--- Forwarded Message from "Mariana Stone" <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 15:11:46 -0500
>From: "Mariana Stone" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #7684.2 designing a language learning center from scratch (!)
I would like to add one more thing to the description Patricia gave and
that is the support Language Resource Centers give to other Foreign
Language Faculty in their quest to integrate this ever changing
technology into their classrooms.
Mariana Stone
Language Lab Director
NGCSU
>>> [log in to unmask] 11/1/2004 3:05:55 PM >>>
--- Forwarded Message from "Patricia Early" <[log in to unmask]>
---
>Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 14:10:12 -0400
>From: "Patricia Early" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #7684 designing a language learning center from scratch
Oddly enough, what seems to be keeping the interest of our students at
Georgia State is not the technology that we offer, but the LARC staff
and the individual student support we offer. We have a 35-position
Sanako lab, with media server and recording tools, and we work hard at
identifying emergent instructional media tools and making them
available
to our students. But you are right: for the most part what we are
doing
with the technology in the LARC will soon be available to individual
students at home or from other labs. What is not available at home or
via remote access is learning support.
We offer walk-in tutoring at GSU in 7 languages, as well as a quiet
place to study and a room full of language resources to help them.
Many
students come in just to do their homework in an environment where
they
know they can have an occaisional question answered. Others come in
to
study in groups. Another thing we've worked on is hiring primarily
language students, graduate and undergraduate, to work in the LARC so
that we can offer insight into effective study techniques, best
resources, and "sympathy" in general for the specific needs of
language
students.
What we've found is that the 1800 language students who utilize the
LARC each semester appreciate the personal communication and
"low-tech"
aspects of our "high-tech" language center. We hear many positive
comments about how our center and the language department provide
support that students often find lacking in other areas of the
university. I have found that students come in for assistance from
our
people, and then also use the technology as they need it. Our hours
of
usage in both tutoring and technology use continue to rise each
semester.
In conclusion, I do not think that specific technologies will be
enough
to differentiate the Language Learning Center from other computer labs
and draw students into the center; specialized Language student
support
will. In this age of more technology access but less personal
contact,
the student support we offer has become more valuable than our
computer
resources.
So, if I were going to start from scratch, I would add more space for
tutoring and group studying, and devote more resources to hiring and
training more student staff for support in these areas. One thing I
would like to add to our language center would be a "lounge" area for
watching international television in groups, and perhaps having social
hours where students could come in and visit with each other in the
target language. These are the kind of "human resources" that cannot
be
accessed from home or in a general purpose computer lab.
Patricia Early
Language Lab Coordinator
Georgia State University
>>> [log in to unmask] 10/29/04 01:30PM >>>
--- Forwarded Message from David Weible <[log in to unmask]> ---
>To: [log in to unmask]
>From: David Weible <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: designing a language learning center from scratch
>Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 09:01:47 -0500
I know this topic has come up in the past -- repeatedly, if I'm not
mistaken. But that was then and this is now.
It seems to me that the proliferation of ancillary CD-ROMs
accompanying
text books and web-based instructional materials, not to mention other
internet resources have all weakened certain aspects of traditional
language lab functions. Trying to project these trends into the
future,
what do you see to be the strengths now (and tomorrow) of
instructional
technology in foreign language learning. To put it another way, if you
were starting from scratch, what are the component elements of such a
unit which you would regard as essential and/or highly desirable.
In particular, what can and should be provided by such a unit which
would not already be available in a computer lab, or, for that matter,
on one's own home computer?
Among other possibilities, how do you feel about:
live foreign language audio, video
speech recognition
speech evaluation (programs which attempt to compare a learner's
pronunciation to a given model
on demand use by individual students
use by classes
locally developed CALL materials
use for second language acquisition research purposes (important to
us)
Any and all feedback on this will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
David Weible
Associate Professor and Acting Head
Department of Germanic Studies (MC 189)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Room 1530, University Hall
601 S. Morgan St.
Chicago, IL 60607-7115
Tel: 312-996-3205, Fax 312-413-2377
www.german.uic.edu
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Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask])
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