News Associate

The days of language labs may be limited, as Pomona could become the first college to transfer most of its language lab material to student’s dorm rooms through MP3 format. With the work of several students and the guidance of Language Lab Head, Professor Jurgen Froehlich, this will likely become reality by the end of the semester.

Last year, faced with the prospects of having to expand the labs Emeka Okereke ’00, noticed inefficiencies in the lab system. "I looked at the computers that we were using and saw that the machine was just a simple Pentium. The thing was just a rip-off," Okereke said. "Plus, there is just no way that they can keep the labs open 24 hours a day."

From that point, he along with several students including Damien Clark ’00, and Benjamin Kraines ’02, started plotting plans for a new system with Professor Froehlich. Despite some skepticism from OIT(Office of Informational Technology), Froehlich felt confident with the students taking control of the project.

"We have smart kids at Pomona, and that’s why I trust them," Froehlich said. "My role is to be the devil that makes them do it. I know what I want, and my job is to stay on top of things without getting involved in the nitty-gritty."

The group looked at several options for the system including putting the audio on the network, but decided that MP3 format would be the overall best alternative because of its familiarity to students. With the system, students will be able to download the language lessons from a website and play them with a basic MP3 player such as Winamp. Another advantage, according to Okereke, is that the MP3 format maximizes sound quality and while minimizing file space because it can distinguish between times when optimal sound quality is needed and times when recording on a low quality is sufficient. "With music this type of sound isn’t vital because you have a base familiarity with it," Okereke said. "But with languages, clarity is essential to distinguish between the words."

Throughout the next months, Clark and Kraines spent time compressing the sound files while Froehlich and Okereke worked on the more logistical side of the project. One of the first issues needing to be resolved was the copyright issue with the language company. Pomona’s purchase agreement allows for the copying and distribution of the materials within the Claremont Colleges but not outside of the campuses. This created a safety concern for the company, but Froehlich says that he and the students assured them that they could restrict access to Claremont College students through the college’s web pages. Froehlich is still checking into any legal issues that may impede the start-up and thinks that it may take time because technology is changing faster than the laws that govern technology.

According to Okereke, OIT had expressed some concern over network traffic with the system but now an agreement policy is in the works. The policy would let OIT place a limit on the amount of network traffic allotted to the language sites. In the worst-case scenario, it may tell a user that the site is busy.

One of the most unique aspects of this project is that almost all of the equipment going into the setup is free of charge including the web server. Only student labor fees and the sound compression program have significant costs.

Currently, the group is finishing up sound compression and the transferring of files to a website devoted to language labs. For the time being, students enrolled first semester Spanish can try out the program at http://www.pom-flrc.pomona.edu/spanish/MP3/SPAN12. By the end of the semester it plans to have Chinese, German, Russian and Spanish available for student use across the Claremont Colleges.

Patricia Clay ’03, who is enrolled in Spanish 22 is already enjoying the benefits of the new program. Clay works in the theater department, which prevented her from being able to get to the language lab during its hours. "It’s so nice having the labs on my computer," Clay said. "Before it would have been impossible to do the labs without having to skip work. Now I can do them on my own schedule when I have time."

By no means will this new system make the current language labs obsolete. Although the number of computers will be cut, there will still be an ample number available. "We are trying to make the best use of technology," Froehlich said. "There is no need for us to spend more money on computers because a lot of the students have them and they will be able to use those for the labs."

When completed, it is believed that it will be the first program of its kind in the nation. Okereke talked to a reporter for Rolling Stone who is researching web use at college campuses and he has not seen any programs of this sort. Going along with the spirit of the project, Okereke said that the group will be more than willing to help other schools get similar programs established which could lead to the possibility of resource sharing. "The value that this is going to have, there is just no denying it," Okereke said. "We are doing this to make profit, we are doing this as a complement to the current language programs. The students want it. The students are making it themselves. Let’s give it to them."