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Monday, October 3, 2016

PACE and Language Center Presentations at the 2016 MWALLT Conference

MidWest Association for Language Learning & Technology (MWALLT) 2016 Conference
Saturday, October 8, 2016
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Register online

Scaling up self assessment while managing technology overload: The one-touch BOSSA Protocol
An emerging body of research in language assessment (Dolosic et al, 2016; Ziegler, 2014) shows that self assessment is a tool that can increase learners’ active engagement and agency. At the University of Minnesota delivery of the Basic Outcomes Student Self-Assessment protocol has reached over 6,000 students in ten languages at seven instructional levels in the past two years. Through self assessment, students take charge of their learning as awareness of the language-learning process grows. The 50-minute protocol takes place in a computer classroom and utilizes multiple technologies. While instructors and students attest to the protocol’s benefit, managing the disparate technologies that link the components has become problematic, especially as we expand the protocol to additional language programs. As the protocol has developed and expanded to more language programs, instructors who conduct the session have had to focus both on the pedagogical aspects of the process as well as on managing the technology, which can result in cognitive overload. To meet this challenge, we built an application that regulates the process and timing of articulated components. The application provides a seamless presentation of tasks, automatic recording of student speech, and archival of students’ production. In this presentation, we describe the process for developing the application and the iterative process of revisions, and recount lessons learned from usability tests. Furthermore, we report on how instructors use and perceive the delivery of the protocol in the new system based on pilot implementation in nine courses in multiple languages.

Presenters: Dan Soneson, Adolfo Carrillo Cabello and Gabriela Sweet from the CLA Language Center at the University of Minnesota

Leadership Challenges of and Opportunities for Today's Language Centers
Language Centers may vary in terms of their mission, size, scope and resources but they all face a common set of existential challenges in today’s academic environment. In this day of cloud computing, smart phone apps and wireless technologies, what role does a physical space play? Should language labs evolve into all-purpose university computer labs? How do language centers retain their uniqueness while at the same time increase their relevance in the larger institutional context? Given the incorporation of multimedia elements into course textbooks, should language centers continue in their efforts to motivate and train faculty to develop their own instructional technology interventions? In light of shrinking budgets, reduced staff and ubiquitous technologies, how do language centers remain relevant while also renewing and advancing their mission? The panelists represent different institutional sizes and control, public and private; the language centers they serve vary in mission, resources and scope. In this panel presentation we will discuss the unique challenges and threats that we each face in our individual context, as well as shared approaches for addressing the most pressing issues that apply across institutional settings. We hope to highlight strategies we have found successful in dealing with various challenges, and will invite session participants to contribute to the conversation with the goal of establishing common ground that helps us all move forward. This session will be of interest to language center directors, faculty, and staff.

Presenters: Sangeetha Gopalakrishnan is the director of the Foreign Language Technology Center at Wayne State University (WSU). Carol Goss directs the Language Resource Center at Valparaiso University. Dan Soneson directs the CLA Language Center at the University of Minnesota.

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