Online Language Initiative
The Online Language Initiative in the Language Institute is working to develop and deliver distance, online language courses to specialized audiences through the Credit Outreach Program or through other sources of funding. This initiative has enormous potential to significantly increase access to instruction, especially in less-commonly taught languages, enabling the University to reach new audiences such as adult learners, students at other postsecondary institutions, advanced high school students, and other potential students who are not able to enroll in campus-based courses that meet 3-5 days per week.
The Online Language Initiative is directed by Language Institute Director Professor Sally Sieloff Magnan, with Associate Director Dr. Dianna Murphy.
Goals for 2006-07
In 2006-07, the Language Institute will work with faculty and graduate students in the languages, as well as staff in Letters and Science Learning Support Services and Academic Technology in the Division of Information Technology, to develop two online language courses as a pilot, and a framework or "course shell" to facilitate future development of online language courses in multiple languages:
- one pilot online language course in Chinese. Conversational Chinese for Professionals, Zhu Yongping, Department of East Asian Languages and Literature;
- one pilot online language course in Urdu, First Semester Urdu, Qamar Jalil and Erlin Barnard, Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia;
- a course development framework and course shell consisting of a set of templates and software tools organized within a course management system that provides access to, and integration with, campus data systems, as well as resusable user interface design elements that are conceptualized and designed within a pedagogically-oriented framework.
Goals for 2005-06
In 2005-06, the Language Institute is working prepare for this new initiative, as follows:
Fall, 2005
- Draft pedagogical requirements for online language courses
- Research models for online language course development and delivery
- Document necessary technical and administrative resources
- Identify technologies and tools to further test and review
- Explore possible languages for development
Note: Work on the Online Languge Initiative in the Fall, 2005 is summarized in a report submitted to College of Letters and Science Associate Deans Magdalena Hauner and Jon Miller on January 15, 2006.
Spring, 2006
- Select the language, level, content, and target audience for the pilot course(s)
- Form working group of faculty and staff to guide ongoing efforts of the initiative
- Develop a set of pedagogical recommendations for online language courses
- Select specific technologies to implement in the pilot course and course shell
- Test those new technologies in existing foreign language courses
- Develop a blueprint of the pilot course and course shell
Funding for the Online Language Initiative is from the College of Letters and Science Office of Outreach Education.
Online Language Initiative Working Group
Erlin Barnard
Anna Gemrich
Read Gilgen
Brad Hintze
Magdalena Hauner
Les Howles
Qamar Jalil
Jean Janecki
Mark Kenoyer
Byung-jin Lim
Marlys Macken
Sally Magnan (director)
Dianna Murphy (associate director)
Lauren Rosen
Antonia Schleicher
Mary Jo Studenberg
Sue Weier
Yongping Zhu
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