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MOOssiggang, one of the world's first German-language MOOs, is radically transforming the very concept of language learning itself at Vassar College. The name is a pun on the word Müßiggang, which means something akin ot leisure, relaxation and idleness, and which is intended to capture the MOO's dimension of play. In MOOssiggang students have the opportunity to use German to engage in serious conversations about literature and culture by producing and analyzing their own virtual German-language culture and by working with other language learners or native speakers on a daily basis. The development of MOOssiggang was motivated by two pedagogical goals: 1) to provide a solution to the often vexing range of student proficiencies in Intermediate German, a common problem in small language programs that often leave some students underchallenged and others striving to keep up; 2) to introduce intellectually rich content at an earlier stage in the language learning process and thereby redefine what happens in the foreign language, liberal arts classroom as more than mere "acquisition," "skill development," or even "proficiency." Ultimately, MOOs provide language learners with an effective and even, at times, playful way to study foreign languages. At the same time, they also offer the field of foreign language study a model for the innovative yet practical integration of technology into the classroom&emdash;a development that points towards an exciting future for foreign language study in our increasingly global world. Additional
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MOOssiggang pages are maintained by Jeffrey Schneider and Silke von der Emde -- (C) Copyright 2001 Comments to JeSchneider@vassar.edu or vonderemde@vassar.edu [Revised 05 May 2001] |
