The inaugural meeting of CIC’s Network for Effective Language Learning (NELL) at Drake University (IA) convened teams from six institutions and one consortium to learn about new approaches to language learning. During the four-day meeting, made possible by a $360,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation, teams explored language learning in the context of cultural competency and devised plans for adapting some of these approaches to the needs of their own campuses.

The plans allow participating institutions to invigorate their current course offerings and add additional languages to their curricula. In addition to attending the meeting, each team member has become a participant in an ongoing online “eCommunity” through which institutions are supporting one another in their efforts to bring meaningful change in foreign language instruction to their campuses. Participating institutions in the first Network are: Bethany College (WV), Carson-Newman College (TN), Colleges of the Fenway (MA), Saint Joseph College (CT), Salve Regina University (RI), St. Edward’s University (TX), and Tougaloo College (MS).

Each team, selected through a competitive application process, consists of four members: a language department chair, a language faculty member, a technology expert, and a provost or dean with budget authority. Through a series of plenary sessions and smaller break-out discussion sessions that corresponded to the individual’s role within the institution, participants examined a wide range of topics, from creating a learner-centered approach to language learning and working with native language speakers to faculty development and budgeting issues.

During the meeting, participants also engaged in simulation exercises to gain first-hand experience with the methods used by the Drake University Language Acquisition Program (DULAP) in helping their students gain proficiency in a foreign language and culture. The simulation, using Russian, allowed participants to practice with some of the approaches that they might choose to use on their own campuses, including online video and audio resources (some in Russian and some in English), web resources that furthered their understanding of Russian culture, a sample digital audio ePortfolio entry of themselves speaking in Russian, and reflective writing exercises on a NELL blog about their progress as language learners. They also worked with a native Russian speaker who helped them with conversation skills and the Cyrillic alphabet as well as with understanding aspects of Russian culture. By the end of the meeting, even those participants who had been the most apprehensive about the prospect of learning Russian by this method had become enthusiastic language learners.

Each team also worked intensively on preparing a detailed and realistic plan of action to take back to campus. At the end of the meeting, each team gave a report on its plan and received feedback from facilitators and other participants.

Participants praised the NELL meeting for its effectiveness. Jane Bethune, chair of the department of modern and classical languages at Salve Regina University said the program “provided me with the best professional experience of my career. The interaction between the presenters and the teams has energized me so much that I want to get to work immediately on my courses.” Language faculty members were not the only ones to benefit. Billye Auclair, interim vice president for academic affairs at Saint Joseph College said she “gained valuable information for [her] own professional development, acquired a new appreciation for the faculty who teach foreign language, and learned more specifically how and why we should concentrate efforts on the teaching of a second language as a part of higher education.”

The end of the summer meeting marked the beginning of the ongoing Network that will collaborate through a NELL blog and several web conferences on a variety of topics. The ongoing eCommunity will provide participants the chance to communicate with one another and with NELL facilitators about their successes and the challenges they face as they implement their plans. In addition to participating in online activities, each institution also will host on its campus one of the NELL facilitators, who will provide on-site advice as teams continue to move forward with their plans.

Facilitators for the 2007–2009 Network are Jan Marston (program director), founding director of DULAP, Drake University; Mary Beth Barth, director of the Critical Languages Program, Hamilton College (NY); Marc Cadd, associate director of DULAP, Drake University; Clayton Mitchell, director of the Jane Evans Language Center, Drake University; Samuel H. “Pete” Smith, assistant vice president for academic affairs, University of Texas at Arlington and outside examiner for DULAP; and Neal Sobania, executive director of the Wang Center for International Education at Pacific Lutheran University (WA).

CIC plans to offer NELL for two more years. The application deadline is November 20, 2007, for the 2008–2009 Network, scheduled to begin with a four-day meeting at Pacific Lutheran University in July 2008. More information is available here or by contacting Sarah Stoycos, CIC program officer, at (202) 466-7230 or sstoycos@cic.nche.edu.