| NEALLT 2005 Rochester Institute of Technology
NEALLT 2005 Conference: “The Language Resource Center: Trends and Visions" March 11-23, 2004
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| Conference Program
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| Friday, March 11 |
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1 - 4 pm Limited Enrollment
Pre-Registration
Required |
Pre-conference Workshop Creating and Managing Student-Based Video Dubbing Projects This workshop aims to provide basic training in the creation and management of student-based video dubbing projects. The workshop will proceed in three phases: material preparation, dialogue practice, and dubbed video production. The first stage of the workshop will focus on teaching participants to use a simple video editor to prepare muted video clips. In the second stage of the workshop, participants will be shown how to use exported video soundtracks to provide students with monitored out-of-class dialogue pronunciation practice. The final phase of the workshop will deal with the actual logistics of student video dubbing production. Video production affords foreign language students an excellent opportunity to develop linguistic skills through task-based activities. However, it also carries with it the potential of dominating the curriculum and bogging down in the technical logistics of movie making. The more modest activity of video dubbing, the simple substitution of the soundtrack of an existing video, offers most of the pedagogical benefits of full video production with substantially less investment of time and resources.
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4:00 - 5:00 |
Registration (FLTC Lounge, Room 01-3211) |
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5:00 - 7:00 |
Reception |
| Saturday, March 12 |
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| 8:00 - 9:00 |
Registration & Coffee (FLTC Lounge, Room 01-3211) |
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| 9:00 - 9:15 |
Room 01-2000 |
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| 9:15 - 9:45 |
Room 01-2000 In the fall of 2001, the Department of Modern Languages at the College of Staten Island did away with its mandatory 10 hour lab requirement for all level 1, 2 and 3 language courses. Instead, instructors were required to give specific assignments that students could complete either in the media center or from home via internet access. With the addition of the capability to stream media off of our server allowing students to complete their workbook listening exercises from home, visits to the media center seemed more and more unnecessary, and as a result, the number of students visiting the center drastically decreased.
This presentation will outline some of the innovative ways in which the
media center has transformed itself into a place where students of foreign
languages want to come to improve their language skills. Because there
are now only a few reasons why students must come to the media center,
an entirely new approach was needed. How can we get our students to take
advantage of the wealth of materials that are available for them? In short,
how do we get our students to think of studying a foreign language as
something more that a few classes needed to fulfill their graduation requirement?
Examples of both successful and unsuccessful strategies used to reinvigorate
the media center will be described in detail.
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| 9:50 - 10:30 |
Room 01-2000 The purpose of the proposed presentation is to review the
major types of currently available digital language lab options.
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| 10:30 - 10:50 |
Break |
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| 10:50 - 11:20 |
Room 01-3287 More info: CRAFT, a toolbar that remains open and accessible as students navigate from page to page, gives instructors a way to provide relevant linguistic information, such as vocabulary lists, translations of idioms, and explanations of syntactic constructions they may encounter when reading about a given topic. Background and contextual information about a given topic and links to on-line tools, search engines, or web sites that contain more information about the topic are also made available and easy to access. Providing this information in CRAFT means that instructors can guide students' independent use of the web as an information resource. For example, while most students know how to use a search engine or online database in their native language, doing so in a second language may present unexpected challenges. Instructors can provide links to credible sources and recommended starting points for searches, along with tips on how to search effectively in the second language (using diacritical marks, variations on traditional spellings, etc.). Finally, instructors can post review exercises or reading comprehension questions for their students to answer; CRAFT records the answers and provides instructors a web-based tool for evaluating student responses and providing written feedback. (Students can send the instructor questions for which the CRAFT background material doesn't provide answers, and these communications can be the basis for the next updating of the resource pages.) In addition to allowing students access to information supplied by their instructors, CRAFT includes tools for students as they read online materials. Students using the software have their own electronic notebooks for recording notes, useful vocabulary words, addresses of web sites they've found, or other text they want to remember for later. Since these online notebooks are stored on a server, students can view them from any networked computer.
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Room 01-4287
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| 11:25 - 11:55 |
Room 01-3287
Crossword puzzles have long been used in foreign language classes as a form of ad hoc distraction, especially with beginners. Students enjoy doing them, especially in place of what might be considered more “serious” work. Because of the time and effort that can go into the physical construction of a crossword puzzle, most instructors opt to use ready-made ones they come across in their textbooks or other related resources. These rarely involve more than simplistic L1-L2 word correspondences. Given the game-like nature of crosswords and their apparent simplicity, few teachers have given much thought to the pedagogical potential of their use in the curriculum, what forms they could take or how they might be effectively and systematically exploited. This presentation will demonstrate a number of approaches to crossword puzzle construction that derive from recent research in the field of vocabulary acquisition. The presenters will likewise describe a variety of ways they have integrated the use of crosswords into their curriculum and will also share the results of surveys of student views about their use.
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Room 01-4287 This will be a tips and tricks session that will spend some time on the functionality and to some degree the limitations of Apple's Quicktime Streaming Server. I hope to touch on:
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| Noon - 1:30 |
Lunch (included in registration fee) |
| 1:30 - 2:00 |
Room 01-3287 How to Use Free software, such as MS Movie Maker, to Create
a Video Clip In the past decade, the majority of research in CALL (Computer
Assisted Language Learning) has explored the potential of multimedia-the
combination of text, audio, video, graphics, and animations-as a tool
to teach and reinforce second and foreign languages. The use of digital
video, especially, has expanded during the fast few years. More and more
researches have shown that the digital video has become the effective
and efficient teaching and learning tool in language education. Even though
ESL/EFL teachers know the power of using digital video, they confront
difficulty to integrate digital video into their classrooms. The chief
impediments to integration are lack of resources, such as adequate software,
and technology support, such as appropriate training. This mini workshop
will teach how to use free software- Microsoft Movie Maker- to create
video clips including picture video and animated video. Topics are demonstrated
broadly in program downloading (technology require), video editing (transition
and text insert), audio creating and file compressing. Strengths and weaknesses
of using this program are also discussed. The presenter will demonstrate
how to create a video clip in 10 minutes. Several successful video projects
will be shown. |
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Room 01-4287 Medium- and low-tech tools for managing student workers A password-protected website serves as the main communication center for the lab staff. This site includes the current work schedule, an announcements page, contact information, staff photographs, the policy manual, and a PowerPoint orientation file for new workers. The performance evaluation form was created with substantial input from the students. A required skills list and ”how to” handouts are available, along with checklists for various routine operations. We have developed a 3-tiered system of job titles: Team Leader, Media Consultant, and Media Assistant. Each title is accompanied by increasing levels of responsibility as well as proficiency in using the lab’s hardware and software. The status conferred by the various ranks and the corresponding differentials in salary have provided a powerful incentive for students to learn the skills necessary to be of real assistance to our clients. While our foremost goal is to maximize the quality of service offered by the lab, another is to provide professional development opportunities for the students. We try to accomplish both objectives in a supportive atmosphere in which the expectations are clear. In this session, we will describe how our procedures have evolved and the mechanisms that we use to implement them.
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| 2:05 - 2:35 |
Room 01-3287 Using WebCT to Improve Students’ Listening and Speaking
Proficiency WebCT can be used to facilitate the teaching of listening and speaking.
Specifically, WebCT can be used to post sound files for students to listen
to and to receive recordings from students. Students can also use WebCT to submit recordings of their own speeches.
They can use Audacity, a free software, to record their speeches through
a microphone, which is connected to a computer; and save their recordings
into mp3 files. There are several options to drop their recordings to
the WebCT. They can attach their recordings to messages and submit them
to the discussion area, to the WebCT email, or to the student presentation
area. The instructor chooses the most appropriate place in the WebCT according
to his or her needs and asks students to submit their recordings to the
designated place. In general, properly used, WebCT can enhance the teaching
of listening and speaking. |
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Room 01-4287 Toward Appropriate Technology A typical concern for foreign language lab directors (like myself) is whether they are able to equip the lab with the latest technology. However, technology ages so fast that there never seems to be a good moment to declare victory. In this presentation, I will try to argue that the pursuit of “state-of-the-art-technology” per se, without a well-defined set of pedagogical goals and objectives, is a futile effort at best. Hence, the term “appropriate technology” is a better substitute for “state-of-the-art-technology.” Moreover, I will argue that “appropriateness” should be judged in accordance with the underpinning pedagogical philosophy, rather than with technological benchmarks. Finally, while there are a variety of covert/overt philosophies in action in the classroom, generating enough confusion to technicians and budget planners alike, I will propose that the “Five C’s” be a common yardstick based on what the efficiency and sufficiency of a general language lab is measured.
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| 2:35
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Break |
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| 3:05 - 3:35 |
Room 01-3287
The presentation will be given in two parts. The first part will outline the steps taken to prepare the project, such as finding (and digitizing if necessary) a variety of advertising videos, the instructions given to the students and how the students proceeded to carry out the instructions in the lab. The second part will demonstrate the software used, how the students accomplished the tasks and how they submitted the final result to the instructor. In both cases, the various stages of the activity will be discussed as to their success or failure to meet the goals outlined above. A selection of student video submissions will be shown. Final comments will give suggestions for variations of this activity.
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Room 01-4287 How to Use Nicenet to Create Your Free Internet Classroom Internet classroom has expanded during the past few years. Many researches have shown the power and potential of using internet classroom as a tool to benefit teachers (e.g. file management, and class schedule) and students (e.g. discussion extension, and homework submission). Nicenet is non-for-profit organization which provides a free program for public use without commercial advertisement. Nicenet's Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA) allows virtually any classroom, even those with modest resources, access to powerful tools. This is a beginning level mini workshop. The presenter will demonstrate how to create your own online Internet classroom in Nicenet. Topics will cover file management, discussion moderated, and any futures in Nicenet. Strengths and weaknesses of using this program are also discussed during demonstration.
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| 3:40 - 4:10 |
Room 01-3287 A wiki project for independent and collaborative learning I will discuss my experiences implementing a wiki project in an introductory course on the Literature and Culture of Quebec (Fall 2004). The presentation will include a demonstration of the project and a discussion of the theoretical and practical reasons for using the wiki as a medium for project-based learning. The wiki format offers the flexibility to support both individual and collaborative web-based projects. I chose this format as an alternative to oral presentations of individual and group projects that I have required in the past, with the hope that the wiki would promote better opportunities for process-oriented learning and encourage students to make connections between content areas. I will discuss what I have found to be the advantages and challenges of my class project and will encourage discussion regarding pedagogical approaches to using the medium.
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Room 01-4287 Managing and securing a language center with Symantec Ghost 8.2 and Faronics
Deep Freeze Faced with a steadily increasing number of attacks by viruses and spyware and scores of talented, inventive students visiting university computer facilities each day, every computer administrator has to devote much of their time to effectively securing and, if necessary, quickly restoring their computer environment.
In this presentation I will share my experiences, successes and failures,
in managing my environment using Symantec Ghost 8.2 and Faronics Deep
Freeze 5.0. Following a brief overview of the main function and features
of both applications I will demonstrate how to create, pull and clone
the sample images of your client PCs using Symantec Multicast Server and
Symantec Ghost Console.. Subsequently, I will demonstrate how to create
and incorporate the Deep Freeze client protection into the image to be
cloned with Symantec Ghost to insure smooth operation of both applications.
Lastly, I will present how a neatly arranged collection of Ghost images
managed by Symantec Ghost and Deep Freeze Consoles ensures our language
center’s relatively smooth operation a quick system restores when
necessary. |
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| 4:15
- 4:45 |
Tour of lab |
| 7:00 |
Dinner |
| Sunday, March 12 |
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| 9:00 - 9:30 |
Coffee |
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| 9:30 - 10:00 |
Room 01-2000 As one-third of the COMET (COurse Materials and Exercise Templates), VISION, PictureDictionary, and ART are web-based templates created by the Yale Center for Language Study for delivering online multi-media-based foreign language. In this presentation, we will demonstrate lessons produced for beginning Persian, intermediate Spanish, and intermediate Russian, and we will elaborate on how the feature set of all three templates of these “neutral” tools was designed specifically for the teaching of world languages and cultures (even though other non-language faculty may be intrigued by their functionality). We will conclude with a description of our plans for the other templates that will complete the COMET package, and discuss the plans to release COMET and Tails ((Templates for Authoring Innovative Language Software – a non-Yale version of COMET hosted on a Yale server). |
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| 10:05 - 10:55 |
Room 01-2000 Links & Documentation |
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| 11:00 - 11:40 |
Room 01-2000 |
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| 11:40 - 12:00 |
Room 01-2000 Opportunity To Ask Questions, Seek Advice, Present Issues |
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| Noon - 1:00 |
Business Meeting & Lunch |