An innovative virtual classroom
One of the most effective ways to learn new EU languages and cultures is to directly communicate with students from other EU countries. The Students Across Europe Language Network (SAELN) is an innovative multimodal virtual classroom environment where students can learn German, French, Spanish and English. This trans-European classroom utilises conventional teaching and learning techniques and novel multimedia and information technology resources. Students across Europe interact and communicate with video-conferencing, email, and telephone conversations so as to enhance their spoken language skills. In this way, an added advantage to utilising SAELN is that students simultaneously learn a new language and develop new information technology skills. Another goal of the SAELN project was to create innovative multimedia resources that surpass conventional Internet material. SAELN's novel multimedia language-learning resources combine video with sound and text, and CD-ROMs so as to develop interactivity. All this facilitates a rich learning environment on a local area network that benefits student learning and interactivity. SAELN also provides a multimedia fileserver that stores multimedia resources for more courses from other education providers. It is important to note another advantage of the SAELN environment, which is that its delivery media utilises standard established protocols. In essence, SAELN's innovative multimedia learning environment could benefit European students' language and information technology abilities.