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INNOVATOR 2005: Defense Language Institute
7/28/2005
The single biggest impact of the project is the ability to use digital files in any classroom or laboratory, anywhere on the campus network. There are also “teacher folders” for all the instructors, and a cross-fertilization process that takes place among faculty within the school and the institute, to develop best practices.
Surprises
Franke says that the biggest surprise was the amount of storage necessary for digitizing audio and video to be accessed on the server. But the biggest obstacle was the learning curve of the faculty, most of whom are immigrants from countries around the globe.Next Steps
Presently, the institute is deploying TEC-3, the third phase of the Technology-Enhanced Classroom project, in which Franke hopes to eventually see wireless networks in use in the classrooms. Of critical importance is the need for information assurance, and the institute must remain vigilant in protecting the networks from hackers and predators.
The next steps are continued training of faculty, integration of new technologies into the project, and developing programs such as LingNet (www.lingnet.org) to satisfy specific needs and goals. The institute is building a data center to enable connections throughout the campus and to its graduates. Finally, the institute is building a Broadband Language Training System that will incorporate a high-speed broadband network and allow for a Learning Management System for both resident and non-resident training.
Advice
“I would advise others to build technical support into the equation from the very beginning,” says Franke. “It is imperative that you have backups when Murphy’s Law rears its ugly head; otherwise, technology becomes a disability.” He also suggests that if support is needed, visit other campuses or schools to see what works and d'esn’t. And plan for the life cycle of the technology —try not to have to replace everything at the same time.Related Links and References
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (www.dliflc.edu); The Global Language Network (www.lingnet.org); Smart Technologies (www.smarttech.com); Foreign Language Portal (www.ilovelanguages.com); and the Computer-Aided Language Instruction Consortium (www.calico.org).Cite this Site
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