The reluctant learner: How to engage faculty/ language teachers in Technology Enhanced Learning ?

Back in July 2007 while working on the delivery of a staff training workshop at Reid Hall (Columbia University campus in Paris), Bill Koulopoulos, Stéphane Charitos (Columbia University Language Resource Center, NYC) and myself started to think about obstacles met when a unit or an institution is developing online teaching resources.  Last term, I was also able to attend LSE information systems course IS470 and it helped me a lot to understand technology within organisations.

 

Here is the abstract of the presentation Bill and I will do at the LLAS conference on 8/9th July, York University (UK):

 

 

L’encyclopédie Larousse se numérise…

“Je sème à tout vent” ? Larousse propose deux sections : à gauche la version classique et officielle “Larousse”, à droite une version contributive et modérée par Larousse, ou les articles sont signés et dont les auteurs peuvent afficher leur CV…  Mieux que Wikipédia ?    

40 ans après mai 68 : l’utopie vit… en Inde

France Inter vient de diffuser un reportage très intéressant sur une communauté fondée en Inde en 1968 près de Pondichéry : Auroville.

Free Moldova !!!….

… from the shackles of poverty.

Sponsored triathlon: 750 m swimming, 20 km cycling, 5 km running on 8th June, Blenheim Palace.

What an honour for me, a French citizen to compete on the fabulous grounds of the Duke of Marlborough’s Estate (Quand Marlborough s’en va en guerre…) and… birthplace of Winston Churchill !!

But why am I asking you to sponsor me ?

Routes into languages : A London “TechnoNick” strand ?

Terry King from UCL showed the way with ATLAS and CROSSCALL. Participants were also very interested in both voice boards (the kids’ favourite activity in LSE mentoring scheme) and in sharing a user-friendly VLE (moodle ? as opposed to WebCT).  I would be keen in sharing with teachers interested in multimedia resources the E-repository for teaching material we are developing with Columbia University NYC.  

To have a look at moodle ? click on login as guest

Routes into languages & mentoring ?

Governement funded intiative “Routes into languages” aims to address the UK’s language deficits by for example increasing the take-up of languages in schools. At the moment many suggestions focus on taster days and presentations by university students as “ambassadors”. However since 2003 we have developed a mentoring scheme which really makes a difference. Students visit once a week a school to assist teenagers in learning French using a VLE. Guess what ? It works and they all benefited from it. Nevertheless, this scheme requires motivation, good communication, user friendly technology and of course… funding.

Here are some key documents…

Immigration sans “Indigènes” : un passé qui ne passe pas

Un musée consacré à l’histoire de l’immigration ? Excellente initiative… Cependant la contribution de centaines de milliers de soldats coloniaux a été complétement négligée. Seuls sont mentionnés les volontaires européens (Photo ci-contre)… Aucune référence sur les tirailleurs sénégalais tombés contre les allemands en 1940 dans la campagne lyonnaise… spahis, goumiers et autres soldats de l’Empire venus combattre pour la libération de la France en 1944/5… C’est peut-être parce que ce musée est bien la “Cité Nationale de l’Histoire de l’Immigration” … et de l’Identité Nationale ?