New Computer and Technological Resources for Latin Language Instruction
Pedagogical Workshop at the University of Maryland, March 16, 2002
Barbara F. McManus, The College of New Rochelle

PART I: PRINCIPLES

Necessity of incorporating Internet technology in teaching and learning today

• Internet skills are important for employment, quality of life, etc.; our students need to master them no matter what their field or profession.
• Like reading, writing, or mathematics, Internet skills need to be applied across the curriculum. It is my contention that they are best learned through practice in many different areas, not taught in isolation.

Combination of technology with personal contact and support is optimal for pedagogy ^{1, 2}

• For faculty: community is absolutely crucial for faculty seeking to successfully integrate technology into their teaching, including hands-on, discipline-specific teacher training; practical, project-based activities; just-in-time advice and help; long-term mentoring and support ^{3, 4}
• For students: Internet technology must be thoroughly integrated into the structure of the course (content, learning goals, assessment); the best assignments bring the fruits of Internet use into the classroom

Advantages provided by the Internet

• Motivational power: “positive addiction,” time on task, enjoyment and sense of satisfaction (though these are not automatically created simply by using technology) ^{5, 6}
• Resource-based learning: potential to link many different types of resources and provide a guided path through them; potential to provide access to many primary sources, archival materials, databases, etc. to facilitate original research ⁷
• Collaborative learning: ease of communication and collaboration even across distances; challenge to idea of exclusively personal “intellectual property” ⁸
• Control over learning: students can choose time, place, and pace of learning ⁹
• Interactivity: potential for choosing how to pursue and synthesize information, for commenting on information, for self-assessment quizzes, for contributing information ¹⁰
• Publication: potential for easy and inexpensive publication of student work for classmates and even for a worldwide audience ^{11, 12}
• Updatability: infinitely changeable, can be kept very current

Difficulties encountered in using the Internet for teaching

• Time and learning curve: always assume that preparation of materials will take you at least twice as long as your wildest estimate; be prepared for frequent problems with the technology and with students' use of the equipment; Internet sites and computer software change so rapidly that you must frequently refresh your materials and skills ^{13, 14}
• Differential access: even if your institution provides excellent facilities and support, some of your students will not have good access to functioning equipment and to the Internet
• Equipment failure and software incompatibility: even the best-maintained equipment will sometimes function poorly or break down (frequently at the most inopportune time); the rapid pace of product development (and the vicious competition among developers) constantly raise incompatibility issues even on the Web, which was created to be universally accessible regardless of platform and software.
• Cost: providing equipment, facilities, and adequate support staff is very expensive; do not assume that increased technology will save the institution money in the short term (though it may ultimately provide a better education for the money) ¹⁵

PART II: INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY FOR PRACTICE AND DRILL

A major benefit of instructional technology is the provision of less burdensome and boring forms of practice and drill than traditional methods involving recitation or written exercises, enabling students to proceed at their own pace and repeat tasks as needed and freeing classroom time for reading of Latin and discussion of culture. A recent article by John Sarkissian, “Monitoring Student Behavior in Computerized Latin Exercises” (Calico Journal 18.2 [2001]: 339-356) traces the performance of elementary Latin students in computerized drills, quizzes, and examinations. He concludes that some, but not all, students who improved on successive drills were able to continue that improvement on tests and argues that students need guidance from the teacher on how to derive the most benefit from computerized programs.

Use Latin Software on Disk and CD-Rom

• Software Directory for the Classics (prepared by Rob Latousek for the American Classical League)
• On-Line Survey of Audio-Visual Resources for Classics (prepared by Janice Siegel; now searchable)
• Centaur Systems: Educational Software for the Classics
• Transparent Language

Use Resources and Exercises Available on the Web

• Diagramming Latin Sentences (Barbara McManus)
• Latin Activities from Quia (one can search for activities by textbook)
• Latin Links (John Gruber-Miller)
• Latin Teaching Materials (Claude Pavur)
• Selected Sites Devoted to Specific Textbooks:
  • The Cambridge Latin Course Connection. This is the official CLC site.
  • Van Alstyne High School's Cambridge Latin Links (Larry Martin)
  • Ecce Romani Teachers' Corner (Gil Lawall). See also the resources created by Melissa Schons Bishop, listed below under Quia.
  • Kentucky Educational Television has many resources for the Ecce Romani series; click on the appropriate level Latin course to access the materials available to the public.
  • Internet Workbook for the Oxford Latin Course (Robert W. Cape, Jr.). Before I found this site, I had begun creating vocabulary and paradigm drill exercises myself (see Self-Help Quizzes to accompany the Oxford Latin Course, Part I).
  • On-line Drills to Accompany the Oxford Latin Course. (Margaret Phillips)
  • Wheelock Latin Exercises, 6th edition (Laurel Bowman). This site provides an example of exercises created using Hot Potatoes software (see below).

Create Your Own Exercises Using Downloadable Programs

• Hot Potatoes: Although not freeware, this software can be downloaded free of charge by educators. Available in Windows and Mac versions, this easy-to-use software enables users to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web.
• Quia offers a collection of educational tools and templates that enable registered users to create 14 types of educational games and activities, quizzes with 8 different question types, surveys, and web pages. There is an annual registration fee of $49. View the activities created by Melissa Schons Bishop using Quia for Ecce Romani chapters 28-54.
• Discovery Education offers teachers a number of online educational tools, including Puzzlemaker, Quiz Center, Lesson Planner, and Worksheet Generator. Registration is free.
• Hungry Frog offers several software programs for Latin vocabulary games, each costing approximately $30.
• Latin parser and translator 0.96 (programmed by Adam McLean). Customizable program for interactive translation aids for Windows only.
• Lingua Latina (developed by Bob Hasenfratz). Customizable Latin drill program for Windows only.

PART III: DESIGNING INTERNET PROJECTS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Steps to Follow

• Become familiar with what tools are available and how others have employed these in teaching; a focused search with a good search engine like Google will help you to do this, as will email discussion lists designed for Latin teachers:
  • LatinTeach (an email discussion list for Latin teachers, maintained by Sharon Kazmierski)
  • Cambridge Latin email discussion group on Egroups
  • Oxford Latin email discussion group on Topica
• Find out what kinds of resources relevant to your course topics are already on the Web.
• Think about how these tools and resources would enable you and your students to do something new, or to do something old in a new and better way, or to do something in a way that would be more interesting and engaging to the students (and to you!).
• As you begin to design one or more Internet projects, draft learning goals for these assignments that are directly related to the objectives of your course; this will ensure that the projects are integral to the course, not simply technological bells and whistles. It is especially important that your students understand why they are doing these assignments and how they fit into the course as a whole (see my VRoma Treasure Hunt for an example of learning goals). ^{16, 17}
• Make sure that your students understand how to use the tools you are asking them to employ. ¹⁸
• Outcomes assessment is particularly important to find out if the new types of assignments are accomplishing their aims; also, graded assessment will convince the students that these assignments are essential parts of the course (for an example of specific outcomes goals and assessment, see the final examination in my course on Ancient Rome in Film, Fiction, and Fact). See also Essential Steps in Outcomes Assessment and VRoma: Technology and the Standards for Classical Language Learning.

Examples: Using On-Line Latin Texts and Text Tools

• Online Companion to The Worlds of Roman Women, created by Ann Raia and Judith Lynn Sebesta, presents many different type of Latin passages by and about Roman women, with images, introductory essays, and hyperlinked vocabulary, grammatical aids and commentary. The Instruction section contains many useful resources for teachers, including suggested activities and assignments related to the site.
• The Latin Library. A large collection of unannotated Latin texts.
• Words: Latin-English Dictionary Program This is a free, downloadable program for PCs consisting of Latin dictionary entries and software to retrieve definitions and parsing information, created by William Whittaker. An online, interactive version has been made available on the Web by the University of Notre Dame.
• The Fables of Phaedrus: Reading Exercises in Latin (developed by Zainis Deps for the Classics Technology Center). These easy texts are hyperlinked to translation aids, but some features only work with Internet Explorer, not Netscape.
• Intermediate Latin (passages from Catullus, Cicero, Ovid, Pliny developed through a collaboration of classics professors and technology experts). These selections are related by a common theme and have sophisticated hyperlinks to translation aids, commentary, and pedagogical questions designed specifically for the program and the intermediate-level student.
• Perseus: Table of Contents: Greco-Roman Texts. These texts are hyperlinked to dictionary and parsing aids, and frequently to published commentaries as well. Perseus also offers other very useful tools, all accessible from this page. Perseus programs are so extensive, however, that these tools can be complicated to use; most students will need considerable guidance and structured assignments. Be aware that not all features work exactly as described in the Help pages; due to the history of the project, there is more comprehensive coverage of Greek materials, and some features work better for Greek resources than for Latin.

Examples: Collaborative and Interactive Assignments on History, Civilization, Culture

• Internet Links for AP Latin (developed by Barbara McManus and Marianthe Colakis to accompany their article in the 2001 Teacher's Guide—AP Latin). The Background Materials section of this page provides an organized way to find reliable cultural resources that can be used for student assignments at all levels, while the rest of the page is devoted to resources on individual AP authors.
• Designing Internet Assignments: I created this page for a workshop at The College of New Rochelle to help faculty from all disciplines.
• WebQuests: The WebQuest is a educational model for designing web assignments originally developed at San Diego State University. WebQuests are problem-solving projects intended to develop and assess all the aspects of web information literacy; in the words of the developers, “WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.” WebQuests emphasize authentic tasks and products. The WebQuest home page includes very detailed training materials, and the search page can be used to find relevant classical web quests (for example, try “Roman” as a search term).
• The VRoma Project is both a community of teachers and learners sustained by workshops, email discussion, and on-line pedagogical resources, and an interactive virtual environment created by a web/MOO interface. The VRoma MOO contextualizes and situates linguistic and cultural information within a simulated space, a virtual “city” containing historical places (a simulation of the city of Rome circa 150 CE) and non-historical places (simulations of various types of spaces that imaginatively evoke ancient life). For students, this simulated space provides opportunities not otherwise available for authentic, situated learning of Latin involving reading/translation of Latin texts in their physical and cultural context, communication in Latin in an imaginatively created native environment, and emulation of expert practitioners through construction of textual commentaries that will be “published” within the virtual environment.
  • Course Materials Repository contains links to assignments and handouts created by VRoma faculty to accompany VRoma web materials and the VRoma MOO, which other teachers can adapt to their own needs.
  • Image Archive Search can be used to search an extensive collection of classical images.
  • Login Page: Connect to VRoma as a registered character or a guest, or browse the site anonymously.