Oscar 2024

The inevitable transition to online learning in institutions of higher education has increased the necessity to know and understand the learner from across the screen. The digital revolution has not only changed the physical, social, and cultural space, but it has also changed the learner himself, his behavior, and ways of thinking. Along with the challenges of combining classroom language teaching with distance learning, we must pay attention to the learner. We answer questions such as: Do language learners, born and living in today's digital world, experience less anxiety in this space? Has the global epidemic forced us to move to the online space without providing any other options? Would some pedagogical ways, such as the Socratic seminar, provide an answer? (edited)

Participants learn how utilizing aerial pictures taken by drones and flying drones can foster student exchanges in the target language and interact with a variety of activities to re-envision a neighborhood unit by integrating creativity with language, target culture authenticity and technology. The presenter showcases how she led her elementary students to create and describe their ideal LEGO neighborhood.

Do you want to learn how to make your arts unit come to life? Would you like for your students to experience works of art in an interactive and engaging way? Learn how to design these interactive activities using minimal technology, as well as how to make the experience comprehensible for all language learners. Come and experience how we can leverage the Google Arts and Culture app to make art come alive and promote proficiency all while having fun!

Photographs from the target culture can be a great way even for beginning language learners to advance their cultural awareness. Have you ever wanted to connect your learners with native speakers abroad? This session showcases a fun project to connect language learners for the purpose of exchanging and discussing their own photos. The presentation summarizes a telecollaborative exchange between learners of German in the US and learners of English in Germany that focuses on the exchange and discussion of photographs taken by students based on assigned topics. The app used for the photo exchange is presented and other possible tools for conducting photo exchanges will be presented and students’ feedback on the exchange will be summarized.

Technology allows exploration of the artistic and social landscape of L2 cities. Design a project-based module on street art and public art using Google Earth, Instagram, and online resources to explore French and Francophone history, identity, and public discourse around racial diversity, social issues, and ownership of public space. Students leverage online access to public spaces and existing social media skills to create and respond to multimodal virtual tours of specific cities while building linguistic, intercultural, and visual literacy skills. This approach supports exploration of social justice and cultural values at all proficiency levels. Attendees develop materials for their students in hands-on activities. Some knowledge of Instagram is helpful but not required.

In the last few years, CANVAS has become increasingly important for many of our classes. Many of us are required to use it, but have we been using it effectively? We explore ways to combine best practices for language instruction with existing CANVAS tools to deliver instruction and assessment in the most pedagogically sound way possible and explore ways to promote and assess all modes of communication within the canvas platform. We look at different strategies for formative and summative assessment using the CANVAS tools that allow us to go beyond discrete point grammar and vocabulary activities