I use Jabber in both my online and face-to-face courses to meet a student learning outcome targeting the ability to carryout basic, intermediate, or advanced (based on course level) conversations in Spanish. Students are assigned a partner with whom they complete specified oral practice exercises. The integration of Jabber allows my busy students to complete their oral practice exercises in a virtual place (not bound to a lab or library) at a mutually agreed upon time. The conversations are recorded and I can review the conversations for assessment and feedback.
There are many reasons I like Jabber. First, I like Jabber because it is supported by the university and there is a person I can call for assistance (Terry Wirkus). I also enjoy Jabber because it is reliable, server controlled, and recorded for future review. Most importantly, I like Jabber because it includes the social part of learning a language. That is, there is another person actively receiving your communication and interpreting your message, your body language, your reaction, etc., making the experience more meaningful. Jabber allows for the back-and-forth communication to happen in real time.
For more information about Jabber, review the "Desktop Video Conferencing" section of this website or email Terry Wirkus.
Submitted by Jorge Aguilar-Sanchez, Modern Languages
