My name is Nuria Sagarra. I'm in the department of Spanish,
Italian and Portuguese. I'm an assistant professor of Spanish linguistics
and second language acquisition.
Half of my position is involved in directing the Basic Spanish program.
We have 12th grade courses and they are divided into three semesters
Spanish 1, Spanish 2 and Spanish 3. Spanish 1
is now completely online. Spanish 2 and 3 they meet 2 days
per week and they learn the rest and they practice the rest
at home doing different types of activities in ANGEL.
Audio files for pronunciation, so for example, they have to
listen to something like /kasa/ or /kæsa/ and identify which one is
is the native speaker of Spanish. And they
have multiple choice, or for example, for grammar.
We have videos of a teacher explaining grammar to them,
and then they have some practice and some questions about this explanation
We have PowerPoints.
We have videos to expose them to different dialects and
cultural aspects of the Spanish language
We just have a variety of technology tools.
When I was hired back in 2002, the reaction was negative.
Some colleagues they just don't want to change.
They believe in lecture.
It is part of our job also to educate them to understand
not only the way we teach as faculty and in the last five years,
I've seen a significant difference in my colleagues.
It is a 3-credit course, and the course is divided into theory about
second language acquisition and then practice and
like topics on how teach grammar, But then there is another component that is
usually absent in these types of courses, but then it's also absent
in all the curriculum of graduate students, and it is to get used to technology.
What I saw was that graduate students were feeling
insecure because the undergraduate students, their students
knew more about technology than themselves.
We are all using technology every single day, so it makes no sense,
it is not realistic not to use technology when we are teaching, even in the classroom
So it's not only to use technology outside of the classroom,
but also in the classroom.
Well, a bit of everything…There is that technology part,
so they have to have that technology skills. They have to learn
how to do all the requirements that are in the Web page, but
I also like the fact that there is the critical thinking part
in which they have to reflect about what it means
for them to teach with technology.
I tell them to go beyond their short-term teaching goals and
think about their future life and how they want to implement technology
like in a graduate seminar on medieval literature for example.
The first part of the semester they work on different components, and then in
the second part is when they start the Web page, kind of like the design component.
And then they already have the content. Once they have the Web page
and they know to create the links. They just have to link
Power points there, their audio file ready
We've been doing this since 2002, and it has been very successful.
We have already had the opportunity to see people going through their masters, their Ph.D.
in going to a job market, and I've had a lot of comments from the grad
students, saying that this was very helpful. They already have an electronic portfolio
We like the rubric I like the fact there is a reflection
on teaching with technology and
that the teaching philosophy in that they are separate, so that's something nice.
because that also forces them to do what
teaching philosophy. Otherwise, what happens is that they
get engaged in their dissertation and everything, and then they go to a job market and
in some places they ask for a teaching philosophy, and then they write it one night
without really putting any effort and they are tired at points.
So,I always them tell them to write with
passion. This is their life. This is what they chose do for a living.
To take it seriously and to think of it not as a course requirement,
not as a certificate, like just one more line in my resume. But to really
think this is your electronic portfolio, this is going to be your Web page.
where you are also going to include other parts in addition to the certificate.
So take it seriously and do it with passion.
I think it's important, even if it's not a course requirement
to sit down with them and talk about the certificate,
but how important this is beyond a certificate and
a line in your CV, because you don't get one line your CV,
you get several lines. One is a certificate, but
then you are familiar with HTML, you know about Dreamweaver,
you have learned to do a lot of things
It's a no brainer really.