Background
Computer-assisted instruction in the Modern Languages has enjoyed a national focus for well over a decade through pioneering efforts such as those of CALICO (the Computer-Assisted Language Instruction Consortium) and IALL (the International Association of Language Learning Technologies). These efforts have received additional generous support from the Mellon Foundation since the first Middlebury-Mellon workshop at Middlebury College in the summer of 1994. Computer-assisted language instruction is maturing as a field - and is enjoying increased stature in academia, as language Center directors emerge with more traditional academic credentials and as studies in second language acquisition have both become "reputable" and have provided strong data to support the thesis that technology, and particularly emerging computer technologies, can and do enhance the study of foreign language and motivate increased student interest in languages.
At the same time, efforts in the field have been fragmented, and often technology-related endeavors have been regarded as "second-class" by more traditional scholars of literature and criticism. Despite recent MLA guidelines for evaluation of such endeavors - and endorsement of them by the MLA as "valid" - a great deal of disciplinary "schizophrenia" still exists. One reason for this is that early efforts in the field of CALL often simply put "old" pedagogies (e.g., "drill and kill") onto a new medium (the computer) - and often, done as they were by people only somewhat conversant in the technology itself, suffered as well from severe design and implementation flaws. As innovative (both pedagogically and technically) new intellectual products have emerged in recent years, they have been met both with enthusiasm and with skepticism. This circumstance presents both a challenge and an opportunity.
Smaller liberal arts colleges are particularly poised to meet this challenge and to take advantage of this opportunity for (at least) two reasons: 1) their strong emphasis on teaching and student-centered learning and 2) a faculty size which fosters intellectual community and collaboration. Tipping the scale in the opposite direction, however, are the scarce resources related to smallness - among them the lack of a highly-developed infrastructure which supports technology endeavors among faculty (few liberal arts colleges have, for example, academic computing personnel devoted solely to support of faculty in mulimedia development). It is only within well conceived and implemented consortial endeavors that meaningful strides can be made - at least in the majority of cases.
The Modern Languages face, however, a formidable challenge in media collection, reliant as they are on not only text (much of it - especially literary sources - protected by copyright), but also on audio, video, and cultural materials of many kinds. Sharing of multimedia resources has been a stated goal of CALICO and IALL for many years; yet wide sharing has been hindered by lack of shareable media (publishers usually will grant permission, for example, for videos to be digitized and integrated into interactive exercises within a single institution; those interactive applications, however, cannot be shared with other institutions, or put on the worldwide web, because of intellectual property and copyright concerns and restrictions). This circumstance is further exacerbated by legal uncertainties in an emerging field (copyright law as it relates to multimedia).
The Associated Colleges of the South Pilot Program in the Modern Languages is designed to confront these issues in a way which can serve as a model for other consortia.
Plan for the Project
The ACS Pilot in the Modern Languages will follow a highly successful series of two workshops for Modern Language Faculty at Millsaps College in the summers of 1997 and 1998. It will broaden the focus to that of strategic planning for technology in the modern languages (as well as begin implementation of a select number of focused projects), using participants from those two workshops as a core group - but involving to the same degree other faculty who may not yet have had occasion to take advantage of those training activities, or who have taken part in similar training activities not related to the ACS initiatives (e.g., the Middlebury-Mellon workshops or the Culpeper faculty training workshops at Southwestern and Trinity Universities).
The Pilot in the Modern Languages will consist of weeklong (six-day) workshops for ACS language faculty (one to two per institution) during the summers of 1999 and 2000 (one workshop will be held at Southwestern University, one at Trinity University). In addition, it will provide formalized support for specific consortial projects - on a competitive basis - during the academic years 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. These "collaboration grants" will provide one-course-per semester release time for teams of faculty from multiple institutions working on specific projects in designated languages. Cost of faculty release time will be borne by individual member institutions - but participation will be structured so that a member institution will be required to provide no more than one course release for each of the two academic years. Faculty at member institutions also will be asked to commit to contributing to a consortium-wide media collection effort in conjunction with "normal" trips abroad, teaching in study abroad programs, and the like. These contributions might include taking photographs, videotaping interviews or cultural situations, or collecting textual materials for which permission-to-use can be obtained. Incremental out-of-pocket costs (which under the parameters described above should be very small) will be borne by member institutions.
General agendas for the two workshops follow:
Day One: Overview of the context for computer-assisted language learning in the modern languages (history, challenges, ongoing initiatives nationally). Systematic look at innovative multimedia products for language (listening, speaking, reading, writing, culture), as well as existing multimedia strategies or resources for literature and criticism.
Day Two: Continuation of the systematic look at methodologies and strategies; review of technologies required to implement them (e.g., applications for building web pages). Focus group discussions by language: brainstorming and beginnings of strategy formulation and relationship building.
Day Three: Intensive hands-on instruction in building web pages using WYSIWYG editors (e.g., Netscape Composer, PageMill, Claris Home Page); HTML instruction for the more advanced who want to be able to edit code behind the scenes. Hands-on instruction in preparing media for WWW distribution (scanning of text and graphics, digitizing of audio and video). Creating hypersyllabi.
Day Four: Continuation of the above, with formal focus group discussions of strategy for specific modules (non-text-specific) which can be shared among ACS member institutions.
Day Five: Begin organizing specific modules in the designated languages. Hands-on assistance in pedagogical design.
Day Six: Wrap up of design of modules. Focus group planning of implementation strategies for the coming year. Discussion of the "collaboration grants:" what they are and how to apply. Group discussion of what has been accomplished during the six days, elaboration or modification of goals, making commitments for the future.
Note: While the above represents a "normal track," participants who have had previous training in basic methodologies will be able to pursue projects at their own pace. It is expected, however, that those projects will be opened to others for joint participation. Because of cross-platform considerations, initial focus will be on the Worldwide Web. If demand is sufficient, an "advanced track" will be offered in both workshops which will focus on interactive webbing (e.g., adding interactivity to web pages through cgi- or Java-based applications). Consideration will be given also to adding a "Libra track" for creating standalone interactive multimedia. Libra, a tested Mac template-based application, is now in beta test for PC. It allows "uplinking" to the WWW and can itself be linked to the web through offering an appropriate plug-in application.
Impact on Learning
This project offers the promise of strengthening language instruction at ACS member institutions in a variety of ways. It will encourage (if not "force") participants to rethink long-standing pedagogical assumptions and to move from the common question of "how can the computer help me do better what I now do?" to "how do computer technologies give me the possibility of doing new things which have the potential for enhancing student proficiency and interest?" It will foster the breaking down of classroom walls and the movement from a teacher-centered to a student-centered learning environment, where "teachers" come in a variety of shapes and forms and from a variety of sources. The module approach will encourage versatility (not being tied to one textbook) and independence (for how long will we even need textbooks in the form we now have them?). Individual faculty members will be challenged and inspired by others' ideas, and collaboration will lead to innovation. They will, at the same time, attain some degree of technical fluency - while concentrating on their primary goal, development of an intellectual product with integrity. The emphasis on collection of shareable media will encourage the attitude that "we are - and must be - in this together."
Students at ACS member institutions will benefit from access to learning tools which are "relevant" and "real" to them - and which afford them the opportunity to attain a proficiency not usually attained via more traditional methodologies. Modern Language Departments will benefit from "enhanced" courses and greater visibility with, and respect from, colleagues in other disciplines.
Technical Support
Technical support mechanisms vary widely from one ACS member institution to another. However, in contrast to other disciplines, Modern Languages have the advantage of a long history in technology and of having "lab directors," many of them full-time and highly trained in computer methodologies. At least four ACS institutions have Language Learning Center directors who have been in the field of CALL for many years and are nationally active in it. At least three do national consulting in the field. Hence there is a core group of professional supporters for faculty which can be relied upon for leadership in the initiative. ACS staff will supplement that core group of technical support. A great deal of mentoring will take place via email and other electronic means. Faculty also will be encouraged to take advantage of regional support groups for CALL (primarily the regional arms of IALL for the South Central and the Southeast regions).
Projected Savings
Developing focused multimedia requires an intensive expenditure of time and effort. Few institutions are able to provide sufficient release time to faculty for a "critical mass" of multimedia materials to be developed which will, in a real sense, impact significantly or change the direction of a program. Faculty members also - in the absence of a visible and well-thought-out initiative - often are unsure that efforts will "count;" hence there arises an "opportunity cost" in the form of "foregone initiatives" which might have enhanced academic programs. A visible and institutionally-supported initiative such as this one will leverage development efforts and will provide visibility advantages which will devolve from recognition outside the ACS.
Student costs also will be decreased over time by a movement away from traditional textbooks. Language Lab/Language Learning Center costs will be reduced by ending reliance on commercial products, most of which are unsatisfactory in any case.
By putting some "equipment-intensive" activities at those institutions which have state-of-the art facilities while encouraging participation in project design and intellectual content by faculty members at institutions which may still lack those facilities, large expenditures may be able to be deferred at those "resource-poorer" institutions for longer than otherwise might have been the case.
Evaluation and Dissemination of Results
The first modules will go into beta test at member institutions in the Fall of 1999 and, as beta-testing continues, extensive evaluation will be solicited from students and from colleagues willing to use the materials in their own classes. Comparative studies of member institutions be the subject of focused research and will be written up in appropriate journals (e.g., the IALL Journal, the Calico Journal, or the Modern Language Journal) with multiple authors representing those institutions. Faculty will be encouraged (and supported by their ACS member institutions) to present at national and regional conferences emphasizing CALL.
Continued Operation After the Grant Period
The primary focus of the grant is, in fact, on developing collaborative relationships which will continue beyond the time frame of the grant itself. Multimedia creation is a process, not an event. Materials, once developed, will need to undergo revision. Technologies themselves change so rapidly that one must run to keep up. The grant period will provide a period for gaining interest in and commitment to the task. It will be very clear to all who participate that no one person or institution can do this alone. It is to be hoped that commitments will be made for multiyear projects and that continuing support will be available from institutional and other (funding) sources. It is also to be hoped that the ACS member institutions will consider instituting a formal mechanism for Modern Language faculty exchange where individual programs may benefit.
Project Leaders
Virginia L. Lewis - Southwestern University
Director of the Language Learning Center
Assistant Professor of Modern and Classical Languages
Ms. Lewis (B.A., M.A., the University of Kansas; doctoral-level work at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Germany) came to Southwestern University in August 1996 from Haverford College, where she was founding director (1994-96) of its Charles E. Culpeper-funded Language Learning Center and President-elect of the Northeast Association of Language Learning Technologies. As a faculty member at Southern Methodist University (Dallas) she served as a consultant in the start-up (1992-93) of its Foreign Language Learning Center and worked closely with the SMU FLLC director on multimedia development and faculty training (1992-94). She is a national consultant in language and technology for the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) and hosted a national AATG technology workshop at Southwestern University in Summer 1997. She is active in numerous professional organizations, among them IALL (International Association of Language Learning Technologies), SOCALL (its regional arm), CALICO (the Computer-Assisted Language Instruction Consortium), ACTFL (the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), and the AATG. She presents regularly at national conferences in the field of language and technology and is a pedagogical consultant in multimedia design and delivery. She served as an ongoing advisor in the planning of Swarthmore College's Charles E. Culpeper-funded Language Resource Center which opened in March 1996, and was a consultant in 1996 for the Language Learning Center task force at The University of the South. She serves as Project Director, with Modern Language Chair Joseph Molitorisz, of Southwestern's Charles E. Culpeper faculty training grant awarded in June 1997. Although a Germanist, she is conversant in a number of other languages, among them French, Spanish, and Latin. She is coprincipal of an ongoing multiyear project in German, Das Märchen-Projekt/The Fairy Tale Project, for multimedia annotation of a corpus of German fairy tales for use at a variety of levels (from introductory to literary criticism) and in a variety of contexts (language, comparative literature, gender studies, and ethics).
Sarah Predock Burke - Trinity University
Ph.D., B.A., University of Texas Austin
Professor of Russian and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas.
Specialties in Russian literary and artistic modernism; language pedagogy and linguistics. Co-Director of 1997 Charles E. Culpeper Technology Grant for Department of Modern Languages faculty development in technology-based pedagogy. Attended the 1997 ACS Workshop on Multimedia Applications to Language Learning at Millsaps College, and directed the August, 1997 Charles E. Culpeper Workshop on Technology for Modern Languages and Literatures at Trinity University.