Panel: Case Studies in Online Language Learning with

Horizon Wimba

This presentation will address the particular challenges of supporting the on-line teaching of foreign language in a Blackboard environment. Four different institutions will discuss how they have leveraged Horizon Wimba and other technologies to support the students and faculty both inside and outside the classroom.

Session Focus• Educate

– What are the challenges in online language learning?

• Innovate– How does leveraging Horizon Wimba enhance student

success?

• Everywhere– Getting Started– Lessons Learned – Next Steps

Panelists• Nathan Ehrlich

Dean, Hebrew College Online, Hebrew College• Peter A. Lafford

Director, Language Computing Lab, Arizona State University• Bernard Manker

Professor / Department Head, Grand Rapids Community College• Ming Yang

Instructional Technology Administrator, University of California, Riverside

Moderator• Eric Kunnen

Coordinator of Instructional Technologies, Grand Rapids Community College

Case #1 – Hebrew CollegePanelist – Nathan Ehrlich

Dean, Hebrew College Online, Hebrew College

• Established in 1921

near Boston, MA

• Transdenominational

• Non-sectarian

• Specializes in Jewish

studies

• In 1995 Hebrew College begins offering online courses

• Students from the United States, Canada, Israel, Japan, South Africa, Pakistan, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Malaysia, Ghana, Uganda…

• In 2000 Hebrew College Online launches the first online MA in Jewish Studies

• Hebrew language requirement

http://hebrewcollege.edu/online

Academon Publishing House, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

Textbook: Hebrew from Scratch

Benefits• Scheduling• Pace• Repetition• Confidence• Accuracy• Immediate

feedback• Availability of

course materials• Diverse learning

communities

Challenges• Scheduling• Motivation• Spoken language skills• Technical• Recruiting & training instructors• Addressing the needs of students

with varying learning styles• Accessibility for students with

disabilities• Research, best practices & new

tools

Case #2 - Arizona State UniversityPanelist – Peter A. Lafford

Director, Language Computing Lab, Arizona State University

Language Computing Lab to accommodate 2 classes at a time, with instructors

• Challenge: TA’s overworked, need to reduce time commitment

• Trend toward Hybrid Courses– Less Class time with instructor– More individual on-line activities– Lab hour becomes self-driven (no instructor present)

• Part of the answer: Horizon Wimba Voice Tools can add more oral interaction to the out-of-class time

Arizona State UniversityBlackboard used for support of Face-to-Face teaching

– Not just on-line courses or distance learning– Horizon Wimba supported by Language Course

Technology Fees• Not available to all 50,000 users

– Earlier version of Building Blocks could not make tools available to some courses but not others.

• Possible to insert html publishing code into Bb, but complex to support

– New Building Block can be enabled on a course-by-course basis

• Easier to support... Just another Blackboard communication tool

• Though it will appear on the menus even when not enabled

Arizona State University

Voice Tool Uses: • Voice e-mail with pre-addressed recipient

for student sampling• Voice Direct: virtual lecture with overseas

guest• Oral Assessments• Voice Dialogues• Voice Boards for discussion of audio stimuli

Arizona State University• Voice e-mail within

Blackboard– Automatically sent

to instructors– Pre-filled subject to

simplify automatic sorting in Outlook

– From: field only one active

– Text field optionally active or not

Arizona State University

Other Blackboard uses• Insert video or audio clips to Bb test

items– SCOLA Insta-Class clip (www.SCOLA.org)– Include Audio exported from Wimba

Voice Tools• New version of Voice Tools (5) can export

as .mp3; Voice Boards, Voice Direct, e-mails can be edited together as podcast

Arizona State University

Arizona State University

•Variable Speed Playback for Audio and Video

•Windows Media Player 10

•View / Enhancements / Play Speed Settings

•Quicktime Pro

•Player Prefs / Show A/V settings

Case #3 – Grand Rapids Community CollegePanelist – Bernard Manker

Professor / Department Head, Grand Rapids Community College

GRCC – Students & Standards• The problem: 14,800 students that all

commute, study, have jobs and in many cases families.

• This presents special problems in communication and in the kinds of requirements we can impose on our students.

• Bb is a way for us to remain in contact and to help satisfy our content requirements.

GRCC – Bb & Wimba Solutions• Currently we are using Wimba for listening

practice, for tests (SP), for oral testing(SP), oral discussion boards (FR and GR) and for interfacing with our texts (FR, GR, SP)

GRCC – Calendar & Content• In language acquisition we face the constant

struggle of reconciling the calendar, the content and the pedagogy.

• Our struggle, compounded with the special challenges presented by our student population, require some innovative solutions. We are barely scratching the surface on how Horizon Wimba can help us reach our students and attain our language acquisition goals.

Case #4 - Language Teaching at UC Riverside

• At UC Riverside, all major modern languages are offered every quarter by the Comparative Literature & Foreign language Department. As a part of my daily work, I worked closely with language instructors with regard to their needs in instructional technology. Setting up a Virtual Language Lab on Blackboard at UCR is one of many initiatives with which I have supported technology in language teaching.

Ming Yang Instructional Technology Administrator, University of California, Riverside

AV Course Modules for Language Teaching

• Transform pre-existing analog AV content

• Conveniently updated and reused environment

• Easily incorporated into any iLearn courses at any course level

Wimba Tools for Language Teaching

• Voice board with listening and speaking exercises

• Voice email for submitting real voice assignments

Areas in a Course Module

• Streamed class AV recordings

• Streamed AV recordings of class-related events

• Streamed course and lab recordings

• Instructor’s narrations and voice embedded presentations

• Student AV projects

Benefits for Language Instruction

• Enrich the course with added AV environment• Free to customize and recycle• Easy to control, deploy and collect• Starting point to develop online teaching

strategies • Save instructor’s time in

– Preparing and assigning AV course material– Checking listening/speaking exercises– Interacting with students after class

Benefits for Language Learning

• Single point of access to the online AV content• AV content available anytime for any authorized

user • Increased interactivity with the AV content and

instructors• Increased student time-on-task by focusing pre-

class preparation• more in-depth class discussion

Discussion• Educate

– What are the challenges in online language learning?

• Innovate– How does leveraging HorizonWimba enhance student

success?

• Everywhere– Getting Started– Lessons Learned – Next Steps

Thank You!

Panel: Case Studies in Online Language Learning with

Horizon Wimba

• Nathan Ehrlich (nathan@hebrewcollege.edu) Dean, Hebrew College Online, Hebrew College• Peter A. Lafford (peter.lafford@asu.edu) Director, Language Computing Lab, Arizona State University• Bernard Manker (bmanker@grcc.edu) Professor / Department Head, Grand Rapids Community College• Ming Yang (ming.yang@ucr.edu) Instructional Technology Administrator, University of California, Riverside•Eric Kunnen (ekunnen@grcc.edu) Coordinator of Instructional Technologies, Grand Rapids Community College