Business Meeting, April 9, 1999.


  • Report from secretary/treasurer
    • Sent out approximately 300 copies of the January newsletter.
    • 10 paid members to date.
  • Attendence
    • 8 members attended the Roundtable Discussion and Business Meetings.
  • Business discussed & Resource shared:
    • Discussions on if and how communicative competence is being improved by uses of technology.
      • Some in our group have found that students seem to stay on-task better and their listening skills improved, using technologies such as a Tandberg 9000 lab.
      • When real time communication (2-way) is possible through technology, such as 2-way live audio and video or systems such as Tandberg, then negotiated communication can take place. The other extreme is a one-way communication with lage time in processing, such as reading and writing. In between these two extremes we have more simulated communication with technologies such as email and recording then sending audio files.
    • The following ideas were discussed in order to strengthen NWALL membership.
      • One of our goals should be to expand dialog to K-12 and community colleges.
      • We'll aim for 2 pages of NWALL info and articles in the next PNCFL newsletter (deadline Sept. 1). Jeff offered to write a summary of CALICO and Paul a summary of IALL. Our next NWALL newsletter is planned for early Fall, so any contributions are welcome!
      • In terms of conferences, we should plan to hold some sort of roundtable discussion, presentation, and / or workshop at WAFLT and COFLT conferences. (We have already been accepted to host a roundtable discussion at WAFLT in Spokane, October '99.)
      • We should find out who the "technology czars" are in each K-12 district and get them on board.
      • We could publish our technology survey in PNCFL, WAFLT, and COFLT publications.
    • Resources for starting a new language lab:
      • Visit other labs.
      • ACTFL book (Michael Bush, editor) entitled: Technology Enhanced Language Learning.
      • IALL web page.
      • LLTI listserv
      • teach tech listserv - bridges gap between pedagogy and technology
      • CALICO
    • David Beranek, a high school teacher from Oregon, listed the 3 "P"'s for integrating technology into pedagogy:
      • Process - deals with different learning styles
      • Product - many different resources availalbe via internet, email, etc.
      • Place - different place than just the classroom; readies students for future upwardly mobil jobs.
    • Some recommended websites:
      • New England Regional Association of Language Lab Directors. Bruce Parkhurst has offered to help NWALL get going again.
      • LANIC is a website that was recommended for Spanish students. It's from the University of Texas and stand for Latin American Network Information Center. http://lanic.utexas.edu/
      • EWU. Click on Modern Language Learning Center. Check out especially links to shockwave and real audio interactive sites.