This week we're getting ready for commencement and celebrating the work of our students as they take their next steps. There will be a few receptions and gatherings, hope to catch up with as many of you as possible.
In this weeks' newsletter, I thought I'd leave you with some thinking around learning spaces and how we can use them differently, some cinema and cultural exploration, an amazing animation from Russia, and a confused cabby.
We are working to support more online learning courses and looking forward to filming projects over the summer, let us know if you need support.
There are still spaces at summer workshops on Digital Humanities and Teaching as Research, and as we approach the new semester we will hold sessions in the Global Languages & Cultures Room to support your courses (more to follow).
Please let me know if you would like to include any events or upcoming projects in this newsletter, look forward to hearing from you.
I would also invite feedback, do you find this newsletter useful? Would you like to see more content on a particular subject? Please let us know.
Filming dialogues for Arabic Online, launching next semester.
Links and Stories
As part of ongoing research into the use of Virtual Reality in Language Learning, I stumbled on this interesting article from 2014 called The use of virtual reality for language investigation and learning which looks at ways we can use gestures to enhance verbal memory. (library login required).
Again in VR/XR, this Merge cube is fast gaining notoriety, it's a neat way to access haptic and augmented features which are useful in terms of learning, I think we'll try and buy one of these and hope that you can help explore the possibilities.
I enjoyed this article on Cities as Learning Platforms and it got me thinking about Pittsburgh and the ways it supports learning through the different groups and organizations, but not only the libraries and museums, but the many social networks, communities of practice, and collaborative groups. As a newcomer I can see how learning permeates the city, it's a part of the structure and systems.
Fascinating report about a Portland-based elementary school and their use of a playspace for language learning. "The play area has also been furnished with bilingual books and posters, math problems, a puppet theater, and toys and games that encourage the use of fine motor skills." This is part of a growing trend of non-traditional spaces for language learning and points the way to more hands-on, project-based, active learning strategies. In a university context that might be maker spaces, hybrid digital teaching rooms, and playful approaches to learning.
On Screen
Some of you may have seen Marc Cousins The Story of Film: An Odyssey but might not be familiar with his Story of Children and Film which is available on Kanopy. This beautiful documentary explores the work of directors across the world and how they've tackled the themes of childhood, a treat.
This incredible, amazing, and frenetic Russian animation looks at ways to draw a human, the English Language version is here. Warning, it doesn't lack energy, with fast cuts and powerful images. It's got me thinking I'd love to run an ML course on animation...
Please drop us a line if you would like to include a link or let us know about an upcoming event. Thank you for reading and please share and forward this newsletter to those who might find it useful.
Ending on a bit of light relief as this New York cabby grabbles with the complexity of the French number system.