Italonline.net - Online Italian Course

This is a quick reference page to ITAL 1225 and what you should expect from the course.

Website and other resources for course: There are three websites that you will have to go to in order to complete the weekly activities assigned by your instructor. You know the main website already:

• http://1225.italonline.net  
• Desire2Learn for the discussion board and quizzes
• the Online workbook and lab manual at Quia (see link below).
• http://italonline.ning.com
  

Textbook:

The required textbook for this course is Avanti! Beginning Italian, Janice M. Aski, The Ohio State University and Diane Musumeci, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

ISBN: 0073386243
Copyright year: 2010

Along with the textbook students are required to purchase the book keys for the online workbook and laboratory manual. The book keys grant access to the Quia.com website which is where the students will complete all of their workbook and lab manual activities. The keys can be purchased with the textbook or separately online at: http://books.quia.com/books.


Course Credit: ITAL 1225 is a five-credit hour general education course. Therefore it will count for 5 hours of foreign language general education credit.

Hours per week that you should spend on Italian: Since this is a 5 hour course you will be expected to devote a full 10-12 hours per week on completing the assignments and studying for this course. Active participation is the only form of participation in this course.

 
Nota Bene: ITAL 1225 Online offers students the chance to schedule their coursework around other activites but students must still complete daily homework assignments and quizzes. This course also allows students to work weeks in advance.

Learning Italian over the Internet: Each week students will be exposed to Italian with a variety of exercises focusing on listening, speaking and comprehension skills. These activities include:

weekly quizzes: covering vocabulary, grammar, listening comprehension

weekly dictations: students will listen to audio Online and write out exactly what they hear

weekly recitations: students will create mp3 files of themselve reciting text in Italian

audio responses: students interact with each other by commenting on the weekly audio recitations

weekly grammar quizzes: students will take a short exam at the end of each week testing their mastery of Italian. 

Technical requirements for this course: The most important thing students will need is a dependable computer. Here are the minimum requirements:

an internet connection, preferable a high-speed connection for the audio components of the course.

a microphone for the weekly recitations

computer speakers for the audio components

operating system of Windows 2000 or higher for PCs

operating system of OS 9 or OS X for Macs

Audacity for creating mp3s 

Student interaction with the instructor: Students will receive daily emails from the instructor as well as feedback on the assignments throughout the week. Instructor will also be available for Online chatting through Skype.