Spring quarter update

First of all, we want to introduce and welcome our Research Assistant, Dean Matteson. Dean became part of the team with the help of an Exploratory Teaching Grant offered by the Chicago Center for Teaching. This quarter, Claudia and Juliano, with the help of Dean, have been researching possible softwares with which they will edit the VR materials.

With the RLL and the ETG teaching grants, Claudia and Juliano have brought two speakers to share their experience working with VR and language pedagogy. The talks were offered to UChicago language community: Dr. Nicole Mills, from Harvard University, and Dr. Jayoung Song, from Pennsylvania State, both have graciously shared great tips and insight about their experience on how to develop pedagogically-relevant materials using VR technology in the language classroom.

With funds from the CCIF, they have also purchased a few VR headsets, 360 cameras, and tripods that will be used both for the recording of materials, and in the classroom. As soon as the pandemic starts winding down, we will be ready to start recording more materials at a faster pace.