The following summaries, written by Cindy Bravo, are derived from notes taken by John Esposito (College of Staten Island, CUNY). Thanks, John!

On Thursday afternoon, 3/13/03 26 NERALLDers, joined by 3 Yale faculty members, participated in a pre-meeting workshop focusing on presentation technologies and web page production.

SmartBoards: What’s all the fuss about?
(Susan Breeyear, Jeremy Gilpin and Jim Millard — St. Michael’s College, VT)

In introducing the SmartBoard session, Sue Breeyear noted the popularity of the Smartboard with both instructors and students at St. Michael’s College where it is used quite extensively. Using a portable SmartBoard connected to a laptop and LCD projection system, principal presenter, Jim Millard, known on campus as ‘Mr. Smart’, then proceeded to demonstrate the many features and capabilities of the SmartBoard. At its simplest, it is an interactive, touch-sensitive whiteboard equipped with colored styluses containing electronic ink and an eraser. The SmartBoard allows for the importing of images and clip art from various sources (including scanner); it is equipped with various drawing tools and advanced handwriting recognition software which allows the conversion of cursive writing to printed text. Instructors are able to change settings to individualize the SmartBoard to better recognize their handwriting. With SmartBoard’s Notebook software, one can annotate over, for example, Word and/or PowerPoint documents or web pages, capture the whole or any part of the document, (including video frames), navigate between document pages, and save the annotated pages as .pdf, txt, or HTML. If saved as HTML, these documents can be immediately uploaded to a web server. This Notebook format gives the user great flexibility, since one can edit presentations anywhere and use them later in class with the SmartBoard. Although the SmartBoard is compatible with both PCs and Macs, the "recorder " feature is not available for the Mac. With multiple applications running in the background, SmartBoard can record in .avi format everything that happens on the desktop — a very useful feature for instructional demos and presentations.

During the Q&A portion of the presentation, additional SmartBoard features and limitations were noted. Jeremy Gilpin indicated that currently SmartBoard recognizes (handwriting-wise) only Roman characters. If non-Roman characters are installed in Word, the text may be captured and used in the Notebook. Essentially foreign text is being used as a graphic file in SmartBoard. As for other capturing, SmartBoard does not capture audio. There are many useful templates included in the SmartBoard software, such as clock faces and graphs. SmartBoards are available in a range of sizes and prices. A portable Board costs about $600; a larger wall-mounted unit is about $1,200. (NOTE: The wall-mounted models are easier to use and less "buggy" than the portable). There is also a tablet PC version for about $3,000. Go to http://www.smarttech.com/for more information and to find out about the scholarships made available for "Smart" users. (NOTE: The Smart Ideas software is free!)

"mimio" Demo
(Barbara Sawhill — Oberlin College, OH)

Barbara Sawhill began her demonstration of the presentation technology mimio by stating that it is an extremely portable device that can be used with any whiteboard. It does not require its own power source. Its components are: a high-resolution ultrasonic capture bar (which is suction-cupped to the whiteboard), color-coded marker sleeves that hold standard whiteboard markers, and an electronic eraser. Basically, the sleeved markers send signals to the mimio capture system. mimio can "talk" directly with printers, if being used without a computer.

Extremely portable and affordable (approx. $500-$600), mimio is, however, a cross-platform product, although it has been more widely used in a Windows environment. There are several plug-ins available to expand the functionality of mimio: (1) Similarly to a feature of the SmartBoard, mimioMouse, with an LCD projector connected to the computer, allows you to control your desktop from the whiteboard; (2) mimio writingRecognition (for English only) converts notes written in ink on your whiteboard or flipchart into editable text; (3) mimio boardCast streams whiteboard notes with synchronized audio. Since anything that is written on the whiteboard is captured to mimio and Glance software allows the captures to be uploaded to the Web where presentations can be seen live, mimio works well for distance learning. mimio allows capturing in the following formats: jpeg, HTML, QuickTime, i-movie or a dv file. These capturing formats are particularly useful as they will allow you to see how you arrived at the final "product" by viewing individual snapshots along the way; you can see the entire process, back up and see it again. Materials captured in HTML can be uploaded to course management tool systems. Speaking creatively, one could even create animations by connecting a series of jpegs or any other graphic image together. This could be helpful for captured presentations using non-Roman characters; for example, while this animation sequence could not recognize non-Roman handwriting, the stroke order of the non-Roman characters could be captured. Another big plus: Captured sessions are saved in extremely small sizes; for example, a 45-minute session might be saved as 1MB.

Brainstorming Session: SmartBoard and mimio vs. PowerPoint and Chalk (Workshop Participants)

Following the SmartBoard and mimio demonstrations, workshop participants highlighted the pluses and minuses of each presentation technology and discussed the possible pedagogical uses of these presentation tools. The following is a side-by-side accounting of the discussion:

HTML Basics (Dick House — University of New Hampshire)

Here is the basic skeleton of an HTML document:

<HTML>

<HEAD>

<TITLE> Your title goes here. This appears at the top of the web page.

</TITLE>

</HEAD>

<BODY>

This is where all your information goes.

</BODY>

</HTML>

Some other common, useful tags: <BR> Paragraph break; <P></P> to format a paragraph; <FONT> is the main tag which also uses attributes such as color, size, and face; <B></B> is used for bold; <I></I> is used for italics; <U></U> for underline. [NOTE: The way a page is viewed is dependent upon the settings of the individual computer used to view the document.]

<A> stands for Anchor tag and is used for links. Here is an example of an external or full link:

<a href="http://iallt.org/" name="external links">Click here to see the list of useful links recommended by IALLT</a>

Here is an example of a relative link:

<a href="meeting/index.html" name="upcoming meeting">Upcoming Meeting</a> If you use a relative link, you’re using the smallest number of jumps to paths within your directory. What appears between the <a> tags will appear underlined and will be the hyperlink.

<img> is used for images <img src ="images/logo.jpg"> Using img tags and file names is the only time that you really have to worry about case, because certain servers are case-sensitive. Some useful attributes to be used with img tags are Width & Height <img src="images/logo.jpg" width="202" height="153">

ALT attribute is used for images that cannot be shown on certain computers. This attribute is very useful for vision-impaired users. ALIGN, top, middle, bottom, left, center, right controls the orientation of the image on the page.

Dick closed by mentioning the "Poor Man’s" Web Page maker and Style sheets: In Microsoft Word — "Save as a Web Page"; also Netscape Composer has some good editing capabilities.

Dreamweaver Demo and Basics (Mary Morrisard-Larkin — College of the Holy Cross, MA)

Mary Morrisard-Larkin first distributed to participants a "Dreamweaver Quicksheet" and then proceeded to demonstrate the basics of the web development tool Dreamweaver 4 as outlined in the handout, starting with the creation of a "site". Creating a "site" helps in the management of the pages you are working on. If you ever decide to re-name pages or images, or move them into folders, Dreamweaver will check all the other pages in your "site" and update links automatically. The steps in creating a site are: (1) creating a folder on the P: drive where all files associated with websites will be saved, (2) opening Dreamweaver, selecting "New Site", and naming it, (3) selecting the "Local Root Folder" (the directory that was created on the P: drive), (4) clicking OK (twice), then "Done". Using a Holy Cross site as model, Mary systematically demonstrated how to manage files, as well as how to change page properties (title, background, text or link colors) using the "Modify ® Page Properties" option. Note that available in Dreamweaver is a "web safe colors" graph: the default color for text is blue; for a visited site, purple. Moving on to the formatting of text, Mary illustrated the use of the formatting "Properties Box" and offered some tips: (1) Use "shift-enter" to get rid of automatic double spacing, (2) Using "relative sizes" will make it easier for the vision-impaired to use your site, (3) Heading tags are used in web browser readers for the blind. Links can also be made using the "Properties Box". First highlight the text you want to link, then enter the URL in the "Link" box or click on the adjacent yellow folder to select a file from the "site" directory. To insert an image, use either the Insert drop down menu or the "Objects Box" and click on the tree button there to initiate a search for an image in the site folder. Again for the vision-impaired, it is a good idea to provide alternative text for that image. An image map can be created.

Previewing one’s work is important. In Dreamweaver there are 3 options to preview pages in a web browser without having to upload them to a web server: (1) Press F12, (2) Click on the Globe icon ® Preview in Internet Explorer or Netscape, or (3) Go to File® Preview in Browser® IE or Netscape. Mary likes tools that let you update things automatically. The "Templates" and "Library" features available in Dreamweaver facilitate automatic updating throughout the site. Templates can be defined as pages where certain elements are fixed and appear the same on every page in a site. You must have at least one "region" on the template that can be changed or edited. Whenever you change something on the template, all pages that have been created using it will also be automatically updated. Similarly "Library" items are pieces of a webpage, like a navigation bar, that might be used on all pages of a website. By putting an item in the "Library" it will only need to be changed in one place; it will subsequently be automatically changed on all pages where it appears. Another notable feature, Dreamweaver 4 comes with its own ftp server software.

The following summaries, written by Claire Keith, are derived from notes taken by Bruce Parkhurst (Boston University) and Cindy Bravo (Boston College). Thanks to all!

President Cindy Bravo welcomed the group, new members, NEALLT guests, and Yale faculty. With wit and wisdom, Dick House, the program Chair, usefully reminded all participants of the six natural phases in any project: Enthusiasm, Disillusionment, Panic, Search for guilty parties, Punishment of innocents, and Praise for non-participants. He outlined the balancing act of matching technology to the needs of ‘clients’, and called for a high level of interaction among meeting participants so all could join in finding best practices.

Outgoing president Cindy Bravo was presented with signed cards and a large bouquet of flowers, in thanks for her extended tenure as NERALLD President.

The Trials of Getting Non-Roman Fonts into WebCT (Marisa Castagno - Connecticut College, CT)

While developing a Web page for Intermediate Chinese 202 within WebCT, Marisa encountered a display problem. The Biau Kai font, preferred because it closely resembles handwritten characters, failed to display correctly in WebCT 3.80 even though it worked in other environments, including an earlier version of WebCT. Other standard fonts were available but were deemed less appropriate for the course.

An investigation ensued, with the following steps taken:

• 1. Check and compare display of HTML pages: • How did they display in browser? (OK) • In WebCT Preview mode? (OK) • In display mode? (not OK)
• 2. Try with different character sets: • Changing the character set did not help.
• 3. Try different ways of getting the same HTML file into WebCT. They noted a difference of display for a given page uploaded as follows: • WebCT Tools (not OK) • uploaded as a single page (not OK, except with a random act of window resizing!) To add to the mystery, files displayed properly in WebCT 3.6 but not 3.8!
• 4. Seek tech support for a solution: • They contacted WebCTÕs tech support; the latter suggested "using Unicode encoding" (but BiauKai is not supported in Unicode in Fall 02), or "use pdf files" (not a satisfactory solution, as it is only relevant for text that will not be changing, which did not meet their needs nor solve the underlying problem).
• 5. Check server configuration: (help was needed, since Marisa herself does not have server expertise) • The WebCT server is an Apache 1.3.26 / Unix. They checked the Apache server support site:
• 6. http://httdp.apache.org/docs This is where they found the answer. • Sys config file: httpd.conf • Directory: home dir. • Use the directive to assign a given filename ext (big 5) to a specified character set (Traditional Chinese Big 5) • Add CharSet big 5. With the new .big 5 extension, the page displayed properly.

With regard to resolving the final compatibility issues, Marisa asked the audience to note that:

• Add Charset works only for Apache 1.3.10 and later • The file name extension varies with browser: myfile.big5 works with Internet Explorer only; myfile.big5.html works with Netscape, Internet Explorer, and WebCT.

Neralld’s Dick House inquired about the human factor in solving the problem. The people involved were Marisa herself, the WebCT administrator, the faculty member, and some IT computer support. Responding to Jeremy Gilpin’s question regarding the choice of font, Marisa noted that WebCT’s first response to the problem report was the same —"why not just use a different font?" Connecticut College found it important not to compromise, and answered that the course required BiauKai.

Servers: Cheap to Complex (Otmar Foelsche - Dartmouth College, NH)

NOTE: A comprehensive handout was distributed and will be available at the NERALLD website.

After asking who in the audience had or desired a dedicated server for their lab, Otmar reviewed the functions of a server and the components in the serving chain: Backbone — switch — server — client. He then presented and discussed the fundamentals questions of server management:

1) What affects the strength and reliability of the delivery?

2) So what delivery method is best to use?

3) What should you look for in a server?

So-called RAID arrays (an option that applies to SCSI and IDE, ATA, and FireWire ) allows you to share set of hard drives for maximum efficiency through mirroring and so-called hot-swapping capabilities.

4) How should the servers be housed and protected?

Think in terms of NOISE, HEAT, SECURITY. Noise must not affect nearby offices; physical security requires adequate ventilation, a secure access system and virus protection. Often IT will offer to run a hacker scan on your server to check for ‘open doors’ in your system where hackers might come in. You have to look into the service software on your server to see what running processes can be safely turned off. The fewer doors open, the easier it will be to manage security. File Back-up is also essential. As a case study: Dartmouth has a 1/2 terabyte of server space = 3-4 big hard drives. It started using CDs for server backups and is now looking at DVD - 4.7GB. DLT (Digital Linear Tape) holds more but does not offer the same instant access as DVD. Institutions may also provide back-up on central mainframes or network storage.

5) What do YOU need?

Look at overall level of functionality for an appropriate match to your needs, then look at the various systems available.

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server (coming soon, Version 2003) is easy to set up and to operate, can run AppleShare (i.e. makes it platform compatible). Special prices are offered to those who are part of the Microsoft campus agreements.

OSX in its current, 3^rd generation version is very different from the first two. Its great advantage is a low price with unlimited clients and its UNIX base. Permissions and account handling are more difficult than windows 2000 Server; Dartmouth has several servers of this type running - but in "production/mission critical" mode.

LINUX is fast becoming the standard, the favorite of the young assistants sent by IT to support you! It is extremely stable, very elegant in its internal functions, but it is very complex and has a very steep learning curve: only for those who really know what they’re doing, or have their own support staff.

In any option, some kind of mirroring is a feature essential to high-quality, uninterrupted services. At Dartmouth, at 3am each day, the two language lab servers look at each other and update themselves. This redundancy (the mirror feature) ensures that nothing is lost and whatever got changed/updated on one server gets updated on the other. If one server breaks down, the other server can be reestablished immediately.

The following Q&A followed Otmar’s presentation:

• How do we manage the big server? Two choices. 1. Leave server management to IT. (Disadvantage: slow response in emergencies and lack of flexibility.) 2. Do it yourself (Disadvantage: you get the flak when something goes wrong and You need to fix it.). Memory — what is needed? - One GB minimum• How to balance hard drive purchases on a limited budget? - Buy several smaller rather than one larger. • How about Real Audio vs. QT server? - "RealAudio server I consider to be a virus." • How about multiple processors? - It has to do with how processes and operating systems work together. • Copyright issues? - You need to be (at a minimum) domain-protected and password-protected. • What is the minimum to get started? - Cheaper servers for 20 people, in $1000 range, are a good way to start for a multimedia service.

Using WebPractest to Create Self-Correcting Testing Materials
(Mary Morrisard-Larkin - College of the Holy Cross, MA)

WebPractest was created by Gary Smith, a German professor at the College of William and Mary. It is free, and stored on a College of William & Mary server. The program is used at the College of the Holy Cross as pre-testing material for students enrolled in the Self-Paced Language Program. It was selected for its ability to maintain the Holy Cross testing format and to provide immediate feedback to students. It usually consists of multiple choice and True/False options, and can create a CLOZE paragraph where color (red= error/green = correct answer) is used for correction purposes. The student’s grade is calculated as the test progresses, and the results (answers and score) can be sent to the instructor. The program is not designed to administer real tests, except in a controlled environment. While it can insert text for instructions, and the possibility exists for inserting sound and video clips and/or images, the program cannot attach answer explanations. There is no limitation to the size of the answer between the lines, but each blank is weighted equally in the test. The program works better in Internet Explorer than in Netscape. To sum up the pros and cons:

Advantages: Web Practest allows the instructor to maintain his/her preferred testing methodology; the tests can include anything you would find on a web page; and it can be used with 11 different languages.

Disadvantages: From the faculty perspective, some knowledge of HTML makes the creation process easier. It is not well suited for "real" testing due to the limitations listed above, notably the inability to weight the point value of questions. From the students’ perspective, it is case sensitive, which they sometimes find troublesome.

Mary demonstrated the program from both the student-use point of view and the faculty-as-test-creator point of view.

Faculty View: (1) Start with a Word doc. To create the blank the student sees in the practest, the teacher must type the test item within "uprights" ( | - | ). There can be more than one correct answer within these uprights (Example: | étudiant ^étudiante | - The ^ symbol indicates the 2 possibilities of responses); (2) Make a web page — In MSWord, use "Save as Webpage" function, close then open in WebEditor — Use Notepad, copy the code seen; (3) Go back to Practest — Choose the language of your exercise, Add email address for delivery, Convert, Copy the code into it, Create a new "Save As" document.

One Potato, Two: Web-Based Quizzes with Hot Potatoes (Jerie Milici - Greenwich High School, CT)

Hot Potatoes has 6 different programs from which the following type of exercises can be created — Multiple Choice, Gap-Fill, Crossword, Jumbled Sentence, Matching, Short Answer. One basically works with templates - Write a question/Put in the answer; Export what you’ve done and save. The exercises are self-grading. Exercises can be saved in different formats and exported to WebCT, if desired. As Jerie did not have a server, she went to Quia, a resource that gives a website to pages created by teachers. It costs $37.00/year for a group of teachers, and allows essay-style activities and basically all types of quizzes, as well as the inclusion of sound and images. Hot Potatoes projects are linked into Quia which also links to other URLS of exercises, such as "Conjuguemos".

An Assessment of Blackboard Assessments (Dick House - University of New Hampshire)

Dick gave a review of the assessment module available in the course management tool Blackboard version 5.5, and he previewed some of the features of the module in version 6.0 which is just coming out. He suggested that one check to see if one’s campus is upgrading.

Version 5.5:

Assessments are traditional, like multiple choice, etc.

They are complex to manage.

Repetitive clicks are needed to create as you go.

The Assessment Manager is partially Unicode compliant.

All work must be done online.

Upgrade 6.0:

Some of the work can be done offline.

Has addressed a one-step identification of the type of exercise you’re creating

In the complexity department, there is some improvement on intuitiveness

Blackboard provides automatic access to website, and the Path and Directory business is handled by Blackboard. It can perform automatic scoring that feeds into an online grade book. Online averages are provided to students only on the basis of activities done directly online through Blackboard, Copyright is a non-issue because of password-protected access.

Dick’s overall summary of Blackboard’s assessment tools stood as follows:

It costs a lot of money (cost calculated per user).

It is creative because you supply the content.

Traditional kinds of questions can be set up.

Potential problems include that the server can go down, and grades are not necessarily official (Version 6.0, however, accommodates specific faculty person’s grading style [i.e. you can tell Blackboard the weight of an item and you can tell Bb what an A is worth in terms of number grade; you can fix something in a test and the grades of the tests already taken are not compromised].

It cannot plug in an oral response.

It is not known yet whether version 6.0 is completely user-friendly to non-Roman characters, but experimentation is currently documented by the User group.

The Blackboard User Group Leader is Samantha Earp at Duke University

From Email to Virtual Museum: Uses of Web Technology in Intermediate Language Learning
(Robin Clouser - Ursinus College, PA and Michelle Sims - Mount Saint Joseph Academy, PA)

Robin and Michelle worked together on integrating technology into the Intermediate German course at Ursinus College (Robin teaches German there; Michelle was previously an Instructional Technologist at Ursinus; she’s now at Mt. St. Joseph Academy). In 1997, Ursinus was the recipient of a Mellon Grant for faculty development in technology. They had the idea of an email and digital photo exchange between sister schools in US & Germany, because there would be nothing to purchase and nothing new to learn (i.e. Everyone was already familiar enough with email. (This is in line with Robin Clouser’s recommendation: start with familiar uses of technology). The students had to write a 2-part autobiography to accompany their photo. There was some concern that male students might go on "babe patrol", so teachers designed the exchange to be based on a group Q&A with input provided by all participants. It was an invigorating experience, and student evaluations termed it "lively and exciting."

To improve upon the experience, they took inspiration from CET’s Virtual Museum (Middlebury College, Center for Educational Technology). Virtual Museum (VM) features a beautiful "gallery" interface as a virtual space that people can enter and explore. Student photos and student-selected images are displayed as framed "paintings," with pop-up text providing bio or other info about the selected images. The copyright issue is circumvented because the attribution is built into the software. They experienced only a few glitches, but for the 2^nd semester's work, a change of teachers meant having to rethink the work. US students were encouraged to create travel "features" on their favorite/chosen city, dividing up the work to create a tour of this city. Virtual Museum handles text and graphics, audio and video, as well as web links. This gave students a rich variety of possibilities for media inclusion and display. They defined their own related topics and produced an original product and learned a little German in the process. They also came away from the experience with a sense of pride and a new feeling of camaraderie. Michelle made up additional directions to those provided by Middlebury so that students could more efficiently complete their work.

Borrowing from her Southern roots, Michelle explained how, at her school, they had to "make do" without the beautiful interface VM provides. Instead of Museum, they put photos on web pages for collaborative exercises and used collaboratively created PowerPoint presentations, which were sent back and forth as attachments during development.

Chatskeller (Barbara Sawhill - Oberlin College, OH)

The Oberlin lab supports 8 languages. Prior to using Chatskeller Oberlin used Altavista but it did not support non-Roman languages. Chatskeller now serves Oberlin’s purposes and is supportable. At Oberlin, they were looking to address the following issues: (1) students who are reluctant to speak in class, (2) finding a way to do online chat in less commonly taught languages, (3) finding technology for student hands to initiate conversations (get away from teacher-centered approach).

How it works: Chatskeller uses Filemaker Pro 5.5 Unlimited with Web Services and works better with Internet Explorer than with Netscape. It must be said that it is not a hugely robust program.

For Online Chat, ask for an account, and provide Login/Password, to get to series of chats that are active right now. The program can indicate when chats will be available, and it can archive chats, attach videos, sound files, .jpgs, images, QuickTime movies, and create the task block in the target language. (Barbara illustrated her demo with examples of a Russian cookbook and a Japanese birth advertisement and cautioned that in order to deal with copyright these postings must be on a restricted-access website). Students can post a question at the website. Chatskeller has been used in a class setting. It is currently used in conjunction with Russian, Chinese and Japanese. To encourage participation, there is a rule that a language student must participate in 10 hours of language activity outside of class.

The following announcements were made by President Cindy Bravo:

- The NERALLD website is now linked at the MaFLA (Massachusetts Foreign Language Association) and NYSAFLT (New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers) sites, as well as at the previously reported FLAME and VFLA sites.

- Sue Breeyear represented NERALLD at the VFLA (Vermont Foreign Language Association) meeting in October, and Jerie Milici represented NERALLD at the CT COLT (Conn. Council of Language Teachers) Tech Conference in February where she facilitated the distribution of NERALLD information to all registrants, and where she gave a presentation about her use of technology in her language classroom at Greenwich High School.

- K-12 update: NERALLD is still doing outreach. Amy Eastwood is leading the initiatives, such as collecting the URLs of FL websites at member schools. NERALLD is planning to create a K-12 specific page.

- IALLT 2003 conference update: Many NERALLD members present at this meeting are among the presenters.

- Remember the Shareware brainstorming exercise we did at Choate (NERALLD Spring meeting 2002)? Kara Schwartz is working with Peter Liddell to get it in shape for publication by IALLT. We are currently thinking of modeling it after a Brigham Young University Dept. of Linguistics Lesson Plans site.

- Would NERALLD be interested in being part of IALLT for purposes of securing tax-exempt status? Interested parties are encouraged to speak with Cindy after the meeting.

- Cindy reported a healthy balance in the NERALLD Treasury before the day’s receipts and expenses.

- Steve Smolnik announced that the CTDLC (Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium) is now reaching out beyond Connecticut. They have a WebCT and Blackboard server, tech support, and also offer instructional design services.

- Mary Morrisard-Larkin formally took over some of her functions as the New NERALLD President

- A signup sheet was circulated for the Summer Advisory Board meeting, with a mention of possible topics: dues; name change; etc.

- Members discussed the selection of the next NERALLD meeting topic. Prior suggestions included copyrights, assistive technologies, designing research projects, and grant-writing. GRANTWRITING was chosen, to be expanded possibly to a slightly more substantial and elegant title.

- The tentative Program Committee for the Fall NERALLD meeting is composed of Deb Mandel (Northeastern U), Viviana Pinhasi (Tunxis Community College), Barbara Sawhill (Oberlin College), Kara Schwartz (Amherst College), Dan Soneson (Southern CT State University). The meeting will be hosted at Smith College by Joanne CannonCarlson, with a date to be set in October.

An Overview of Video Options in Language Teaching (Dave Kenney - Media Computer Concepts, NH)

David Kenney, a friend and colleague of meeting chairperson Dick House with considerable TV/video production experience, gave an overview of the many considerations to be addressed when setting out to produce video for use in one’s courses. At the conclusion of his presentation, David showed a video produced by an instructor after a 4-day workshop. The video included graphics, music, interviews and illustrated the importance of site location, use of lavalier microphone, and stability of camera handling.

To be considered: What is the purpose of the video? You need to express the idea concisely. Develop the objectives: What are the objectives of the video?; What specifically will be produced? Why video? What are its advantages? What equipment is available to you? What technical expertise do you have or is available to you? What can you afford (money and time)?

The Idea: Examples: a problem situation, a need to teach a certain skill, a need to see a native speaker

Video Production: A script is the underlying design of the presentation. It is like preparing a research paper. A good script saves production time. The StoryBoard is your road map for the production — It shows a picture of each shot for the cameraperson; it describes the action and cues.

On the practical side: You need to have a check list of props, equipment, talent (get permissions releases from talent), rehearsal time; Figure out if the equipment works, choose a videotape format, get tape log sheets of where all the shots are, scout out sites (but get permission to record in public), book studio time, charge batteries, purchase videotapes. Before you start shooting, run the videotape through the camcorder with the lens cap on and a plug in the microphone jack to put time code on the tape which will help find location of shots in logging and editing.

Equipment:

DV — Digital Camcorders with Firewire i-link (ieee 1394) or USB (faster than Firewire, but available on only some camcorders, on a PC). Brands: SONY, JVC, Canon. Digital Camcorders give almost 500 lines of resolution. The average cost of a typical dv-camcorder is $600. A 3-Chip camcorder starts at $2,200 (gives a more professional image).

Analog Camcorders (VHS, VHC-C, S-VHS, 8mm, Hi-8mm)

Microphones — shotgun, handheld, lavalier, PZM (Pressure Zone Microphone). Wireless microphones can be a real problem.

Receiver and lavalier microphone combo from Radio Shack costs $100.

VIP = Quality Audio

Three-Point Lighting: fill-light — back light — key light

Practical Tips: Television is a close-up medium due to screen size. Use more close-ups and medium shots than long shots. Rarely use the zoom lens. All camera motion should be done very slowly; Always use a tripod (if not, put your elbows into your chest for stabilization); Think about editing while you’re shooting. Think about how we see - Good shots follow the same rules as art and photography = the rule of thirds; Try different angles and camera locations.

Video Editing: The difference between an amateur and a professional is that an amateur will show you all of the footage taken. Video editing integrates the following to produce broadcast quality movies: digital video capture, scene editing and timing.

Pentium III 500 or faster, Windows 98 2^nd edition, Windows 2000, ME or XP

Firewire card (ieee 1394, i-link), Graphic card, Audio card, Large hard drive (40 GB or more — 1 GB of hard drive for each 5 minutes of video, 256 MB RAM (minimum) — the more RAM the better

e-Mac, iMac, iBook, Powerbook G3, G4, G4 Tower — all models,

G3 Tower with Firewire or Firewire Card

Additional Equipment: DV Video decks to play tape for storage via Firewire on computer HD (Examples: SONY GV-D900, SONY DSR-V10)

Analog to Digital: Need Digital Media Converter ($499) to play tape via Firewire for storage on computer HD. External HD (Mac or PC) = $260. — 120 GB, 7200 rpm (anything slower will drop frames; laptops more apt to drop frames)

What will be the format of the final presentation? Best choice = mini DV, but there are also these formats: VHS, S-VHS (a dying format), 8mm, Hi-8, Digital 8 (less expensive option).

Basic Editing Software:

PC side: Pinnacle Studio 8 ($100) = like i-movie, Ulead Studio 7 ($100 for basic program). Pinnacle Studio 8 interface tells you how much HD space is available.

Windows XP MovieMaker2 = free

Apple side: i-movie 3 (free!) — has an elegant interface with a lower learning curve

Intermediate Editing Software: Adobe Premier 6.5 (PC or Mac) = $300 educational version, $550 retail; Final Cut Express (Mac) = $250 educational, $300 retail; Avid Express (PC or Mac) = $2,200 retail

Advanced Editing Software: Adobe Premier 6.5 (PC or Mac) = $300 educational version, $550 retail; Final Cut Pro (Mac) = $300 educational, $1,000 retail; Avid Express (PC or Mac) = $2,200 retail

Desktop Video Editing Websites: www.2-pop.com, www.dv.com, www.Adobe.com, www.Apple.com, www.Avid.com, www.Pinnaclesys.com (has a Flash video of Studio 8), www.Ulead.com, www,Canon.com, www.Dell.com

Recommended Print Materials: Videography, a magazine containing reviews of equipment (free online to educators); The Missing Manual: i-Movie 2 ($25.)

Final Recommendations: Set up an editing station that just has the editing software and external HD; Turn off networking. Output can end up on the Web in various forms — consider connection speed.

Can Technology Replace the Chalkboard? (General Discussion)

After explaining briefly the examples of presentation technology [Smartboard (www.smarttech.com) and mimio (www.mimio.com)] demonstrated at the pre-meeting Thursday afternoon workshop, Dick House opened up the discussion among meeting attendees about the potential uses of this technology, its advantages/disadvantages.

Some of the thoughts related to this presentation technology: (1) bridges the gap between people proficient and not so proficient with hardware; (2) you can archive what you do and have multiple whiteboard pages — multiple screens are available for recall of what was done in class; (3) it may address attention deficit disorder issues, can help keep people interested; (4) takes features of multiple equipment and combines it all in one piece of equipment; (5) offers potential student use of Smartboard software with personal laptop to annotate his/her own class notes; (6) Smartboard has several templates available — such as blank clock faces (good for use in language class when teaching time), even blueprint template (potentially useful for resource center design process)

Questions: Will students take fewer written notes? Has any research been done on the use of this technology?

Tour of Yale University, Center for Language Study (Bradley Gano with the Center for Language Study Staff)

Before attendees departed to take a self-directed tour of the Center for Language Study, Bradley Gano, CLS Assistant Director for Technology and principal designer of the facility, gave a preview of what attendees would view on their tour (specific rooms: for example — faculty development room, recording studio, special projects lab) - this after showing a video taken during the construction phase of the Center. He briefly described the Center’s multifold mission, the Directed Independent Language Study (DILS) Program, the equipment standard in the Center’s classrooms (wall-mounted cameras, equipment racks, etc.), CLS policies.