From the President of IALLT

Ute S. Lahaie

Gardner-Webb-University

 

As President of IALLT, it is my honor to welcome Dan Soneson as the new Managing Editor of the IALLT Journal. Dan assumes his new role after having served this past year as an Associate Editor of the IALLT Journal. He is the Director of the Language Center of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. A member of IALLT since 1999, Dan is a familiar face for many members, having given presentations and provided pre-conference workshops at our conferences since 2001. He is currently a member of MWALLT, one of IALLT’s regional groups.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lance Askildson for the time, energy and enthusiasm he has devoted as Managing Editor of the IALLT Journal from 2010 until 2011. He restructured the Journal and brought it back to a regular publication schedule, neither of which would have happened without his strong leadership. Lance will now serve as Associate Editor of the Journal. An active member of IALLT, Lance has worn several hats in our organization, and he is currently busy getting ready to host the CALICO with IALLT conference at Notre Dame University in June 2012. If you attend the conference, please thank him personally for his service to the organization.

It is going to be a busy summer for IALLT members everywhere. First, we will meet in June for the Summer Leadership Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, followed by the CALICO with IALLT conference and the launch of the IALLT Webinar series. And despite these many activities, summer is a good time to sit back and enjoy the articles and columns in this new edition of the journal. This edition of the journal features a wide array of articles that focus on online learning and the use of various web tools, which our readers are sure to find interesting. One article examines how the sociocultural theory influenced the development of a hybrid course. Another article examines the impact of different web 2.0 tools on learning difficult grammar concepts. A third article compares the use of electronic portfolios as assessment tool with traditional forms of assessment, while yet another study compares traditional collaborative student writing projects with wiki-based projects. Also of interest is an article that examines important features required for creating content modules for online language courses. These interesting articles are complemented by helpful columns. In her column, Judy Shoaf examines the latest copyright issues that need to be considered in the educational environment, while Jörg Waltje provides an in-depth review of the Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon in his column. This Spring 2012 issue reflects our new Managing Editor’s goal to provide a forum for language technology professionals to present the results of their efforts—research relating to technology in the service of teaching and learning languages, or experience in managing facilities which provide the support for language learning. I hope that you enjoy this edition.

In closing, I challenge you to contribute to the greater conversation within our profession, by either submitting to the fall edition of the journal or presenting at our forthcoming webinar series. As IALLT has a particular niche in providing special workshops for the design and the management of language learning centers, I encourage you to consider writing about faculty development, learning center remodeling, or language program assessment, three topics of perennial importance.

Happy readings!

Ute S. Lahaie, PhD
President of the International Association for Language Learning Technology