By By Natasha Clark
The fast-forward and rewind button have now become obsolete at the University’s Language Learning Center.
Students will no longer have to scramble at the last minute to complete all of their required language lab hours or listen to a scratchy cassette player while it reads off instructions for activities in their workbooks.
The state-off-the-art digital language center is located in 207 Calkins Hall and is equipped with 65 IBM flat screen computers, SMART interactive whiteboards and Sony Virtuoso software.
“This new equipment is going to help enhance the learning experience for all students,” Mustapha Masrour, director of the Language Learning Center, said.
The center features a language classroom and small wireless lab that will facilitate interactive learning.
The classroom, located in 205 Calkins Hall, is restricted to use by advanced students and it provides equipment for practicing conversational speaking.
Now the wireless lab, located in 215 Calkins Hall, is primarily intended for use by advanced students and features laptop computers and a SMART interactive whiteboard.
Each computer features a headset and microphone that allows students to record their voices while they work on pronunciations.
“We have a new feature, because of the digitized system, that allows students to record their voice and their professor is able to listen to the recording and see what the students’ weaknesses are,” junior Chaya Wilkins, who works at the lab, said.
The latest technological leap at the University will allow easier electronic communication between language professors and students in any classroom with computers.
“As long as a class is in a room with computers for the professor and the students it will become a language learning center,” Masrour said.
Soon, students will no longer have to go to the lab to complete their required lab hours.
In the coming months, students will be able to access all instructional material from their dorm, home or any computer on campus through the University’s Web site.
They will also be able to track their work, access an online language dictionary and e-mail professors.
“It’s exciting, because students will now be able to access anything that they can access from the lab in their own room,” Wilkins said.
The new features will not, however, facilitate cheating on language lab assignments.
“Every single move is tracked by the professor and the Language Learning Center,” Masrour said.
Students are largely approving of the University’s effort to create an all-digital environment for language learning.
“Everything is very up to date and state-of-the-art electronically,” junior Scott Goldman said.
“It’s so much more convenient because you don’t have to keep rewinding the tape if you missed something,” Kristina Weljkovic, a junior print journalism, said. “It’s all right there.”
The University currently offers 16 languages including: Arabic, Chinese, Danish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Punjabi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili and, for the first time, Persian.
The long lines toward the end of semester and the outdated technology in the former Language Learning Center, located in Memorial Hall, were among the many reasons the University felt it was time to update the lab and better assist its students.
“I would not say that the lab before was not serving students, but we are certainly serving them now,” Bernard Firestone, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and political science professor, said.