I would say it definitely depends on what your faculty and students are doing (or hope to do) in your space. We happen to be very lucky that we have several recording studios, maker spaces, and media centers on our campus, so students have options if they are looking to make recordings, videos, websites, etc.
Here at Oberlin we are in the midst of a renovation and our top priorities for our language colleagues included:
- Moveable and adjustable height tables. Our instructors can organize the classroom area into whatever shape best fits their class and can easily make adjustments during the lessons if it suits them. (we went with school outfitters for all of our furniture)
- soft seating that is comfortable and easily moveable - our students LOVE our couches and bean bags and have started having group meetings for projects and clubs in our soft seating areas. They are allowed to eat and drink in here and are able to move any items of furniture anywhere in the center, which they love.
- an interactive projection system (we went with Epson) and our screen is a whiteboard that has interactive capabilities - they came as a set. This is brand new and we haven't tested it out on a class yet, but we are so excited that faculty will have the ability to download their interactions with the screen and post it to their blackboard accounts later.
- individual viewing rooms with multi-region dvd players
- we added a few more apple tvs to our center to make sure people can connect in various areas at the same time
Still on our list is a kitchen!
Best,
Jessica
Jessica Greenfield, PhD
Director of the Cooper International Learning Center and Lecturer in Italian
Oberlin College & Conservatory
Peters Hall 331
50 North Professor Street
Oberlin, OH 44074
440-775-8595
https://www.oberlin.edu/jessica-greenfield The Cooper International Learning Center
Oberlin College & Conservatory
Peters Hall 324
50 North Professor Street
Oberlin, OH 44074
440-775-6734
https://languages.oberlin.edu <
https://languages.oberlin.edu/>
On 3/7/18, 4:51 PM, "Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum on behalf of Nicholas Cifuentes-Goodbody" <
[log in to unmask] on behalf of
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi Everyone,
I just got an inquiry from someone setting up a language lab from scratch, and I wanted to get some wisdom from the group.
Are there any US or UK vendors that you would recommend for building a language lab from the ground up? I know there's been some discussion of software vendors, but I'm curious if anyone has had positive experiences with a vendor that helps with hardware, too.
Beyond computer stations with AV add-ons, is there any equipment that you feel is key for language labs to have in this day and age. VR? More complex video/audio editing? What's on everyone's Christmas list?
Best,
Nicholas Cifuentes-Goodbody
Associate Director of the Language Center
University of Southern California
Taper Hall of Humanities, Rm. 309
3501 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California 90089-4354
213-740-1158