--- Forwarded Message from Rachel Saury <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 09:00:01 -0400
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum    <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Rachel Saury <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Using technology to save $$ and to revolutionize learning
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>

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Dear colleagues and friends,

I have an interesting nut for everyone to chew on.  It is a commonly 
expressed view in our field that the new digital technologies are primarily 
being used within a curricular model that differs little from when we 
relied on analog technologies.  This manifests as students primarily 
listening to digitized audiotapes and video with some recording of their 
responses.  If the digital technologies are being used in innovative ways, 
it is still within the traditional classroom structure: students meeting in 
class 3-5 hours/week (depending upon the level) with a single instructor 
with homework assignments, both written and oral, to be done at home and in 
the lab.  It is interesting to note that the report from the Mellon 
Foundation in 1998 after years of funding foreign language instructional 
technology projects, came to the conclusion that making the leap into using 
the technology in ways that could truly cut costs is challenging.

I have been intrigued by Virginia Tech's Math Emporium model.  About four 
years ago, VA Tech decided that they needed a more cost-effective way to 
deliver basic math instruction.  They dismantled the traditional structure 
of the class, with students meeting in large lecture halls with a single 
instructor--usually a TA under the supervision of a full-time faculty 
member.  They purchased an old Rose's building (Rose's is a southern 
version of K-Mart), installed a few hundred computers in various 
configurations and groupings to allow for individual, paired and group 
work, created learning modules, and restructured the commitment of faculty 
and TA time.  Students primarily did their work using the computer-based 
learning modules.  They had paired and group projects and could also choose 
to go to lectures on various areas of mathematics, if they felt they needed 
extra help.  Faculty members and TAs held their "office hours" in the lab 
and were available to tutor students.  Small group sessions with 
instructors were also scheduled for group discussion and questions.

Here at UVA, the Spanish Dept. is facing a crisis:  enrollments in first 
year Spanish are up, with the result that each class has 30 students with 
one instructor.  There is no end in sight in terms of enrollment, but 
funding for more TAs is not keeping up with demand.  I have been 
considering whether the Math Emporium model could be applied creatively to 
foreign languages in such a way that students could actually get more 
one-on-one tutoring, more opportunities for communication with an 
instructor and with other students, and more drilling and rote pratice to 
reinforce grammatical forms and vocabulary.  In the end, I don't think what 
students would learn in terms of quantity or quality would be 
sacrificed.  But I do think that learning could be more dynamic, with 
students being exposed to more varied communicative contexts and 
opportunities than in the current structure.

I would be interested in your ideas and thoughts.  Are there any programs 
out there right now that are trying this out?  Do you think this could 
work?  If so, how?  Can you refer me to any sources?

Thanks!

Rachel Saury


Rachel E. Saury, Ph.D.
Director, Arts & Sciences Center for Instructional Technologies
P.O. Box 400784
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4784
(804) 924-6847 ph.
(804) 924-6875 fax
www.people.virginia.edu/~res4n