Language Lab 101: Sanako Lab 300 Basics
The Language Lab 101 workshop is an introduction to the Tanberg/Sanako Lab 300 system, the primary language lab interface of the World Studies Media Center.
Purpose
To introduce the primary functions of Sanako Lab 300 by touring the various components of the interface and by presenting demos of how these tools can easily be integrated in foreign language courses.
What is Sanako Lab 300?
Sanako Lab 300 is a powerful software-driven application that simulates a traditional language lab environment. It gies teachers the tools to make language instruction more dynamic and interactive through pairing, modeling, conferencing, screen-sharing, and other collaborative activities.
Foreign language students need to practice what they learn from the text and in class, and Sanako Lab 300 allows students to do precisely that. Teachers have powerful assessment tools at their fingertips and an array of media sources to showcase media content; audiocassettes, videotapes, digital media, web-based media, international DVDs, satellite television, even plug a digital camera in as an external source.
Sanako Lab 300 is a
surprisingly intuitive and easy to learn.
What is Sanako Media Assistant?
Sanako Media Assistant is the student-side application of Lab 300. It is a voice recorder and digital media player, but perhaps its most important function is to serve as the remote side of the main console. When Lab 300 is running, it is almost always imperative that Media Assistant run simultaneously even if its only running in the background. The reason is that Media Assistant communicates with the main console by sending and receiving electronic signlas, messages, and other commands from the main console to configure the lab.
Workshop topics:
- Getting started with the Lab 300 interface
- Navigation
- Communicating through the headsets
- Lab 300 functionality
- Making groups
- Workstation control
- Using program sources
- Simple pairing, modeling, assessing functions
- Sanako Media Assistant v6
Preparation:
This workshop requires no experience. Language instructors are strongly encouraged to learn about these instructional tools and resources. While the interface may appear to be complicated, it is actually very intuitive and comes with only a minimal learning curve. Once instructors understand the fundamentals of conducting language labs with Lab 300, they will be motivated to use this system more and more to achieve their own teaching goals.
Resources
Lab 300 User's Manual
The main interface
The main menu bar controls functionality across group boundaries, student pairing, phone conversation, and group conference activities.
The workstation control panel affects individual groups assigned by the instructor. Lab 300 allows for 5 groups to work within the environment simultaneously with total separation.
Screen shots courtesy of www.sanako.com
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