College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Modern classroom

Gift from Cargill Incorporated has led to computerized classroom in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.
Classroom instruction didn't change substantially when the chalkboard was first introduced into the American school system.

John Thomas, assistant professor of foreign languages and literatures, compares the introduction of the chalkboard to the introduction of computer technology in this century.

"I see a computerized classroom as a logical thing to do at the beginning of this century," he said. "Computer technology should be a necessary tool in today's classroom."

Thomas has gotten his wish this semester with the opening of a new foreign languages electronic classroom funded in part through donations from Cargill Incorporated through its Higher Education Initiative. Additional funding has been provided by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

The new facility, located in Pearson Hall, opened for student use in late August.

The facility contains 23 student computer workstations (there will be an additional instructor computer workstation) hooked to the Internet, a SMART board and an Internet-based video conferencing system (Polycom).

While the new technology will help both instructors and students, Thomas doesn't feel that the way the teachers teach will differ.

"I don't think we'll radically change the way we teach foreign languages," he said. "We have been using technology in foreign language instruction for a long time."

Technology has been commonplace in foreign language instruction, but it's nothing like what students will be able to utilize with the new electronic classroom.

The $73,000 classroom is packed solid with classes this semester as it is being utilized for language courses in Spanish, French, Chinese, and German. Courses offered through the new Iowa Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (REEES) Distance Learning Consortium will also be taught in the Cargill classroom. REEES is jointly operated by Iowa State, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa, offering language courses in Czech, Polish and Serbo-Croatian.

The Polycom video conferencing system will allow Iowa State students to interact through two-way audio and video sent over the Internet, as the courses will actually be taught by professors in Iowa City and Cedar Falls.

"The students will have a classroom experience with a professor," said Madeleine Henry, associate professor of classical studies and former chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

Henry and Thomas anticipate that guest lecturers will speak from locations outside of Ames with their presentations being shown in the Cargill classroom.

Other aspects afforded to students utilizing the Cargill classroom include virtual tours via the Internet of countries associated with the languages being taught, software components or electronic learning supplements of language textbooks that now can be used in real classroom time, and a "SMART" board, which Thomas describes as a "21st century version of the chalkboard."

The electronic "chalkboard" allows a professor to write notes beforehand and call them up on a big screen during class.

"Gone are the days when students are furiously putting what's on the chalkboard in their notes," Thomas said. "Now the professor can save it on a file and students can go back to the notes at a later day.

"This classroom continues to open doors for us in foreign languages, allowing us to stay ahead of the game of teaching all language pedagogies."