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German students videoconference with award-winning filmmakers

By Trent Chaffee '09
April 17, 2009

GermanVideoConf1
Video equipment allows St. Olaf Professor Karen Achberger's German class to see, hear and talk with native German speakers in Europe, as well as students and faculty from Carleton College. "This is almost as good as a real visit," says Achberger.
After watching the 2008 Oscar-winning Best Foreign Language Film "The Counterfeiters" as part of their German seminar class, students Josh Clapp '09, Kelsey Oja '09, Michael Williams Jr. '09, along with Professor of German Karen Achberger, had questions that could not be resolved through their own discussion. Fortunately, Achberger had arranged a video conference with the film's director, Stefan Ruzowitzky, in Vienna, Austria.

Using St. Olaf equipment, Achberger's three-student class was able to ask Ruzowitzky questions on his film's time period, setting, plot and production, as well as connect with him in a personal and casual manner. Arriving early to the video conference, Ruzowitzky spoke well beyond his 45-minute scheduled time slot, sharing candid stories, laughs and further insight into his film.

Video conferencing is an emerging technology that is beginning to be utilized in foreign language classrooms. After viewing a demonstration from a German professor from Lafayette University, Achberger and Carleton College Professor of German Julie Klassen looked for an opportunity to experiment with the equipment and involve students from both campuses. After securing grant funds and finalizing plans that began more than a year ago, the faculty members were able to arrange a series of three-way video conferences with their upper level classes and two German-speaking filmmakers: Ruzowitzky, the only Austrian filmmaker to be nominated for two Academy Awards (he's often called the "Austrian Steven Spielberg"), and the second with Michal Galinsky, a German production designer whose film, "And Along Come Tourists," was screened in both classrooms. Galinsky videoconferenced from Poland.

"St. Olaf preaches that students should take their studies and implement them in the real world," said Achberger after interviewing Ruzowitzky in the St. Olaf Telecommunications conference room. "We were able to have a deep conversation with one of the best German language filmmakers. For us, this technology is a gift and an enhancement to our education."

"Seeing [Ruzowitzky] smiling and watching his body language makes the experience more real," said Williams. "And I think the video conference was a novelty that he also enjoyed."

With the endeavor being inexpensive compared to the cost of visiting a scholar or funding his or her travel to the United States, Achberger believes this technique can be used by other St. Olaf academic programs. "This is almost as good as a real visit," she said.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.