Sharing LCTLs through Technology

As colleges and universities across the United States tighten budgets and cut programs, all languages are at risk and LCTLs are particularly vulnerable. Innovation and collaboration in LCTL instruction, materials and resources have therefore never been as crucial. Yale’s Center for Language Study hosts a panel discussing ways to share resources and exploit technology to continue to offer successful and creative language instruction in the face of increasingly limited budgets and support.  Emphasis will be placed on the advantages and disadvantages of shared courses and instruction in LCTLs, and their results. Angela Gleason (Yale University) will discuss distance language partnerships in LCTLs between Yale students and Language Partners at universities across the United States and abroad. The partnerships are coordinated through DILS - Directed Independent Language Study - a program allowing students to study languages not currently taught at Yale. Now in its twelfth year, DILS continues to expand the number and variety of LCTLs, in large part through online collaborative technology. Milica Kovacevic-Stevic, a Language Partner in Serbian-Croatian, will discuss her experience with the DILS program as both a local and distance Language Partner, and the advantages/disadvantages of each. Lauren Rosen (University of Wisconsin-Madison) will discuss the University of Wisconsin’s System Collaborative Language Program , a program she has directed for 15 years. The program uses a blended model of learning that combines classroom-based interactive two-way videoconferencing and today's emerging technology tools. Courses are taught 3-4 days per week in a traditional classroom setting that has been modified for ITV. Through the use of this technology, UW Faculty work closely with students locally and on receiving campuses. Native speaking facilitators aid students at receive sites. In addition to attending class sessions, facilitators hold regular office hours. The blended (hybrid) learning environment integrates a variety of other Internet-based technologies including a web-based course management system to provide structure and tools such as blogs, wikis, voice technology and webcams for further developing language proficiency. Sandra Sanneh (Yale University) will discuss her advanced isiZulu course, piloted in Fall 2012 for the Shared Course Initiative between Yale, Columbia and Cornell. The course is taught as a regular accredited course at Yale and shared via videoconferencing at Columbia.