The New Blended Concept in the Language Class

I am planning my Italian honors class this year by incorporating even more technology than before. First of all, this is the first time that an honors and online course is offered at Bronx Community College and instead of  having the usual “H” denomination, the title has a “K” next to the course number. I created, for example, a Blackboard assignment where students will be able to work collaboratively on a wiki (they will write a story using the past tense — passato prossimo–). In addition, students will be doing all of their homework on their electronic portfolios. I now have moved away from the book for homework, even though I use it in class the days we meet face-to- face. Most, if not all of the homework, is done on the EP. This is the EP page I created for my class. The third element I use in my class is podcasting. During this semester students have 5 assignments in which podcasts will be used, sometimes I will ask them to create their own podcasts (they are all handed mp3 players at the beginning of the semester), or complete listening comprehension tasks. All of these tools have proven very effective in learning a foreign language: students are more exposed to the target language; and they improve speaking by recoding their assignments. Students can also monitor and assess their progress in the TL.  In addition, videocasts and audio files support a multidimensional type of learning which allows students to be exposed to different learning styles and end up being more engaged in the learning process.

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