TESOL '99 Internet Fair                                                  Web site Demonstration

A student-centered web-based Computer-assisted
Language Learning (CALL) course
for teachers of English as a Second Language

Web site address (URL): http://personalweb.smcvt.edu/gsl520

Presenters

Christine Bauer-Ramazani, Instructor                                               Karl Sklar, Graduate Student
Saint Michael's College                                                                                       Saint Michael's College
e-mail: cbauer-ramazani@smcvt.edu                                                                   e-mail: ksklar@smcvt.edu

Purpose/use of web site:

The web site is the core element of the graduate GSL520: Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) course at Saint Michael's College. Current and future ESL teachers showcase their research, lessons, web site reviews, software reviews, and multimedia applications in CALL. The site, therefore, becomes the students’ site, a record of their creativity and interaction with the technology. During the course of the semester, the students are exposed a variety of presentation and communication techniques and learn about current hardware, software, computer applications, and web site technologies in the process.

Organization of the web site:

  1. The site uses frames to facilitate navigation. Links to Saint Michael's College as well as the contents of the course (Course Home Page, Course Information, Course-related Resources, and Course Topics) remain accessible, while the selected hyperlinks open up in the main window.
  2. The Course Home Page includes a photo of the course participants and a link to the students’ final project—Multimedia presentations in the form of a lesson. As these presentations include spreadsheets and interactive/animated PowerPoint slideshows with incorporated sound, scanned-in photos or text, they take 1-2 minutes to load. However, the pronunciation, grammar, listening, reading, and writing lessons are worth the wait.
  3. The Course Information link opens up the usual course elements--Course Description and Prerequisites, Texts and Materials, Course Requirements, Evaluation, the Course Schedule with hands-on assignments and links to on-line articles, and Lesson Plan Format, a basic guide to the necessary elements of an ESL lesson.
  4. Course-related Resources hyperlinks to an on-line, interactive Student Information Form, the GSL520 Discussion Forum, a type of web board for posting interesting links, reactions to assigned articles, and reactions to the instructor’s or classmates’ comments. In addition, the site includes a large directory of Useful Links to TESL/CALL Resources.
  5. The site’s main page is the Course Topics page, which links to the 5 main segments of the course: Word Processing and Desktop Publishing, E-mail and MOOs, Using the Internet in Teaching ESL, Using Software in Teaching ESL, and Using Concordancing in Teaching ESL. Each of these segments includes links to the students’ presentations and discussions of research on technology in ESL teaching as well as the actual lessons which utilize technology for teaching ESL. In-depth web site and software reviews can also be found in the segments dealing with the Internet and Software. In addition, the How To’s on this page provide instructions necessary for completing assignments and using specific applications, such as PowerPoint for creating interactive/animated slideshow presentations, FrontPage for developing a web page, NetMeeting for online audio or text-based chats, whiteboard, collaborating, sharing software, etc.