The University of Iowa is a leader in the field of foreign language instructional technology. The LMC has been an active participant in these projects, providing personnel as well as technical and program development support. Our most recent software development project for foreign language is PageBinder . PageBinder is a Java-based authoring system for creating and delivering instructional exercises via the Web. The system comprises five Java student applets, with an additional set of five associated authoring applets.
All applets have a built-in glossary feature for vocabulary lookup.
An accompanying course management system, which handles the registration and recordkeeping necessary for course-related learning, supplements the suite of tools. These applets provide a high level of interactivity with authentic foreign texts on the Web and with digital video documents, encoded in MPEG and delivered from an SGI WebForce MediaBase server administered by the Language Media Center. The Studio will be staffed by professionals from the Academic Technologies of Information Technology Services and from the Language Media Center. The Studio will provide access to specialized hardware and software for producing and testing media-based materials for language instruction as well as coaching and workshop opportunities for interested faculty and graduate students.