Equipment And Services

Language learning services at the Freedman Center offers technologies that target different learning styles and language compentencies, ensuring that learners enrolled in language courses retain and use their language skills long after their language course is over, and that self-learners have the resources needed to meet their individual learning goals. Our equipment includes computers dedicated to language learning, a sound room for creating voice recordings, scanners, video cameras, voice recorders, and multimedia editing computers. For more detailed information about the equipment available at the Freedman Center, visit our main equipment page.

Language Learning Stations

Many of our 11 computers dedicated to language learning are equipped with:

• Webcams and teleconferencing software such as Skype. Teleconferencing is a great way to improve your listening, speaking, and intercultural communication skills.
• Instant Messaging software such as Yahoo! Messenger. Instant messaging in a foreign language can help you improve your reading, writing, and intercultural communication skills.
• Individual and group film viewing stations. Nearly all of our language computers feature international DVD players and region-free VCR players capable of showing films from all over the world. Learners can watch the films alone, or in collaborative groups of up to four. Watching foreign films is an ideal way to improve listening skills and cultural understanding.
• Audio recording programs, such as Audacity. Recording your own voice and listening to it will help you to focus on and improve your accent and intonation. Recordings spaced out over a number of weeks will enable you to assess your progress over time.
• Microsoft Office with multilingual editing capabilities. The Multilingual Language Packs installed with Microsoft Office allow you to edit your papers and presentations in 37 different languages, including foreign language spell check, dictionary, and thesaurus.

In addition, the Online Language Learning Center (OLLC) is accessable from all of the language learning computers.

Pimsleur Audio Language Program

Would you like to learn a foreign language on your own? We offer Pimsleur audio language learning programs for many foreign languages.

Sound Room

The Freedman Center's sound room provides a quiet space for up to four people to record interviews and group discussions. The recordings can be the basis of a Podcast, or simply saved to a CD and given to the language instructor for evaluation. (Instructors: for more information about Podcasts and ideas for language learners, visit our faculty training resources page.)

Video Editing Stations

The Freedman Center features four PC-based video editing stations. Using our equipment, you can download video directly from your video camera, and digitize VCR and mini-DV tapes -- as long as they are not copyright protected. You can create DVDs or web-ready content from your digitized video using our editing software. Foreign language instructors and learners use the video editing stations to edit interviews with native speakers of languages other than English, create films, and develop instructional materials.

Scanning Stations

Our scanning stations can be used for scanning in pictures, postcards, slides, and poster-sized images. Scanning print materials can help foreign language learners to create language learning portfolios as they collect items of interest to them (e.g., scanning a train ticket and map of Paris and describing a trip taken there) and prepare visuals for oral presentations.

Audio And Video Equipment

The Freedman Center loans digital cameras, video cameras, audio recorders, webcams and more to the Case community of enrolled students, staff, and faculty. For more information about the equipment available, visit the Freedman Center's main equipment page.

The International News Commons

Although not technically a part of the Freedman Center...we love it anyway! The International News Commons (INC) provides 24 hour Scola news broadcasts and access to a number of international newspapers in a casual setting featuring couches, tables, and vending machines. The relaxed atmosphere of the INC also makes it an ideal meeting place for conducting language exchanges. Instructors are free to assign students to watch the Scola news either during or outside of class time. To find out more about the INC, visit the Kelvin Smith Library's International News Commons webpage.

Consultation Services

Faculty in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures are encouraged to contact the Language Learning Manager for assistance in using the Freedman Center resources and for help in integrating instructional technologies in their classrooms.