Printer Friendly
Language Lab
Juana Amelia Hernández Language Technology Center
"We live now in a world that is very closely connected . . . the best way for Americans to succeed is to be able to speak foreign languages," said Dr. Juana Amelia Hernández, the Professor Emerita of Hood College for whom the new Language Technology Center was named. Located in the Beneficial Hodson Library, the center offers state-of-the-art digital technology to students learning languages at Hood. Funded by a grant from the Beneficial-Hodson Trust, the center features 20 student workstations with multimedia computers and an instructor’s station with a server. The center also includes VCRs, tape recorders and videodisc players connected by a network.In this new facility, students work with audio materials in digital format using a multimedia software package called CAN-8, developed by Sounds Virtual, Inc. Students who use CAN-8 in their coursework can easily manipulate the audio material by clicking on it, record their voices onto the computer and complete various types of exercises with immediate feedback from the program.Instructors can then listen to students’ work from their offices and leave recorded comments when needed. CAN-8 is currently being phased into Hood’s language courses, with the eventual goal being the elimination of conventional audiotapes in favor of this more flexible medium.