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Jack Burston Presents WebSwami at Calico 2010
At the 2010 CALICO conference Professor Jack Burston, who sits on the CALICO Editorial Board, gave a presentation on WebSwami entitled “Webcam-based Communicative Language Learning Practice” with the abstract as follows:
“Learner-centered teaching methodologies put a premium on communicative language usage. However, even under the most favorable circumstances, active language use rarely surpasses a few minutes per student per class. If learners are going to make significant use of the language they are studying, this necessarily has to be done out of the classroom. And if instructors are to monitor such activity, it needs to recorded and retrievable.
Click above to launch Jack's presentation on WebSwami!
The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how a web-based virtual learning system, WebSwami, can provide language learners with realistic out-of-class communicative language practice anywhere and anytime. This is made possible through the integration of webcam technology, both receptively and productively, into a range of activities, all of which can be recorded to allow instructors to easily monitor student progress, make corrections, and provide feedback to students.”
Professor Burston’s talk is not meant as a comprehensive overview of the system, but focuses on using just one of WebSwami’s 10 activity types, the Simulation, to promote fluency building with out-of-class practice. However, if you’d like to hear an independent third party – with a great deal of experience with language training technology – talk about WebSwami, then this is a good place to start.
About CALICO
CALICO (www.calico.org), the Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium, is a professional organization that serves a membership involved in both education and technology. CALICO members include foreign language educators, programmers, technicians, web page designers, CALL developers, CALL practitioners, novice CALL users, second language acquisition researchers--anyone interested in exploring the use of technology for foreign language teaching and learning.
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