Language Labs when a school is already 1:1

[Sarah Hanawald]

I came from a 1:1 environment and my new school is 1:1 as well. What a
fun adventure it's been to learn how things work here! It's sort of
like people say about the UK and the US--two countries divided by a
common language. So many things I "knew" are different here--Final Site to Whipple Hill, Blackbaud to Senior Systems. . .

One thing that has come up is a strong desire for a language lab by the World Languages department chair. I was caught off-guard by the
request because I assumed that in the 1:1 environment, a lab of
computers and headsets for foreign language would be redundant. Then I
remembered what we say about assuming and thought I'd better do some
research. I looked at the school computing wiki.

I have a 10 question almost entirely multiple choice survey that I am hoping others will complete about language labs. I used a
Google docs form, so the results are published nearly instantly (the
link is on the bottom of the survey, but you do have to cut and paste).

Please share this with anyone you feel could contribute or might find the results helpful.

Thank you,

[Sarah Hanawald]

Just thought I'd post some comments I've received in the last couple of days on the survey in the open ended section.

We have studied this topic again and again over the past 10 years (since we went 1:1). When we renovated our Upper School about 5 years ago we even included a room that was to be designated for the language lab. Last year the US Language Department assigned it to a classroom teacher, deciding that after using the available software, web tools, and textbook supplemental materials that a lab was an unnecessary expense.

We've been able to replicate a number of lang lab features on the Tablets using tools like Audacity, Quia, Wimba (inside of Moodle), Mango, and even the Sanako Lite software. We never fully utilized the lab's features before 1:1, and now that we can do a lot of things outside of the lab, I'm not sure how quickly we'll move to upgrade it the next time the machines and software are ready for replacement.

A 1-to-1 program should not need any labs!!

We had a language lab until we went 1:1. We believed it was unnecessary/redundant and needed the extra classroom. We chose MacBooks in part because of the speaking/listening tools that lend themselves well to the language program.

We have recently moved to the Mac platform and are looking at DiLL as our new language lab option.

We are looking into Sony for a 6-7 lab. After a lot of research, we feel the best of all worlds in to have both mobile technology (like the iPad/Touch) and the dedicated lab. The mobile units are good, but limited. Their greatest feature is daily use. The lab offers 80% more options for language learning, but teachers can't get into the lab as often as we'd like due to number of courses offered.

We have a Sanako lab that has been around for quite some time. With 1:1 learning I see it as irrelevant, but a handful of our teachers continue to talk about how it important it is. I see the lab as having tremendous opportunity costs, particularly given that every student now has her own laptop. I see teachers designing curriculum for a lab that can only be used a couple of times per week by students-again, makes little sense to me when we could be building an immersive language learning model that is accessible 24/7 from student laptops. My hunch is that the lab will phase itself out slowly over the next 3-5 years as people come to appreciate laptop learning.


We go back and forth on this issue--I'm against a traditional lab but I am interested in some of the settings I've seen that are more modular flexible arrangements built around the 1:1 environment--like a cafe.