--- 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]