With funding from the W.M. Keck Foundation, CIC created the Network for Effective Language Learning (NELL) program to help institutions explore innovative approaches to foreign language learning. In recent years, language study has become a much less common requirement on college campuses than it once was. Few students attain fluency in a foreign language, and the variety of languages offered in most institutions is small. Critical languages such as Arabic and Chinese are frequently unavailable. NELL allowed institutions to investigate a variety of ways to enhance their current foreign language offerings and address these major issues.