Friday, March 14
1:00-4:00 pm Language Resource Center Kohlberg 326   map	OPTIONAL Workshop ... please sign up with registration if interested. Web and Multimedia Applications for Project Based Learning Natalia Shevchenko, Willamette University, Alexander Savoth and Michael Jones, Swarthmore College (handout) This workshop will be a multifaceted introduction to practical uses of web and multimedia applications for language learning. We will present a variety of tools that we have seen used effectively, and leave time for participants to explore, discuss and contribute. Here's a list of some applications/applications types that will be covered: Padlet Scalar - Media-Rich digital publishing Timelines and Maps Working with film clips … ripping content and adding subtitles Storytelling apps Mobile apps Online tools for writing in Spanish, French and English inspired by a process-writing approach to learning: BonPatron, SpanishChecker, Spellcheck.
Wister Center Gillespie Room	Welcome Reception (4:30 - 6:30 pm)

 

Saturday, March 15
8:15 – 9:00 Science Center Lobby	REGISTRATION, COFFEE and SNACKS
9:00 – 9:15 Science Center 199	INTRODUCTION Michael Jones, Host and NEALLT President, Swarthmore College
9:15 – 9:30 Science Center 199	OPENING REMARKS Joel Cooper, CITO at Swarthmore College
Keynote 9:30 -10:30
Science Center 199	Kevin Gaugler Marist College Can the iRevolution become an  i+1Revolution?: Technology and a Comprehensible Environment "We acquire language in only one way, when we understand messages. That's it." -Stephen Krashen Although most instructors of language agree with Stephen Krashen's input hypothesis of language acquisition, much of the technology used to enhance language learning flavors rules,  production and correction over differentiated and comprehensible input.  Meanwhile, mobile technologies and ubiquitous Internet connections now provide learners, at least in the developed world, with almost constant access to authentic target language materials but are often underused in language instruction. This talk will attempt to reconcile these disparate realities and provide a glimpse at a possible future of language learning in which platforms of comprehensible input allow learners to explore their world in sustained  i+1 environments.
SESSION 2: 10:40 - 11:10
Kohlberg 226	Stretching the Canvas: Some Early Reflections on a New LMS Enza Antenos and Jessica Brandt Montclair State University In the higher education landscape of the 21st century, one of the more pressing, and most complicated, decisions a university must make is the choice of learning/content management system. A relative newcomer to the field has been gaining some traction: Canvas, by Instructure. Canvas provides a host of features, from multi-media integration and mobile accessibility to sophisticated collaboration tools, all of which enable the instructor to create a navigable course for any delivery method (hybrid, online, or face-to-face). This past fall, Montclair State University's migration to Canvas from Blackboard began; this presentation will offer some impressions on this new platform from the instructor's perspective. We will discuss the successes and challenges experienced in an elementary foreign language class, and an advanced foreign culture course, taught in English. We will also provide examples from lessons and tasks that will highlight the features we integrated into our courses, with varying degrees of success.
Kohlberg 228	Discussion of topics raised in the keynote Kevin Gaugler Marist College
Kohlberg 328	An Interactive On-line Course Calendar for Multi-Section Courses María Paredes Fernández University of Pennsylvania The interactive online course calendar was project that received funding from the Penn Language Center at the University of Pennsylvania in early 2012 to streamline class preparation for fellow colleagues, promote transparency for the students, and ensure continuity and quality instruction of the Accelerated Elementary Spanish Course, Spanish 121. The day's lesson plans organized and uploaded on an interactive webpage on the course management systems Blackboard and Canvas. The lesson plans were comprehensive, as it featured the links, PDF documents and PowerPoint presentations of the day in one convenient location, and were easily shared with students to aid in their preparation. This talk will focus on how the interactive syllabus shaped this course and how it could work for other programs.
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SESSION 3: 11:30 - noon
Kohlberg 226	Flipping the second-semester Italian 120 Classroom: Preparing students for better in-class participation with video presentations of critical grammatical concepts. Helen McFie-Simone University of Pennsylvania This presentation will demonstrate the use of short video clips, delivered via Canvas, in which PowerPoint slides, accompanied by Voice-Over, provide students with both visual and aural input to clarify grammar concepts that are not clearly explained in the textbook adopted for the course. These videos help to free up class time traditionally devoted to the presentation of grammar and allow for more participation in interactive activities. Students must watch the videos and understand what they have seen and heard in order to express themselves either in written or oral form in the discussion forum of Canvas, which acts as a transition from listening and reading to talking freely in class.
Kohlberg 228	Press the L2 button Alba Fano Trabanco Villanova University - Romance Languages and Literatures Digital games have already been identified in the field of second language acquisition as effective tools to facilitate, and enhance learning. Some of them, in particular, provide the learner with various opportunities to engage in real-time target language interaction. This presentation will analyze the potential that certain video games have to learn a foreign language, both inside and outside the classroom. Three different types of games will be discussed: MMORPGs like World of Warcraft; sandbox games such as Minecraft, and puzzle action games like Scribblenauts. The analysis of each type of game will be carried out from the perspective of the task-based approach to find out in which way these games can be explored within this methodological framework. From a linguistic point of view, I will discuss the concept of interaction/interactivity in the light of this new digital format. I will also discuss how games reorganize literacy, and help develop intercultural competence, and foster collaboration and discourse management.
Kohlberg 328	Authentic ESL writing practice through social media and news website William Price University of Pittsburgh This presentation will demonstrate a number of writing activities which foster authentic communication through social websites such as Reddit, Twitter, and TED, including activities even low-proficiency ELLs can enjoy and succeed in. Participants will be able to identify and employ the online tools, resources, and communities appropriate to ELLs of various proficiency levels. Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss practical and sociocultural issues such as online account management, student privacy, performance assessment criteria, and the etiquette of digital citizenship.
Kohlberg 330	Blended Learning and the Flipped Classroom--An Effective Pair Birgit Deir Nazareth College Blended learning and a flipped classroom can be effectively paired to allow for maximum interaction between instructor and students during face-to-face meeting times. Students prepare new cultural and structural topics with targeted assignments before the class meets. Instructors use class time to clarify, practice and build communicative activities around the topics. Students show mastery of topics in their homework. Then the cycle starts again by students preparing a new topic. The flipped classroom was implemented in a second quarter Beginning German class making the most out of limited online resources. Student outcome was good. Most major publishers of foreign language course material have started offering online platforms to support blended learning and the flipped classroom. Some samples from different languages will be given."
SESSION 4: 12:05 - 12:35
Kohlberg 226	Flipping Grammar Out of the Classroom Brian Johnson Swarthmore College This presentation will discuss the creation and implementation of the video series Zadachi, a supplement to the current Russian first-year sequence at Swarthmore College. Zadachi consists of five video lessons of approximately seven minutes each covering the memorization of the Russian alphabet and some fundamental topics of Russian orthography. The idea behind the video series was to "flip" the classroom. Russian grammar is notoriously difficult, and typically quite a bit of classroom time is devoted to explaining Russian grammar in English, especially during the first year of instruction. The video series was developed so that students could watch video lessons at home, eliminating the need for in-class explanations in English and freeing up valuable class time for practice in the target language. The presentation will discuss the process of deciding what topics to cover, the process of scripting, filming and editing the videos, the process of incorporating the series into the existing curriculum, and anecdotal evidence as to the effectiveness of the series.
Kohlberg 228	The use of smartphones in the classroom: How to take advantage of apps to engage students in everyday activities. Josep Navas Masip University of Pennsylvania Smartphones are devices that students carry 24/7. Smartphones are their tool to communicate with others, to update social media, to listen to music, to take pictures, to do homework, etc.; it is part of their daily lives. They cannot conceive of themselves without a smartphone. This is their reality, what they do and like, so let's see such devices as another tool that can make our classes more appealing to them. This workshop aims to teach foreign language instructors how to apply some of the smartphone features and apps to class activities; and how to enhance the learning experience of our students. To show activities that have been done in class and spur ideas on how to adapt, modify, and improve them depending on the class level and the goal to achieve (grammatical, cultural, communicative, etc.). Some activities to be presented are: Activities with text messaging. Activities with pictures. Activities with Live Audience Responses. Activities with Quick Response (QR) Code Readers.
Kohlberg 328	Best tools for cross-cultural CMC projects Theresa Schenker, (Yale University) and Fiona Poorman (University of Rostock, Germany) This presentation describes a study analyzing students' perceptions of the suitability of different online tools for cross-cultural communication. A cross-cultural CMC project between an intermediate German class in the US and a pedagogy class in Germany will be introduced. Students communicated with each other using a variety of tools, including discussion forums, video conferences, email, and Skype. Students evaluated their enjoyment of using these tools and assessed their effectiveness for cross-cultural learning. The results of this study have implications for instructors planning virtual exchanges for their language classroom. Choosing communication tools which students enjoy using can be crucial for the success and effectiveness of cross-cultural CMC projects.
12:35 – 2:00	LUNCH
SESSION 5: 2:00 - 2:30
Kohlberg 226	"Re-Envisioning Diasporas" a Globally Networked hybrid course Sunka Simon and Carina Yervasi Swarthmore College In the spring of 2012, we co-taught the mid-level interdisciplinary course "Re-Envisioning Diasporas" between Swarthmore College and Ashesi University in Berekuso, Ghana. We argued and demonstrated that it is essential to have hybrid, globally networked classrooms to experience and challenge the assumptions of current Diaspora Studies by making tangible the residual and ongoing effects of displacement. Together with Mikelle Antoine of Ashesi, we taught across several historical contexts and disciplines from the African Slave Trade to Europe to contemporary diasporas of Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkey, and the Caribbean. But our work did not stop at the historical realities of migration and displacement of real people in situations of real displacement; we also focused on audio-visual representations of these diasporas—how diasporic subjects represent themselves and how others represent them. Our initial academic concerns were how we would unite the real and its representation while emphasizing history and contexts; how we would raise skill levels of visual literacy and analytical competencies for all students; and finally how our globally networked class (GNC) and pedagogy might bring an experiential awareness to the study of diasporas. A GNC invites students to recognize, traverse, and re-imagine the distances through which diasporas occur. The hybrid GNC--with elements of synchronous class time creating one virtual class space and asynchronous class time in two sites--it seemed to us was an ideal forum for talking about diasporas, since content and experience mirror some of the features of diaspora. Asynchronous time forces participants to become acutely aware of displacement and difference in location and, therefore, in communication and cross-cultural negotiation, whereas synchronous time is about connecting within a familiar and institutional culture.   The necessary code-switching between homogeneity and heterogeneity thus mimics the negotiations between home- and hostlands. More complexly, how, we asked, could the material of diasporas push us to rethink not only audio-visual representations in and of geographical, temporal, linguistic and cultural displacement, but also the methodologies to teach this material such as synchronous instruction, including group presentations and guest lectures; a diverse set of digital platforms to enable oral and written correspondence, assignments, feedback and evaluation; and student directed digital publishing."
Kohlberg 228	Cross-cultural Voice Chats Patrick Wolf and Theresa Schenker Yale University Telecollaborative projects can enable students to practice language skills while simultaneously enhancing their cultural awareness. While asynchronous projects are easier to set up, they do not allow students to practice communicating in real-time. This presentation focuses on the advantages of including voice-based cross-cultural projects in the L2 classroom. This presentation discusses challenges and benefits of synchronous voice communication between L2 learners and native speakers. The observations are based on a six-week long telecollaborative project between an advanced German class in the US and an advanced English class in Germany. The synchronous cross-cultural project consisted of one-on-one voice-chats, class-to-class videoconferences, and small group voice chats in which different tasks were completed by the participants using both languages. The success and effectiveness of these different communication modes depended on a variety of factors, which will be discussed in the presentation. Suggestions for implementing synchronous CMC projects with native speakers will be given. The presentation will also outline possible tasks for synchronous CMC projects – including discussing parallel texts, interviewing, and collaboratively creating cross-cultural websites – and will draw on student feedback to describe the effectiveness of different tools.
Kohlberg 328	Assessing Grammar At The Advanced Level Using Online Exercises and Movie Clips. Rébaïa Saouli-Corley University of Pennsylvania Online exercises and movie clips are two self-assessments tools that are currently used by students in French 212, an advanced grammar and writing course, at the University of Pennsylvania. Both approaches are presented in the various question formats that Canvas offers thus enabling students to grasp grammatical concepts whether they are auditory, visual, or analytic learners. These online exercises allow French 212 students to assess their progress and understanding of the course material.  They also focus on improving their performance by providing them with instant constructive feedback and putting them in an in-class testing situation in the comfort of their dorm rooms.
Kohlberg 330	Using Quizlet.com to generate and share vocabulary activities William Price University of Pittsburgh Quizlet.com is a free website which enables teachers and students to create digital flash cards. Quizlet automatically generates interactive tutors, tests, and even games from whatever material you enter into it. Copying and pasting your existing materials into Quizlet can yield hours' worth of automatically-assessed activities which can be completed on computer, smartphone, tablet, or printed paper inside or outside of the classroom. In this presentation, you will learn how to create and share Quizlet materials with your own classes; you will experience the different types of materials Quizlet generates; and you will see how the University of Pittsburgh is using Quizlet in its language programs.
SESSION 6: 2:35 – 3:05
Kohlberg 226	Project Based Learning and Assessment Patricia Vargas and Julia Vila Swarthmore College In our intermediate Spanish courses we have created a number of collaborative and individual video and recording exercises that students work on during the course of the semester. For in-class activities students have fifty minutes to exercise their language skills. Working in the LRC they may be asked to conceive, record and edit skits, work on collaborative presentations around an assigned topic, or perform other tasks. Out of class assignments include technology assisted oral assessments that are used to sample progress with oral proficiency as the course progresses. We will also discuss the rubrics and markers used in assessing these projects.
Kohlberg 228	Samples of Task-Based Language Teaching Using Technology Sophie Degat-Willis, Agnieszka Dziedzic, Lillyrose Veneziano Broccia University of Pennsylvania The implementation of dialogical tasks in a fully online environment, in a flipped classroom or in a blended classroom seems to be one of the major challenges in task-based or task-supported language teaching today. After emphasizing the difference between tasks and activities, we intend to show a few examples of how to design and implement tasks using technology. The samples will be based on tasks we designed in the framework of the Penn Language Center’s Foreign Language Certificate in Instructional Technologies and Online Learning. Our samples will include: a task template on the topic of planning a trip to Poland that can be used in an intermediate or heritage classroom ; form-focused tasks implemented in a blended Elementary French II course (the main technology used being Canvas) ; an example of a hybrid-approach to F2F teaching, in which the instructor meets the students in person and asynchronous work is completed on Canvas.
Kohlberg 328	E-MAIL TANDEM EXCHANGE: AN ENRICHING LEARNING EXPERIENCE Mercedes Pérez Serrano Columbia University This communication attempts to describe an email tandem exchange in which elementary Spanish students from Columbia University/Barnard College were paired with elementary- intermediate English students from the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid during the Fall semester of 2013. The pedagogical objectives of this project were several: authentic and meaningful use and exposure to the target language and culture; help learners improve their writing skills; language development by peer-to-peer error corrections; gain a deeper perception of different aspects of the target culture beyond stereotypes; reflection on the language learning process both by taking responsibility regarding their counterpart's improvement and by self assessment. In light of the students' comments and reflections, we can assume that the project was an enriching learning and personal experience both linguistic and culturally speaking.
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SESSION 7: 3:20 – 3:50
Kohlberg 226	QR Codes: Addressing Language Visibility on Campus Luba Iskold Muhlenberg College This presentation will explore how QR (Quick Response) codes can be used in education. Growing in popularity in recent years with the explosion of camera-equipped smart phones, the codes are now primarily used to link real world objects with all sorts of online information. Opinions on whether QR codes are of value to educators are polarized. The study of QR codes in education can be placed in the context of mobile learning. The presenter will (1) describe the process of making and reading QR codes; (2) summarize examples of commercial applications of QR codes, and (3) demonstrate examples of how she uses QR codes to uphold the visibility of Language and Culture programs on campus.
Kohlberg 228	Beyond the Frame: Becoming Teachers and Students of Meaning Joanna Luks Cornell University (handout) In contrast to ACTFL's Standards for cultural competence, this session provides a model based on interpretation strategies borrowed from Ethnography. Participants will gain an understanding of ethnographic principles as well as practice in using these for reframing the learning outcomes of two activities: bringing cultural products and practices into the classroom via webcams, and social reading via web-mediated technology.
Kohlberg 328	Practical Approaches: Transitioning from the Traditional Face-to-Face to the Flipped Model Lillyrose Veneziano Broccia and Mélanie Peron University of Pennsylvania Our presentation will address how to approach the transition from the traditional face-to-face model to the flipped model using digital tools in order to support pedagogically sound and communicative language instruction. We will outline the pedagogical reasoning behind our work, provide concrete examples of class activities, offer evidence of what students are able to accomplish through the various stages of this transition, and show how the types of technology we use at home free up and enrich our essential face-to-face time. Participants will be able to see examples of how we use flipped classroom strategies to bring students from pre-writing, to writing, to post-writing tasks and from pre-speaking, to speaking, to post-speaking tasks. We will share outcomes that prove our practices both work and are effective. Finally, we will offer specific references in order to be able to follow the research that we have done to come to these the use of these flipped classroom practices and so that participants themselves will be able to tailor these types of activities to their own languages and levels. In our presentation, " Practical Approaches: Transitioning from the Traditional Face-to-Face to the Flipped Model," we will present clear examples of the practices we use in our classroom in order to support the integration of flipped model practices and foster a sense of community among language learners. We will show examples of student work that highlight the explained practices. We will also offer specific references so that participants can refer to studies that prove the effectiveness of these practices and also work to apply this research to their own teaching.
Kohlberg 330	Cultural Journal, an Electronic Diary: Creating a sense of community and experiential learning in the digital age. Adabel Jiménez-Corretjer University of Pennsylvania The Cultural Journal and Electronic Community Diary Project is designed to be a student centered experience that enables students to define their own learning , and pursue their passions and interests while leaving behind the classroom walls, exploring a variety of Spanish cultural forms including art, dance, music, food, film, sports, etc. The goal of the Cultural Journal and Electronic Community diary is to not only practice the target language, but also to gain a deeper understanding of and appreciation for whichever culture or cultures make up the community of the target language. Students pursue their own interests inside the Spanish Speaking world and seek real world experiences that will help them gain deeper incites into cultures beyond a merely stereotypical or simplistic understanding. Students then upload digital stories or videos of their experiences onto our class web site -Canvas- and share and interact with our "Electronic Community Diary."
SESSION 8: 3:55 – 4:25
Kohlberg 226	The benefits of using personal digital space and social networks to raise intercultural competence for novice learners of foreign language Teresa Gimenez and Josep Navas Massip University of Pennsylvania This project seeks to integrate the learning of culture by using social media as a way to engage students learning and to innovate the approach to culture of the textbooks. We propose two approaches to social media sequenced by the kinds of social media learning as defined by Reig and Álvarez: Using personal digital space: Oral postings are an effective way to spark reflections and opinions on cultural related topics. Using social networks: Tweet, Facebook and Yelp are some social networks that invite learners to step out of the classroom to interact with native speakers of Spanish to express opinions, react and reflect on cultural related topics in the real world.
Kohlberg 228	Seeing Yourself in the Cultural Mirror Maia Solovieva Oberlin College Despite the fact that culture has an established place in the foreign language curriculum, instructors are still seeking non-reductive approaches to teaching a foreign culture. Cultural competency cannot be presented as set of "teachable" facts. The approach I offer here engages learners in constructing a cultural mirror through which they search for something meaningful about themselves while trying understand the values, beliefs and patterns of behavior of people from the target culture. Drawing on the definition of teaching culture as "the dynamic, developmental, and ongoing process which engages the learner cognitively, behaviorally, and affectively" (Culture as the Core, 2003), I will offer a framework that places a learner's personal reflections on a set of key cultural metaphors at the center of cultural instruction. This methodological approach consists of asking the learner to seek out culturally triggered concepts and reflect on these in weekly blog posts in the target language (Russian, in this case). As a cumulative result of this reflections, students can see not only their own development as interpreters of cultural symbols but also notice a difference in perceptions of the same cultural concept by their peers. For example, the concepts "collective" vs. "individual" type of culture can be viewed through art by introducing a painting such as Marc Chagall's "Self-Portrait." The complexity of Chagall's cultural identity inspires students to reflect on their own cultural identity and thus lay the groundwork for more sophisticated engagement with the target culture. The presentation of this pedagogical framework will include examples of student reflections with a focus on the evolution of their cultural sensitivity and depth of understanding of the cultural symbols. This framework can be used in other language contexts with some modifications of the cultural symbols and materials.
Kohlberg 328	The Use of Emerging Technologies to simplify the Teaching of Sanskrit Language V. Raja Bandaru American Academy for the Advancement of Sanskrit This paper discuss the use of the modern technologies Process and Data Flow Diagrams, Logic Diagrams, Metadata, etc. to simplify the teaching thereby speedup the learning process of Sanskrit and Telugu Languages. Case studies using the practical data gathered during the past 5 years of online and class room teaching is presented. A Summary of the Sanskrit Reader Project is included as a part of the presentation.
Kohlberg 330	Language Learners as Game Designers: Orchestrating Virtual Scavenger Hunts on Google Maps Anne Bornschein University of Pennsylvania In a project developed for a multi-section intermediate French course, students navigated the street view of Google Maps outside of class to collectively design a scavenger hunt for their classmates. The task placed learners in the role of game designers, responsible for the content and success of the activity. This presentation demonstrates how to orchestrate such a virtual scavenger hunt on Google Maps to facilitate use of targeted grammatical structures, cooperative problem-solving communication between students during the in-class hunt, and the development of the learners' visual schema for a site where the target language is spoken. It also shows how some deficiencies of Google Maps, in particular its clunky navigation and the fact that its constituent photographs are not seamless, actually increase student engagement and communication by rendering the hunt more challenging.
4:30 pm	Optional Tour of the Swarthmore Language Center (Kohlberg 326)
DINNER: 6:30 - 8:30 pm	Optional Conference Dinner at Spasso Restaurant in Media See registration for details

Sunday, March 16
8:30 – 9:00	BREAKFAST
9:00 – 9:45 Kohlberg 226	From the Classroom to Online and beyond to MOOCs Ed Dixon, David James, Claudia Lynn, Jackie Candidio and Ben Wiggins University of Pennsylvania In Fall 2014, Penn's Open Learning will launch the first language course "Mein Deutsch: Communicating in German Across Cultures" on the Coursera Learning Platform. Our panelists include administrative team leaders and language instructors who have taught in traditional classrooms, online courses and are now developing materials and strategies for teaching language and culture to a worldwide audience. According to advocates of online and open learning, new digital technologies, social media, virtual worlds and learning spaces like Coursera and other MOOCs are set to have an unprecedented impact on the teaching profession, educational practice and on the ways students engage with language and culture. With the audience, we would like to explore the opportunities, benefits, challenges, disadvantages and hype connected with online and open learning.
9:55 – 10:40 Kohlberg 226	Models of Language Center Use and Design Natalia Shevchenko (Willamette University), Cindy Evans (Skidmore College), Alexander Savoth and Michael Jones (Swarthmore College) Our experiences have shown us that spaces themselves can be agents of change. Motivation for remodeling our spaces consists of updating technology, refreshing lab structuring, and evolving the ways we use our spaces. This panel will lead a discussion based on the re-design/re-location of the Language Learning Center at Willamette University, Swarthmore College and Skidmore College. Given the relationship between the form and function of a space, we will discuss our accomplishments working with limited space and budget. We will show examples of designs that influenced our thinking, and discuss how we engaged the new space. How can formal and informal learning spaces coexist? How can aesthetics energize a space? How does design accommodate the departments we serve? How do you motivate staff to improve the space? How do you connect faculty, students and staff? What is the director’s role? And ultimately, how do we own these new spaces?
10:50 – 11:35 Kohlberg 226	The Language and Culture Quest: Project-Based Learning Christina Frei and Eleni Miltsakaki University of Pennsylvania The session will begin with a presentation of a search engine that uses natural language processing technology (Choosito) to help students and teachers find level appropriate, topic relevant and educational websites. This brief presentation will segue into an overview, via PowerPoint, of the steps necessary to create successful Language and Culture Quests. The presenters will show how to structure a project-based learning scenario for beginning, intermediate and advanced learners. They will outline the discrete steps creating the task description, the flow of the project and assessment rubrics inline with the National Standards. In a guided group activity, the audience will then be led through these steps so that they can derive their own Language and Culture Quest within the six themes of the World Language Curriculum. In a gallery walk participants will share their work with their peers.
11:35 – Noon(ish) Kohlberg 226	Your turn ... an open forum for discussion and questions.
Noon - 1:15 Kohlberg 228	BUSINESS MEETING and LUNCH (requires extra registration)