Training & Design Project Highlights
American University Experience (AUx) Course Redesign, 2018-19
AUx is a full-year hybrid course designed for students transitioning into their first year of college and is required for all incoming first-year students at American University. Academic year 2018-19 saw a major redesign of the second course in the sequence. I worked with the Dean of Undergraduate Education, the AUx Leadership team, and a council of eight faculty members to revamp the curriculum. I guided the council in selection of course topics and materials and provided advice on the alignment of course materials, activities, and assessments. I also built and edited the online environment for the course in Blackboard and continue to provide technical support for the course as it runs in real time. I am proud to have helped design a course that reaches all incoming first-year students at AU and has had a significant impact on student satisfaction and retention rates.
AUx is a full-year hybrid course designed for students transitioning into their first year of college and is required for all incoming first-year students at American University. Academic year 2018-19 saw a major redesign of the second course in the sequence. I worked with the Dean of Undergraduate Education, the AUx Leadership team, and a council of eight faculty members to revamp the curriculum. I guided the council in selection of course topics and materials and provided advice on the alignment of course materials, activities, and assessments. I also built and edited the online environment for the course in Blackboard and continue to provide technical support for the course as it runs in real time. I am proud to have helped design a course that reaches all incoming first-year students at AU and has had a significant impact on student satisfaction and retention rates.
HRSA Ideaspring Innovation Accelerator Program, 2017
For this project, I worked in a group of three to use design thinking to improve our Bureau's Electronic Individual Development Plan form and process. We conducted face-to-face interviews to identify areas for process improvement and developed a plan for improvement. With this project, I helped to promote and improve a process that helped staff set and achieve short- and long-term professional development goals.
Foreign Language Program Evaluation at the University of Southern California, 2014-2017
At USC, I managed the transition of the basic foreign language programs to a proficiency-oriented and standards-based framework and designed and implemented a new system for assessing student learning. I started by working with teams of faculty to design learning outcomes for each basic language program based on national standards for language learning. I shared instructional materials for outcomes design with faculty and provided consultation on the outcome drafts. I also worked closely with faculty to develop assessment plans for each outcome. I arranged and proctored proficiency tests for randomly selected students across languages, and designed a system for collecting and storing this outcome data. Throughout the course of this project, I also collaborated with faculty members from other universities to design and organize professional development workshops for USC language faculty.
At USC, I managed the transition of the basic foreign language programs to a proficiency-oriented and standards-based framework and designed and implemented a new system for assessing student learning. I started by working with teams of faculty to design learning outcomes for each basic language program based on national standards for language learning. I shared instructional materials for outcomes design with faculty and provided consultation on the outcome drafts. I also worked closely with faculty to develop assessment plans for each outcome. I arranged and proctored proficiency tests for randomly selected students across languages, and designed a system for collecting and storing this outcome data. Throughout the course of this project, I also collaborated with faculty members from other universities to design and organize professional development workshops for USC language faculty.
Pronunciation Instruction Modules, 2012-2014
For my dissertation at Penn State, I designed a set of training modules for pronunciation instruction. These modules were designed specifically for elementary- and intermediate-level German learners using best practices in pronunciation instruction gathered from research in Applied Linguistics. Each module targeted a different aspect of German pronunciation that is difficult for most American English speakers and took up only 10 minutes of class time for two weeks. Each module began with awareness-raising listening exercises and progressed through supported speaking exercises all the way up to practicing pronunciation in free speech. These modules were implemented in four German 001 and German 004 classrooms at Penn State. Data show that these training modules had a significant effect on overall comprehensibility for the elementary-level German learners.
For my dissertation at Penn State, I designed a set of training modules for pronunciation instruction. These modules were designed specifically for elementary- and intermediate-level German learners using best practices in pronunciation instruction gathered from research in Applied Linguistics. Each module targeted a different aspect of German pronunciation that is difficult for most American English speakers and took up only 10 minutes of class time for two weeks. Each module began with awareness-raising listening exercises and progressed through supported speaking exercises all the way up to practicing pronunciation in free speech. These modules were implemented in four German 001 and German 004 classrooms at Penn State. Data show that these training modules had a significant effect on overall comprehensibility for the elementary-level German learners.
Professional Publications
- Roccamo, A. (2015). Teaching pronunciation in just ten minutes a day: A method for pronunciation instruction in first-semester German language classrooms. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 48(1).
- Roccamo, A. (2014). Effective pronunciation instruction in basic language classrooms: A modular approach. In. J. Levis & K. LeVelle (Eds.). Proceedings of the 5th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference. Ames, IA: Iowa State University.
Conference Presentations
- "Putting Student Engagement into Practice in Online Courses." With Solange Garnier-Fox, Daniella Mascarenhas, and Kim Westemeier. Ann Ferren Conference on Teaching, Research, and Learning. American University, 2020.
- "Inclusive and Equitable Digital Pedagogy." With Symphony Bruce, Joan Hua, and Hannah Park. Washington Research Library Consortium Annual Meeting, University of the District of Columbia, 2019.
- "Online instruction & inclusivity: Creating an equitable learning environment." With Julie Sara Boyd, Symphony Bruce, Joan Hua, and Hannah Park. Ann Ferren Conference on Teaching, Research, and Learning. American University, 2019.
- “Assessing assessment: Am I measuring what I meant to?” With Gayle Vierma and Deborah Gill. American Association of Teachers of Spanish & Portuguese Annual Conference. Miami, FL, 2016.
- “The effects of peer feedback on L2 German pronunciation gains.” Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference 22. University of Iceland, 2016.
- "Bridging the gap: Preparing students to meet proficiency outcomes by adapting classroom assessments." Southwest Conference on Language Teaching. Honolulu, HI, 2016.
- "Including faculty opinions on language teaching and learning in administrative learning outcomes assessment plans." Consortium on Useful Assessment in Languages and Humanities Education. Georgetown University, 2015.
- "Classroom oral and writing achievement testing as a pathway to OPI/WPT." With Gayle Vierma and Deborah Gill. American Association of Teachers of Spanish & Portuguese. Denver, CO, 2015.
- "Teaching German pronunciation." With Ines Martin and Richard Page. Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association. Penn State University, 2014.
- “What to target in second language German pronunciation instruction: Findings from the classroom.” Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching. University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014.
- “The effects of instruction on the realization of German vowels in L2 speakers of German.” With Patricia Schempp. Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference 20. Purdue University, 2014.
- "Learning pronunciation in just ten minutes a day: Adapting pronunciation training to a four-skills German classroom." Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching. Iowa State University, 2013.
- "Effective pronunciation instruction in beginner and intermediate language classrooms." Round Table Teaching Skills Workshop, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching. Iowa State University, 2013.
- "Gauging the effectiveness of pronunciation training in a first-semester German classroom." New Sounds 2013: Seventh International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech. Concordia University, 2013.
- "Training our students to listen better: Perceptual awareness training as part of a pronunciation intervention in German language classrooms." Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference 19. University at Buffalo (SUNY), 2013.
- "The gender of English loanwords in Pennsylvania German: Comparing corpora." With Richard Page. Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference 17. University of Texas- Austin, 2011.
- "Effects of motivation on perception & production of front-rounded vowels by beginning learners of German." Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference 16. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2010.