Technology Slices Through The Language Barrier

Jim Duber talks about his innovative use of technology in creating software for ESL learners. Barry Bakin asks him about his work.

You are perhaps most well known for the "cutting edge" work with technology and language instruction, displayed on your website "Cutting Edge Call Demos". It showcases several samples of language lessons that can be created using latest development software. Can you tell us a little bit about the historical development of the site?

In 1994 I was invited by Todd Blayonne, of McGill University, to join a team of volunteers in creating Chorus, a web-based resource for professionals in humanities computing under the sponsorship of McGill University (later our sponsorship would move to the College Writing Programs at UC Berkeley) and the National Library of Canada. The internet was brand new and I was brought on as Editor of the section on Computer Assisted Language Learning. There were other sections on Electronic Research, Composition, and Bible Analysis. The primary focus was on product rev-iews__especially CD-ROMs and textbooks. Early on in 1996, I launched the Cutting Edge CALL Demos as a featured subsection linked to CALL@Chorus. We already had a growing list of product reviews underway, and like most other CALL sites of that time, we had a page of links to other CALL resources. I wanted to add original content to the site that would interest instructors, researchers and students alike. That's pretty much how the Cutting Edge site got its start. It's been an invaluable way for me to field test and share some of my ideas and experiments with the new web-based technologies such as Shockwave, JavaScript, RealAudio, QTVR, and Flash.

An interesting component of the site is a 360 degree virtual tour of your apartment, which is used as the basis for a reading and listening exercise. As the user moves around your apartment feedback is given at different locations. Movement is controlled by the user’s mouse. How did you create this?

That's a module entitled My Apartment: The Game. I created it using Apple's Quick-Time VR (QTVR) technology in early 1998 with only a very cheap digital camera, poor lighting and no tripod (by no means a professional production). The first step was to photograph a series of still shots by standing in one place and turning slightly while taking a sequence of about 16 overlapping photographs. A tripod is usually crucial for this kind of work, but I was just making a rough draft. The quality of the outcome was better than I expected and I was able to use the rough images. After transferring the digital shots to my computer, I touched them up a bit in Adobe Photoshop and then brought them into Apple's QTVR Authoring Studio to align and "stitch" them into a navigable 360 degree interactive movie with clickable hotspots. I then added a listening prompt using RealAudio and added javascript code to display textual feedback when users click on various objects in the apartment scene. I revised the programming last year to take advantage of some new features in Apple's QuickTime software but couldn’t reshoot the images with a better camera because I no longer live in the same apartment.

What other types of exercises do you envision using this type of three-dimensional environment?

QTVR is an ideal technology for creating simulations and exploratory game environments. It's a cross-platform solution and very appealing visually. In addition to three-dimensional scenes, you can create three-dimensional objects which a user can "pick up" with a mouse click and then drag around to view from all sides and angles. These are great for vocabulary building games. And now you can integrate directional audio and link to video and other multimedia in QTVR, so it can be used quite effectively in multi-skill language activities.

You mention the term "directional audio" Don’t computers just have audio?

When you move around a QTVR pano-rama, which has directional audio programmed in, you will hear different sounds play depending on which direction you're facing and the audio track can pan from left to right and get louder or softer as you turn.
It's quite a realistic effect.

There is only one example of this type of exercise on your site. Is this due to the difficulty of creating the exercise itself? Does the amount of time necessary to create these types of lessons limit their usefulness as
teaching tools?

It is a rather time consuming process__not the kind of thing that teachers can be expected to throw together in their spare time. Also, the hardware and software required are rather costly. As for the Cutting Edge site, I've mainly been too busy with all sorts of other projects and technologies to add more QTVR lesson samples. Also, they tend to be large files that require more bandwidth than the typical modem connection, so they are still more appropriate for distribution on CD-ROM.

Another exercise at the site is called "The New Randomizer". What do you mean by that and what is unique about this lesson?
In the early part of 1997, I started adding a series of minimal pair listening activities I created using Macromedia Director authoring software. Director (and the Shock-wave files that it exports) offers a very powerful scripting language called "Lingo", with which I created the original Randomizer exercises. It's called the Randomizer because it's never the same exercise and there's no limit to how many attempts one can make.

Recently, with the incorporation of a scripting language called ActionScript into Macromedia Flash version 4, it became possible to recreate these exercises in files using the Flash format. The Randomizer was a perfect match for the capabilities of Flash 4 so I added The New Randomizer to the site in order to feature what ActionScript and MP3 audio added to the already well-developed animation capabilities of previous versions.

When you first started creating Internet ESL exercises did you consider yourself to be primarily an English teacher with an interest in technology and computers or did your technical interests predate your ESL career?

Definitely the former__I completed an MA program in Linguistics with emphasis on TESL/TEFL at the University of Mich-igan in the late 70's and then taught full-time in the US and abroad for 12 years. Believe it or not, I had always hated computers and didn't know how to type at all. In college I spent a fortune hiring out typing on term papers. My interest in educational technology started in the mid-80's. At the time, I was an ESL instructor at UC Berkeley Extension's English Language Program in San Francisco. I had two roommates and several friends working in the newly emerging multimedia industry. Their projects involved the production of corporate and consumer training on CD ROMs__very innovative for the time. At the same time, I managed to win a free subscription to the Prodigy Network and then I learned I could get a free Internet account with UC Berkeley. This was just a few years before the appearance of the Inter-net. I was fascinated with the two worlds__ multimedia technology offered compelling visual and experiential environment, and the Internet offered a channel for worldwide communication via personal email, listservs, Usenet, Gopher, MOOs and the like. Along came the Web and I was hooked.

How have you obtained your programming skills?
I taught myself basic computing, word-processing and Internet skills on an old PC mainly through self-study over the Internet. As I mentioned, I had roommates and friends who worked in multimedia, and they were happy to provide some mentoring. With their help, I also managed to find an internship with a multimedia development group in San Francisco and I took several courses at San Francisco
State University.

Do you still teach ESL in a classroom setting or has the focus of your career shifted to computer-based
instructional media?

I generally teach a summer six-week ESL course through the Coll-ege Writing Programs at UC Berk-eley. This summer I'm leading a course in TOEFL Preparation with a focus on the new computer-based test. So, yes, I do still teach ESL a bit, though I have been doing more consulting and training in educational technology over the past few years.

ESL instructors who subscribe to the TESLCA-L discussion list focusing on the use of computers in ESL instruction will already be aware that you have recently become the "list manager". What can you tell those of us who aren’t familiar with TESLCA-L about the discussion list?

TESLCA-L is a branch of TESL-L. These are email-based Internet discussion groups. The main branch, TESL-L, is a forum for discussions focusing on general ESL/EFL topics. TESLCA-L, the branch that I manage, is dedicated to discussions on topics related to the use of computers and technology in the teaching of ESL/EFL. It has over 4,000 subscribers from all over the world. (Instruct-ions for joining TESL-L and TESLCA-L can be found overleaf.)

What other ESL organizations or activities are you involved with?

I've been running an instructional media development and consulting company since 1992. It's called duber dot com. We specialize in online courseware, including instructional media design and development. I've been a regular columnist for the TESL-EJ (TESL-EJ is an online academic journal-ed. note) since 1996. With each issue, I write a feature called "On The Internet" with a focus on the most interesting issues of the day for online English language instruction. More recently, at the end of 1999 I was named co-leader, along with Maggie Sokolik, of the WebCT English Community. Maggie and I are both long-time users of the WebCT platform, which led to us spearheading the development of the English Community on their newly launched e-learning hub.

What is the e-learning hub and how is it different than WebCT and what do you mean by "English Community"?
The WebCT platform is a set of online tools that assist instructors in building and managing highly interactive, highly customizable web-based learning environments. It's been available since 1997 and is currently the market leader. It's a great product and a great company__and I'd say that even if I didn't work for them. But, I don't work for the platform side of the company__ as I just mentioned, I am a long-time user of the WebCT platform, recently hired to help develop the hub. WebCT's e-learning hub was just launched last January. The e-learning website, WebCT.com, provides teaching, learning, resources and online academic communities. Among the offerings in the English Community, for example, there is a set of course materials and suggested readings, moderated discussion for-ums and mini-courses on a variety of topics that would be relevant for teachers and students of English.

How much time do you spend on each of the activities that we have talked about and where do you find yourselfspending most of your time?
On average, I work around 50 hours per week. I spend about 75% of my working days on tasks related to duber dot com. This includes meeting with new clients to formulate development plans, designing web sites and interactive exercises, programming, testing, revising, and training. The WebCT job takes up about 25% of my time. In my free-time, I work on development of the CALL@Chorus site, my column in the TESL-
EJ, and managing TESLCA-L.

What suggestions do you have for ESL instructors who would like to acquire new skills in Computer Assisted Language Learning or would like to develop exercises similar to those you have created at the "Cutting Edge Call Demo Site"?

First off, I'd suggest that ESL instructors take it a step at a time, a challenge at a time. Decide what new CALL-related ability you'd like to master next, and then break it down into steps. Approach computer software and programming languages as you would learning a new language and then it's easy. Computer languages and software programs typically have a limited vocabulary and syntax, and language teachers are usually pretty good at internalizing new vocabulary and simple grammar rules. Some useful skills to focus on learning include; (1) HTML and graphic design basics, (2) multimedia authoring and production, (3) interactive writing and instructional design, and (4) digital publishing. Usually people choose to specialize in one of these areas, or even in a specific area within one of these groups.

Above all, be flexible if you're looking for professional work in a CALL-related field. You might work freelance, or as a part-timer with a development company. In polishing your skills, I believe it can be very helpful to find a mentor or class. Or, apply for a short-term internship with a company that is doing the kind of work that you admire.

Would you be willing to discuss whether or not you are doing better financially than you would have if you had stayed only with teaching? Is there a financial incentive for you or are you just doing this because it's interesting or more fulfilling to you?

I thrive on change, but a little at a time. So, when I first got into instructional media, it was as a hobby and to enhance my own classroom teaching. Later, when I realized how much I enjoyed working with educational technologies, I took some classes, did a lot of study on my own, and then managed to get an internship with a leading multimedia development firm in San Francisco. Over time, I built up a skill set and a clientele that allowed me to slowly transition from a full-time position as an ESL instructor to where I'm now running my own instructional media production business. I love the work and don't want to suggest that money is the main factor, but I can't deny that I'm also doing better financially now.

Do you think that there are professional opportunities for ESL instructors who might want to move into CALL from a production standpoint as opposed to teaching?
There is a growing demand for content writers, editors, and online instructors in addition to those with more advanced instructional design skills. The interest and enthusiasm surrounding Web-based learning is increasing at an incredible rate and
with that so are the jobs.

Jim Duber’s Cutting Edge Call Demos site can be found at http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/chorus/call/cuttingedge.html
Jim Duber or duber dot com can be reached at http://www.duber.com
TESL-EJ can be found at http://www-writ-
ing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/
The WebCT English Community can be found at http://www.webct.com/eng-
lish/home/

Barry Bakin is an ESL teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Division of Adult and Career Education.