In this webinar, Shannon Donnally Spasova will discuss the phenomenon of hybrid/blended courses and why the number of these courses is growing in language education. She will discuss some background about this format in the teaching of languages as well as figures from the Russian field. Then she will outline her own experience in transitioning the first- and second-year Russian courses at Michigan State University to be hybrid, hybridizing a literature in translation course, as well as the effort by Middlebury College Russian School to streamline the experience of learners by introducing some hybrid elements to the pre-immersion process. Finally, she will share some resources that are freely available for those who are interested in transitioning their courses to a blended format or enhancing their courses with technology. 

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Shannon Donnally Spasova is Assistant Professor of Russian and Technology Specialist at Michigan State University. Her background is in Slavic Languages and Literatures (University of Wisconsin) and Instructional Design (University of Massachusetts). She has also worked for the Middlebury School of Russian and is webinar coordinator and secretary of the International Association for Language Learning Technology (IALLT). She has worked on award-winning curriculum such as the RAILS project and the Real Life in Russia project. Her current interests include hybrid language teaching, incorporating choice into language learning, and using scenarios in language learning.