Over the past several years, the St. Olaf Japanese Department (in conjunction with Information and Instructional Technologies), under the supervision of Professor Phyllis Larson and Craig Rice, has been working on providing students with a mobile language resource. We decided to use handheld (PDA) technology. We began by using Visors, and now are using Sony Clies. Originally, we worked with teaching reading, especially the kanji (Chinese characters), but we are now incorporating audio and visual materials into this portable digital environment. We are exploring ways of using the handheld to infuse linguistic content into humanities courses.
Most recently, we presented our work ("Using
Handhelds: Language Anytime, Anywhere," at Carleton College,
in April, 2002, at a conference supported by Carleton, the Midwest
Instructional Technologies Consortium (MITC), and the Mellon
Foundation. The conference theme was "Focus on Change."
More information can be found in the article: Using
Handhelds: Learning a Language "Anytime, Anywhere" by Phyllis
Larson and Craig D. Rice.
