Working Group on Language Instruction

LACOL

LACOL’s Language Instruction Working Group focuses on both theory and effective practices for teaching languages and literatures, using the latest networked technologies to enhance the learning experience.

Activities and Interests of this working group include:

Language Instruction Intranet Home: https://lacol.net/collab/

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Working Group on Active & Engaged Reading

LACOL

LACOL’s working group on Active and Engaged Reading focuses on the role of reading in liberal arts teaching and learning. At liberal arts institutions, we want to meet students where they are and support their ability to read in the variety of ways they will encounter in college. AER is also interested in how different technologies may enable new reading pedagogies through means such as text mining, group annotation or collaborative reading techniques.

Activities and Interests of this group include:

  • Is reading changing for our students in a digital age? If so, how?
  • Regular dialogue on emerging pedagogies for Engaged and Active Reading
  • Technologies for Engaged and Active Reading
Active and Engaged Reading Intranet Home Page: https://lacol.net/collab/

Exploratory group projects:

  • MULTI-CAMPUS “BIG READ”: collaboration to engage students and alumni in online discussion around a common text
  • COLLABORATIVE COURSE OFFERINGS: designing an online/blended learning experience related to modes and skills of reading for the liberal arts
  • DIGITAL TOOLS FOR READING: curating or building digital tools for scholarly reading

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About Williams College

LACOL

Williams COllegeEstablished in 1793 with funds bequeathed by Colonel Ephraim Williams, the college is private, residential, and liberal arts, with graduate programs in the history of art and in development economics. The undergraduate enrollment is approximately 2,000 students.

The student-faculty ratio is 7:1.

Williams admits U.S. students without regard to their ability to pay. The college meets 100 percent of every admitted student’s demonstrated financial need for four years. More than half of all Williams students receive financial aid from the college.

There are three academic divisions (languages and the arts, social sciences, and science and mathematics) that encompass 25 departments, 36 majors, and several concentrations and special programs. The academic year consists of two four-course semesters plus a one-course January term.

Fraternities were phased out beginning in 1962. Coeducation was adopted in 1970.

The school color is purple. The mascot is the Purple Cow. Sports teams are called “Ephs.” (more…)

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Posting on the LACOL.net blog

LACOL

Along with information and updates about the Consortium itself, the LACOL.net website and blog provides a public forum for our members to share local highlights and creative ideas from each of our campuses.  If you have an idea/post to contribute, please read the guidance below.

Process: Faculty, digital librarians and technologists at all LACOL colleges are invited and encouraged to submit short articles or posts for publication on the blog.  These may be based on items already posted to your campus website or elsewhere. Or, they may be original.  Publication on the blog is coordinated through Faculty Advisory Council representatives on each campus, with support from the Directors of Academic Computing/Instructional Technology and the LACOL Director.  To propose a post from your campus, please reach out to one of these individuals who will guide you through a few easy steps.

Topics: Posts should capture some aspect of technology-enhanced or digitally-enabled teaching, learning or research for the liberal arts.  Examples of faculty experimentation with new digital/online/blended modalities, and collaborations between faculty, students, librarians, technologists and academic researchers and support specialists are all relevant.    Topic ideas include, but are not limited to:

  • New models or examples of online or blended teaching and learning for the liberal arts
  • Research on effective teaching practices
  • Student reflections/feedback on learning and technology
  • Highlights of local campus events, for example:
    • Faculty forums/talks on pedagogy
    • Teaching and Learning center presentations
    • Technology fairs
    • Guest speakers on topics related to online/blended learning or digital collaboration
  • Digital scholarship, for example:
    • Digital humanities projects, exhibits or tools
    • Digital uses of special collections or museum/gallery collections for teaching
  • Digital collaboration enabled by digital tools or peer networks, for example:
    • Collaborative authoring/editing
    • Collaborative text annotation
    • Collaborative data collection/analysis
    • Collaborative mapping
    • Digital storytelling
  • Flipped Classroom / Active Learning across the disciplines
  • Big Data
  • Pedagogies focused on Active and Engaged Reading
  • Tools and techniques for supporting students with Quantitative Skills
  • Use of web conferencing (e. g. Skype, Hangouts) to engage locally with remote students or scholars
  • Online tools for presentation and group work (for example, Voicethread)
  • Use of social media for class assignments
  • Adaptive learning tools/techniques (for example, ALEKS)
  • Virtual Reality / Virtual World / Virtual Learning Environments
  • Online communities / Online engagement/ Peer-to-Peer networks
  • Web-based games for teaching
  • Other creative uses of technology for teaching ….

Length: there is no set length, but 100-800 words is a good range.

Images & Video: If available, one or two photos or a short video clip (1-5 minutes) add visual appeal to any post.

Quotes: A short quote from faculty, staff or students involved with the course, assignment or project is a great way to highlight the experience being described.

Links and Resources: You may wish to include a list of recommended resources or links to further reading

Categories and Tags: On the LACOL.net blog, categories and tags are used to help organize posts and make it easy to filter by college or by topic.  See the right hand sidebar area of this page to see the current categories and tags in use.  This list will grow over time, so you’re welcome to propose a new tag that would help people find your post and others like it.

 

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Getting to Haverford College for #LACOL2016

LACOL

Traveling to LACOL2016? Haverford College is located just west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Campus is easily accessible by car, train, and taxi, and is located about 30-45 minutes from Philadelphia International Airport.

Haverford College
370 Lancaster Avenue
Haverford, PA 19041
(610) 896-1000

Arrive by air to Philadelphia International Airport

For travelers flying into PHL, options for getting to Haverford Campus include:

  • Rental Car or Taxi ($$)
  • SEPTA Regional Rail to Haverford Station ($)
    • Take the SEPTA Airport Line to 30th Street Station
    • Transfer to the Paoli/Thorndale Line Regional Rail towards Thorndale
    • Exit train at Haverford Station adjacent to campus (map)
    • Our shuttle can pick you up for the short ride from the station to Haverford Campus (If you need pickup, please note when registering.)

Arrive by Amtrak train to Philadelphia 30th Street Station

  • Take the SEPTA Paoli/Thorndale Line Regional Rail towards Thorndale ($)
  • Exit train at Haverford Station adjacent to campus (map)
  • Our shuttle can pick you up for the short ride from the station to Haverford Campus (If you need pickup, please note when registering.)

Arrive by car

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Where to Stay #LACOL2016

LACOL

Here are the recommended places to stay for the June 2016 LACOL Workshop.  Please indicate your choice as you register for the workshop.

On-Campus Option:

starRECOMMENDED: Haverford Residence Hall. Participants can reserve a room (or rooms) to stay in the Haverford College residence halls (Kim Hall or Tritton Hall, pictured above) located immediately adjacent to the workshop. The charge for a single room per night is $50US.

Important Note: All rooms in the residence halls are singles with a shared hall bathroom and shower (approximately 5 rooms per hall.)

Off-Campus Options:

Hotels near the College (short driving distance)

starRECOMMENDED: Radnor Hotel
(4 miles off campus)
591 East Lancaster Avenue
St. Davids, PA 19087
Phone: (610) 688-5800
From out of town: (800) 537-3000
www.radnorhotel.com

Marriott Philadelphia West, West Conshohocken (6 miles)
111 Crawford Avenue
West Conshohocken, PA 19428
Phone: (610) 941-5600
From out of town: (800) 237-3639
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/phlwe-philadelphia-marriott-west/

Residence Inn by Marriott, Conshohocken (4 miles)
191 Washington Street
Conshohocken, PA 19428
Phone: (610) 828-8800
From out of town: (800) 331-3131
www.conshohockenresidenceinn.com

Philadelphia Center City Hotels (10-12 miles, take SEPTA rail to Haverford Stn)

Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City-Convention Center
1301 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: (215) 665-9100
From out of town: (800) HAMPTON
http://www.hamptoninn.com/en/hp/hotels/index.jhtml?ctyhocn=PHLCVHX
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Getting started with math videos by Professor Mark Huber at Claremont McKenna College

LACOL

When I began creating videos, I had a very limited application in mind. It wasn’t the case that I planned to flip the classroom. Instead, my motivation was that I found myself repeating certain basic concepts over and over again in office hours, and wanted to give students short videos (under ten minutes) explaining particularly hard-to-get concepts.

After creating a few of these videos, I decided to have my students create videos explaining some basic problems. Seeing the myriad of different types of videos that my students produced really opened my eyes to the different possibilities. Here’s my breakdown of the most common ways to get started with videos, and the pros and cons of each.

1) The sage on the stage—now in video form!

The simplest way to get started is to use that skill that all math lecturers have: stand in front of the board and record the lecture. This is probably the easiest way to get started, but isn’t an especially good way to create a short video. Drawbacks include that the speaker is often blocking the board, much of the time the material on the board cannot be read due to distance. It is also tempting in this format to include too much material, and not concentrate on the key ideas.

Definitely this video is going to need some closeups to be able to read what’s going on!

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Consortium-wide LACOL Workshop at Pomona College

LACOL

On June 1-2, 2014 the Liberal Arts Collaborative for Digital Innovation (formerly Liberal Arts Consortium for Online Learning), also known as LACOL held its initial Workshop on the campus of Pomona College. Fifty faculty and staff came from member institutions representing expertise in the Humanities (10), Sciences and Mathematics (19), Social Sciences (6), Libraries (5), and Information Technology (10).

In preparation for the workshop, Founding Co-Directors Andrea Nixon and Bryan Penprase visited all eight participating institutions to help identify areas of common interest. Three strong themes from the site visits served as organizing elements for the gathering.

Swarthmore at Pomona Workshop
Part of the team from Swarthmore College
June 2014

• Preparing Students for Engagement Through Quantitative Skills and Active Reading
• Effective Teaching and Learning with Technology
• Language Instruction and Technology
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