Six different language instructors from across the country will be talking about the impact of different digital tools and practices on their research and on students' learning. They will address such innovative practices as intertextual computation, digital and collaborative storytelling, multimedia journeys, corpus development, and social reading. Sessions are listed below and more details are available here. 

Register here. 

Terri Nelson (California State University) will share results from student testing of Paris Occupé, a presenter-created role-playing game set in Nazi-occupied Paris. 

 

Results show student progress in linguistic production, complex reasoning and empathy.  In the game, students take on fictional identities to learn about Nazi-occupied Paris. The combination of historical information learned through the game, as well as more traditional course materials (fiction and nonfiction in a variety of media) plus the personal, emotional engagement with their RPG character, helps students engage in higher level critical thinking skills and express more nuanced emotional, moral and philosophical stances in French while also developing a more comprehensive and realistic understanding of the complex time period. 

 

This presentation will demonstrate the game design features underlying the content delivery and linguistic scaffolding.