Objectives and Time Frame. The purpose of this project is to create multimedia materials for use in widely offered courses in Spanish language, literature and culture. The principal activity for the project will take place during the summer of 1998, as a continuation of work begun during an academic leave in the spring of 1998.

Project Activities. There are three principal parts to this project:

1) Creation of course materials: These interactive materials will explain concepts in foreign language, literature, and culture, ask questions and check answers, and provide audiovisual feedback. The materials to be created, although they will correspond to specific courses, will be general enough in content to be useful in similar courses at different institutions even though course textbooks and other materials may be different. It is not intended that these materials will constitute the full range of topics in the areas mentioned above, but rather a sampling of approaches to serve as examples for the creation of additional materials in the future. The materials will be available through the Internet as web pages.

2) Creation of sample course outlines: These course outlines will demonstrate ways in which multimedia technology can be incorporated into three commonly taught language courses: Advanced Composition and Conversation, Civilization, and Introduction to Literature. These courses are usually taught every year and are taken by most language majors. Although the materials will focus on Spanish, the target courses are standard in foreign language programs, and it will be quite easy to adapt the sample courses to other languages.

3) Assessment and dissemination of project results: During the 1998-1999 academic year, the materials will used in the classroom at Trinity University in order to assess their value to both professors and students. The results of these studies will be available through my web site.

Technical requirements and institutional support. Because the project will aim to produce materials primary in web format, the technical requirements for the project are as follows: a relatively large, fast personal computer adequate for the creation and implementation of interactive multimedia language materials; appropriate software, such as HotMetal Pro, Java, Director and Shockwave; and network access, including dedicated server space for the materials to be produced. Trinity University will provide the technical resources needed to undertake this project, including an academic leave in the Spring of 1998 so that I might have the time to carry out the project objectives. In addition, Trinity has some additional funding available to support academic leaves through normal department and division channels to support related activities for this project.

Enhancement of learning. Based on my experience with a very small pilot section of an Intermediate Spanish course taught in the fall of 1996, I envision the enhancement of student learning in the following ways. By sending students to web sites in the Spanish-speaking world, students will able to read web pages created in authentic language, that is, Spanish written for Spanish speakers, to show how Spanish is used in the "real world." Requiring students to submit homework by e-mail and complete exercises on-line will allow for an immediate and non-threatening opportunity to write and read Spanish. By providing students with interactive course materials, interest in the subject matter will increase as they become aware of the immediate relevance of the lessons, a concept based on the time-tested notion that one learns a language through contact with it, and the more one is engaged in the target language the more one learns. Technology should provide a means and a motivation for greater student proficiency in Spanish, a hypothesis that will be tested during the assessment phase.

Enhancement of teaching. There can be no doubt that technology will play a role in the future of foreign-language education. Any knowledge I gain and share with others regarding the possible uses of technology will enhance teaching. More specifically, by learning the skills necessary to create interactive technology-based course materials, I will be able to continue to offer engaging courses using the available technology. Moreover, the experiences that I can share with my colleagues at Trinity and elsewhere will help others to use computers effectively without each professor’s having to discover the same facts on his or her own. In addition, I hope to learn from others in the field. No one works in a vacuum, and I find my teaching energized by contact and discussion with others in the field. Although consultation with others will not be necessary for the completion of the project, it will be useful to hear from other ACS faculty members with experience using multimedia technology in foreign language classroom.

Assessment. The creation of course materials will provide the most tangible outcome of this project, but the assessment phase is crucial if we are to learn how to use computer technology efficiently. If certain interactive materials and strategies do not increase learning, then they are not worth the time to create and implement. The materials created during this project will be incorporated into in my own courses (and perhaps those of other interested professors) during the 1998-99 academic year, during which I plan to teach at least one section of each course. They will be evaluated for their effectiveness by several means, both objective (such as student grades, standardized testing, comparative studies of identical assignments with other sections not using these materials) and subjective (anecdotal evidence from students, professors, and others involved such as personnel in the Computing Center and Instructional Media Services). A progress report will be submitted in September, 1998, and assessment reports will be made available after each semester of the 1998-99 academic years (in January and June, 1999).