The Language Center

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The Language Center at UC Davis is a wonderful place. As his director, Bob Blake, told me, it is housed in a basement of the Olson building, a part of the building nobody wants because the rooms don't have windows, but which is ideal for their purposes in terms of security and sound proofing.
I was lucky enought to get a guided tour with Bob and Fuqiang Zhuo, the Associate Director. 
The first thing I saw was there latest acquisition: the Active Learning Space. Here are some pictures I took:
   
   
   
 

Some of these features are the latest in what technology can offer (e.g. bluetooth connection for linking a computer to the interactive whiteboard) but others just seem like good ideas (e.g. special paint on the walls that turn them into whiteboards. Others fall somewhere in between and appear to rely heavily on ingenuity rather than material resources although they are materialised as objects (e.g. the swivel chairs come in different colours to facilitate regrouping of students; the movable panels can function both as dividers to generate smaller spaces in the large classroom and as whiteboards)

 These presentations show how the space has been used in Italian and Portuguese classes.

 This Active Learning Space is very sought after and they have to keep a carefully monitored scheduling system to provide opportunities for everyone in the languages to have a chance to use it (although going beyond the Language Departments was not seen as advisable)

 This is only one room of the language center. Other spaces provide other possibilities. These sound-proofed cabins can be used for video or audio editing and annotation (in the picture is, a graduate student who was working on a syntax-phonetics video annotation).

They have what they called, a more traditional language lab, although it didn't look very traditional from where I was standing. What they did say was that they have their own software rather the the packaged version the big companies would sell them and would be much more costly. They also mentioned that they have moved away from the "Big Brother" approach to Language Labs. 

   

Another large classroom with various technological capabilities is housed in a room parallel in size with the Active Learning Space (and may in fact become a second ALS if the demand deems it necessary). It is a large class with desks all around the walls, and Macintosh computers. In the middle of the room there is a large table made up of several smaller ones, the idea being that students can work at the individual computers, then come together at the central table to share their findings.

   
   
 


One of the computers of the room is the 'master' computer, to be used by the professor. It is identified becuase it is the one that has a control panel of the kind found in all other classrooms to control the projector. Using this computer, the professor can beam up slides, videos or whatever she/he may want to show the class, as well as control the volume and other aspects of the projection. One of the tables in the central table also allows other computers to be hooked up to the system and its contents to be beamed up onto the projector, by means of a drawer full of cables (BTW, everyone is familiar with how to use these cables and there is not specific technological support in the form of a person who will do this for you, not here nor in the normal classrooms).

Both these rooms with many computers are used at the beginning of the year to administer placement exams for new students. 

One more sound proofed room is used for interviews that need to be recorded. 



There is a also a more conventional meetings room, where Dr. Rick Kern's talk will take place. Simple for the context but quite a resource. 

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