people at medium-sized universities who have made this
transition (the
>> committee is even interested in possibly connecting via
teleconference to
>> explore experiences with faculty/staff from another institution).
>>
>> If you have made such a transition and would be willing to share
your
>> experiences, please let me know (contact name, institution,
address, type
>> of facility, phone numbers, e-mail, and web site address).
>>
>> Feel free to respond directly to me rather than to the entire
list.  My
>> e-mail address is [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> John Fick, Associate Director
>> Academic Support Center
>> University of Missouri-Columbia
>> 505 E. Stewart Rd.
>> Columbia, MO 65211-2040
>> [log in to unmask]
>> http://web.missouri.edu/~ascwww/
>