GERM 230 & 355 and CLCS 301
Taught by: Silke von der Emde
The Course
What is the course in which you use instructional technologies about? Tell us about its origin, goals and objectives.
I have used video conferencing in several courses. In our “History, Memory, and the Holocaust” course, video conferencing provided a means for the students from our class and a Jewish Studies course in Germany to work on projects together and present them to the classes in Germany and here at Vassar in a two-hour videoconference. In “Language, Power, and the Body” we collaborated with two other colleges here in the United States and a University class in Paderborn, Germany. With 5 or 6-point video conferences, we made it possible for our students to talk to and interview writers, producers, actors, and prominent researchers in Germany and the United States. I used video conferencing in an intermediate language class when we did a unit on pop culture and our language fellow contacted one of his professors in Germany, a prominent scholar on German pop culture who agreed to give a multi-media lecture via videoconference. Students in 5th semester language class were able to listen to a live lecture by one of the prominent scholars on rock singer Nina Hagen and were able to ask him questions across the ocean. And lastly, Maria Höhn and I used a video conference to teach one of the workshops for alumnai on the occasion of Cappy’s inauguration in 2006. I was on sabbatical in Germany and couldn’t have participated if I hadn’t been able to present my points and join the workshop participants on the big screen in the videoconferencing room.