Dr. Jun Da

jda@mtsu.edu

Dr. Deborah Mistron

Foreign Languages

N/A

BDA 303A

New Technology

N/A

We are requesting funding in the amount of $20390.20 to purchase a network file server, a multimedia authoring workstation, as well as other necessary software and hardware accessories for the Media Center of Language Acquisition (MCLA). The proposed equipment will enable us to digitize and author audio/visual learning materials, and provide both web-based multimedia streaming and reliable and secure network file sharing. The proposed purchase is specifically designed to address three major problems in our Media Center: 1) With only 6 TV+VCR units for more than 1,650 (Fall 2000 enrollment) student users, there has never been enough audio/visual equipment to meet the needs of our students; 2) MCLA does not have the capability of duplicating and distributing digitized learning materials to students on the network; 3) with no server-client architecture in place, language placement tests have been conducted on individual workstations, which are both unreliable and insecure. With the proposed purchase, we will be able to solve the aforementioned problems by building up the infrastructure of a digital language laboratory. The proposed multimedia workstation will be used for digitizing, editing and authoring audio/visual learning materials. The file server in turn will be used for distributing those digital materials to students through both web-based video streaming and network file sharing. The file server will also be used for conducting language placement tests and backing up student data using the more reliable and secure server-client technology. Based on Fall 2000 student enrollment of foreign language courses, we expect that more than 3,300 students per year will benefit from the proposed equipment. All undergraduate students taking foreign language courses will have access to the instructional materials distributed through the network file server. About 15 graduate teaching assistants and 6 language lab student helpers will have direct shell access to the multimedia authoring workstation.