Adventures in Teaching:
Helping Language Teachers
Discover Teaching with
Technology
FLEAT 2005
Jessamine Cooke-Plagwitz
Northern Illinois University
jpcooke@niu.edu
The Program
• Foreign Language Instructional
Technology Graduate Certificate
Program at Northern Illinois
University
• Classes first offered summer,
2003
Why Establish a Program?
• Instructional Technology is ideal for
teaching Foreign Languages and
Cultures
• Many FL teachers concerned about
lack of specific training in Instructional
Technology
• Many schools and universities now
require knowledge of or expertise in
Instructional Technology for new faculty
hires
Program Background
• Partnership between the Department of
Foreign Languages and Literatures and
the Department of Educational
Technology, Research and
Assessment (ETRA)
• Intended for K through Post-Secondary
FL Faculty
• Prerequisite = Bachelor’s degree in a
Foreign Language or degree in other
area and fluency in a language other
than English
Program Objectives
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To improve the quality of foreign-language
graduates and to better prepare graduates
for subsequent employment;
To offer in-service language teachers the
opportunity to learn to develop and to use
pedagogically sound technology
applications while pursuing re-certification;
To work closely with faculty from the ETRA
Department to teach foreign-language
graduate students a new skill set;
Program Objectives (cont’d)
• To work closely with the faculty and
administration of area schools and institutions
of higher education to improve the quality of
foreign-language instruction both in the K-12
and the post-secondary arenas throughout the
Midwest region and, ultimately, throughout the
nation;
• To establish formal cooperative agreements
with area school boards to provide them with
a series of one-day training workshops in
specific technological applications for
language instruction;
• To establish a nationally recognized model
program for other universities and colleges of
education.
The Partnership
• Agreement on which ETRA
courses to offer
• Course Scheduling
• Allocation of Academic Credits
• New IT focus available for FL
graduate students
Program Design
FLTE 591/592
• The main goal of the first two courses
is to tie together the theoretical and the
practical in as cohesive a fashion as
possible
• Sample topics: second language
acquisition theory, multiple
intelligences, student-centered and
cooperative learning, technology
competencies, issues of copyright and
fair use.
• 591 work with a variety of technologies;
592 emphasizes materials creation
FLTE 591/592 - Applications
• Digital graphics and video
• Digital audio
• Generic software applications and
their potential pedagogical uses
• Computer-mediated
communication methods
• Course management systems
• The Internet and the World Wide
Web
FLTE 593
• Covers topics associated with the operation of
a foreign language multimedia center
• Team taught
• Sample topics: networking, hardware and
software selection, creating and working with
budgets, inter-departmental cooperation
• Text = IALLT Management Manual
• Final Project = Design the ultimate (from your
point of view) multimedia language learning
center, including design sketches, budget,
equipment lists, personnel and administrative
structure
FLTE 594
• Independent Project
• Project proposal, development,
demonstration, and write-up
• Students develop a pedagogical
application which they will
subsequently employ in their own
classrooms
Sample Course: FLTE 591 Integrating Technology into the
Foreign Language Curriculum
Topics
What We’ve Learned
• “It [the Certificate Program] has
led me to re-examine some of my
original assumptions about
Computer Aided Language
Learning and how it can be used
in a more collaborative and
authentic manner to create a more
authentic real-world learning
experience” (Cannon-Ruffo 2005,
Personal Statement Section).
What else we’ve learned
• Teachers from a variety of school
districts are working according to a
variety of guidelines
• To be resourceful!
• Flexibility!
• Cooperation and communication
between departments is vital to our
success – share resources both
hardware/software and personnel
Future Directions
• Content will continue to evolve with the
technology
• Content will evolve according to both
the needs and the ideas of its
participants
• Graduate students in ETRA and
Foreign Languages now working on
foreign language/instructional
technology topics
• The ultimate goal is enthusiastic use of
technology by all language teachers!
Work Samples
• Foreign Language Instructional Technology
Web (Microsoft FrontPage, PowerPoint, Moviemaker, Inspiration)
• Indonesian language instruction (Macromedia
Dreamweaver, CourseBuilder, Hot Potatoes) (English Version)
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Thai Webquest (PowerPoint)
Advanced ESL (Macromedia Dreamweaver, Hot Potatoes)
French (Dreamweaver, SoundForge, PowerPoint)
German (PowerPoint)
German Video Exercises (Hot Potatoes)
Spanish Language (Dreamweaver, Blackboard)
Spanish Culture / Geography (Trackstar, Blackboard)
For further information. . .
• Jessamine Cooke-Plagwitz
jpcooke@niu.edu