Grant will enable University of Richmond students and their counterparts in Spain to collaborate online in language learning

April 30, 2008

University of Richmond students studying Spanish will be able to learn the language from students in Spain while helping those students learn English, and the Internet makes it all possible.

Catherine Simpson, interim assistant director of intensive Spanish at the university, has received an Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Renewal Grant from the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) to create the curriculum of English-Spanish online instruction.

The grant will enable Simpson to travel to Spain and collaborate with professors there about the online technologies, such as blog sites and MySpace, to be utilized.

The online exchange will begin with pen-pal assignments between Richmond students and students at two schools in Spain-the University of Malaga and Pablo de Olavide University of Seville.

"Getting to know other students is one of the most rewarding aspects of studying abroad," Simpson said. "While this does not replace the experience of study abroad, if we can link our students virtually, through Internet communications platforms, we can create a better quality learning experience without even leaving the campus."

ACS is an organization comprised of 16 liberal arts colleges and universities that supports liberal arts research at member schools and promotes the benefits of liberal arts education.