FLTC funds six online-based projects for CMLLC faculty
This year the FLTC has funded six projects, three that involve the creation of fully online courses and three that involve the creation of online learning modules. The projects incorporate the use of the latest technologies into existing foreign language, literature and culture courses to achieve specific learning objectives. Funding is given up to a maximum of $2000. A list of the 2014 FLTC mini-grant recipients and a synopsis of their projects follows:
1. Anne Duggan - Creating a fully Online Section of "Understanding the Fairy Tale."
2. Silvia Giorgini - Creating a fully Online Business Italian course.
3. Maha Saker - Creating a fully online Modern Arabic Literature ARB 5140 Course.
4. Laura Kline - Virtual Conversations: Developing Online Components for the Russian Conversation Course RUS 2030.
5. Rie Masuda - Creating Online Learning Modules for JPN1020.
6. Haiyong Liu - Online Testing for Chinese Linguistics and Culture Courses.
Grant recipients will be developing their projects over the summer and will implement their projects in their courses in the fall 2014/winter 2015/spring 2015 semesters. They will also be showcasing their projects at FLTC Brown Bags in the Winter 2015 semester.
Fully online courses
Creating an Online Section of "Understanding the Fairy Tale" by Anne E. Duggan, Associate Professor, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
The goal of this project is to create a fully online section of FRE/GER 2991: Understanding the Fairy Tale. FRE/GER 2991, Understanding the Fairy Tale, is an ideal course to put online. Fairy-tale courses often integrate film and other media, which syncs well with the online course model. Wikis have been used in the traditional classroom courses and will be integrated into the online version as well. We plan to film several interviews, both on campus and at the American Folklore Society conference in November 2014, to include commentary on various themes from experts in the field. Such an online component will give students access to many different perspectives from fairy-tale scholars around the world. Several potential interviewees have pieces in Marvelous Transformations, the main textbook, which will add an exciting dimension to the book. We believe that FRE/GER 2991 is an excellent course to use to set up multiple online sections: first, because of the popularity of the subject; and second, because of access to different scholars around the country who could potentially teach the course for us. Eventually, we hope to run several online sections of 2991 each semester.
Online Business Italian by Silvia Georgini-Althoen, Lecturer & Coordinator Basic Italian Language Course, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
The goal of this mini-grant is to develop a fully online asynchronous course in Business Italian. An online course in Business Italian will be especially advantageous for working students and professionals who might need more flexibility in their schedules. It will also complement Wayne State's mission to educate students in technological literacy while helping them navigate the tools necessary to do business in a global society. We believe that in light of FIAT's relocation to Detroit, along with other Italian suppliers (Magneti Marelli, Comau), offering a Business Italian online course is the best option to prepare our students for the real world of business in the community. The course will provide students with a background in business Italian at the intermediate level, a foundation in the vocabulary used in the business world, and experience writing business correspondence in Italian. Students will also gain cultural knowledge and vocabulary in Italian related to cross-cultural situations that arise in the business world.
Modern Arabic Literature ARB 5140 Online Course by Maha Saker, Lecturer in Near Eastern and Asian Studies, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
The grant is to develop a fully online version of ARB 5140, Modern Arabic Literature. Developed material will be organized thematically in modules. Each module will cover a weekly or biweekly topic (e.g. Orientalism, Contextuality, Gender & Women images, etc.) that can be used for Modern Arabic Literature ARB 5140 which is usually offered in the fall semester. The grant is intended to be used for two main purposes: (1) designing modules for 10 topics covering learning activities, reading assignments, and research & discussion activities; and (2) recording and storing audiovisual clips from movies illustrating cultural content; supplementary materials from documentaries, and interviews from different sources of Arabic and English media outlets. I will also record video presentations (15 minutes each) to introduce the overview of topics in each module.
Online learning modules
Virtual Conversations: Developing Online Components for the Russian Conversation Course RUS 2030 by Laura Kline, Senior Lecturer - Russian / Undergraduate Advisor - Russian, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Several years ago we created a Russian Conversation course (RUS 2030). It was designed to supplement our regular language courses, as there is not enough time in them for students to adequately develop their speaking and listening skills. The course is devoted to a series of topics, such as the family, food, visiting Russia, art, and emergency situations. For each of these topics, students are provided with preparatory vocabulary lists, which were created by the instructor, as there are no available textbooks that are appropriate for this class. Past experience has demonstrated the necessity of additional supplementary materials for the reinforcement of speaking and listening skills outside the classroom. To respond to this need we are creating audio files for the vocabulary and interactive Voicethread exercises.
Creating Online Learning Modules for JPN1020 by Rie Masuda, Lecturer, Asian Studies, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Upon succession from the interactive JPN 1010 online modules, supported by the CLAS grant, this next project is designed to create online learning modules for students beginning Japanese II (JPN1020) in order to help them master basic Japanese grammar, memorize basic vocabulary and Kanji characters, strengthen listening comprehension skills, and prepare for tests. The online modules will be created on blackboard and will be available for all sections of JPN1020 at any time. The modules will be based on the textbook along with quizzes and test contents from all teachers. Also, the modules can be used as additional assignments, practice tests, or supplemental lessons at Wayne State University.
Online Testing for Chinese Linguistics and Culture Courses by Haiyong Liu, Associate Professor, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
For this project, I plan to convert the quizzes and exams of four non-language courses (CHI 5210/LIN 5220 (Intro. To Chinese Linguistics), CHI/JPN 5220/LIN 5100 (Languages of Asia), CHI 5230 /LIN 5240 (Grammar of Chinese), CHI 2050 (Gateway to Chinese Civilizations)) to online. I will set testing time, submission deadline, and automatic feedback giving. Based on what we have learned from the language course online testing, I expect such a transition will lessen the faculty's workload by resorting to the automatic grading and feedback generating functions of Blackboard and Respondus; it will also improve test-takers' behavior by increasing the students' testing attendance rate after transforming the testing format to better suit today's students' learning styles; it will help reduce instructional cost and facilitate teacher-student interaction after exams are graded; considering the special fonts, images, and sound files we use in the linguistic and cultural courses, the digitized materials will be easier to present to the students online.
Visit FLTC Mini-Grants for more information and past recipients.