In this report we briefly summarize:
Alice Nakhimovsky, Professor of Russian, Colgate University
Alexander Nakhimovsky, Professor of Computer Science, Colgate University
New MANNA software was adapted for course use with the help of the grant, and two entire courses were created using the software. This has resulted in a wholly new way of teaching intermediate Russian. Twelve students in Russian 201 and 202 used software that linked a video of a Russian film with the film's Russian text, a grammatical commentary, and a dictionary. Students who used the software were delighted with it, and were much more in control of vocabulary and syntax learned in the movie, because they had real-time referents for it. The software made it possible for students who did not have extensive Russian preparation to engage the language of the street, bypassing the "canned" language of textbooks.
The success of this activity has resulted in planned use of the MANNA software in Colgate's "western traditions" core course next fall. All Colgate students take this course in which classical texts are read in English translation. Beginning next fall, they will use the software to view a digitized film of Colgate classics professor Robert Garland reading short segments from a variety of Greek texts (Homer, Plato, a Gospel). The video will be connected with Professor Garland's commentary, and with the text in Greek, in transliteration, and several translations, as well as to a Greek-transliterated Greek-English dictionary. Students in this program will see how very different the texts sound -- and how differently they yield meaning -- in their original languages. We expect four hundred students to use the software the first semester.
Professor Nakhimovsky will be one of the presenters at the June workshop for Hamilton and Colgate faculty (see below).
Hong Gang Jin, Associate Professor of Chinese, Hamilton CollegeDe Bao Xu, Assistant Professor of Chinese, Hamilton College
Professors Jin and Xu taught two courses last year, Chinese 300 and 320, in which the Chinese Breakthrough (CD Rom) was used in every lesson. This software was developed using grant funding. Each course had an enrollment of four students. The Chinese Breakthrough CD is now used nationwide now along with the Textbook and Workbook of Chinese Breakthrough, which was published by Sony via Cheng & Tusi Company in 1996. Thus an application developed with Mellon funding is reaching a national audience in higher education. In addition, the software was used in the Associated Colleges in China program held in Beijing during the summer and fall of 1997. A total of twenty-eight students were registered for the courses.
Professor Jin and Xu will also be presenters at the June workshop.
Dierk Hoffman, Professor of German, Colgate University
Professor Hoffmann has done broad experimentation with new technology tools. He was one of the early users of the E-web course integration software developed by Yong Zhao, and has since worked with the related WebCT software under evaluation as a final product for both campuses to adopt.
Last summer, with the support of the grant, Professor Hoffmann prepared five multi-media lessons using the MANNA software developed by the Nakhimovsky's. These lessons included digitized videos, translations, and the creation of a dictionary. All of the lessons were used in intermediate German classes this past year and were well received by the students. Hoffmann gave a demonstration at a Wesleyan workshop and he intends to continue collaborative work with the Wesleyan-Trinity-Connecticut Consortium.
Franklin Sciacca, Associate Professor of Russian, Hamilton College
Professor Sciacca developed a Russian Language/Russian Studies Homepage and a Course page for RSNST 100W ("Introduction to Russian Studies: Tolstoy's War and Peace"). A stipend from the grant permitted Professor Sciacca to learn how to effectively use Netscape, a variety of search engines, Adobe Photoshop, and explore Web resources. Using an e-mail distribution list he facilitated communication between the students and himself. The course webpage was enhanced by a number of links to related sites, several of which were assigned as readings during the course. By the end of the semester, web resources were often incorporated by students in individual research projects. For most of the nineteen students in that class, this was the first experience with a course Homepage.
Other web sites developed by Professor Sciacca as a result of his grant funding included:
Professor Mwantuali used the interactive program "Philip". It allowed his forty-five students in French 200 to navigate around Paris, listen to native speakers use the language, solve a problem (find a house to rent) through newspapers and phone calls (listening to prerecorded authentic messages). The students were paired and met with the instructor to evaluate the success of the exercises.
In addition, by working with student assistants and the technology specialist, Professor Mwantuali has been developing web based interactive stories that will be used with his classes this coming year.
Edith Toegel, Associate Professor of German, Hamilton College
Professor Toegel taught "Contemporary German Culture" to six students. The course used a web-page: http://www.hamilton.edu/html/academics/german/german240w/german.html,with links to many German sources. Professor Toegel learned to use the web through a stipend from the grant. Students did weekly Internet projects during the term and daily projects during the final two weeks . The Internet was also used for gathering authentic material used for oral in-class reports
Martine Guyot-Bender, Associate Professor of French, Hamilton College
Martine Guyot-Bender gave Netscape assignments in several of her courses. In the Advanced French class, twenty-seven students met with the instructor at the Language Learning Center to analyze the structure of articles in on-line French daily "Le Monde." They scanned through numerous articles, looking for devices used in introductions and in transitions. Students were able to choose and work on different articles, thus develop a degree of independence. Another assignment for this class was to read and analyze corrections of the national test Baccalaureat" offered by renown professors and put on-line by the French daily "Liberation." These corrections offered tips on how to understand what is expected from a given subject, how to start, how to present an introduction, etc.. Again, students selected their own materials and were able to exercise a great deal of independence in the learning process.
In her advanced Medieval French literature seminar, six students explored aspects of the medieval world through the myriad of information contained in the "Labyrinth." At their fingertips, students found colorful miniatures and other art representations; virtual visits to museums and monuments; detailed composition of armors and costumes; illustrated summaries of the lives of the main French monarchs; maps of France from the dark ages to the contemporary period; hundreds of archives otherwise impossible to access; articles on topics such as masculinity and chivalry, social representation, food and daily life, religion and philosophy, etc.. Students learned to use this information both for enjoyment and to enlighten the readings they were doing in class
A series of activities were initiated on each campus to familiarize faculty with the capabilities of the RCF. A joint open house was held allowing language faculty at each institution to communicate with each other; special demonstrations were held for members of the Romance Languages departments; meetings were held between groups at Hamilton and Colgate, including language faculty on the (Mellon grant) advisory committee; demonstrations were held for personnel from Skidmore and Middlebury considering the creation of similar facilities on their campuses; and demonstrations were held for the senior officers of each institution.
On March 12, 1997, the first instructional use of the Remote Collaboration Facility (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. A lively discussion ensued (all in Italian) and the excitement was apparent. The students were very comfortable with the use of the technology - not surprising since they have grown up in the television age - and they did not have to operate any equipment - just focus on the language. The cameras moved to them automatically as they spoke. 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 one of the authors of a book they had been reading. The author was in a similar facility in Hamburg, Germany, demonstrating that the use of the RCF can have a global impact. Professor Hoffmann plans to incorporate a regular videoconference component into his course next year. He is working closely with the Kade Foundation to gain funding for a similar facility at the University of Freiburg to establish permanent video and Internet links between the two sites. This facility will provide valuable access to native speaking Germans for students at Colgate and Hamilton.
The excitement of the RCF resulted in experiments in other disciplines:
On April 2, students in Assistant Professor of Government, Mark O'Gorman's AIDS and Health Policy met with Dr. Martin Hirsch, '60, a prominent AIDS researcher at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. The meeting was done via the RCF. Dr. Hirsch reviewed the history of the search for a treatment and cure for AIDS and then participated in a question and answer session with the students. 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.
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, as well as additional videoconferences in public policy courses.
The RCFs have provided a new, and perhaps unexpected, stimulus to thinking about enhancements to undergraduate courses and new ways for faculty to work collaboratively with their colleagues.
This is the first of a series of workshops that will be conducted during the coming year. These workshops will bring to campus faculty members who have successfully used technology to enhance the teaching of languages.
Ms. Barth and Professor Hudson will work closely with language faculty to identify instructional needs, interests and technological experience and locate appropriate resources to meet these needs. Both Ms. Barth and Professor Hudson are respected by faculty members at each institution and have long-standing interest in using technology to enhance teaching and learning. Technical support for faculty projects will be provided by a combination of consultants, students, a shared technology support person, and the information technology staffs at Hamilton and Colgate.
Since the grant was received, Hamilton has authorized the hiring of two full-time instructional support staff in the ITS organization (searches are in the process of completion) and Colgate has hired one additional person as well as redirected other staff responsibilities to more direct curricular support. In addition, the IT organizations have worked cooperatively on a number of fronts, including regular monthly meetings of the head of the organizations. An ITS support member from each institution will be attending the Mellon workshop at Middlebury College later in June. This will give them an opportunity to know each other better and also meet their peers from other colleges.
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 will meet monthly to plan activities and approve budget requests. An electronic newsletter has already been established and is sent to all language faculty, and other interested individuals, at the two colleges on a monthly basis.
Colgate and Hamilton wish to thank the Andrew F. Mellon Foundation for its continuing support for these activities. The next phase of the grant will bring substantial progress toward integrating new and innovative technologies with language teaching. We expect to meet the outcomes outlined in our original proposal and achieve additional, unexpected benefits. Our September report will provide information on the innovative summer projects about to begin. We know that new ideas will also surface from the June Workshop and we look forward to nurturing the creative momentum that will result.
| Karen Leach Chief Information Officer Colgate University | David L. Smallen Director, Information Technology Services Hamilton College |