Arabic-L:GEN:invitation to participate in the NFLC LangNet site

[Nathan Arp]

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Arabic-L: Thu 16 Dec  2004
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:invitation to participate in the NFLC LangNet site

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1)
Date: 16 Dec  2004
From:"Lampe, Gerald" <glampe at nflc.org>
Subject:invitation to participate in the NFLC LangNet site

Dear Colleagues:

On a pilot basis, the National Foreign Language Center at the  
University of Maryland (NFLC) is making the LangNet site with its  
current collection of learning objects available to a number of  
academic institutions in Academic Year 04-05.  Web access will be free  
to participating institutions during this pilot phase. This experiment  
will, we hope, give us a better understanding of the potential value of  
our materials to students and teachers in an academic setting.  Since  
we do not receive any funding to support use of LangNet outside  
government agencies, we must plan carefully to assure that we provide  
adequate support for academic users.
 
LangNet currently has materials in the following Languages: Arabic  
(MSA, Iraqi, Levantine, Egyptian); Chechen; Chinese (Mandarin,  
traditional characters);  Hindi; Korean (in September); Kurdish  
(Sorani); Pashto; Persian/Farsi; Spanish; Turkmen; Urdu; Uzbek; West  
Punjabi .  Since we can accommodate a finite number of institutions, we  
need to hear from you whether your institution is likely to be  
willing/able to participate in a pilot, and how many students in which  
LangNet-supported languages might benefit.  
 
Institutional commitment:
Institutions that participate will be asked to

	•        provide a central point of contact to coordinate all  
communication with 	LangNet
	•        cooperate in non-burdensome research on student/teacher use  
of the materials
	•        observe copyright restrictions that limit use of LangNet to  
faculty and 	enrolled students of participating institutions. 
	Note: Participation does not imply any longer-term commitment  to use  
LangNet 	materials.
	 
We haven’t yet determined whether we will be able to provide LangNet  
materials in CD-ROM format, but if we are able to do so, we will have  
to charge institutions for those CDs, as there are costs associated  
with them.
 
If your institution is a likely pilot site, please e-mail me with any  
of the following information you can readily provide:

	•        Your contact Information
		o       First Name
		o       Last Name
		o       Email Address
		o       Institution
		o       Phone Number
		o       Business Address
		o       Language(s) of Interest
	•        LangNet languages of interest for your institution (Please  
share this 	information with colleagues who teach LangNet-supported  
languages)
	•        Any information on how many students at your campus are  
studying at what 	proficiency levels for each language
	•        A contact person who would be likely to coordinate use on  
your campus and 	his/her e-mail address
 
We are also gathering information on other potential uses of LangNet,  
and one that has emerged is use by more-proficient heritage students,  
some of whom are in community-based programs. If you have  
recommendations on other venues where LangNet materials could be used,  
please pass that information along to us as well.
 
Many thanks for your assistance!  
 
 Please email your response to Academe at nflc.org. If you are choosing to  
participate we will then reply with user name(s), passwords and  
directions.

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End of Arabic-L:  16 Dec  2004