Advanced Distance Russian Course for College Credit

[Valentino, Russell]

Melissa,

We ran distance courses in Czech, Polish, BCS, and a variety of English-language REEES subjects between 2002 and 2006. We had about 600 students go through. My best suggestions are to use multiple delivery platforms, synchronous and asynchronous; have high definition audio files at least available, especially instead of the telephone quality audio that's typical for most internet-based video conferencing (in which you can't hear the difference between some hard a soft consonants, for instance); have local tutors or at least people to sit in on the classes at the remote sites (there's nothing so de-motivating to some students as the feeling of isolation from being only one or two in a distance class where the teacher is somewhere else); and, whenever possible, move the teachers around. Some students will not respond well no matter what, but some students can learn this way, esp. those who have studied FL before.

Good luck.

Russell


Russell Scott Valentino
Professor and Chair
Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature
University of Iowa
319.335.2827



-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Melissa Smith
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 11:30 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Advanced Distance Russian Course for College Credit

Dear Seelangers:

I am most interested in finding out who among my colleagues has used 
distance-learning components, or taught Russian in a distance learning 
environment. Youngstown State is experimenting with consortial 
distance-learning courses in foreign languages in which there is no 
full-time instructor. This year I will be overseeing the programs (in 
lanuages other than Russian), and have many concerns about this format 
in an open-enrollment university such as YSU.

I was very impressed by the presentation that Andrei Bogomolov did at 
MidWest Slavic, and I will be trying to incorporate the distance 
learning alternative into the coursework for the students at Youngstown 
State who wish to progress beyond second year. There are usually 2-3 
maximum, and I have seen my program shrink from a Russian major to 
minor in face of administrative pressures. 

YSU will be hosting an in-house conference on distance-learning October 
16th. I hope to be in a position to make the case for Russian as well 
as other less-commonly taught languages. Any feedback is welcome.

Sincerely, Melissa Smith 

  


Tim Pogacar wrote:


>Advanced Distance Russian Course for College Credit
>
>Moscow State University’s Center for International Education offers a 
three-credit fourth-
>year (equivalent) course from its site  www.dist-learn.ru. The entirely 
web-based course 
>emphasizes listening, reading, and writing skills on a variety of 
contemporary topics. 
>Formal composition exercises focus on writing izlozheniia and esse. A 
personal web tutor 
>monitors learner progress and provides substantive feedback. Course 
materials have been 
>tested with U.S. students who have completed three years of Russian 
using Golosa, 
>Grammatika v kontekste, and other materials. U.S. credit is provided by 
Bowling Green 
>State University, where students can register for the distance course. 
Inquiries welcome. 
>Contact Dr. Andrei Bogomolov (anbogomolov at gmail.com) or Dr. Tim Pogacar 
>(pogacar at bgsu.edu).
>
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------------------------------------
Melissa T. Smith, Professor
Department of Foreign Languages and 
Literatures  
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, OH 44555
Tel: (330)941-3462

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