--- Forwarded Message from Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2005 18:24:40 -0500
>From: Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]>
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>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum
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>Subject: Re: #7821 Language Labs Living On Borrowed Time?
>References: <[log in to unmask]>
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
An interesting question... a couple of textbook reps were discussing
their online site with me the other day, and I was thinking that (1) our
lab would have nothing at all to do with implementing this ancillary if
the textbook was adopted, and (2) the reps wanted my opinion on the
interface and the likeliest professors to sell it to, and the profs
would no doubt want my opinion and promise of support if they were at
all tempted to adopt it.
That is to say, you can't have technology without somebody on the spot
to co-ordinate it.
Of course the textbook companies could have sold student audiotapes all
along, but the tapes are bulky and expensive to produce and ship,
quality control is hard to maintain, and it's hard to know just what
students want. So much easier to sell the lab manual and let the labs
administer the tapes.... Since at least 1987, when personal cassette
players were common, UF has copied (and recycled) lab tapes for students
to take home. Now we digitize the material and put it up on a server for
students to access at home.
So in fact our lab is not very much a place for doing the lab manual
audio--at most, it's a back-up system. It is however a classroom and
examination site, a resource for reserve materials that can't be copied,
an information center, and a help desk for the students who can't get
the online audio to work. It is (=I am) also to some extent a technical
resource for instructors developing their own materials. We're actually
pretty busy.
But--if supervised work on the lab manual is what your language lab is
for, then it doesn't really matter who is serving the audio/video--the
lab can still be the place with the really good headsets and mikes, and
support directed specifically to the lab manual sites, where students
can practice.
I suspect though that the big textbooks will take a while to get good
online sites up and running. The site I saw was set up to co-ordinate
with Blackboard and WebCt, because some schools may already be using
these course management programs--but it also supposedly could be used
*as* a course management system. But so long as it is the language lab
providing the site it will be something that either exploits or fits in
with the system at that particular school.
Judy Shoaf
University of Florida
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