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

[Sandra Rosengrant]

Dear All,

I feel that I should comment on the redesign of first-year Spanish at 
Portland State University.

For the most part, the redesign has produced positive results. At the 
time of the redesign, first-year Spanish was a “bottleneck” course--too 
many students, not enough classes. We addressed the problem by moving 
passive elements--reading, listening, and some drills--to an online 
environment and reducing seat time from 195 minutes/week to 130 
minutes/week. During the 130 minutes of class students worked in 
relatively small groups (25 maximum) and focused primarily on oral 
skills. Because of the automatization of tasks, TAs were able to teach 
two sections. The latter change did lead to savings for the University, 
but we also hoped that the increase in income would permit TAs to give 
up off-campus jobs and spend more time of their academic programs.

There is no doubt that the Spanish program has benefitted from the close 
scrutiny that accompanied the redesign. In 2005-06 we taught 65 quarter 
sections of first-year Spanish for a total of 5,356 SCH. Student 
satisfaction is higher that at any time in the past and objective 
measures of student learning outcomes show no decrease in learning. TAs 
receive more training than in the past, and there is more consistency 
among sections. We have now extended the redesign model to second-year 
Spanish and are experiencing similarly positive results there as well.

As a footnote, I should point out that the savings came from the 
computerization of mechanical tasks rather than from the reduction in 
seat time. Traditional students have objected to the reduction in seat 
time, so Fall 2006 we will return to 195 minutes/week for day classes 
while retaining the 130 minute/week format for evening students.

The redesign of first-year Spanish required a great investment of 
resources and faculty time. Although I fully support the principles that 
went into the redesign, it is difficult for me to imagine launching a 
similar effort for a smaller language program. Dr. Robert Sanders 
(rsanders at pdx.edu), the Coordinator of First-Year Spanish at Portland 
State University, has presented extensively on the project. I’m sure 
that he would be happy to answer questions (or correct my 
misapprehensions) off list.

Cordially,

Sandra Freels Rosengrant, Chair
Professor of Russian
Portland State University.


Monnier, Nicole M. wrote:

>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
>
>
>
>
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