Teleste Educational, Ltd., has joined CSU in establishing a two-year partnership to experiment and develop a Virtual Language lab.

Tuomo Lehtovirta, president of Teleste Educational, L.L.C., Miami, Fla. said the opportunities are limitless.

“As a pioneer in educational software products throughout the world, this partnership will allow Teleste to expand its efforts in the U.S. The opportunities for both Teleste and CSU are boundless,” Lehtovirta said.

According to a press release from the CSU Chancellor?s office, up until now foreign language resources have only been available in individual college campuses through a network. This virtual language lab will provide students the capability of accessing resources and language instruction from campus, dorms, home or any location that can access the server.

This project will be developed through seven CSU campuses, including Sacramento State. During this process the campuses involved will receive upgrades to their facilities free of cost, including training of the laboratory staff and faculty members.

“CSU will design and manage the curriculum process for language instruction and resource sharing available to students on a seven-day, 24-hour basis,” said Ken Swisher, director of public affairs for the chancellor?s office.

Japanese and French will be the first languages to be implemented in the virtual interactive language laboratory.

“CSU Chico, Monterey Bay, Long Beach, and San Diego will offer Japanese, while Los Angeles, Dominguez Hills, and Sacramento will offer French,” Swisher said.

Sac State Professors Lorette Suter and Kevin Elstob will be the first to implement the Virtual Language lab into their curriculum.

“By Fall of 2001 we will have a French Civilization class taught on the three different campuses,” Elstob said. “One faculty member from each of the three campuses will teach one third, or one unit of the class. Students will meet one or two times a week, and the rest of the week will be online, watching a movie on French civilization, listening to an audio tape, or speaking with other members of the class through the computer.”

According to Elstob, the faculty will be responsible for having the materials ready for the students.

“It will be up to the faculty to have everything prepared ahead of time and up to the students to obtain the information needed at their own time,” Elstob said.

The Virtual Language lab is located on the second floor of Mariposa hall and will be inaugurated on Tuesday, Oct. 3.