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Another FaCTS Mellon Project

REVISION OF FREN 1090, CONVERSATION AND CULTURE: ADAPTATION TO THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT

by Dr. Susan Spillman

The revision of FREN 1090, Conversation and Culture, will make available to students on online class emphasizing cultural competency and speakign facility. Because language teachign requires extensive interactive oral production, in addition to utilizing all available features of Blackboard, the course will also include CourseSites by Blackboard, a free site using multimedia conferencing software, This will undergird the two goals that form the organizing principle of the project, increased cultural competency and oral proficiency.

Students will develop a strong knowledge of the concept of culture before carrying out comparative study of others. Incorporating the online method of Francais interactif (http://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi) as its foundational course materal, FREN 1090 will utilize the cultural and conversational videos, the structural presentations, the vocabulary practice, and the required oral presentations comprising FI, as well as an extensive series of cultural materials and practice drills available fromSCOLA and other resources.

Many students who have placed in FREN 1090 have not been able to enroll in a traditional, face-to-face class because of scheduling constraints and time limitations. By making the course available online, all students whose placement test results put them into 1090 will have the option of challenging, meaningful study at a suitable level.

Start date: Monday, May 13, 2013
Finish date: Tuesday, May 13, 2014