--- Forwarded Message from "Waid, Alexander Ph.D." <[log in to unmask]> --- >Subject: RE: #7821 Language Labs Living On Borrowed Time? >Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 07:34:44 -0500 >Disposition-Notification-To: "Waid, Alexander Ph.D." <[log in to unmask]> >Thread-Topic: #7821 Language Labs Living On Borrowed Time? >Thread-Index: AcUfb7G/MboHsDW8TA+yjp7LRHkoCAAfAsGA >From: "Waid, Alexander Ph.D." <[log in to unmask]> >To: "Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum" <[log in to unmask]> Actually, in our case (US Coast Guard Academy), there is no lab manual work done in the language lab: since we're on a closed network, I got permission to put those materials on the campus intranet for my students, they do that at home. The lab's more of a resource center. I and other professors can create or digitize materials, while the students use it with me for classwork where we want to work on telephony (as CG Officers, they'll be talking to people via staticky radios a lot!) as a group, or in pairs or small groups. They work on writing assignments there. There's a small collection of reading materials and audio/visual materials that are there for perusing, or, sometimes it's assigned as homework; there are programs such as Rosetta Stone for those who want to do some learning/refreshing on their own... It's really a Language Library for the students and materials development center for the faculty (including History folks, English folks...). Students can also do recordings in there. For instance, an English instructor had his students record original poetry in there and then just put all the "submissions" on a CD and gave it out to his class so they'd have a copy. If you've got internet connectivity, cultural research can be accomplished in there as part of a day's lesson plan: digital scavenger hunts done in teams in a competitive setting (first team to find all ten items wins a candy bar, 1 point on the next quiz, a mystery prize [which all too often ends up being office supplies!]...). There's tons of stuff that can be done in that space. cheers, alex Alexander Waid, Ph.D. Professor of Spanish Department of Humanities United States Coast Guard Academy (dh) Department of Humanities 27 Mohegan Avenue New London, CT 06320-4195 860-701-6866 -----Original Message----- From: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of LLTI-Editor Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 4:35 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: #7821 Language Labs Living On Borrowed Time? --- Forwarded Message from "David Flores" <[log in to unmask]> --- >Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2005 16:28:47 -0500 >From: "David Flores" <[log in to unmask]> >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Language Labs Living On Borrowed Time? Our principal Spanish textbook is going to its 6th edition this Summer, and following a trend I've noticed with many FL textbooks lately: the workbook and much of the audio/video content that was traditionally housed in Language Learning Centers is being placed on the web. If this trend continues, much of our raison d'etre simply vanishes into cyberspace. Sure we still schedule and show foreign language films in our in-house theatre. Sure we still provide video production and editing facilities for classes that might have a short film project as an assignemnt. Sure we are open for instructors to run headset-based, interactive class sessions. But most of the use our lab sees... let's face it... is due to students completing their lab manual assignments and listening to the audio-tracks that are stored locally on our server. So how many of you guys are worried about your labs disappearing in 5 or so years? And have you any thoughts on how to keep the lab relevant even if textbook manufacturers move most of their audio/video content online? David Flores Director: Language Learning Center Loyola College in Maryland 4501 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21210 Ph: (410) 617-5230 Fax: (410) 617 2859 *********************************************** > LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for >Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and >Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu). >Join IALLT at http://iallt.org. >Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask]) >***********************************************