As stated in the original grant proposal, the three goals of the project are:
Ultimately, the success of the grant depends upon the degree to which the use of technology positively affects the teaching and learning process in languages and promotes new ways of operating that share expertise and resources between the campuses.
Alice and Alexander Nakhimovsky, from Colgate University, have developed MANNA software for annotating full-motion video for use in connection with the teaching of Russian. Their software has been adapted for teaching Chinese and German. A workshop is planned for August 25 - 26, 1997 to prepare faculty at other colleges to use the software. In addition, the software will be used to support the core course, "Western Traditions" taken by all entering Colgate students. In this course, the MANNA software will be applied to the reading of Greek texts.
At the June 2 - 5 workshop held at Hamilton and Colgate, a number of additional software products were demonstrated. The colleges are in the process of obtaining these products for use by our faculty. We have obtained GALT from Penn State and are obtaining templates from Middlebury, and other software for evaluation by faculty.
The Mellon sponsored workshop has generated interest in the creation of centralized multimedia development facilities on each campus to assist faculty in digitizing media for use with supported software. This was part of the original grant proposal. Four faculty, and two support staff will be attending a workshop at R.P.I. in July so that they can learn to create multimedia materials to use in connection with their teaching. After the workshop a committee will recommend hardware and software for the faculty development facilities to be purchased in the Fall.
In addition, as a result of collaborative work between the IT organizations, and committees on each campus, Hamilton and Colgate have recently adopted a common suite of word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software for use on both campuses. A joint Colgate/Hamilton working group will begin evaluation of HTML editors and Web-based collaboration software to support teaching. Recommendations are to be made by the end of August.
In the remaining two years of the grant we will support further transfer of the software developed at Hamilton and Colgate to other languages and other colleges. In addition, we will devote particular attention to helping faculty at Hamilton and Colgate to integrate tools developed at other institutions into their language teaching.
Our early experiences have led us to a clear understanding that faculty learn best from colleagues who have used technology in connection with their teaching. We plan to continue our program of workshops throughout the academic year (two half-day workshops in the fall and spring, a two day workshop in the break between semesters, and a three day workshop in the summer). These workshops will be conducted by faculty from other institutions and attended by faculty from Hamilton and Colgate. We will also be sponsoring several afternoon mini-sessions by Hamilton and Colgate faculty, who will be demonstrating the projects they are working on and discussing how their teaching has been impacted by the use of technology.
In the first two years of the grant, twenty faculty have undertaken twenty-seven projects. These projects have included locating and integrating web materials into courses, developing multimedia software for teaching various languages, adapting software developed elsewhere for courses at Hamilton and Colgate, and preparing to use the Remote Collaboration Facilities. In many of these projects students provided important technical support and in others, support was provided through consultants. Most projects have resulted in direct applications in language courses. For the remaining two years of the grant we expect an increase in the number of faculty projects.
Due to the small size of the language departments, it has not been possible to utilize the budgeted course releases ($150,000) during the regular academic year as a way to provide time for faculty to devote to learning to use technology. The most productive time for faculty to engage in this creative work is in the summer, and we are making extensive use of summer stipends in lieu of course releases. We feel that a combination of a continuing program of workshops, coupled with support for student and consultant assistance, primarily during breaks, will be more successful. This is reflected in the proposed budget for the remaining two years.
On March 12, 1997, the first instructional use of the RCF took place. A class of seven students, along with their instructor and other Colgate staff met with a group of three students and their instructor at Hamilton via the video link established by the Mellon Grant. These students were all in classes learning Italian. Based upon this initial experience, Ross Ferlito, Professor of Romance Languages at Colgate, proposed the idea of teaching an introductory Italian class in the fall of 1997 to Hamilton students.
On April 16th, he came to Hamilton and taught his Colgate Italian course using the RCF in order that he might better understand the dynamics of teaching a class using this kind of facility. He had devised a number of experiments that would allow him to gain insight into which approaches might be most successful in teaching via a remote connection.
In May, Professor of German, Dierk Hoffmann used the RCF at Colgate to allow his German students to engage in a discussion with an artist his students had been studying. The artist was in a similar facility in Hamburg, Germany, demonstrating that the use of the RCF can have a global impact.
The original grant proposal stated that "these classrooms will be of immediate benefit to language programs but will also be available to faculty from all departments." This possibility has already been realized. On April 2, students in Assistant Professor of Government, Mark O'Gorman's AIDS and Health Policy met with Dr. Martin Hirsch, a prominent AIDS researcher at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. The meeting was done via the RCF. Utilizing the two-way video and audio capabilities of the facility, Dr. Hirsch was able to see, hear, and interact with members of the class.
In addition, members of the IT staffs at Hamilton and Colgate, as well as the Mellon advisory committee meet regularly using the RCFs. These applications of the RCF not only enhance educational possibilities for our students and promote collaborative activities sharing, but are financially sound. The videoconference with Dr. Hirsch cost approximately $60, while the cost of bringing him to campus (travel, hotel, and lost time for Dr. Hirsch) would have been over $2,000. The videoconference in the German course achieved similar savings. Each of the Hamilton/Colgate meetings held via the RCF save approximately 50% of the cost of holding the meeting by traveling to campus. Equally important is that the availability of the RCF makes meetings possible that would otherwise not realistically take place due to scheduling problems among the participants.
Plans for next year include a joint Hamilton/Colgate class in Italian, an advanced class in computer science jointly taught by faculty at Hamilton and Colgate, a joint classics course involving faculty from Hamilton and Skidmore, and a German class at Colgate using a videoconferencing component, as well as additional videoconferences in public policy courses. We are also exploring the possibility of a German class at Colgate linking to Connecticut College in the Fall. In the remaining two years of the grant we will be investigating the degree to which we can link to international sites to promote contact with native speakers.
Colgate University
George Hudson, Professor of English
Karen Leach, Chief Information Officer
Hamilton College
Mary Beth Barth, Director of the Critical Languages Center/Language Learning Center
David Smallen, Director, Information Technology Services
Within the new project management plan, Ms. Leach and Mr. Smallen will be responsible for administrative procedures associated with the grant, including budget management, implementing regular communication mechanisms for keeping faculty informed on activities in progress at Colgate/Hamilton and other Mellon sites, and facilitating the work of the advisory committee which is composed of the new leadership team and two faculty members from each institution.
The advisory committee meets monthly to plan activities and approve budget requests. An electronic newsletter is sent to all language faculty and other interested individuals at the two colleges on a monthly basis.
| Karen Leach Chief Information Officer Colgate University | David L. Smallen Director, Information Technology Services Hamilton College |