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| Chris DeLucia works with a student in the language lab |
By Chris DeLucia, instructor of Chinese
Opened in the fall of 1999, the McIlvain Multimedia Learning Classroom (MLC) is a state-of-the-art, digital language lab. The centerpiece of this 24-computer lab is the Tandberg Corporation's Divace Duo suite of hardware and software. While each student computer can use the Divace software to run any multimedia file on The Hill's network, the teacher's computer station is capable of monitoring and even controlling each station. The teacher can interact with individual students via a hardwired audio system, or he or she can group students to interact with each other, in pairs or in groups.
The real power of this lab configuration is its ability to call together a vast array of resources and apply them to almost any learning situation. In addition to the versatile Divace software, each student can use e-mail, word processing, the internet, and the full power of HillNET, including the Academy server. For example: a language teacher could e-mail the class a writing assignment in or out of class and have the students access audio or video clips from their stations, supplement their work with material from the internet, and attach a Word document or audio file to an email sent back to their teacher. While many computer labs have some of these capabilities, the increased ability to manipulate audio data through the Tandberg Divace system allows for more flexibility in realistic language exercises. German students at The Hill, for example, frequently make use of the network drop box to get asynchronous, and more detailed, feedback on their audio exercises.
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| A student uses the computer for modern language studies |
The most common usage of the MLC is for traditional language drill, practice, and testing. These take two forms, teacher-led and free-use. In a classroom, the teacher can correct only one student's pronunciation at a time, while the other students are silent. In the MLC, the entire class can be practicing their speaking while the teacher monitors one student at a time, silently, opening the two-way intercom only when necessary for corrections. The teacher also can take control of the entire lab, play an audio or video file for the class, starting and stopping at will, and adding commentary for the entire class via the intercom. Several hundred hours of high quality digital audio (MP3) and video (MPEG-1) are available for Spanish, French, German, and Chinese.
The student's free-form use of the MLC computer stations is the most common, and can take place during a class or in the evening during study hall. This usually takes the form of completing an assignment from the textbook at the student's own pace. Because of the media's digital nature, the student can move immediately to any point in an audio or video file. The students can record and hear their voices and they can save or e-mail their audio recordings for themselves and their teachers. The recap feature is also quite handy: If the student is having difficulty with a certain sentence, they can hear that sentence again with a simple click of the "recap" button.
Recent upgrades in the MLC over the last two years include new Pentium 4 computers with Windows XP professional, a digital projector, and satellite dishes to receive foreign language channels. Ask for a tour next time you are on campus!