Collaboration in Asian Studies: Language Instruction --
An Assessment at Semester's End

by Rita Kipp, Director of Asian Studies, Kenyon College
29 December 1999

This is a report on the grant received through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation program to promote collaborative learning between Denison University and Kenyon College. The East Asian Studies Department at Denison and the Asian Studies Program at Kenyon College were the recipients of this grant that funded two experimental classes, one in Advanced Chinese based on literature, and in Beginning Japanese, aimed at conversational skills.

I will include below my comments the reports written by the instructors in those two classes, Xinda Lian at Denison and Hideo Tomita at Kenyon. I will simply give an overview, highlighting the main accomplishments and what we learned from this effort.

While there were considerable difficulties and limitations, the instructors in these courses are optimistic about the future of teaching and learning via these technologies. Professor Tomita, explaining the various technologies he used in his course, concluded:

When all of these are skillfully combined we can possibly accomplish something that we could never imagine 10 years ago. With the current system anyone
in the world can talk to a native Japanese instructor, have verbal drill sessions with the visuals including still images and motion pictures,
take a quiz and get the result on the same day via fax. The student can also utilize the class web pages in redoing quizzes, doing listening
comprehension homework, and preparing for the class tomorrow, referring to the lesson plan there.

Technical difficulties plagued Mr. Tomita's class in the first half of the semester, and I think most of these were due to faulty network connections rather than hardware problems. He outlines some other technical issues – the extra work of faxing; the time delays of zooming to get close to student faces; the way the camera, lighting, and microphones limit the instructor's mobility. These issues of restricted mobility are most acute for a conversational based classroom with several students where the teacher moves around a lot and sometimes requires students to do role-play and conversational pairing, but would hardly effect classes based on lectures, or an independent study with only a few students.

Mr. Lian's class, in contrast, where there were only two students at each end, hardly seemed aware of the cameras after awhile. He rather liked the way the cameras functioned as "vigilant monitors," forcing students to stay alert and on task the entire class.

Mr. Tomita's effective use of the web for transmitting class materials should be a model for all future users of this equipment. Mr. Lian missed the handy overhead projector that substitutes for the traditional blackboard in these classrooms, and that Mr. Tomita was able to put to such good use.

While we envisioned some face-to-face meetings or social gatherings of the classes to personalize the experience, and while these did happen to a limited extent, it seems that the time and logistics of travel – given the hectic schedules we all keep – make these more difficult to effect than our planning sessions supposed.

We managed to come in under budget on this project. My records suggest that we will have $438.51 left, a sum I propose to put toward expenses incurred in another Asian Studies collaborative learning project next semester – Gender and Family in South Asia, taught by Meena Khandelwal from Denison. I expect six Denison students and 4-5 Kenyon students in that course,

End-of-the-semester Report: Japanese class via video conferencing
Hideo Tomita, Kenyon College
12/14/99

Course title: Japanese 11-12 (Intensive Modern Elementary Japanese)
Instructor: Hideo Tomita
ATs:: Kerry Bowler (Kenyon), Hiroko Hojo (Denison)
Class hours: 8:10-9:00 a.m., M-F + 4 hours of review sessions/week by student assistants (called AT=Apprentice Teacher)
Classroom: Ascension 25 at Kenyon (Sender of the class)
Language Resource Center at Denison (Receiver of the class)
Number of students: 11 (Kenyon) + 2 (Denison)

This reports (1) class activities and devices used in this project, (2) difficulties we experienced, (3) benefits we found, and (4) other things to note, followed by acknowledgments.

(1) Class activities and devices

The elementary Japanese class at Kenyon College was broadcasted for two students at Denison University through a video conferencing system. The class met five times a week in the morning with the additional four hours of weekly review sessions by the apprentice teacher of each institution in the evening. Class activities involved ordinary grammar lectures in English and language drills in Japanese. The setting of the equipment was exactly the same at both Kenyon and Denison. There were two cameras in the room--one in the back captured the instructor and one in front captured students. There were three monitors. At Kenyon, the one in the back showed Denison students to the instructor. Of the two placed side by side in front of the classroom, the left one showed the Denison students to the Kenyon students. The right one, which could be called the materials monitor, was to show materials on videos, O.P., and web pages as well as the instructor himself.

The instructor often used an O.P. that could show images on plain paper as well as on transparency. He's found this devise very handy. The use of plain paper virtually eliminated worry about often scarce stock of transparency. Its resolution was also good enough to show characters with the zoom lense though the colors in small size often did not reflect faithfully.

Occasionally the instructor also played videos on the target culture. The Denison students found the quality of the sound and images rather good. The instructor also used web pages frequently. He's found it convenient to provide homework and quizzes on the web. He regularly uploaded make-up quizzes and other materials often accompanied by images as well as sound files for listening comprehension. The lesson plan also was available on the web. This arrangement was very useful because students at Denison as well as Kenyon could download materials for their practice at their own convenience. It also eliminated the time and cost of faxing hard copy to Denison students. The web pages is available at: http://mll.kenyon.edu/~Japanese/J11. Due to the technical difficulties we experienced, we could not access the web pages toward the end of the semester, and the syllabus lacks plans for that period.). The fax machine and the US mail were used to send quizzes back and forth. The instructor sometimes needed to send materials to Denison students right before the 8:10 morning class. The fax machine was especially indispensable on such occasions.

(2) Difficulties experienced

During the first several weeks we often had technical difficulties and the broadcast to Denison had to be canceled more than several times. During the latter half of the semester, however, we did not have any major problems and the system has been very reliable. The instructor is grateful to the technical staff, Ron Howard at Denison and Larry Tucker at Kenyon for this fine maintenance.

The instructor has found this class very peculiar as a language class. This type of elementary language class often involves many verbal drills that require the instructor to call on one student to another at a fairly quick tempo. With the current setting the cameras are not fast enough to follow such quick and unpredictable movement of the instructor. Due to this technical limitation, the instructor was forced to stand up in front of the class and give drills as well as lecture most of the time.

It was also hard for the instructor to read the face of the students over the monitor. It was possible to zoom up their face but it would cost extra minutes to manipulate the device. This situation of rather impersonal contact was somewhat predicted at the beginning of this experimental class and we had planned a couple of opportunities for physical meeting among Denison students and the Kenyon Japanese class. Scheduling was rather difficult, however, and we managed to have only one such opportunity.

We had a Japanese sushi party in November at Kenyon College. From Denison University, about 10 students attended the party, including the 2 students of Japanese, the AT and other students interested in Japanese. The instructor had a chance to talk to the two Denison students in face for the first time at the party, which was very good. The party was attended about 30 other Kenyon students and created an opportunity of informal gathering for students of shared interests from both colleges.

(3) Benefits

The observation here is from the standpoint of the instructor. We have to wait for students' course evaluation for their comments. The best benefit the instructor has found is that we now know the advantages and disadvantages of the technology in a lot clearer manner than before.

At this moment, we can safely say that the current video conferencing system can provide fine sound and images that are good enough for language classes. There is very little disturbing delay in the transmission of the data (when no quick movement is involved). The system is also versatile, allowing us to incorporate materials on video, O.P., and web pages. When all of these are skillfully combined we can possibly accomplish something that we could never imagine 10 years ago. With the current system anyone in the world can talk to a native Japanese instructor, have verbal drill sessions with the visuals including still images and motion pictures, take a quiz and get the result on the same day via fax. The student can also utilize the class web pages in redoing quizzes, doing listening comprehension homework, and preparing for the class tomorrow, referring to the lesson plan there.

The disadvantages are mostly related to technical ones that will be overcome eventually in the future. The camera is not yet fast enough to follow quick movement, implying that the system would be better suited to small-size classes with less movement, e.g., advanced levels in the case of language class. A quicker and easier way to monitor details about the student's activities would be also helpful in reading face and administering tests.


(4) Some Notes

This section briefly discusses the cost needed to broadcast a language class via video conferencing. Some consideration is given to cost other than the equipment cost and its maintenance, with the current setting as an example.

The class size is relevant to the discussion to think about the cost needed to support students at Denison. With the current experiment, the number of students is imbalance with two at Denison and 11 at Kenyon. In this situation, the benefit for Kenyon students, at least the immediate benefit, is not obvious. Kenyon students in a regular classroom would have more time for interactive practice, and receive more attention from the instructor, which could produce a better learning result at the end. This is a possible cost that is not easy to calculate. Another possible cost is related to administrative work required of the instructor. It is often necessary to give many quizzes in language classes. We had 39 quizzes for the past semester. It is not negligible work for the instructor to fax those quizzes back and forth. In addition, the instructor needs to upload handouts such as visual materials on the web and maintain the pages so that not only Kenyon students/AT but also those at Denison can have easy access to them.

The above discussion illustrates possible hidden costs required to run similar programs in the future. It is important to consider future settings carefully so that the benefit is evenly provided to all parties. The current setting might be beneficial to two Denison students of Japanese and their university. The Kenyon side would need a little patience and generosity for future utilization of the system that can be exciting. The instructor himself feel privileged to use the system and enjoyed the fine cooperation of the students and new technological experience.


Acknowledgments:

The technical arrangement of this project has been made available by the conjoined effort of Ron Howard (Denison University), Larry Tucker (Kenyon College) and Scott Siddall (Director of Remote Collaboration Project). I greatly appreciate their help and support. Technical questions regarding the system itself should be addressed to them.

This experiment has been conducted under the co-directorship of Rita Kipp at Kenyon College and Barry Keenan at Denison University. I would like to express my gratitude for their full support during the past semester.

Report on Chinese 361: Chinese Literary Texts
Instructor: Xinda Lian, Denison University

Materials used: Classical Chinese poetry, selections from The Analects, Mencius, and Chuang Tzu. Selections from Lu Xun's Short Stories. Selections from contemporary Chinese literature, including short stories of the avant-garde school and works of the "Misty" poetic school. Secondary sources (literary criticism in English).

I.

For the first time, perhaps, these students had a chance to read authentic Chinese literary and philosophical texts in the original (some of the early texts in classical Chinese were adapted to fit the students' level). Reading and discussing the "real stuff" not only allowed students to test their language abilities and to deepen their understanding of the language, but more importantly, also encouraged them to use the language as a study/research tool in their academic pursuit.

Both students from Kenyon and Denison had taken, or taking, courses in Chinese religion and Chinese thought. Now, their direct contact with some of the original classical texts in this class made available to them many things that they had not got from the English translation. The
excitement they experienced was evident in class when the students tried to recollect, to compare, to make associations, and to find new meanings in the texts of which they had certain pre-knowledge.

For instance, one of the students made tremendous contribution to the class by analyzing the texts in the context of Chinese cultural tradition, of which she was not unfamiliar. In doing so, she made various subjects of her interest relevant to each other. Her knowledge of Chinese language became a powerful tool which helped her expand her outlook. Another student was doing her senior research on the status of Chinese women. She found that some of the contemporary literary works discussed in class had direct link with her research topic and she incorporated what she learned from this class into her thesis. Her first-hand experience with real Chinese sources will surely have a strong impact on her future research.

In the past few years, advanced students of Chinese usually took independent/directed studies with their instructors and continued their reading of the highly controlled language materials which emphasized grammar and language structures and were very different from live materials one finds in literature. This course cannot, and was not meant to, replace the all-important high-level language courses, but it offers an alternative for students who want to apply their knowledge of the language to their study of other subjects. Students have more incentive to learn the language and they learn it better when they find that they can do something "real" with the language.

II.

In our class, we were not really bothered by the inconvenience of not being able to sit in the same classroom. Actually, if the class size is small, this inevitable deficiency of distance teaching can turn out to be one of its merits: The cameras and screens work as vigilant monitors. Students have to look at each other and at their teacher--on the screen, of course--attentively from beginning to end. They should always be alert and responsive, ready to speak out and answer questions.

The only inconvenience I experienced was the difficulty of writing on the board. Using a camera to follow the instructor's movements, even with the help of pre-set programming, can be very distracting and time-consuming. Projector can be a solution. But maybe the more sophisticated electronic writing board is better, since a lot of off-hand writing will be done in class. There was such a writing board in Denison's video room. But, unfortunately, some student from another class broke a cable at the beginning of the semester and we did not even have the chance to try it. If I had had that machine on my side in class, a lot more could have been done.

Another thing I wish I could have done is to incorporate the computing technology (especially the web) into the course. The controlling station has the capability of doing so, but since I was not familiar with how it worked and was too overwhelmed with the daily duties, I did not try. I definitely will try it if I can offer the course again.