The International Studies/Language Technology Initiative at Fairfield University

Fairfield University

The International Studies/Language Technology Initiative at Fairfield University

Funding:

$311,458
$ 15,000

from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
from the Archbold Charitable Trust

Project Director:
Dr. Kurt Schlichting

Co-Principal Investigators:
Dr. Joel Goldfield, Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures; Director, Charles E. Culpeper Language Resource Center, Dept. of Modern Languages and Literatures
Dr. Katherine Kidd, Director, International Studies; Assistant Professor, International Studies
Dr. Kurt Schlichting, Professor of Sociology, Dept. of Sociology/Anthropology

Project Summary:
From June 1999 to June 2002, the International Studies/Language Technology Initiative (ISLT) at Fairfield University is integrating the technological resources of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and a Virtual Language Lab (VLL) into at least 20 courses in six to eight disciplines. The ISLT faculty recognize that internationalization is a fundamental process which is transforming US society and the rest of the world. At the same time, computer technology accelerates global communication, business transactions and collaborative projects. This increased interaction among the world's peoples requires an enhanced understanding of other cultures and both intensifies the need for, and reinforces the use of, foreign languages.

International Studies, an interdisciplinary major that bridges the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Business at Fairfield, is the focal point for this initiative. Many foreign language majors at Fairfield currently double major in International Studies. Through strong support and a varied series of faculty development opportunities, curricular components that effectively integrate GIS and VLL into teaching and faculty research as well as the learning experience for students are being created, used and evaluated.

The ISLT is also a new initiative for foreign languages across the curriculum (FLAC), one that creates a technology-enhanced environment for collaboration among faculty. The core departments participating in the ISLT are: Modern Languages and Literatures (DMLL), Sociology/Anthropology, and International Studies. Other departments presently participating in the ISLT include History, Economics, Information Systems, Politics, and Finance. Representative faculty from the DMLL are engaging in faculty development for locating, visualizing and interpreting geographically and demographically oriented information in their linguistic/cultural specialty areas in French, German or Spanish. They are assisting colleagues in other departments studying related regions. The principal software is MAPINFO. Through class projects and assistantships, students will collaborate across disciplines, such as on research dealing with politics, geography, demography, economics, anthropology, and media in French-, German- and Spanish-speaking regions of the world, among others.

Many members of the DMLL as well as selected faculty in departments concentrating on the GIS segment are using elements of the Virtual Language Lab. The VLL components supply the hardware and managerial software to store, catalog and easily retrieve hundreds of hours of audio/video material as well as text. Users will play back these materials through a powerful yet simple program and interface, Divace, by Teleste of Finland. Videoconferencing by means of small cameras and microphones allows faculty to collaborate efficiently while affording a means for student-to-student and student-faculty tutorials and even "virtual office hours." Students and faculty outside the DMLL are using the same technologies to study the foreign languages they need for better understanding research, media coverage (World-Wide Web, newspapers, magazines, etc.), and GIS-oriented databases in their disciplines. A "foreign language helpdesk" facilitated by computer-based technologies is staffed by undergraduate and graduate assistants funded by the grant.

Initial faculty development workshops were conducted on the VLL and GIS components this past May and early June by Drs. Goldfield (VLL), Kidd (GIS) and Schlichting (GIS), assisted by Technical Director Chris Calienes '96, graduate assistant Caitlin Davis and undergraduates Kara Gustafson '01 and Jarrett Basedow '01. Assistants for 2000-2001 include Ms. Davis and Gustafson, Mr. Basedow and new assistants Nathalie Fabre, Myriem Hashambhoy '02 and John Akkara '03.

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