--- Forwarded Message from Heather Colwell <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date:         Fri, 21 Jul 2000 01:15:04 -0400
>From: Heather Colwell <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      Re: #5628.3 Lab Experience (!)
>To: [log in to unmask]

It would be interesting to know how many students and how many classes this
lab serves.
Thanks


On Wed, 19 Jul 2000 08:12:59 EDT, LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>--- Forwarded Message from "Cahill, Linda E." <[log in to unmask]> ---
>
>>From: "Cahill, Linda E." <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: Lab description
>>Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 13:04:20 -0400
>
>OK--here goes. In response to some requests from LLTI participants for a
>description of our lab.
>
>University of Miami Intensive English Program Media Center
>
>        We constructed our Media Center (MC) at the University of Miami
>Intensive English Program in August 1999. Each workstation includes a PC
and
>a built-into-the-desk cassette deck. We have a seven-foot oval table and
>chairs in the back of the room. In the corner of the room we have a small
>office where the assistant director of the MC sits. That office was built
>with two large square windows facing the entrance to the lab on one side of
>the office and the front of the lab on the other side.
>        The oval table has worked out well as a study area. Students meet
>there during independent hours. The office with the windows (no blinds on
>the windows) invites students to use the assistant director as a resource
>(an unanticipated dynamic, and something that took quite a bit of
adjustment
>by our assistant director).  We also have student assistants to monitor the
>MC.
>        We chose Dell 450 PCs and a Tandberg audio system. The Dells were
>the recommendation of our IT department. We chose the Tandberg system for
>several reasons: We didn't like the technical configuration of our former
>system and we wanted a system whose features were somewhat intuitive (in
>contrast to the incomprehensible interface and technical manual of our
>previous system). After visiting a Tandberg lab, visiting a competitor's
>lab, and watching a demonstration from a third manufacturer, we found
>Tandberg's software and hardware to be the best. I posted questions to
other
>lab managers on the Web and got positive reviews of Tandberg performance
and
>a few complaints (one very serious) about the technology of one of
>Tandberg's closest competitors.
>        We needed our lab built (total room renovation included), wired,
and
>ready to go in three weeks (during a semester break). Since we had this
>tight timeframe, and since ergonomics were an important aspect of the lab,
I
>chose Synsor furniture, which has a sleek Scandinavian look, but a
studious,
>old-fashioned library look at the same time. Another motive for choosing
>that furniture is that Tandberg is a distributor. That fact reduced the
>chance that the technical equipment wouldn't fit the furniture, thus
>minimizing the chances of the furniture being set up, and then finding that
>things didn't fit, having to reorder and redesign, etc. The furniture
worked
>out perfectly. We have thirty carrels that are semi-enclosed by dividing
>side panels that are lined to reduce noise, and a plexiglass, numbered
front
>panel.The PCs have MS applications, access to instructional software (from
a
>Dell server and a Meridian CD Net 14-bay CD server), Internet access, and a
>stability device called Centurion. The Centurion has been critical to the
>success of the lab. Essentially, it partitions a temporary drive for
student
>use. When the system is rebooted, the system refreshes itself. We are
>currently testing another product, Fortres, which has one big advantage
over
>Centurion, i.e., we can stipulate one area on the hard drives of each
system
>that won't be refreshed when rebooted. We also have a Hewlett Packard
>LaserJet 8000 N printer, which has proved to be perfectly adequate.
>        Our teachers bring classes into the Media Center as a regular part
>of the curriculum. The Tandberg system is controlled from the teacher's PC,
>as any traditional language lab. In other words, the tape decks are
stopped,
>started, etc., by the teacher using the Tandberg interface. It can also be
>set in library mode so that students can individually control their own
tape
>decks. It has all the features that our teachers requested, and more (e.g.,
>pairing students randomly or by selection, group conferencing, telephoning,
>distributing a tape that's in the teacher's console to all or a group of
>students in the lab; testing with the teacher's voice as the program source
>and students recording from their carrel's cassette desks; testing with
>tapes as the program source, etc.). Students are also free to come into the
>Media Center to study independently. We keep the lab open three to four
>hours after classes and an hour before classes. For independent study, we
>added a Tandberg product called the Divace (soon to be updated to the
>Tandberg "Duo" we hope), which we purchased experimentally and installed in
>one row of our lab. The Divace (that's a Tandberg acronym) easily digitizes
>analog tapes, compresses them with the same interface, and puts them on a
>server. (I no longer have to worry about one tape out of the set of six
>that's missing since the digitized "data" is duplicated on the server).
>Another feature is that it has two tracks. In other words, a student can
>independently come into the lab, sit at a system with a Divace, open the
>interface, select a "tape" (now in digitized form) or digitized video,
>listen, record his or her own voice (which would destroy an analog tape on
>another system) and listen to his/her own voice. The Divace is
>user-friendly, as are all the Tandberg interfaces. Our server is very
small,
>only about 10 gb, but we plan to add another 10 gb. It's runs Novelle.
>When the teachers came back from their break to face a new system, they
>panicked. After looking at other manufacturers' interfaces, I think it
>probably would have been worse. After the first semester of Tandberg use,
>the teachers felt comfortable, and they are using most of its features.
>Students congregate here because the workstations are well
>designed--conducive to whatever they want to do (study alone, collaborate
>with the person next to them, use the PC and/or cassettes, watch a video).
>They study independently more than ever, often using our Divaces.
>        We have four TV monitors attached to the ceiling from which we
>project the videos (controlled at the teacher's workstation through the
same
>Tandberg interfaces). We also have a "Vizcam," essentially a camera that
>projects but doesn't record. It's great to use not only as you would use an
>overhead projector (better because it projects on the TV monitors and you
>can project any image--your hand, a page from a book, rather than having to
>use transparencies) but also because students can do presentations and
>appear on "TV," which seems to inspire them.
>        The equipment almost never fails (teachers will claim technical
>malfunction occasionally, but it is almost always pilot error). Things we
>plan to add: a cable connection to run CNN at lunch time and lots of
>web-based, teacher-authored material.
>
>Linda Cahill, PhD
>Assistant Director for Learning Resources
>University of Miami
>Intensive English Program
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: john w harris [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2000 9:42 AM
>> To:   Cahill, Linda E.
>> Cc:   Ursula Williams
>> Subject:      Re: #5628.2 Language Lab experience (!)
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 18 Jul 2000 08:01:56 EDT LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > --- Forwarded Message from Ursula Williams <[log in to unmask]> ---
>> >
>> > >In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> > >References: <[log in to unmask]>
>> > >Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 14:13:42 -0500
>> > >To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum
>>
>> > <[log in to unmask]> >From: Ursula Williams <[log in to unmask]>
>> > >Subject: Re: #5628.1 Language Lab experience (!)
>> >
>> > ------------------
>> > >--- Forwarded Message from "Cahill, Linda E." <[log in to unmask]> ---
>>
>>
>> Linda,
>>
>> I second Ursula's interest in your program and want to know your answer
to
>> her
>> question, "What's your secret?"
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>> > >
>> > >  >From: "Cahill, Linda E." <[log in to unmask]>
>> > >  >To: "'Language Learning and Technology International Information
>> > >Forum'"     <[log in to unmask]>
>> > >  >Subject: RE: #5628 Language Lab experience
>> > >  >Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 16:17:10 -0400
>> > >
>> > >------------------
>> > >Our lab is the most popular aspect of our program. Would you like a
>> detailed
>> > >description of the lab/program? Would that help?
>> > >
>> >
>> > I for one would love to hear more about this, Linda. We have an
>> > active lab at Notre Dame, but not as active as I would like to see,
>> > given the large number of students completing foreign language
>> > courses. There are always methods and strategies to promote the use
>> > of the lab, and to make it more effective. Indeed I have a list of
>> > benefits that I routinely quote when asked (and sometimes when not!)
>> > But we are a long way from "most popular." What's your secret? Maybe
>> > you could share with the list?
>> >
>> > Ursula
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> > Ursula Williams http://www.nd.edu/~uwilliam
>> > Director
>> > Language Resource Center http://www.nd.edu/~lrc
>> > 201 O'Shaughnessy Hall
>> > University of Notre Dame
>> > [log in to unmask]
>> > Notre Dame, IN 46556-5639
>> > 219.631.5881
>>
>> ----------------------
>> John Harris
>> Orlean Bullard Beeson Professor of Education
>> & Associate Provost for Quality Assessment
>> Samford University
>> Birmingham, AL 35229-7020
>> (205) 726-2674
>> (205) 726-2908 FAX
>> [log in to unmask]