Thomas E. Welch Uniting the World through Technological Innovation FLEAT –Foreign Language Education and Technology Uniting the World August 8, 2005 Provo, UT

Uniting the world through technology is no longer just a possibility... It’s the reality of the 21 st century

The Alternate Titles -- Cartography for the homebound: Mapping the Unknown Language Learning GPS Using technology to find our way in the language learning world of the 21 st century

Be prepared to be challenged and encouraged And Be prepared to be frightened and uncomfortable

“To live in an evolutionary spirit means to engage with full ambition and without any reserve in the structure of the present, and yet to let go and flow into a new structure when the right time has come.” -- Erich Jantsch From Leadership and the New Science – M. Wheatley

Sometimes it’s a matter of changing our perspective.

A note for the faint of heart... “The very thing that frightens us today, the change curve, the phenomenal rate of change, is an ally.” Celebrate What’s Right with the World -- DeWitt Jones

Why are you here? Why are you in this profession?

Two choices 1. To learn how to teach languages better through technology Or 2. To help students learn languages more efficiently through technology

If you think teaching and learning are the same, think again. How many students have been “taught” a language in a classroom but didn’t learn?

Take a reality check, courtesy of Father Guido Sarducci “The Five Minute University.”

How do you KNOW how successful your teaching has been? The unfortunate example from Kentucky

Do you KNOW that the same thing is not occurring in your institutions? Remember, the plural of anecdote is not data.

If teaching is not the entire answer in language acquisition, then what?

Is this in the future of world language education?

How closely does your instructional package match the following...

Speak Now! uses games and quizzes as a basis for making the learning process fun and relaxing. There’s no better way to teach an old dog new tricks and this fun element of the program means that your fears are forgotten as you absorb words and phrases without even realizing you are learning them. Great Feature ----> Learn to speak using your own native language! Most language software requires you to first be proficient in English before you can learn another language. Not with EuroTalk software! All on-screen help and menus, words and phrases, quizzes and tests - even the printable dictionary can be changed to the language of your choice!

Speak Now! is ideal for beginners. Comprehensive - Topics include phrases, first words, food, shopping, countries, colors, telling time, numbers and human body parts Interactive - Immediate response to every choice you make. Addictive, fun and easy! Compare your pronunciation - Compare yourself with native speakers using the record facility. Microphone required. Test your knowledge - Easy and hard quizzes, plus a challenging memory game. Monitor your progress - Keep a check on your total score and print your own awards. On-screen help - Help available at all times in over 70 languages. Print a picture dictionary - Print your own dictionary for a handy reference.

If Best Buy isn’t in your curriculum, let’s examine some of what might be in there.

Two “haunting” questions: How long does it take to learn [German II]? What’s a C-, and more importantly, what’s it doing on my transcript?

Consider... In 1904 it took 1432 m/p/v to produce a car In 1908 it took 750 m/p/v to produce a car In 1929 it took 450 m/p/v to produce a car In 2004 at a Saturn plant in Tennessee, it takes 15 m/p/v to produce a car

In U.S. Schools... In 1904 it took 3 hrs/wk x 16 wks to earn a credit in German II In 1908 it took 48 hours to earn a credit in German II In 1929 it took 48 hours to earn a credit in German II In 2005, with all the technology, all the brain research and all we know about best practices, it still takes 48 hours to earn a credit in German II

How long DOES it take to learn German II? What brain research has helped us conclude that it takes a HS student’s brains 125 hours to learn a language “level” but only 38.4% of that amount of time at the post-secondary level?

If that were true, high schools could save BILLIONS just by using those methods – or even just by sending the students to colleges for language learning.

Is it “OK” that we keep the time=learning mentality?

Where are we going? Are we trying to recreate or improve on the past? Or should we be trying to create a new pedagogy, and a new paradigm to fit with new technology?

The Paradigm shift From language teaching... To technology-enabled language learning

Examine the teaching and learning equation and the way it has fundamentally changed over time

Learning used to be dependent on a “proprietary” approach Teachers “owned” everything. “How can I learn world history?” The answer was teacher and text

How can I learn a foreign language? 1 st person experiences School settings

How can I earn a credit in a foreign language? Dependent on the professor Earning a credit was divorced from a definition of learning

The shift to “open source” learning is beginning to occur No more teacher monopoly on resources, timing, pacing, or even content Students want to control the when and how of their learning

What do students want? Do they want to be “taught” a language or do they want to learn a language?

Thanks to technology the days of teaching language are behind us. The days of facilitating language learning have arrived.

The question should not be merely “What’s the best way to teach the students in my class? That response often leads to the tools the teacher is most comfortable with or attracted to.

We know what happened in the corporate world to industries who thought they, and not the customer, would always be in control...

You can have any color of car you want As long as it’s black! -- attributed to Henry Ford

It has never been proven that Henry Ford ever said, "You can paint it any color...," but the phrase has survived for 3/4 of a century and does indicate something about America's beloved Model T: its "steadfastness," its enduring and endearing "sameness."

“When the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is in sight.” -- Jack Welch, CEO General Electric

In a learning-oriented world with an “open source” approach, the teacher no longer maintains control over every aspect of learning.

A word of caution, in education, “open sourcing” can lead to “outsourcing” as learners begin to exert greater authority over what, when and how they will learn.

Thanks to technology Even the education world is going to go “flat”

What has been the effect of outsourcing on major industries?

Is education immune to outsourcing?

Consider current examples of “outsourcing” in U.S. higher education. University of Phoenix Walden University

And competition is not just at the national level... Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Mar 08, 2005

Education outsourcing wave set to hit India Moumita Bakshi Bharat Kumar New Delhi/Chennai, March 7 SKILLED manpower in India is a major attraction for foreign entrepreneurs to set up operations here. Now, Indian entrepreneurs are latching on to the very people who give India its skilled manpower - namely, skilled teachers.

Tuitions outsourcing is an opportunity that beckons India. Several countries are turning to providers who directly, or through their Indian arm, employ teachers for tutoring through the Internet. And it's not a small ripple. Analysts estimate the market for tutoring for competitive examinations in the US at $20 billion, while the education market itself is pegged at about $800 billion.

"Various education processes are being outsourced within the US," said Mr Satya Narayanan R, Chairman of education service provider Career Launcher. These typically include curriculum design, academic pedagogy, content development and actual delivery. The US, which has always been at the forefront of innovation, is likely to be the biggest consumer of these services.

Let’s push some pedagogy... Do we have a passion for teaching, or for causing learning?

We used to be able to ask “How do I do the best job of teaching my students?” Question #1 should be... “How would each of my students learn best?”

How would rephrasing the question affect our roles? How would rephrasing the question affect our use of technology?

More specifically, the question we ask should be... “What resources can I broker for each of my students so he/she learns best?

How that changes our roles Teacher as learning broker

The technology tools of language learning should be the tools in the portfolio of the language learning broker.

How can I broker for services, appropriate technologies, and talents for my student(s)?

Question #2 : How do we know if a learner has truly learned? The need for quality assessments Locally Nationally Internationally

Remember Best Buy? Is this competition or intellectual capital?

Idea: Make every language major complete at least one independent language course – either their chosen language or a new one.

Our task, our redefined role, is more important and challenging than ever. It’s not a matter of teaching a text, or even teaching a course – complete with language lab experiences, sophisticated multimedia and podcasting. Thanks to technology our new role is much more complex.

What are we asking of ourselves and students in a new, technologically savvy paradigm? Do we want them to be taught world languages? Or do we want them to learn world languages?

Returning to that 2 nd haunting question... What’s a C- and what’s it doing on my transcript?

How will you know if what you are doing is “good enough” for anyone but YOU? In the status quo, it’s easier to tell that they’ve been taught than that they’ve learned.

How do students know that they have learned more than “Mr. Welch’s” language lessons?

We must not shy away from a task because of its difficulty.

We need to agree upon assessments that are rooted in standards. We need to agree that learning, while influenced by time, is not determined by time.

If you want to know what’s possible, look at the program for this conference. You are the professionals who are leading the way.

There is a session entitled: “Can you hear me now?" Using a LMS for oral assessment (Michael Heller) And “How to Assess English Proficiency with CASEC Computer test” (Hiroyuki Obari) No sessions on standards-based assessment

Kentucky’s Language Frameworks Students tackle the same tasks at increasing levels of difficulty.

Another example of a “version 1.0” solution Kentucky’s attempt to solve the MSU problem

How would it change learning for students in our institutions if the goal was a proficiency metric, not a time-based unit? How would it change our role if we were the “learning brokers” for students in that situation?

Imagine the expanded role of technology in this new paradigm For the first time ever, the opportunity exists for custom-designed language learning

The three elements in the coming “perfect storm” 1.The identification of, and agreement upon a set of standards to define learning 2.The use of common assessments to measure learning 3.Technology

Remember the two “haunting” questions? How long does it take to learn [German II]? (Standards determine learning, not time) What’s a C-, and more importantly, what’s it doing on my transcript? (Common assessments determine quality)

Fundamental change in involvement in the profession. Do you want to teach languages? Or Do you want to help students learn languages in the best possible way (for the individual student)

The professor’s new role Guiding individualized experiences for each student to cause learning Leaving the black Model T behind

With technology and a new paradigm of language learning for students, the possibilities open up for creating life-long language learners who transition from dependence to independence in their learning.

Close the doors on The Five Minute University

In order to unite the world through technological innovation we must learn to see and speak, not just the languages of the world, but the needs and truths of our profession.

“The very thing that frightens us today, the change curve, the phenomenal rate of change is an ally. It’s not a change curve, it’s a possibility curve. The times of most change always hold the most possibility.” DeWitt Jones