Since LangLab has been mentioned on this board this past week, I'd like to make readers I have not notified separately aware that we recently put a new version (2.0) on our Web site http://www.elanglab.com as the downloadable demo. You may be interested in reading the extraordinarily enthusiastic review of it in the March issue of Language Magazine. This version is a multimedia four-skill solution: in structuring lessons, you can link to items in them any Web page or instructional resource in file form--video clips, longer audio files (e.g., streaming radio programs), image files, Powerpoints, documents with text and illustrations (perhaps a chapter of a textbook), etc. This capability lets you put the language in a cultural context and vary materials to keep students from getting bored. It also greatly simplifies secure remote access. The News page of our site has quotes from the review as well as a link to the article itself. For readers not yet familiar with LangLab, it is cross-platform software--a platform for teaching any language, and one that eliminates worries about what kind of computer students and faculty have outside the lab--usable in a computer room, on a LAN, or over the Internet. It combines self-paced work by the student with teacher-student interaction through real-time monitoring and a module for asynchronous feedback, letting instructors evaluate students' work (from home, for instance) and insert comments anywhere in a student's recording to guide the student. Easy-to-use authoring tools let instructors create lessons by structuring existing A/V and text materials or making their own. As those who have checked the price know, the cost of LangLab is a small fraction of that of other solutions with comparable functionality; we deliberately set out to make state-of-the-art technology affordable to a vastly greater range of educational institutions. Recent LLTI messages reflected interest in the pairing/grouping module we are going to inroduce later this year, and Thomas Plagwitz asked when it might be ready. Given the need for thorough beta-testing in actual classroom use, which we may not be able to do until our client and test site UC Berkeley resumes classes in August, my current estimate is around the end of the summer, but we cannot, of course, commit to a specific date. --Richard Laden ___________________________ Dr. Richard A. Laden Director, E-LangLab, LLC Berkeley, California [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] *********************************************** 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]) ***********************************************