--- Forwarded Message from "Noel Eyre" <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2000 16:29:07 +1300
>From: "Noel Eyre" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #5746.1 The LRC conundrum (!)
Judy Shoaf
So Judy, you are replacing your "1987 Sony classroom with a Tandberg
digital version sometime in the future" . In contrast, a FL lecturer
at AUT is pushing for one of our next language labs to be a Sony
digital (we use analogue Tandbergs presently).
I would be interested if you could elaborate on some of the factors
that influence you to change to Tandberg digital rather than move to a
Sony digital.
Thanks
Noel Eyre
[log in to unmask]
Media Technologist
School of Languages
Auckland University of Technology
>>> [log in to unmask] 10/07/00 01:19am >>>
--- Forwarded Message from Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2000 12:28:37 -0400
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum
<[log in to unmask]>
>From: Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #5746 The LRC conundrum
------------------
This question--Field of Dreams vs. Field of Needs--is an interesting
one.
As UF's language technology resources limp and scamper
towards the
future (we are supposed to replace our 1987 Sony classroom with a
Tandberg
digital version sometime in the future, if I can ever clear the
schedule of
classes enough to make it possible; we just upgraded and expanded
the
computer classrooms; and I am digitizing like mad), the continuum is
continually present in my mind.
One thing is that needs are being redefined even as we try
to
realize dreams. Between the time that the first computer lab was
planned,
and the time it was installed, the WWW basically happened, and
computers
were no longer just about wordprocessing or even multimedia any more.
There
was just a huge shift in concept from "It would be nice to do this
using a
computer, it would be good" to "It is absolutely necessary to do
these
things; we can't send teachers out into the world not knowing how to
teach
with the Web, we can't teach this class any more without Web access."
Another thing is that language lab space is being redefined.
Right
now at least one Japanese instructor is using a University Computing
Mac
classroom, because she is a Mac person and the Macs have the JLK
pre-installed (the language classroom has Pentiums). I would not even
be
considering digitizing if there wasn't a computer requirement for UF
students, so that they can replace "take-home" tapes with home access
to the
audio files; but of course our take-home tape program already
involved a
redefinition of language lab space.
Right now the projected Tandberg classroom, the most
expensive item,
is dictated by established needs. We have to have a place where
pronunciation can be taught, necessarily to a smallish group of
students
with a professor actually listening as they speak. I am also really
lucky in
that, with the large groups of grad students acting as TAs, there is
a
strong committment from the language departments to using the
techology even
if it involves rewriting the syllabus a bit. Also, they are quite
happy to
have me be the one who sets up the WebCT or other "virtual language
lab."
But, although supervisors etc. feel that the faculty are the
ones
who can best define their needs, I'm actually the one who knows all
the
different needs of the instructors, who can say, yes, this professor
will
use this feature and these others will want this one, and we have to
allow
for these 4 or 5 different types of speaking and listening tests. And
it
takes quite a while to get the needs in synch with the new
technology--to
see that Prof. A.'s fonts are installed and Prof. B's pronunciation
program
is available, and Prof. C's cds will play.
--and I have my dreams, too!
Judy Shoaf
University of Florida
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