Meeting Virtually | November 6th OR 7th, 2013

Please join us next week for a new Foreign Language Technology Program workshop on Meeting Virtually.

• Are you interested in conducting online office hours? 
• Are you running out of time during your classroom oral exams? 
• Do you like the idea of setting up virtual language exchanges for your students but don't know where to start? 

In this workshop, we will explore online tools you can use to meet with your students virtually including Google Hangouts and Zoom. We will also discuss considerations for virtual meeting as well as virtual exchanges.

Workshop Logistics: 
Wednesday, November 6th from 10-12pm
OR
Thursday, November 7th from 3-5pm
Hellems 145 

To Sign Up: http://altec.colorado.edu/fltp/
Pre-Workshop Computer Maintenance: Here
Presentation: Meeting Virtually Presentation

Also, be sure to check out ALTEC's website theme this week to celebrate the Day of the Dead.

Teaching with Online Resources | October 23rd OR 24th, 2013

Join us this week for a new Foreign Language Technology Program workshop on Teaching with Online Resources.

In this workshop, we will delve into the world online resources (online textbook components, authentic cultural websites, OER) and examine how to best use them for teaching language. We will consider the following questions:

• What are the affordances of using online resources in teaching language? 
• What are the best open educational resources (OER) that we can use in our classrooms? 
• How can we assess authentic cultural websites (hotel, shopping, travel) for language activities? 
• What are some practical and engaging activities we can make using cultural websites for both in and outside of the classroom? 

Workshop Logistics: 
Wednesday, October 23rd from 10-12pm
OR
Thursday, October 24th from 3-5pm
Hellems 145 

To Sign Up: http://altec.colorado.edu/fltp/ 

Teaching with Online Resources Presentation

* Our Favorite Online Resources from Wednesday and Thursday

Guest Speaker Dr. Felix Kronenberg | October 18th 2013

ALTEC is excited to announce our Fall 2013 Guest Speaker!

Please join us on Friday, October 18th for a presentation by Dr. Felix Kronenberg from Rhodes College, "Tag, You’re It: Language Learner Motivation, Identities and Agency in Computer Gaming Spaces".

The Logistics:
Friday, October 18th
12-1pm
Hellems 145
Light snacks and refreshments will be provided!

The Presenter: 
Dr. Felix Kronenberg, Rhodes College
Assistant Professor, Modern Languages & Literatures
Director, Language Learning Center 

The Presentation:
"Tag, You’re It: Language Learner Motivation, Identities and Agency in Computer Gaming Spaces" (Presentation available here)

Research on motivation in second language learning is increasingly tied to current notions of identity and identities (Ushioda and Dornyei, 2009). In this presentation, Dr. Felix Kronenberg discusses the related concepts of language learner identities, motivation, and agency in computer gaming spaces. 

Computer games allow users to influence and change the medium itself and have been linked to intrinsic motivation, including the experience of flow (cf. Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Wolf (2002) argues that video games’ use of space is unique because of its added elements of navigation and interaction and shares only some properties with those of other media, such as films. This ability to exercise choice and effect change is referred to as agency: “the satisfying power to take meaningful action” and experience the results (Murray, 1997, p. 126). “In games, just as in real life,” Aarseth (2004) argues, “the outcomes (winning, losing) are real and personal to the experiencer, unlike in stories” (p. 366). 

Computer games can also be used to create alternate identities, for example individually through the use of avatars, or to foster a group identity among the players/learners and encourage conversations around a shared, genuine interest. The sense of belonging to an in-group may build positive classroom dynamics and lower anxiety and inhibition.

Concrete examples from the classroom and the Language Learning Center at Rhodes College will be given to illustrate the theoretical concepts of identities and agency.

* NOTE: To receive your FLTP workshop credit, please sign up ahead of time at http://altec.colorado.edu/fltp/