A Single Netbook Makes All the Difference at UC Berkley Language Lab

If you think that one netbook can’t make a difference read on to learn why you’re dead wrong. Three netbooks, one for each section of the USC Berkley Spanish and Portuguese language lab, dug their way into the must have category of language lab instructor Juan Caballero.

The University of Berkley like many school’s in US has, over the past few years, experienced budget cuts. Netbook’s with their incredibly low cost have swooped into save the day in a department that has already shelled out the big bucks (pre-recession) for projectors & AV equipment in each classroom.  Where the budget seemed to run out was providing a computer to run all of this fancy equipment.

Before the budget cuts, a major facilities upgrade initiative put very nice projectors and speakers into every classroom of the building that our language classes are in, but none of the language departments have dedicated teaching laptops.

Before these netbook’s were generously provided by Toshiba to streamline the learning process Calballero would have to print out class material and xerox it on to transparency paper and wheel a 40 year old over head projector into the classroom. A shocking action considering there is a projector worth several thousand dollars uselessly hanging on the ceiling.

Toshiba’s netbooks filled in a gap to take advantage of what’s already paid for in these next-generation textbooks and the equipment that has already been purchased.  What is interesting about these three netbooks, is that Caballero wasn’t able to raise the funds within the department and the netbook’s they are currently using are on loan from Toshiba hoping to prove that a single $300 machine can make HUGE difference in the quality of learning in the classroom.  The hope is that if the netbooks prove their worth in the Spanish and Portuguese department that it won’t take long for other departments to follow suit.

So how are single netbook’s making a difference in the classroom?

• The students make power point presentation for the classroom and present on various topics in Spanish or Portugese using the projector as a visual aid
• Class materials are show rather then printed out or shown on an over head projector
• Make full use of online and next generation textbooks which often include audio and video files
• Transcribing oral presentations and then facilitating class discussions regarding grammar
• If you want to see exactly how this comes together Caballero has shot a video demonstrating how he uses his Toshiba netbook.

Want to learn more? We’ve got another article “Educational Case Study: 3 Netbooks Make Their Way to UC Berkeley”

View the original article here