March 13, 2020
The CLS is offering an online distance training workshop for language instructors on using Zoom, Canvas, and other online tools to teach their courses, as well as Zoom drop-in hours and. This one-hour workshop will cover specific strategies that can help you maintain an interactive learning environment in a distance course. We will discuss useful tools that allow language instructors to build activities that promote active learning in a student-centered classroom. The strategies that will be covered can be of benefit to all interactive seminar-style courses that require a high level of student engagement.
As you may know, Yale has announced that classes will be conducted through technology-based solutions after the spring break for the remainder of the semester. The Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning has sent out a message offering support in using online solutions, such as Canvas or Zoom, as an alternative to in-person class meetings.
Since the Center for Language Study has accumulated much experience in distance teaching through its work with the Shared Course Initiative (SCI) over the past eight years, we are happy to share our insights with other colleagues at Yale. The SCI is a program in which we have shared more than 20 languages for credit with Columbia and Cornell through videoconferencing and other distance technologies. While the SCI uses a classroom-based model, which has proven to be more effective for language learning, the underlying principles that make for an effective distance learning pedagogy are the same in either a classroom or distributed environment.
Please visit our upcoming events page to view details on the upcoming sessions or this form to register.
Our Teaching with Zoom page contains a practical checklist that can serve as a self-assessment of what you can currently accomplish with the Zoom videoconferencing softwareand it contains many helpful resources and links.
Also, you can also schedule a meeting directly with CLS staff who are providing one-to-one trainings via Zoom.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns:
