--- Forwarded Message from "Dennie Hoopingarner" <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
>From: "Dennie Hoopingarner" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: I'm borrowing time because I don't have enough of my own! ;-)
>Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 08:33:32 -0500
>Importance: Normal

This is in response to David Flores' thought-provoking message about the
changing role of the language lab. I certainly don't think my lab is living
on borrowed time. We're doing so much more than checking out tapes that even
if tape disappeared tomorrow, we would still not have enough time to do
everything that's on our plate.

In my opinion, if language labs are doing the same thing that they were
doing ten years ago, then something is wrong. If language labs are doing the
same thing that they're doing in ten years, then something will be wrong.
One of the exciting aspects of my job is that it's always changing. Every
year we start doing something new, and some things, like tape, become more
and more marginal.

Yet we still maintain our tape library, and keep the tape equipment running,
because it's an important part of some language programs, and it's still
needed for testing. But for us, the "T" in IALLT is more prominent every
year.

We have found that, as language materials become more technology-intensive,
our services are needed even more. Instructors need training, the students
need a lab where "everything works" (i.e., there are headsets plugged into
the machines, the computers are configured to display non-roman fonts, word
processors have international spell checkers, the web browsers have the
correct versions of plugins). In short, we are doing at least as much as we
were before, but we're doing DIFFERENT things. And the new technologies
offer new pedagogical applications. For the past few years, we've been
supporting instructors who are having their classes produce video projects.
That requires hardware, software, and expertise that the university's
computing services just can't provide. My lab is the only unit in the
college who can provide the services needed to take advantage of innovative
technologies for language learning.

In the economic current climate, with its squeeze on departmental budgets,
it's healthy to stay on our toes. I always keep a mental list of the things
that we're doing at our lab, just in case some busybody administrator or
faculty member questions my lab's existence. Every once in a while, I hear
someone challenge my labor budget, for example. All I have to do is shoot
off half a dozen things that my student workers do for students and
instructors on a daily basis, and the challenge goes away.

I'm looking forward to FLEAT in August. It's always interesting to swap war
stories with my colleagues. Maybe this would be an interesting topic for an
ad-hoc panel discussion. Something like "why the language lab is relevant
today." I know it's certainly relevant at my institution.

Peace.

Dennie



Dennie Hoopingarner, Ph.D.
Director, Language Learning Center
Assistant Director for Technology Implementation, CLEAR
Michigan State University



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