New techy approaches to the teaching of Russian (radical versions thereof?)

[James M Tonn (jtonn@Princeton.EDU)]

Nicole,
   Oscar Swan has taught a first-year Polish course at the University of Pittsburgh in which all homework assignments were conducted through quizzing software that the students downloaded. The program presents drill-style questions in Polish, or several other Slavic languages, and allows the student to respond by typing in the language (typically with a simplified keyboard layout). It automatically grades the assignments and uploads the results to a web site to which only the professor has access.
   The program itself is a little problematic, but Professor Swan has reported a great deal of success with this mode of instruction in general. Computerizing drills saves huge amounts of time both for the professor and students--freeing time for the more advanced conversational work that can't be automated.

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Monnier, Nicole M." <MonnierN at MISSOURI.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 4:04 pm
Subject: [SEELANGS] New techy approaches to the teaching of Russian (radical versions thereof?)
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU

> SEELANGStsy!
> 
> I'm sitting in a teaching & technology seminar and am amazed to 
> discover (what I consider) radical uses of technology  that takes 
> language teaching out of (or reduces the time spent in) the brick-
> and-mortar classroom and into the magical world (!) of technology.  
> I'm not talking about video classrooms, where an instructor is 
> teaching a class from one site to a variety of of classrooms in 
> other locations. (Though FYI, this seems to be one way in which the 
> US Dept. of Ed. is supporting the teaching of Arabic - see 
> http://www.arabicstudies.edu/index.shtm.)
> An example of what I mean can be found the program description for 
> an intro Spanish class at Portland State U. created through the 
> National Center for Academic Transformation:
> 
> http://www.center.rpi.edu/PCR/R3/PoSU/PoSU_Overview.htm. 
> 
> The "transformation" replaced in-class time for grammar instruction 
> with web-based and software-based activities; automated a goodly 
> amount of grading; cut down the number of hours in class per week 
> (3x to 2x); and finally, reduced the number of instructors in the 
> course.
> I find myself at once horrified and fascinated by this prospect. Is 
> anyone doing this with Russian (or any other Slavic language, for 
> that matter)?
> 
> Curiously,
> 
> Nicole
> 
> 
> ************************************
> Nicole Monnier
> Assistant Professor of Instruction
> Director of Undergraduate Studies (Russian)
> German & Russian Studies
> University of Missouri - Columbia
> Columbia, MO 65211
> 
> office: 573.882.3370
> fax: 573.884.8456
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your 
> subscription  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS 
> Web Interface at:
>                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------