Computer Support Blog

Many entrepreneurs and innovators have tried to find ways to utilize social media to enhance the educational experience.  One such man is Michael Lucia, CEO and President of LanguageTwin, which is an online service that connects students from different countries so they can improve their conversational skills in foreign languages.  Lucia founded LanguageTwin because of his experiences studying abroad as a college student.  He found that despite his many years studying French at the college level, actual French conversation was still a struggle. “A lot of conversational exposure is needed for true proficiency,” Lucia told Rescuecom. With the rise of video conference technology, Lucia saw an opportunity to connect native speakers of different languages easily and use that connection in a classroom setting.

LanguageTwin connects students in university-level foreign language classes with other students who speak the language they are learning natively.  In concept, the service helps both students in each conversation.  An English-speaking student learning Spanish would spend time chatting with a Spanish-speaking student learning English.  The students are then able to practice their conversational skills in both languages. Lucia says this allows for more “organic conversations”, as opposed to the structured exercises provided by textbooks.  In theory, these conversations could also supplement or take the place of oral exams. Students need constant Internet connection for the service to work.  Networking support is essential for students to prevent dropped video calls and interrupted service.

Lucia told Rescuecom that he started the LanguageTwin service using a “twinning” model, which paired students from an American classroom with students from a foreign one.  Lucia says this model ran into trouble since assigning specific students to each other created unfair disadvantages, as certain students’ conversation partners were more engaged than others.  LanguageTwin then switched to what Lucia called a “global model”. This newer model is essentially a social network that authorized students can access to find conversation partners based on proficiency. In the new model, professors have profiles that can track all of their students’ data and service usage.  Lucia informed Rescuecom that the flexibility of ways to track students has been a popular feature.  Professors can require students to spend specific amounts of time on the service, track who their students are talking to, and even watch fully recorded conversations on demand to evaluate them.

Over one hundred universities currently use LanguageTwin.  The company only offers Spanish and English as native languages for now, but will expand into other romance languages in the near future.  If your school uses the service and you have trouble with getting it to work properly, call computer support.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman
CEO
david@rescuecom.com
1-315-882-1100

Filed under: Internet, technology, Uncategorized, video conference