Regular Features

SWALLT Online is the newsletter for you, the SWALLT member. What would you like to see in your newsletter?. Some suggestions for features include:

• A featured lab. We're all curious about what others do. Here's a chance to showcase your lab and your projects.
• A guest article. Would you like to see articles by second language acquisition experts who use technology? or by expert technologists who develop applications for language learners?
• A training forum/handout bank. Are you a trainer? Would you be willing to share the handouts you've created for applications that many of us use? (such as Dreamweaver, WebCT, Photoshop, Flash, video or sound editors, wordprocessors, etc.?) These could be downloadable, or simply links to pages that you've already put on the web
• Software review. Would you like to let us know about some new software that you like (or not!)?
• A forum on the status of the profession/Commentary. Our jobs change every day. We wear many hats and do many activities, some very difficult and challenging, some as banal as handing out tapes, often on the same day, within the same hour! Many of us have had our jobs enhanced by the growing importance of technology in language learning. We have more prestige, people need us. Others of us have had the opposite occur, and have been pushed out or had their job status decreased as technology becomes more and more an element of pedagogy. Alternatively, many of us who are teachers have spent incredible amounts of time developing software or lesson plans using technology only to have their administrations ignore or deny the importance of their work. How can we ensure that our important work is recognized and compensated? What has been your experience?
• Send us your suggestions!