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--- Forwarded Message from Heather Colwell <[log in to unmask]> --- >Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 01:15:04 -0400 >From: Heather Colwell <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: #5628.3 Lab Experience (!) >To: [log in to unmask] It would be interesting to know how many students and how many classes this lab serves. Thanks On Wed, 19 Jul 2000 08:12:59 EDT, LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >--- Forwarded Message from "Cahill, Linda E." <[log in to unmask]> --- > >>From: "Cahill, Linda E." <[log in to unmask]> >>To: [log in to unmask] >>Subject: Lab description >>Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 13:04:20 -0400 > >OK--here goes. In response to some requests from LLTI participants for a >description of our lab. > >University of Miami Intensive English Program Media Center > > We constructed our Media Center (MC) at the University of Miami >Intensive English Program in August 1999. Each workstation includes a PC and >a built-into-the-desk cassette deck. We have a seven-foot oval table and >chairs in the back of the room. In the corner of the room we have a small >office where the assistant director of the MC sits. That office was built >with two large square windows facing the entrance to the lab on one side of >the office and the front of the lab on the other side. > The oval table has worked out well as a study area. Students meet >there during independent hours. The office with the windows (no blinds on >the windows) invites students to use the assistant director as a resource >(an unanticipated dynamic, and something that took quite a bit of adjustment >by our assistant director). We also have student assistants to monitor the >MC. > We chose Dell 450 PCs and a Tandberg audio system. The Dells were >the recommendation of our IT department. We chose the Tandberg system for >several reasons: We didn't like the technical configuration of our former >system and we wanted a system whose features were somewhat intuitive (in >contrast to the incomprehensible interface and technical manual of our >previous system). After visiting a Tandberg lab, visiting a competitor's >lab, and watching a demonstration from a third manufacturer, we found >Tandberg's software and hardware to be the best. I posted questions to other >lab managers on the Web and got positive reviews of Tandberg performance and >a few complaints (one very serious) about the technology of one of >Tandberg's closest competitors. > We needed our lab built (total room renovation included), wired, and >ready to go in three weeks (during a semester break). Since we had this >tight timeframe, and since ergonomics were an important aspect of the lab, I >chose Synsor furniture, which has a sleek Scandinavian look, but a studious, >old-fashioned library look at the same time. Another motive for choosing >that furniture is that Tandberg is a distributor. That fact reduced the >chance that the technical equipment wouldn't fit the furniture, thus >minimizing the chances of the furniture being set up, and then finding that >things didn't fit, having to reorder and redesign, etc. The furniture worked >out perfectly. We have thirty carrels that are semi-enclosed by dividing >side panels that are lined to reduce noise, and a plexiglass, numbered front >panel.The PCs have MS applications, access to instructional software (from a >Dell server and a Meridian CD Net 14-bay CD server), Internet access, and a >stability device called Centurion. The Centurion has been critical to the >success of the lab. Essentially, it partitions a temporary drive for student >use. When the system is rebooted, the system refreshes itself. We are >currently testing another product, Fortres, which has one big advantage over >Centurion, i.e., we can stipulate one area on the hard drives of each system >that won't be refreshed when rebooted. We also have a Hewlett Packard >LaserJet 8000 N printer, which has proved to be perfectly adequate. > Our teachers bring classes into the Media Center as a regular part >of the curriculum. The Tandberg system is controlled from the teacher's PC, >as any traditional language lab. In other words, the tape decks are stopped, >started, etc., by the teacher using the Tandberg interface. It can also be >set in library mode so that students can individually control their own tape >decks. It has all the features that our teachers requested, and more (e.g., >pairing students randomly or by selection, group conferencing, telephoning, >distributing a tape that's in the teacher's console to all or a group of >students in the lab; testing with the teacher's voice as the program source >and students recording from their carrel's cassette desks; testing with >tapes as the program source, etc.). Students are also free to come into the >Media Center to study independently. We keep the lab open three to four >hours after classes and an hour before classes. For independent study, we >added a Tandberg product called the Divace (soon to be updated to the >Tandberg "Duo" we hope), which we purchased experimentally and installed in >one row of our lab. The Divace (that's a Tandberg acronym) easily digitizes >analog tapes, compresses them with the same interface, and puts them on a >server. (I no longer have to worry about one tape out of the set of six >that's missing since the digitized "data" is duplicated on the server). >Another feature is that it has two tracks. In other words, a student can >independently come into the lab, sit at a system with a Divace, open the >interface, select a "tape" (now in digitized form) or digitized video, >listen, record his or her own voice (which would destroy an analog tape on >another system) and listen to his/her own voice. The Divace is >user-friendly, as are all the Tandberg interfaces. Our server is very small, >only about 10 gb, but we plan to add another 10 gb. It's runs Novelle. >When the teachers came back from their break to face a new system, they >panicked. After looking at other manufacturers' interfaces, I think it >probably would have been worse. After the first semester of Tandberg use, >the teachers felt comfortable, and they are using most of its features. >Students congregate here because the workstations are well >designed--conducive to whatever they want to do (study alone, collaborate >with the person next to them, use the PC and/or cassettes, watch a video). >They study independently more than ever, often using our Divaces. > We have four TV monitors attached to the ceiling from which we >project the videos (controlled at the teacher's workstation through the same >Tandberg interfaces). We also have a "Vizcam," essentially a camera that >projects but doesn't record. It's great to use not only as you would use an >overhead projector (better because it projects on the TV monitors and you >can project any image--your hand, a page from a book, rather than having to >use transparencies) but also because students can do presentations and >appear on "TV," which seems to inspire them. > The equipment almost never fails (teachers will claim technical >malfunction occasionally, but it is almost always pilot error). Things we >plan to add: a cable connection to run CNN at lunch time and lots of >web-based, teacher-authored material. > >Linda Cahill, PhD >Assistant Director for Learning Resources >University of Miami >Intensive English Program >[log in to unmask] > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: john w harris [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] >> Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2000 9:42 AM >> To: Cahill, Linda E. >> Cc: Ursula Williams >> Subject: Re: #5628.2 Language Lab experience (!) >> >> >> On Tue, 18 Jul 2000 08:01:56 EDT LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]> >> wrote: >> >> > --- Forwarded Message from Ursula Williams <[log in to unmask]> --- >> > >> > >In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> >> > >References: <[log in to unmask]> >> > >Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 14:13:42 -0500 >> > >To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum >> >> > <[log in to unmask]> >From: Ursula Williams <[log in to unmask]> >> > >Subject: Re: #5628.1 Language Lab experience (!) >> > >> > ------------------ >> > >--- Forwarded Message from "Cahill, Linda E." <[log in to unmask]> --- >> >> >> Linda, >> >> I second Ursula's interest in your program and want to know your answer to >> her >> question, "What's your secret?" >> >> John >> >> >> >> > > >> > > >From: "Cahill, Linda E." <[log in to unmask]> >> > > >To: "'Language Learning and Technology International Information >> > >Forum'" <[log in to unmask]> >> > > >Subject: RE: #5628 Language Lab experience >> > > >Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 16:17:10 -0400 >> > > >> > >------------------ >> > >Our lab is the most popular aspect of our program. Would you like a >> detailed >> > >description of the lab/program? Would that help? >> > > >> > >> > I for one would love to hear more about this, Linda. We have an >> > active lab at Notre Dame, but not as active as I would like to see, >> > given the large number of students completing foreign language >> > courses. There are always methods and strategies to promote the use >> > of the lab, and to make it more effective. Indeed I have a list of >> > benefits that I routinely quote when asked (and sometimes when not!) >> > But we are a long way from "most popular." What's your secret? Maybe >> > you could share with the list? >> > >> > Ursula >> > >> > -- >> > >> > Ursula Williams http://www.nd.edu/~uwilliam >> > Director >> > Language Resource Center http://www.nd.edu/~lrc >> > 201 O'Shaughnessy Hall >> > University of Notre Dame >> > [log in to unmask] >> > Notre Dame, IN 46556-5639 >> > 219.631.5881 >> >> ---------------------- >> John Harris >> Orlean Bullard Beeson Professor of Education >> & Associate Provost for Quality Assessment >> Samford University >> Birmingham, AL 35229-7020 >> (205) 726-2674 >> (205) 726-2908 FAX >> [log in to unmask]