¿Tecnologia en la enseñanza? Traditionally, the humanities have been slower to adapt technological advancements to their needs. Four years ago, Spanish, French, and Italian instructors questioned whether they could fully incorporate technology in their curriculum. The answer then seemed to be "no." They viewed technology as an unlikely partner, in part because infrastructure was unavailable to support it, and in part because few people were aware of the ways that multimedia could enhance the learning experience.

La technologie dans l'enseignement? But the issue kept coming up, and over time a devoted few began to persuade others to take a chance. Professors in the department began scheduling time to use the four multimedia classrooms available to them, and after a while, it became harder to find one of those classrooms empty.

La tecnologia nell'aula?

Today, the answer to the question of using technology in the classroom is a resounding "yes" from the department, no matter in which language it's spoken.

PowerPoint presentations regularly replace handwritten notations scribbled on a chalkboard during lectures. Italian pop music plays softly throughout a classroom, courtesy of a ThinkPad's compact disc drive, as students review verb tenses.

In October 1999, Romance Languages moved into a stateof-the-art classroom building, East (now Greene) Hall. As the first Wake Forest building constructed with the latest in multimedia equipment in every classroom, it showcases the equipment that the University has been installing in various classrooms across campus in recent years. Classrooms include DVD players, audio equipment, video document presenters, videocassette recorders, and Internet connections. The building also features a screening room, and the department's language lab was built to its own specifications.

Bakhit Kourman, the department's academic computing specialist and director of the language lab, says that the view in the department is changing from one of technology as a tool to technology as an environment or way of life. One Spanish professor is writing an interactive digital book. Another professor receives Italian videos regularly that are transferred from European to American movie formats using the technology available in Greene Hall. Also, the department uses many STARS, or Student Technology AdvisoRS, to experiment with and apply technology in the department.

Candelas Gala, professor and chair of Romance languages, says her classes are more lively and interactive because of the multimedia presentations she has developed. "You can make the language contextual, creating the atmosphere at an airport or marketplace," she says. Such situations are more realistic and help bring the language and culture of a region to life for students. The students also tend to spend more class time interacting with their peers and their professor because they no longer frantically have to take notes during class course materials also are posted online for them to access later as needed.

"It is a very powerful interactive tool," Gala says of the technological advances, yet it is one that never is used to replace the professor. It is used for enrichment.

"When I first started teaching, I was focused on the literary text and every now and then I would show [students] art," Gala says. Now, she can digitize an audio recording of herself reading a poem, play it for students, project the words onto a screen in the classroom, and then direct students to information about the author, artwork related to the poem, or any other reference material. Gala doesn't have to spend time photocopying poems and other handouts, searching for a painting in a book, and bringing it all to class. It's already on her computer. Students don't have to leave their desks to get a thorough view of the language's culture and literature.

Web-enhanced language labs also help transport students to faraway places. French students use their laptop computers to read their assignment during the lab and then link to external Web sites to complete it. In one particular exercise, they discuss with their partners in French where they would like to travel, which activities they might pursue while on the trip, and what they would buy from a French boutique for the excursion. The students can link onto an actual boutique's home page and do a little shopping in the process.

Kendall Tarte, an assistant professor of French, has a Web site that offers access to course information, assignments, and links to numerous external Web sites-from the Cannes Film Festival to the Eiffel Tower. In one exercise, students are asked to go to Tarte's Web site, select a restaurant, read about it, and critique it by answering certain questions. Should they need help with translations, an online French-English dictionary is available.

Technology also is helping to drive a new endeavor in the department-the creation of a certificate program in translation, interpreting, and localization. "This is something that is so wide open at the undergraduate level," says Olgierda Furmanek, an assistant professor in Spanish, adding that Wake Forest would be among the first universities in the United States to offer such a program to undergraduates.

This past spring, Furmanek taught a translation and interpreting course as a pilot for the certificate program, and it met with great success. Computers and technology were used extensively, from students practicing simultaneous interpreting in a sound booth with headphones to learning how to subtitle and dub. Students were able to access databanks of foreign language glossaries in fields such as medicine, law, or religion. Those learning the art of interpreting into foreign languages could digitally record their own voices on their laptops and compare it with an interpreter's recording, then correct themselves accordingly. Those wanting to work for businesses would be able to learn the difference in dialects between countries and learn how to make a product linguistically and culturally appropriate to an area by working with software translation programs. 

-AMY ANDREWS