Computer Class : kind of like Sex Ed

I suppose learning about computers is a bit like sexual education : you can
take classes in it but people also learn from heresay, trial and error and empirical research.   

TICE is an ancronym for Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication pour l’Éducation although frankly it sounds like one of those Anglo-baby names (Brandon, Kevin, Teece…) the French are fond of giving their children. The term roughly covers any use of information technology in the classroom, although this can include demonstrating irregular verbs using Powerpoint, or setting students off on a Webquest on the Internet, or even just downloading themed clipart.  The nearest acronym I’ve seen in English is CALL (or Computer Assisted Language Learning)   

Yesterday, our group had a day of TICE training.  Since our levels are somewhat mixed and we were sitting in pairs, we were in the perfect position to do some peer-teaching (I showed the person sitting to my right what the right-click on the mouse is used for).  Some of the teachers had extensive computer experience, others were newbies, and a few were in-between.   

My desk partner  wants to find audio files on the web to help students work on phonology and prononciation.  While the high school she teaches in has lots of computers and machines, she doesn’t feel all that comfortable with the technology and I could tell she was having a hard time getting her bearings between  audio editing software (like Audacity),  audio players, and audio formats (MP3 versus WAV).  I’m afraid she was just a bit dazed at the end of the day.

Since so much of the time yesterday was spent on technical consideration, we didn’t really have time to discuss questions I think we need to ask ourselves before starting a CALL project  :

1) What is the return on investment ? Is the time spent creating, finding, customizing, presenting, formatting etc.  electronic content (a Powerpoint slide show, an audio file, a video captured from the Net) worth the effort ?  Did I just spend three hours doing a sound montage and have the students tear through it in 2 minutes ?  If so, kill the project immediately.

2) Does the electronic aid have added value or could you do the same thing just as easily with paper, chalkboard or a box of Cuisinaire rods ?  We saw an exercise in class where students had to open up a Flash file, listen to  an audio description of a person, and match parts of the face (beard, noses, eyes) with a blank face.  The same exercise might have been done in pairwork with one student reading the description to the other, for example, and the second drawing in the parts of the face. 

3) Can you afford it ? Not just in terms of budget, but in terms of time and student attention.   How long is spent getting the machinery (video projector, laptop, language lab monitors) set up and how long is spent actually doing something ?   Is the learner autonomy worth the risk of losing students who aren’t familiar with a screen interface, for example ?  What happens when the activity doesn’t work ? Does having a Plan B mean twice the amount of preparation ?

Just to play around with some of these tools, I created a little audio file with Audacity.
I’ve used the software already, so it  took me about  15 minutes from idea, to finding the audio samples, to editing the three sounds together.  (Right click with your mouse on this link to download the file here. ).  I think the audio file could be used to get students to do some storytelling or even illustrate a grammar point ?  I’d love it if readers would say how they would exploit it in class.