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  • The Importance of Place

    By Joshua Kim January 19, 2010 8:56 pm EST

    Innovation in learning catalyzed by technology operates most productively when centered on a physical space.

    I think all of us in academic technology can learn a great deal from the model that some language / resources centers adopt. The model that I have observed, and which I think the language lab world has evolved toward, includes these four elements:

    1. A Focus on Pedagogy and Learning: Language labs and academic computing departments stress the "learning" side of learning technology. Any of the tools or platforms we use, any of our technologies, are only bridges to bring us closer to the goal of active learning. This focus plays out in strong collaborations with campus teaching and learning centers, the library, and academic computing departments.

    2. Comprehensive Services for Course Design, Development and Instruction: My sense is that language labs, being "place-based" units, are well-positioned to morph into places where faculty (and sometimes students) can get all the services, tools, consulting, and support they need for their courses. The shift from traditional language carrels and tape decks to computers has opened up opportunities for editing, media, and digitization services, as well as small group interactions and collaborations. Traditional language requirements can still be served, while at the same time a range of new services and tools can be supported.

    3. One-stop shopping for faculty: I've seen a model where faculty can get help across the range of their needs - from hardware to software. Many people, including instructors, learn most effectively in the context of one-on-one personal consultations. The development of long-term relationships between instructors and learning technology professionals builds a deep bond of trust, allowing both parties to collaborate effectively.

    4. A Service Oriented Model: Effective place-based teaching and learning resource centers are strongly service-oriented. The professionals staffing these units measure their success against how well their constituents are served, in addition to the degree of innovation and active learning opportunities that can be introduced into courses through partnering with instructors. This service orientation translates into (almost) never "passing off" an instructor to another unit or department unnecessarily; instead doing whatever it takes to solve the issue at hand. A service orientation is proactive and flexible, combining strong social intelligence with highly developed technical and pedagogical skills.

    In a previous blog post I listed "language labs" as one of 10 obsolete learning technologies. The response to this post was illuminating, as in my mind I was picturing the old language lab carrel that I assumed have been supplanted by language resource centers.

    So to be clear, and for the record, in my opinion the model of the language resource center is one that should be expanded and adapted to serve all disciplines. The place-based advantages of resource centers could be replicated by building on the model to create discipline-specific centers for instructional partnering and support. An alternate model would be to expand place-based resource centers into cross-disciplinary teaching centers, bringing in academic technologists and other learning professionals.

    Resource centers may indeed serve the traditional function of traditional, carrel-based language labs, but since workstations and software can now perform this function it seems that the mission and abilities of these place-based centers have expanded. Still, I should have been more clear - and for that I apologize. I hope to utilize this blog as an opportunity to discussion and collaboration with learning professionals across the higher ed. spectrum. I'll be interested to hear the response to this blog post from my colleagues who work in and run language labs and language resource centers.

Go to comments (6) »
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Comments on The Importance of Place

  • Posted by Doug on January 26, 2010 at 3:00pm EST

  • Great, thoughtful post, John. Thanks for the follow-up to your previous article!

  • Posted by Trish Early , Language Lab Coordinator at Georgia State on January 26, 2010 at 3:45pm EST

  • Thank you for recognizing the myriad of services that language centers provide faculty and students. One other important role of the language center that we stress at GSU is that it provides our students with a locale and the social resources to form communities of language learners. Peer tutoring areas, group work areas, walk-in tutoring, and informal learning spaces, such as international tv rooms serve to stengthen student engagement in their academic and campus life. As a result, it is hoped that retention and progress towards graduation is encouraged and supported through our efforts.

  • Right!
  • Posted by Andrew Ross , Associate Director, Emerging Instructional Technologies at Brown University on January 26, 2010 at 5:30pm EST

  • I think your comments above are *very* well-taken, and welcome the clarification you offer on the previous post. There's a world of difference between the "language lab" model that has unfortunately stuck in collective memory, and language resource centers that perform the roles you cite. Faculty, staff and students really do need a physical space in which to meet and work, and a locus of conversation around issues of teaching and learning and their relation to technology, whether that space is devoted to discipline-specific engagement or supports broader endeavors. Spot on. Bravo!

  • Well Done.
  • Posted by Jeremiah Spoon , Language Center Coordinator/Technologist at Hamilton College on January 27, 2010 at 11:45am EST

  • Five years ago, I began working here at Hamilton running the Language Center. Coming from the outside world, and not familiar with higher education, I held some of the same beliefs that you stated in your previous blog post.

    Technology is at the point where nearly instantaneous transmission of all forms of data is not just simple, but cost effective.

    As someone raised in the world of technology (I knew how to build a computer by the age of five), I'm what you would call an "early adopter". The minute something new comes out, I want to see it, use it, and find a way to implement it in my daily use.

    At first, I wasn't sure why our Language Center wasn't part of the larger ITS solution on campus. My thoughts were “computers are computers, right?”.
    
Wrong.

    Over the years, I've seen not just exactly why we are not part of it - but why we should remain a singular entity.

    The Language Center here at Hamilton serves the faculty in ways that our ITS group is either unable to, or does not have the time for. We are ready and available for 13 hours almost every day prepared to not just help with technical questions - but also with language learning itself.

    Having a Language Center staffed by a student who not only is technologically inclined, but is also a third or fourth year student themselves in a language provides a double edged sword where we can not only help with your tech questions, but help with your language questions as well.

    Every day different groups of students congregate around our conference table. They all have their own computers, but they come here for more than our technology - they come for our atmosphere. We provide a language geared space where they are able to talk about their homework and work on it together.

    Most of our students I see every day - Most are here for at least two hours when they come - some stay for much longer.

    As this is my fifth year here, I have seen our space change dramatically. When I arrived, it was lit by ugly fluorescent lighting from above. Older computers were stationed around the room to support (in most instances) ten year old software that (at the time) was not replaceable.

    After much studying and a lot of deliberation, we renovated the space. New carpets, new layout (a simple re-arrangement of the already present furniture), a replacement of the seven year old machines, and the final touch - about 10 floor torch lights - turned the space into a much more welcoming space.

    Comments were immediately positive - "I wish I could move my dorm here", "This place feels like home", and "I love being in here" were echoed not just by students - but by faculty themselves.

    Not to mention that our need became even more apparent as the netbook was born. We now have students who have laptops that simply don’t have the horsepower to do high-end media tasks - like edit video and do multi-track sound editing.

    I now fully understand - even as an outside technologist not versed in any form of educational pedagogy of any kind - that while all computers are the same, how they are set up and the atmosphere that surrounds them is more important than the hardware inside.

    The loss of our Language Center would serve as a massive blow - not just to the students who are here every day, but to the language curriculum itself.

    Five years ago I could not have answered the question “What makes the LC different?” - now I now for certain who we are and why we exist.

    We are here to serve. On demand. Ready to help with all languages, and all forms of media. Encoding video, recording audio, compressing media, serving media from our XServe, editing all forms of material, providing targeted technological help in all mediums - and the most important - providing a space with a language specific goal in an atmosphere that can not be found anywhere else on campus.

    Thanks for reading the whole thing if you’ve stuck around. :)

  • thanks for feedback and ideas
  • Posted by Joshua Kim at Dartmouth College on January 27, 2010 at 5:30pm EST

  • Really appreciate the detailed feedback and ideas (and thanks to Anthony for spurring the discussion!). This is one post that I did labor on (and consulted about - again thanks Anthony)...so I'm gratified to make a connection.

    I'm wondering if this is one area where conversations between Language Resource professionals and learning technologists could expand? I've been very influenced in my thinking by seeing a Language Resource Center up close - I'm just wondering how to scale.

    Anyway...much appreciated. Josh

  • Thank you!
  • Posted by Mary Beth Barth , Director, Language Center at Hamilton College on January 28, 2010 at 3:00pm EST

  • Thank you for taking the time and initiative to explore language centers further, and for sharing your newfound awareness and appreciation of them as highly successful academic support learning and teaching environments! It was a delight to read how well you understood and articulated what makes language centers so successful.

     

    I have the pleasure everyday of stopping by the Language Center and witnessing the importance of the physical environment, the sense of place, and the community aspect of learning. I've been in the room thousands of times and yet never cease to find myself pausing to take it all in. It must have been during one of those moments years ago that I first grabbed a camera in an effort to capture the spirit and vitality of the place to put on our website for those who don't have the occasion to stop by. It is difficult to fully appreciate what goes on without experiencing firsthand, but hopefully the videos and photos provide a glimpse and convey the energy, community spirit, and dynamism that are so apparent upon entering the room. Over the years the technology, activities, and people have changed, but the sense of community and shared purpose has remained constant and our most valuable asset.

     

    Language centers have certainly come a long way. However, many of the elements that make language centers the successful models they are today can be traced as far back as the early audio lab carrel days. With its language labs, the language profession had a fifty year technological head start. As a result, language centers and language departments have long been far ahead of the curve of most academic support areas and disciplines in successfully supporting and integrating technology. Concepts such as the importance of the technical, pedagogical and theoretical working hand in hand; fostering of the community/social aspect of learning; and attention to location and design are some examples of what the language profession has long been aware of and implementing. Just as lab directors and language faculty were forward-thinking fifty years ago, so we continue to be innovative today.

     

    Language centers are successful because they are interwoven with a curriculum where technology has long been an integral component grounded in a pedagogical and theoretical framework; are able to provide effective and efficient support due to both the ability to tailor to the specialized needs of the discipline and the expertise of the staff who interact on a daily basis with the faculty and students; and their well-established understanding of the importance of place -- and people!

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