--- Forwarded Message from "Cahill, Linda E." <[log in to unmask]> --- >From: "Cahill, Linda E." <[log in to unmask]> >To: "'Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum'" <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: RE: #5979 planning lab >Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2001 09:24:25 -0500 ------------------ Hi Isabella, Here's a description of our lab. (This is a repeat to many others on LLTI.) University of Miami ILI 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 University of Miami Intensive English Program [log in to unmask] > -----Original Message----- > From: LLTI-Editor [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Monday, March 05, 2001 5:28 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: #5979 planning lab > > --- Forwarded Message from "isabella bertoletti" > <[log in to unmask]> --- > > >From: "isabella bertoletti" <[log in to unmask]> > >To: <[log in to unmask]> > >Subject: planning lab > >Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2001 12:01:34 -0500 > > The University I work for is planning a language technology center/ > language resource center. We have a small language student body and our > classes (max 25 students) are accompanied by their instructor to the lab. > Advice is needed on the best way to get started. Also, what is the best > language learning instructional software that could be purchased for > students to get exposure to 4 target languages (namely, Italian, French, > Spanish and Japanese) guided by an instructor. > > Any suggestions / URLs, etc.? > > Thanks in advance, > > Isabella Bertoletti > > FIT, SUNY > > (212) 217-8760 > > [log in to unmask] > > > > > > > >