The Texas Language Technology Open Access Initiative (TLTOAI)

In the Fall of 2007 the Texas Language technology Center (now COERLL), in collaboration with Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services (LAITS), was awarded a three-year $540,000 FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education) grant to produce open access foreign language instructional resources. Open-access resources are digital scholarly works accessible online, free of charge. The TLTC open access initiative focused on the development, production, dissemination, and evaluation of six current TLTC multimedia resources: Aswaat Arabiyya, Alkitaab Textbook, Deutsch im Blick, Persian Online, Radio Arlecchino, and Tá Falado. UT scholars and TLTC technical staff will build on the model of instructional technology development successfully implemented in Français interactif, UT’s highly successful online first-year French curriculum. The development model rests on rigorous and ongoing formative evaluation, inclusion of students as evaluators and co-creators, and an emphasis on high production values and accessibility.