News from the Language Resource Center
1/13/00

Before the semester begins, we need to inform you of a few changes.

SCHEDULE CHANGE

The Language Resource Center will open in the morning at 8:30 AM instead of 8:00 AM. If you have an 8:00 AM class, please check out material you need for your class the night before. We are open until 9:00 PM Sunday through Thursday. We are closed Monday 1/17.

DEMONSTRATION SESSION - FRIDAY  1/14/00  11:00 - 12:00

As announced in the last newsletter, a special session will be held tomorrow Friday 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM. We will be demonstrating the use of our new technologies: electronic classroom, audio/video server, digitized and audio and video files. As of today we have digitized all the Prego  (Italian) audiotapes and Deux Mondes (French) audiotapes. Students can now listen to their "audio lessons" on the LRC computers. It allows them greater ease of navigation through the sound files while (for example) completing web exercises or taking notes on the computer. We will be starting to digitize Vorsprung (German) tomorrow and expect to be done with this collection within the next two weeks. As of now students can only access these audio files in the LRC, but if sufficient funding from IT is granted, we plan to make these available campus wide by the fall semester.
We will also demonstrate the use of video files. So far, we have digitized the Destinos video series, Salven al Comico, and the Umbrellas of Cherbourg. If time permits, we will also include a brief demonstration of the use of DVDs. For example, the new "Tango" DVD allows users to view the film in Spanish with English subtitles or with Spanish transcription. The Spanish transcription can be a very helpful tool for students learning the language. While viewing this DVD, students could easily answer questions on a "Tango" web page created by the instructor.
If you have already registered to attend this session, we are waiting for you. If you have not done so, and are still interested, please notify me via e-mail. We will accept participants as space permits. Light refreshments will be served.

DVD DRIVES IN CLASSROOM PODIA

Shisha Van Horn has just informed me that new PC computers with DVD drives had been installed in most of the Rayzor Hall podia. This  will enable instructors to use all the new DVDs from the LRC collection.

IMPORTANT CHANGES ON OUR WEB PAGE

- Passwords
For some of the services we provide, users are required to enter a password. It is the case for software orientation or projection reservations, and Attendance database. Please use your Rice e-mail username and password to access these services. Passwords used last semester are no longer valid. Several other language sites are also password protected. Please call our front desk to inquire.

- Browsing our collection

When searching for a title, it is now possible to find out whether the title is available or has been checked out to another instructor. We hope that this new feature will allow user greater flexibility especially when preparing for a class.

- ExTemplate
Our new web exercise editor is now available at the following address:

http://lang.rice.edu/extemplate

It was used successfully by instructors who attended our December workshop. Feel free to  experiment with it. Please let us know if you encounter any difficulties.

Best wishes for this first semester in the year 2000.