Grant Proposal for the Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges (AALAC) --- “Developing meaningful, hybrid introductory German course modules” --- respectfully submitted by Felix Kronenberg Asst. Professor, Modern Languages and Literatures & Director, Language Learning Center Rhodes College Developing meaningful, hybrid introductory German course modules Much media attention is currently paid to online courses, large-scale classes, and MOOCs. However, liberal arts colleges represent a different approach to higher education than do the big public universities that generally host such large-platform offerings. Small, liberal arts colleges focus instead on face-to-face communication, critical inquiry, and attention to the individual. Even so, hybrid courses can supplement this type of education while taking advantage of new forms of communication. They can also expand the generally limited faculty resources available on any one college campus, thus giving students access to broader expertise and inter-institutional, collaborative pedagogy. We are applying for AALAC funding to support a workshop that would bring together German faculty from liberal arts colleges in various parts of the country to develop meaningful, hybrid introductory German course modules. Our efforts will concentrate on students in the first three semesters of the German curriculum. The majority of students at all of our institutions are in these courses. We intend to strengthen the usefulness of the language requirement by making students' engagement with authentic media in the target language as seamless as it is in their native language. Thus, a focus on this part of the curriculum will have the biggest student impact, but the outcomes will certainly also be able to be used in more advanced language courses. The modules may be web-based or interactive units that individual students complete in front of a computer, but can certainly also include interactive exercises or projects that are worked on with other students from the same or other campuses, possibly even abroad. They will be designed to foster extended, multimodal student engagement with authentic media sources combined with communicative and creative activities.The activities will represent hybrid approaches to learning insofar as they stress interpersonal communication facilitated, but not dominated by the technological apparatus. Course modules will not replace existing textbooks or materials, but rather supplement them in a meaningful and flexible way. This strategy will make it possible for German faculty who are using different basic textbooks to use the modules independent of a given textbook program. In this context, we consider meaningful course modules to include activities that incorporate authentic materials and creative, communicative approaches to teaching and learning. They will not include rote exercises that are already available in online activities provided by textbook publishers. The workshop will involve up to fourteen participants from liberal arts colleges. Participants will prepare for the workshop by reviewing recent literature on SLA, CALL, learning theory, and language pedagogy. At the workshop itself, faculty members will decide collectively which areas of the beginning language curriculum should be the focus of the modules. Then faculty from different institutions will team up to develop modules that focus on the kinds of grammatical and cultural units that typically form the foundation of the first three semesters of German instruction. Ideally, the workshop participants will develop activities that will bring together students from various campuses to work collaboratively and produce teaching and learning materials, such as annotated digital texts, scaffolding materials, pre- and post-activities, assessment documentation, and pedagogical information. Workshop outcomes will include: - a portal (web site) hosting the materials and providing a forum for future collaboration - ready-to-be used modules for our intro German sequence (first 3 semesters) - provide a solution for the “extra hour” (sometimes called “4th hour” or “5th hour”): on many campuses an additional class session is built into language courses to provide more practice opportunities with the target language - provide participants with theoretical and practical knowledge in areas such the digital humanities, flipped classrooms, hybrid learning, situated learning, and Web 2.0 technologies. - joint article written by interested participants - Work would influence other languages taught at our schools (for example through workshops or presentations given by participants at their institutions) List of the faculty members who will be the workshop leaders and of other faculty members who will assist in the detailed planning of the workshop. Lead: Felix Kronenberg (Rhodes College) [email protected] Asst. Professor, Modern Languages and Literatures Director, Language Learning Center 2000 N. Parkway Memphis, TN 38112 Tel.: (901)843-3136 Faculty Organizers/Supporters: Gabriele Dillmann (Denison University) [email protected] 301T Fellows Hall Modern Languages Department/German Denison University Granville, OH 43023 Tel.: 740.587.6226 Sigi Leonhard (Carleton College) [email protected] Department of German and Russian Carleton College One North College Street Northfield, MN 55057 tel: 651 373 3821 Hans-Jürg Rindisbacher (Pomona College) Prof. of German [email protected] Dept. of German & Russian Pomona College, Mason Hall 550 N. Harvard Ave. Claremont, CA 91711 (909) 621-8942 Friederike von Schwerin-High (Pomona College) Associate Prof. of German Dept. of German & Russian Pomona College, Mason Hall 550 N. Harvard Ave. Claremont, CA 91711 (909) 621-8942 Michelle Mattson (Rhodes College) [email protected] Professor, German 2000 N. Parkway Memphis, TN 38112 Tel.: (901)843-3524 3. The name, email address, and institutional affiliation of one designated workshop liaison. Felix Kronenberg (Rhodes College) [email protected] Preliminary budget ● stipend for primary workshop organizer(s) $500 ● Up to $1200 per participant to cover travel, accommodation, and food (total of 15 participants, 3 at hosting institution; 12 traveling participants; if possible, up to 2 of these might be administrative or educational staff members and experts in hybrid learning, such as language centers directors or instructional technologists) ● administrative and office costs: $300 ● Total: 15,200 Felix A. Kronenberg Asst. Professor, Modern Languages and Literatures \ Director, Language Learning Center Rhodes College 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112 [email protected], tel.: (901)843-3136 CURRICULUM VITAE (condensed) Education Doctorate degree in German Philology (“Deutsche Philologie”), University of Regensburg, 2008 Post-graduate certificate: Teaching German as a Foreign Language (DaF), University of Regensburg, 2003 M.A. degree: English (literature, cultural studies, linguistics, and TESOL) and History (German and European), University of Regensburg, 2002 Research Interests Language Center Design; Language Learning Spaces; Digital storytelling (DST); Simulations and games for language learning; Advertising and Stereotypes; Media and Film Recent Publications ● Kronenberg, F. A. (2013). Computer games as agentive and immersive spaces for language learners. In B. Bigl & S. Stoppe (Eds.), Playing with virtuality, theories and methods of computer game studies (pp. 313–332). Peter Lang. ● Kronenberg, F. A. (2013). Technology and the changing nature of narrative in L2 learning and teaching. In L. A. Wankel & P. Blessinger (Eds.), Increasing student engagement and retention using multimedia technologies: Video annotation, multimedia applications, videoconferencing and transmedia storytelling, Cutting-edge technologies in higher education (Vol. 6, pp. 95–119). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ● Kronenberg, F. A. (2012). Selection criteria for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) video games for language learning. IALLT Journal, 42(2), 52–78. ● Kronenberg, F. A. (forthcoming - 2013). The LLC and public relations: Promoting the language learning center. In IALLT Management Manual. ● Kronenberg, F. A. (2011). Language centers at small institutions. In F. A. Kronenberg (Ed.), Language Center Design (pp. 83–94). International Association for Language Learning and Technology. ● Kronenberg, F. A. (Ed.). (2011). Language center design. Moorhead, MN: International Association for Language Learning and Technology. Select (Recent) Presentations “Giving your Students a Voice - Digital Storytelling for Language Learners” Invited presentation and consulting visit to help Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL) redesign its language center; March 27, 2013 “Technology and narrative: New performance spaces for language learners” Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association (TFLTA), Franklin, TN - June November 3, 2012 “Language Learning Spaces at Small Liberal Arts Colleges” Inauguration Keynote Presentation for the New Language Learning Center at Willamette University (Salem, OR), October 26, 2012 “The State of Computer Games and Language Learning” The Computer Assisted Language Learning Consortium (CALICO) Conference, Notre Dame University - June 15, 2012 “IALLT Language Center Design Workshop” (pre-conference workshop leader, presenter and organiser) “Giving Students a Voice: Digital Storytelling for Beginning L2 Learners” International Association for Language Learning and Technology (IALLT) Conference, University of California, Irvine - June 21-25, 2011 “Language Center Design” Invited presentation and consulting visit to help Wheaton College (Norton, MA) redesign its language center; April 8, 2011 “Social Software and Language Teaching: Achieving Intended Outcomes in the Language Classroom with Web 2.0 Tools” Presentation and Workshop for the 2010 OKUM (Oberlin-Kalamazoo-University of Michigan) Conference, September 25, 2010 “Digital Storytelling for Practice and Assessment” Invited Online Presentation: for the 3rd Annual Social Media Workshop at LARC at San Diego State University, August 11, 2011 Select Teaching Experience At Rhodes GERM 101 (Elementary German) GERM102 (Elementary German) GERM 202 (Intermediate German) GERM 240/340 German Cinema GERM 301 (Composition and Conversation) GERM409 (taught as independent study) LANG151 (Stereotypes in Advertising) Select Professional Service President of SWALLT - the SouthWest Association for Language Learning Technology (2009-2010) President-Elect (2007-2009) Past-President; board position (2010-present) Council member for IALLT (International Association for Language Learning Technology); LCD Editor; Survey Coordinator National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education Fellow (2008-2009) GABRIELE DILLMANN, Ph.D. Julian H. Robertson Endowed Professor of German Home: 113 Donegal Drive Office: 301T Fellows Hall Granville, OH, 43023 Denison University T.: 740.641.3300 Granville, OH 43023 [email protected] T.: 740.587.6226 EDUCATION University of California, Ph.D. 1999 Germanic Languages Los Angeles, California (German Literature) California State University, B.A. 1993 German; Philosophy Minor Sacramento, California Magna Cum Laude Ruprecht-Karls-Universität 1987-1991 Course work in Heidelberg, Germany Philosophy/Linguistics/Psychology TEACHING EXPERIENCE Associate Professor of German (since September 2006) Assistant Professor of German Denison University, Modern Languages Department, 2000 to 2006 All levels of German language, culture, and literature Freud and Culture (Honors Program) Lecturer in German Studies Pomona College, Department of German and Russian, 1998-2000 Campus-wide Teaching Assistants Training Program Coordinator Office of Instructional Development at UCLA, 1997-98 Teaching Associate/Fellow UCLA, Department of Germanic Languages, 1994-1997 RESEARCH INTERESTS Psychoanalysis and Literature: Suicide and Trauma in Literature Austrian Literature: Ingeborg Bachmann, Grillparzer Romanticism, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Goethe, Bürger, Günderrode CLAC Pedagogy INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES Dillmann - 2 - Psychoanalytic Theory: Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS (past two years only) “Hybrid Thinking about the Role of Technology for Liberal Education,” GLCA Workshop, Ann Arbor, MI, April 5-7, 2013. “Between Cognition and Culture,” Midwest Faculty Seminar, University of Chicago, Chicago IL, January 9-12, 2013 Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), NYC, SUNY, International Center, June 7-10, 2012 Culture and Language across the Curriculum (CLAC), University of Minnesota, March 8-9, 2012 ACADEMIC AWARDS AND GRANTS Julian H. Robertson Endowed Professor, 2013-2018 Fellowship Recipient of the American Psychoanalytic Association for 2003/2004 National Teaching Leadership Award, 6th National Teaching Assistants Conference, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Nov. 1997 TECHNOLOGY TRAINING AND PROJECTS Google+ Hangout integration as pedagogical tool in language learning, 2013 COIL, June 2012 Foreign Language and Literature Teaching with Advanced Technology: Web Site Creation, Web Crossing, Internet, Power Point Presentations CD Rom Project for German with Director 8.0 Media Authoring Software, Smart Lab, Dreamweaver, PhotoShop Web-based multi-media language exercise creation Video production, I-Movie; “Polycom,” e-classroom videoconferencing SCHOLARLY SERVICE (Denison; this year only) “CLAC at Denison?,” workshop, Camp Denison, May 16, 2013. “Teaching and Learning with Google+ Hangout,” Teachnology, Denison U, May 9, 2013. NATIONAL SCHOLARLY SERVICE Modern Languages Association, appointment to Program Committee (National Annual Conference), 2004-2007. PUBLICATIONS Dillmann - 3 - Guest Editor: Self Psychology and the Arts. Spec. issue of Self Psychology: European Journal for Psychoanalytic Therapy and Research. Wolfgang Milch, general editor 35 (2009). Journal Articles and Book Chapters: (18+ on all topics in “Research Interests”) PRESENTATIONS/PAPERS (50+ in Romanticism, Psychoanalytic Theory, Pedagogy, Teachnology, etc.)