Programs > Pre-Conference Workshops
Tuesday, Half-Day Workshops
Implementing Language Learning Technologies to Navigate Your K-12 World! (Morning)
Kristy Britt (The University of South Alabama), Frank Kruger-Robbins (Pine Crest Preparatory School)
This hands-on K-12 workshop shows how to easily create technological units for a dynamic and enjoyable language classroom environment. This workshop will be divided into two segments. Segment one will use predominantly free websites to outline a resource list for foreign language faculty of what’s available and ready to use in the classroom. Using “Blackboard” in the second segment, participants are instructed on how to easily create web-based curricula such as student presentations, personal web pages, and portfolios to share with the K-12 community for immediate use at the end of the workshop. Participants receive a “grab bag” of resources to take back to their institutions and share as well as a notebook of project handouts, rubrics, and access to the presenter’s Blackboard courses. This workshop is for all languages and all levels of technology expertise, including the novice.
The How's and Why's of Video Podcasting in the Language-Learning Environment (Morning)
Julian Allen (Georgia State University)
In this hands-on workshop, we will investigate opportunities for teacher-generated and student-generated video podcasts. Students today live in the world of YouTube and video camera phones, iTunes and webcams. Harness these technologies as you plan interactive lessons for your class. We’ll start by exploring a range of examples of video podcasts in the language-learning environment. Attendees will then participate in the creation of a classroom-based podcast. Finally, we’ll work hands-on with in iMovie to edit a simple video-based language lesson, including a variety of special effects.
Making Blackboard interactive: A task-based approach to extending Blackboard’s usability (Afternoon)
Dr. Eduardo Lage-Otero (Trinity College)
Do you find course management systems (CMS) such as Blackboard too constraining for effective classroom teaching? Would you like to include interactive activities and tap into authentic multimedia content available online? During this workshop participants will learn various ways to harness and expand the built-in functionality of Blackboard by developing a range of interactive exercises and activities. Many of the authoring applications used are available online or downloadable free of charge –such as Hot Potatoes or Audacity– whereas others require users to have a Blackboard extension or building block installed such as the Wimba Voice tools. The principles and ideas discussed during this session are applicable to any CMS although the workshop will use Blackboard as the platform of choice. The presenter will discuss how learning theories can inform the design of these activities to make them a more effective learning tool.
Taking Advantage of ANVILL (A Nat'l Virtual Language Lab) (Afternoon)
Jeff Magoto (University of Oregon)
This workshop will be a hands-on exploration of ANVILL, the University of Oregon's latest web-based toolkit for language teaching and training. ANVILL is a set of Flash-based audio-video conferencing tools (chat, forum, quiz, etc.) packaged in a course management system (CMS) that makes lesson authoring with multimedia dramatically easier—no programming is required. Whether for an online or traditional class, ANVILL’s templates allow teachers to focus on their content and not have to worry about design or media issues. Participants will leave the workshop with a mini-course constructed and full access to the software for their own teaching and learning.
Get Students Talking with Vokis, VoiceThreads, and Podcasts (Afternoon)
Sharon Scinicariello (University of Richmond)
Interested in getting students talking not only with each other but with the world? Participants in this workshop will become familiar with tools they can use immediately in their classrooms to help students create talking avatars, tell digital stories, and produce podcasts. Creating vokis allows students to unleash their imaginations, learn about the capabilities of text-to-speech, and use humor to interact with others. Participants will create their own avatars, learn to embed them in web pages, and use them effectively in lesson plans. VoiceThread is an online tool that not only helps students easily tell their stories but encourages others—often from around the world—to comment upon them. Participants will see classroom examples, learn to use the tool, and brainstorm ways to use VoiceThreads in lesson plans. Finally, participants will learn how to help students produce effective podcasts by working together to produce short podcasts on their own experiences in the classroom—or in this workshop. All participants will receive links to examples and resources, including 'quick start' guides for the tools.
Tuesday Full-Day Workshops
Get a Second Life, and Teach There, Too! An Introductory Workshop
Douglas Canfield (University of Tennesse), Paula Christopher (Georgia State University)
This workshop will provide an introduction to one of the most popular and accessible virtual worlds, Second Life, and will explore its potential in the context of language teaching and learning. The first half of this workshop will concentrate on learning the basics of Second Life in preparation for creating activities in the second half that are student-centered and maximize the real potential of virtual worlds. A primary goal of the workshop is to get participants thinking about language classes and how the tools used in Second Life can be personalized for the learning environments that they want to create.
Wednesday, Half-Day Workshops
Digital Storytelling Tools: This ain’t yer grannie tellin’ tales! (Morning)
Lauren Rosen (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Marlene Johnshoy (University of Minnesota)
With storytelling as a focus, this session provides hands-on practice with a number of tools to accomplish the task with pizzazz! We’ll look at free, easy, online applications for the story creation process from storyboard to evaluation. We’ll discuss the advantages and challenges of a variety of storytelling tools that integrate multimedia, foster collaboration, and share student work with a larger audience. Discover tools students will be excited to use to create their stories in the target language! Bring 4-8 pictures to tell your own story – or your grannie’s - in the workshop.
Learning through Doing: Creating Meaningful Tasks with Web-Based Resources (Morning)
Dr. LeeAnn Stone (Cengage Learning), Doug Canfield (University of Tennessee)
With the expansion of networked communications and advent of Web 2.0 applications, students are able to communicate synchronously with target-language and other speakers worlds away, to view actual apartments in a city they would like to live in, to see examples of dance performances of the students’ choice and learn enough to teach classmates, to use the language center as a production hub for content development of their own, and to collaboratively find, build, touch and move objects that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to in virtual worlds. In short, computing technologies are no longer relegated to the delivery of instruction, but rather can now support tasks that promote active, interpersonal, communicative learning.
In this hands-on workshop, participants will work with some of the contributors to IALLT’s Task-Based III: Expanding Opportunities for Meaningful Tasks through the Web to explore, collaboratively brainstorm and create a range of technology-supported and/or mediated task ideas with models drawn from that publication, with a focus on creating opportunities for student to do with the language meaningful things that draw them further into the world and culture of the target-language community.
Come and Experience First Hand Select Language Learning Technologies (Morning)
Claire Bartlett (Rice University), Hajime Kumahata (Rice University)
Using Rice Language Resource Center as an example, we will present technologies selected, customized and or developed to suit our needs. You will be given accounts and experience first-hand a variety of our resources; from commercial software programs such as Wimba Voice Board, Scola, and Tell Me More to customized open source programs such as Wiki, BBS, Blogs, and Podcasts; from ExTemplate, our own Language Learning Management System to our Faculty Request System used to manage requests and copyright compliance. We will conclude with a discussion on the role and future of such centers as well as budgets needed.
IALLT Language Center Design Kit Workshop (Morning)
This workshop uses IALLT’s Language Center Design Kit to help attendees design new language centers as well as accomplish successful rehabs of existing centers. Topics include needs analysis, types of labs and facilities, space for non-instructional needs, examples of successful centers from around the world, the turn-key lab, digital labs, and future facilities. Although attendees are not required to purchase the IALLT LCDK, it is encouraged. Come with questions about spaces for language-learning and leave with answers!
Language Learning Tools for the 21st Century (Afternoon)
Dr. Jörg Waltje (U of Michigan)
Staying on top of things in the field of Language Technology often seems a daunting task. Geared towards teachers with little or no multimedia production experience, this hands-on workshop will focus on a variety of free and user-friendly programs and web-based applications that are now available, waiting for creative language professionals to appropriate them for their discipline and utilize them to their fullest potential. We will look at a selection of tools designed to organize our materials and create interactive exercises (Blogger, Wikis, Quia, Google Docs), as well as at applications like ChinSwing, Skype, Audio Portfolios, PodBean, and DimDim, that can enable us and our students to work effectively on our listening, speaking, and presentation skills. We will also explore socially mediated technologies and investigate how instructors can harness their popularity to engage language learners, reinforce the 5 Cs, and prepare students for life in a global, collaborative world.
Capture the Action, Capture Their Attention! (Afternoon)
Melissa Schwartz (Georgia State University)
Ever wanted to capture something on your computer and share it with your students? Camtasia might be right for you. This screen recording and editing software allows you to make professional looking videos. You can capture and record presentations, lectures, or technical techniques. Make your videos interactive by including surveys and quizzes, add subtitles, callouts, and insert audio. This beginner’s workshop will teach you how to capture a presentation and use basic editing techniques so it can be shared on the web, an iPod, or your school’s server.
Creating Media-Rich Word Lists with Sona Vocabulary Assistant (Afternoon)
Curtis Ford (University of South Carolina)
Sona Vocabulary Assistant is a cross-platform tool that automatically generates eight different activities and games for vocabulary acquisition. Sona supports multiple definitions, examples in context, notes on usage, images, multiple sounds, web links, and online search. Participants will create own word lists for Sona (no programming required!) and are encouraged to bring lists of about twenty words with examples, notes on usage, links, and .jpg or .png images, as well as an .mp3 file with recordings of words, examples, and notes. Sample materials with Dutch will also be provided. Participants will receive a free copy of the software.
Using Moodle in Hybrid Language Courses (Afternoon)
Mary Morrisard-Larkin (College of the Holy Cross)
The College of the Holy Cross began looking at Moodle in 2007 to see what it had to offer in terms of Web 2.0 tools that were lacking in its existing course management system. Following a brief pilot phase, it was officially introduced to the college community in May 2008 and its usage has grown exponentially in the past six months.
Six of the original pilot courses were hybrid language courses offered in the college's Directed Independent Spanish Curriculum (DISC). Moodle was able to replace some of the program's technology tools which were no longer fully functional, make copyright-protected information available in a secure environment, and provide new options for communicating with students.
This hands-on training session will teach participants to build a basic course website. After a brief overview of Moodle's features, participants will learn how to: 1. Organize their site by selecting appropriate tools.; 2. Add documents such as course syllabi or PowerPoint presentations.; 3. Make links to external websites.; 4. Set-up a Forum.; 5. Post Assignments. Finally, they will view some of the materials that have been created in Moodle for use in DISC.
Wednesday, Full-Day Workshops
Meeting Assessment, Research, and Data Collection Needs: The OWL Testing Software Solution
Chris Dalessandri (OWL Testing Software), Dr. Thekla Fall (World Language Consultant)
Successful software programs allow instructors to focus on content and results rather than on negotiating software. For the same reason, students should encounter a simple, intuitive test interface. OWL Testing Software makes it easy to create, administer, score, rate, or take tests in any language—reducing the need for tech support. OWL greatly expands research, archival, and testing capacity as an integrated solution with Blackboard, Moodle, ANGEL, etc. Anyone who can click, can assign tasks, do blind ratings, and create data reports. Participants will receive a packet of speaking proficiency test-prep materials. One participant will win a free, three-month OWL trial.
