{"id":49,"date":"2017-10-03T17:13:55","date_gmt":"2017-10-03T17:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bruno-grazioli\/?page_id=49"},"modified":"2017-10-12T13:33:34","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T13:33:34","slug":"blended-learning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bruno-grazioli\/blended-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Blended Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is my firm belief that, whereas teaching takes place in the classroom, learning happens beyond class time<\/strong>. To this end, technology and web-based online learning help motivate today’s students and offer them the chance to stay engaged in the study of the language.\u00a0Investing in harmoniously incorporating the use of technology into the classroom, furthering the use of web-based tools and enhancing the way students access content-based material, positively impact on students\u2019 learning experience<\/strong>.\u00a0I’ve dedicated a good portion of the last few years to exploring blended-learning opportunities and\u00a0developing materials to be integrated in my elementary and intermediate Italian courses<\/strong><\/span>. Each project received ad-hoc funding and resulted in presentations at conferences or symposia: Bryn Mawr ’15, Five College Inc. ’16 and ’17,\u00a0NeMLA ’17 and ’18. (Click on titles to be redirected to external websites)<\/h4>\n
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Green Italian: Intermediate Conversation in the Botanic Garden.<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
The inspiration behind this project was threefold: to create a course largely based on audio materials (instead of written ones), to develop a practical learning tool for the students and to explore non-traditional, interdisciplinary ways to study Italian<\/strong>.<\/span><\/h5>\n

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Students may play audio tracks on their portable mobile devices (smartphones or tablets)\u00a0on the go<\/em>,\u00a0instead of using their laptop computers. By facilitating the way in which students prepare for class and by creating assignments that are aurally stimulating and visually appealing, the course seeks to elicit a more active and engaged participation from students.<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Since one of the aims was to make materials\u00a0easily accessible, I\u00a0optimized\u00a0the Green\u00a0Italian website\u00a0to be used\u00a0on a\u00a0 smartphone or a tablet. As such, students may \u201cpin\u201d the URL on the desktop of their\u00a0device so as\u00a0to access\u00a0the website\u00a0at the touch of a finger<\/em>.<\/h5>\n
Final Report including students’ evaluations and feedback.<\/a><\/h5>\n
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Interactive Readings on\u00a0Italian Culture for Intermediate Italian.<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
This 2-year project was developed\u00a0collaboratively\u00a0with two\u00a0colleagues from the Five-College consortium (M. Svaldi, Mount Holyoke C., and Maria Succi-Hempstead, Smith C.).\u00a0In this project,\u00a0we wanted to foster students\u2019 learning through authentic\u00a0and original materials in the target language, and by offering opportunities to actively practice the language beyond class time.<\/strong> The materials and website we created allow students to students can read, listen, write, watch, explore vocab, and review grammar, as well as offer ideas for class discussion.
\nFinal Report including students’ evaluations and feedback<\/a>.<\/h5>\n
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Blended Learning in Elementary Italian.<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
As part of this first collaborative blended-learning project (same team\u00a0as above), we created\u00a0new materials (approximately 200 new\u00a0items: dialogues, audios\u00a0of dialogues, grammar tutorials,\u00a0review\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>quizzes etc.<\/strong>) to be used\u00a0with our Elementary Italian\u00a0textbook (<\/strong><\/span>Avanti!<\/i>, McGraw-Hill)\u00a0<\/strong>in\u00a0order to provide students\u00a0with tailor-made opportunities to\u00a0review, practice and\u00a0consolidate the instruction they receive\u00a0in class<\/strong>.\u00a0We\u00a0specifically intended to tackle the three linguistic skills\u00a0our students mostly\u00a0need to work on: writing, listening and speaking.\u00a0<\/span>For each one\u00a0of these skills we develop\u00a0audio\/visual\u00a0material to\u00a0support and\u00a0guide students throughout the whole\u00a0learning process\u00a0outside of class.<\/span><\/h5>\n
Below is the video of the presentation on this project given\u00a0at the\u00a0Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference\u00a0<\/em>(Bryn Mawr College, 2015).<\/h5>\n