|
|
December 2002
|
December 2002 Newsletter
| Download an Adobe Acrobat pdf file of this Newsletter |
| View Archive of Some Past Newsletters |
|
Website: http://www.marlboro.edu/~neralld/ |
IALLT website: http://iall.net/ |
Published 4 times yearly |
|
NERALLD Info: Cindy Bravo, Boston College Language Laboratory, Lyons Hall, Rm.313 Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 cynthia.bravo@bc.edu langlab@bc.edu Phone: (617)552-8473 Fax: (617)552-2064 |
||
|
Spring 2003 Meeting "Technology: High, Low, and In-Between" Program Committee John Esposito (College of Staten Island, CUNY) — jmesposito@mail.csi.cuny.edu |
|
|
From the President of NERALLD: Post-Thanksgiving greetings, everyone! I hope you enjoyed a pleasant holiday. By now we've all probably burned off the extra pumpkin pie calories of that day, but hopefully the food for thought served at last month's "cele/sell-ebration" of language learning at UMass Amherst is still being savored and slowly digested. What a feast, our Fall 2002 meeting! At UMass 'too many cooks did not spoil the broth' but rather added their own special seasonings to the day's choice menu. Each deserves our heartfelt thanks. Michael Nieckoski and Dick House, thanks for whetting our appetite for November 8th's meeting with your well-crafted October Newsletter. Irene Starr, you were the most gracious and generous of hosts. Thanks for attending so thoroughly to every detail despite the challenge of doing so without the home base of your FLRC. Kudos, Bruce Parkhurst! You and your committee put together a well-paced and varied program that covered nearly every angle of the meeting topic. We are grateful to you our articulate presenters - Sue Breeyear, Bruce Parkhurst, Barbara Sawhill, Hiltrud Schulz, Steve Smolnik and Dan Soneson - for sharing your experiences and useful tips on promoting your language centers or libraries on your campuses and beyond. We learned so much from each of you. If you were unable to attend the Fall meeting, you can still share in the learning process by reviewing the thorough presentation summaries Claire Keith has provided here (pages 3 — 7). Photos by Sue Breeyear. Don't miss the summary of the Business Meeting (page 6) or the Business Matters column (page 2) for up-to-date info. on what's happening within NERALLD and IALLT. Also, if there's a K-12 (or other) representative among you who might like to spread the good word about NERALLD at a Connecticut COLT Tech Conference, have a look at Coming Events (page 2) and contact me for more details. The next major event for NERALLD is, of course, the Spring 2003 meeting. Mark your calendars now and plan to take an in-depth look at "Technology: High, Low and In-Between" on Friday, March 14, 2003 at Yale University's Center for Language Study in New Haven, CT. A hands-on workshop on the 13th is also planned. As the meeting title suggests, there'll be something for everyone, no matter what your level of technological know-how or usage. See you in New Haven! Happy Holidays! Cindy Bravo Boston College cynthia.bravo@bc.edu or langlab@bc.edu |
|
Coming Events |
(1) 1/31/03 - Deadline, Call for Papers: CIBER Language Conference to be held in Miami, FL, 4/2-5/03 - Theme = "International Business, Language, and Technology: New Synergies, New Times" http://www.fiu.edu/~ciber (2) 2/1/03 - 7th annual CT COLT Tech Conference, East Haven High School, East Haven, CT http://www.ctcolt.org (3) 3/16 - 18/03 - NERCOMP (Northeast Regional Computing Program) Conference, Worcester, MA - Theme = "Balancing the New, the Old, and the Unexpected" http://www.nercomp.org |
|
Resources of Interest |
(1) K12 - SIGnificant progress is being made by Amy Eastwood (Weston HS, MA), coordinator of NERALLD's K-12 outreach, and others on several initiatives discussed at the Fall'02 meeting, among them compiling a "best practices" document for K-12 folks. Thanks especially to Aaron Stephenson (Lawrence Academy, MA) and Sal Della Cioppa (Westboro HS, MA) for their assistance with this project. For more K-12 info., contact Amy Eastwood (amyleastwood@yahoo.com). (2) HUMAN RESOURCES - Congratulations to Chris Alberg (Walpole HS, MA) and his wife Nina on the birth of their son Erich Louis, 11/17/02! (3) PARKHURST PAPERS - Interested in the promotional methods and/or income-generating activities used by colleagues at area schools? Turn to the "Parkhurst Papers" (a.k.a. Bruce Parkhurst's handouts) which were distributed at UMass Amherst and which are available on the Resources page of the NERALLD website: http://www.marlboro.edu/~neralld/resourc/resource.html (4) IALLT MANMAN - That's code for "IALLT Management Manual". Interested in contributing to the "Technology Training" chapter of the 2nd edition of this Manual? Write a paragraph about your most successful technology workshop designed for foreign language faculty members. Contact Ute Lahaie, Editor of the IALLT Management Manual (Ute_Lahaie@baylor.edu), for paragraph content guidelines. |
|
Business Matters! |
(1) MERCI , MIKE - Thank you, Mike Nieckoski (School for International Training), for two years of hard work as Editor of this NERALLD Newsletter. You brought a fresh, new look to the 'letters, kept them informative and on schedule. For your stellar service to NERALLD: Bravo! ... and merci beaucoup! (2) BENVENUTA, MARISA - With this December 2002 Newsletter Marisa Castagno (Connecticut College) begins her tenure as Newsletter Editor. Welcome, Marisa and thank you for answering the NERALLD call to service! (3) HAIL, MARY - Mary Morrisard-Larkin (College of the Holy Cross), that is - NERALLD President-Elect! In true Doug Flutie fashion on 11/8/02 current Prez Cindy Bravo (Boston College) threw out a long pass for the NERALLD presidency. Thanks for catching it, Mary, and for being willing to run with the NERALLD ball. We look forward to your leadership beginning in Summer 2003. Best wishes as you await the birth of your second child. (4) IALLT DONATION - In this season of giving, why not help a worthy graduate student attend IALLT 2003 (June 17-21) by making a tax-deductible donation to IALLT's Graduate Student Conference Grant Fund? For more information, go to: http://iallt.org/about_iallt/index.html |
|
NERALLD MEETING |
|
To open the meeting, NERALLD President Cindy Bravo welcomed eight new members: Sandy Bruno (Saint Anselm), Matt Croasmun (Yale), Regina DeAngelo (Yale), Sal Della Cioppa (Westboro HS), Deborah Lee (UMass Dartmouth), Jerie Milici (Greenwich HS), Michaela Olsen (Saint Anselm), and Aaron Stephenson (Lawrence Academy). She noted too the move of NERALLD member Sue Breeyear to a new position at St Michael's College (VT) and the return of Dick House to the New England region thanks to his new position at the University of New Hampshire. In addition to thanking all NERALLDers who helped in the planning and programming of this Fall 2002 meeting, Cindy offered a special thanks to Tandberg Educational for their sponsorship of the day's breakfast. |
|
Presentation Summaries
Language Study Support at UMass and the Five College Center for the Study of World Languages
Irene Starr, UMass, retired
As the Host Site Coordinator and former Director of the recently closed UMass Foreign Language Resource Center, Irene Starr was in a unique position to introduce the topic and the agenda of the meeting. Irene noted that some support for language study continues at UMass through departments such as the Library's East Asian Collection, a residential Language House (Thatcher), an International Programs Office (coordinates study abroad and foreign students/scholars), the Translation Center, and the Five College Center for the Study of World Languages. The latter may be of special interest to NERALLD members as it oversees students in the Supervised Independent Language Program which offers students with excellent language skills an opportunity to study languages not currently offered in classroom courses at any of the Five Colleges. It also develops pedagogical materials for these languages, most of which have been funded by grants and are now online at http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu. The Five College Center has also gained national recognition as a model for institutional partnership and productive pooling of resources.
The former UMass FLRC supported the teaching and study of languages and related areas with a language lab, a computer lab, a smart classroom, a large feature film collection (on video), instructional materials, and online services (audio exercises plus a website of language resources, still maintained by Irene, at http://www.umass.edu/langctr). About 20% of the daily operating expenses were generated through fee-based services for the public. As most NERALLD members know, the position of Director was eliminated last year and the UMass Foreign Language Resource Center was closed, with the space reassigned to the Translation Center which is self-supporting. The Translation Center staff continues to provide some services, if requested by patrons, with restrictions such as computer use limited to non-English word processing.
Irene noted that, following the space consolidation undertaken in the past year, UMass now has all its language instruction in one building, but no dedicated physical lab or staff to support it.
DEFA Film Library
Hiltrud Schulz, UMass
Fifteen years ago, a German UMass professor interested in East German films for his classes went to East Germany to ask to lease three titles. This initiative has since grown into an active film archive project whose needs for multimedia and foreign language skills make it an interesting model for a dynamic language lab looking to expand its mission and to generate some income. As it is, the DEFA Film Library is managed independently by the
Department of German and has operated since its beginnings with its own separate student and technical staff at UMass, using the Foreign Language Resource Center only for the showing of films for German classes. The possibility of testing a broader collaboration has unfortunately been pre-empted by the closing of the Center. The model is nonetheless stimulating for thinking of possible directions for a language lab, as Irene recognized when she invited the presentation for the NERALLD meeting.
The DEFA (Deutsche Film Aktiengesellschaft) archive in East Germany houses over 750 feature films and thousands of documentaries and children’s films produced by the state-owned studios between 1946 and 1992. UMass is authorized to distribute titles for educational, non-commercial screening on 16mm and 35mm film, and has partnered with ICESTORM International, which holds the VHS and DVD rights to the DEFA archive, to distribute the latter’s products to the educational video market.
To be ready for the educational market, the films need English language documentation, background notes, subtitles and technical transfer to the DVD format — all skills that a language lab can support effectively. These provide educational opportunities for student interns, and the potential for substantial campus visibility and interdisciplinary exchanges, as films are selected and annotated in ways that can serve multiple departments. The DEFA archive now employs 2 full-time employees, 5 student assistants and the help of 2 part-time faculty, with a growing need for personnel. Students value increasingly the multiple skills gained in such projects as a collaboration with the Goethe Institute to develop a teaching booklet for puppet films for elementary schools, or a partnership with the Communications Department of a Japanese university to learn about film production.
Income is generated through a share of educational rights, using existing networks for distribution (German Studies programs, American Association of Teachers of German), or through funding from cultural institutes that can help purchase the films. Internal funding from different campus areas can assist with conferences and special interest purchases. Challenges reported by Hiltrud Schulz include the "difficulty of thinking in a commercial way, the high cost of some campus services, and the need to stay aware of the limits on commercial activities for educational concerns."
Eulogy for the Language Lab
Bruce Parkhurst, Boston University, MA
Bruce refreshed everyone’s attention by distributing black armbands for all to wear, and reminded all that no one should feel inadequate for failing to "promote one’s lab effectively", given the daily realities of a job too often devoted to "putting out fires all day long". She then offered a concise history of the Language Lab to serve as a reference for the presentations scheduled for the day, identifying the pros and cons of the various stages of this history:
Asking where these changes were taking us, Bruce offered an assessment of the state of the Lab today, based on a survey question posted to LLTI. Several scenarios seem to be unfolding, from the bleakest (being phased out), to the uncertain (being absorbed into the AV department or subsumed by Instructional Technology or Instructional Media Services), to more hopeful options (being re-born or re-incarnated with new equipment and responsibilities) or even strongly encouraging, as is the case with newly established facilities in schools that never had a lab before.
Bruce closed this part of her presentation with an "Anatomy of the Sell", in which she described how each of the day's presenters would address the business of promoting the language lab. She gave four golden rules: (1) Know your customer base (seek out actual and potential users). (2) Do the required market research (know what teachers and students use and need). (3) Advertise. (4) Do the legwork (attend meetings, go to orientation events, get yourself on committees working on technology). (5) Keep abreast of current trends (join mailing lists and professional organizations; attend conferences and workshops).
Finally, Bruce distributed a hand-out about income-generating activities and another called What's on your minds, based on responses to the questionnaire in the October NERALLD Newsletter and a survey on LLTI (thank you to all who took the time to answer). Hand-outs available at http://www.marlboro.edu/~neralld/resourc/resource.html. She listed general categories for such activities and presented several case-studies submitted by NERALLD members. Bruce reminded all to be informed and to remain vigilant regarding the legal constrictions on such activities, and the importance of recognizing UBI (Unrelated Business Income) when working for a non-profit organization.
Lab Director as Prime Minister of Foreign Affairs
Steven Smolnik, Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium, CT
With his responsibilities in a state-wide consortium, Steve has an eagle’s view of all the campus forces that can influence the future of a Language Lab, and in turn, of the pivotal role a Lab Director can play as a valued facilitator at his or her institution. As a Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Lab Director should break down his/her tasks as follows (all admonishments delivered with a smile!):
Awaken the Language Learning Zealot in you. Preach, help people imagine what could happen with your help; renounce uncertainty about your immense potential. Spread the good word about your resources (and also, do intelligence work in the process). Faculty but also administrators are your potential allies, although administrators may need to be quiet about it for political reasons. Step out, go see them, send articles and snippets related to their areas of interest. Blow the horn: when people help you, make them look good.
Do intelligence gathering to find common ground with colleagues, and try becoming a source of information to them. Get copies of syllabi, go to socials, become a familiar face. Find out their needs and offer to help. If you have a solution, hand-deliver it for more contact time. Look at task-force meetings to pick-up priorities in departments. Once a mission is on the way, help raise money or services, volunteer to coordinate account details, keeping as a motto "Package It, Sell It, Make It Happen!"
Remember that we are all in the business of education: Talk to the Accounting Department, and watch the investments in campus-wide technology. Try arranging business lunches to discuss common financial interests. However, seek out and cultivate in preference those partnerships that let you maintain your own identity even if budgets are being merged or diluted. Take advantage of opportunities for farming out tasks or roles, and build informal relationships into formal ones.
Steve closed his presentation with a reminder that there is, of course, no single solution for all. Additional suggestions came from the audience to exploit the attractiveness of the lab as a classroom space to be offered for special projects and as a good stop for guided campus visits.
Grabbing the Spotlight: Daring to Push the Envelope
Dan Soneson, Southern Connecticut State University
Dan opened with a rhetorical question about the areas of resistance to new technology on a campus. The honest answer (from faculty, from Instructional Technology, from yourself) showcased his suggestion to sell the Language Lab as the organization on campus willing to bite the bullet and experiment with new technology.
The physical and curricular parameters in which he had to work included a dated analog lab, a fundamentally insufficient electrical network in the building, but an unquestioned lab requirement integrated into the Language Study curriculum. Confronted with the emerging trends of virtual labs, the need to "webify" interactive media, and a college-wide imposition of WebCT as course management system, Dan succeeded in generating good will and budgetary support by making himself visible as a pioneer user of technology. After educating himself on wireless technology and attending IALLT conferences, Dan initiated a public relations campaign in the local newspapers and the offices of deans and IT people. He received a budget and a green light to set up a virtual lab supported by two wireless mobile carts (Macintosh). Dan described at some length the technical challenges of going wireless, but concluded that the benefits outweighed the difficulties. In his official position as Language Lab Director, he is also now perceived on campus as a problem solver and asked to sit on Research and Development committees and to do demonstrations for visiting administrators and VIPs. He is featured in campus publications and is now the director of summer technology institutes at his institution.
Many technical details of his particular lab setting were discussed in the following Q&A session, from server issues, to administrative checkouts of laptops, to problems of ambient noise, to time management for setup in class sessions, to the choice of equipment, to budget and staffing issues. Colleagues with further questions may wish to contact Dan directly by email at sonesond1@southernct.edu. One question pertaining to the keeping of records to document for proof and dissemination the history of Dan’s success, resulted in an offer from Jerie Milici (Greenwich High School, CT) to share an evaluation form she uses for such purposes.
BUSINESS MEETING
After lunch, the group reconvened in the presentation space for the biannual business meeting and elections.
The following announcements were made:
ELECTIONS:
Three positions with a two-year term had to be filled:
The Spring 2003 meeting will be held at Yale University at a date to be confirmed. Among the several topics suggested ("Doing More With Less", "Support for LCTL", "Reaching Departments Outside of Languages", "International Exchanges", "Virtual Labs and How to use PDA’s in Language Instruction"), a majority opted for a focus on technology, away from recent issues of administration. The Spring 2003 topic will be "Technology: High, Low and In-Between".
The Ah-hah! Factor
Sue Breeyear, St. Michael’s College, VT
The first and fundamental "sell" of a language lab must be to the language faculty who send students to the facility. Sue Breeyear showed how, during her tenure at the University of Vermont, she was able to increase attendance from an all-time low of 700 visits a year in 1994 after the lab had been moved to a distant location to over 10,000 visits for the year 2001.
The major challenge for her as for all non-faculty lab directors was the emergence of computers and multimedia technology, and the stiff learning curve it implied for busy faculty members. Sue recapped the skills that characterize an effective technology staff today: Trained in educational theory and learning styles, able to be a good and patient communicator familiar with the classroom environment, committed to staying up-to-date on the latest technological developments. She outlined her own "lofty goals" and how she pursued them:
Information is Power
Barbara Sawhill, Oberlin College, OH
Barbara Sawhill, Director of the Cooper International Learning Center at the well-endowed and well-known Oberlin College, gave the last and absolutely riveting presentation on how quantitative data helped her convince skeptical, budget-slicing administrators of the usefulness of her facility. That a school like Oberlin is now facing a major budget crisis is a sobering reminder that no one is immune to budget cuts, and Barbara made an eloquent case for the necessity of acquiring and using data in uncertain economic times.
Barbara first summarized the nature of the cuts in progress at Oberlin and other well-heeled schools, and the rationale invoked to make them: elimination of all intern positions with attendant savings on benefits and health care, and massive outsourcing of services. Her dual task was first to show that her lab’s activities could not be outsourced, and then to prove that her intern positions were essential for an effective operation.
Deans like to see data documenting room use (to assess the popularity of the facility among students and faculty and look for possible cuts in opening hours), and data proving that the technical services are discipline-specific and cannot be duplicated in other generic campus labs. As a Language Technology Specialist, Barbara presciently began collecting data since the creation of the Center with soft money in 1996 (because grants often require quantitative assessments of the projects they fund). This served her well when the cuts loomed, as her facility proved the only one on campus to have gathered data methodically for years. She uses student assistants to collect attendance information every hour at the 15 and 45 minute mark of the hour, and to enter the data for future treatment. Assistants are also asked to take a visual reading of the software used and nature of activities (e.g. non-Western word processing, web-browsing, etc.) through an unobtrusive screen check. Student assistants also keep a calendar of every request for help made by faculty, no matter how small, to show the daily activity of the Lab. This includes solving Non-Western font problems, a task of which the Instructional Technology staff is happy to be relieved. The information allowed Barbara to retire 90% of the language software that resided on the workstations, inform faculty of what students really did use, identify an optimal schedule of opening hours, and confirm the specificity of her staff’s technical skills. Such disciplined self-management and the elegant pie charts generated in the process have won the Center a reprieve from the drastic budget cuts in progress, and have showcased it as a model to emulate on campus.
To process her data, Barbara uses a combination of BlackBoard features (the system is supported campus wide) and of her own homegrown program, using first FileMaker and now MS Access and Visual J++.
