LINC Director

In Fall 2024, Carol Goss began her 27th year as Director of the Valpo Language and Intercultural Learning Center.

Director Goss is interested in the ongoing development of intercultural competence among students, faculty, and staff. She is licensed as a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory, or IDI. Within the classroom, she has explored the intersection of teaching French beginners with her personal interest in graphic design and fabric art/quilting. Ask about her students’ exploration of Les Sapeurs du Congo within a FREN-102 Intercultural Competency Lab, prompted by her visit to an exhibit of fabric portraitist Bisa Butler at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Interests

• Supporting and engaging Valpo students in a variety of contexts: Providing services and resources for enhanced peer-led learning support, crafting opportunities for authentic language exchange and cultural enrichment, and developing leaders by mentoring student tutors and facilitating student-led language exploration interest groups
• Exploring intercultural competence among students, faculty and staff through the use of the Intercultural Development Inventory, or IDI, an intercultural assessment tool newly available to campus in 2024
• Designing course components that introduce language students to intercultural competencies as well as the concept and practice of ambiguity tolerance, where practiced discomfort becomes an asset for learners
• Cultivating the learning center as a distinct physical space that fosters community-building and intercultural connections, while welcoming all students (not just language students!)
• Collaborating with faculty colleagues on targeted tutoring integration, department initiatives, creative projects, and student programming
• Introducing technology-based resources to department faculty, thereby supporting effective and innovative language learning and teaching; achieved through the LRC Colloquium series and informal idea-sharing with faculty members
• Enhancing in-class language instruction through layered learning; adopting pedagogy approaches and tools that facilitate effective presentation of course content outside the classroom
• Exploring how physical settings impacts language learning and community-building

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Presentations and Conference Coordination

• “Student-Led Language Exploration and Other Possibilities for Learning Beyond the Curriculum.” IALLT webinar series, International Association for Language Learning Technology, May 2024.
• “Crafting Communities of Learners: Students Leading Students in Language Exploration.” Biennial Conference of the International Association for Language Learning Technology, June 2023.
• “Presenting and Marking Up Google Slides During Live Class Sessions.” Co-presented as part of Portage High School’s Professional Development Series, January 2021.
• “Ideas Ripe for Adaptation: From Language Center to Your Classroom.” Half-day presentation for the annual workshop of the Northwest Indiana Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French, hosted by Valparaiso University, February 2020.
• “Ideas Ripe for Adaptation: From Language Center to Your Classroom.” Annual conference of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, November 2019.
• “Solving Mission Omission: Swapping a Statement for the Student Story.” Biennial Conference of the International Association for Language Learning Technology, June 2019.
• “Presenting French Pronunciation Principles to True Beginners.” Annual conference of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, November 2017.
• “The Times They are a Changin’: Language Center Roles in Changing Times” (panel). Biennial Conference of the International Association for Language Learning Technology, June 2017.
• “Little Fires Everywhere.” Co-presenter for Books and Coffee series, Valparaiso University, 2017.
• “Leadership Challenges and Opportunities for Today’s Language Centers” (panel). Annual conference of the Midwest Association for Language Learning Technology, October 2016.
• “Flipping Out: Moving Instruction Outside the Classroom to Complement Layered Learning.” Annual conference of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, November 2016.
• “First Year French: Integrating Instructional Videos and Creating a Layered Course Content Cycle” (co-presenter). Faculty workshop, North Central College, March 2016.
• “Valparaiso-Langres Classroom Exchange: Summer Campers Explore Small-Town France Through Google Earth.” Annual conference of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, November 2015.
• “Exploring Small-Town France Through Google Earth” Summer Smart, Summer Fun half-day workshop for elementary students, Valparaiso University, June 2015.
• “Self-authored Instructional YouTube Videos Integrated into Google-form Quizzes.” Teaching Fair of the Valparaiso Institute for Teaching and Learning, January 2015.
• “The First Ten Weeks: My Partial Flip Integrating Video Content into First Year French.” Annual conference of the Midwest Association for Language Learning Technology, November 2014.
• “Google Forms: A Commonplace Tool Used as a Creative Learning Platform.” – Annual conference of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, October 2014.
• “Small but Powerful: Two Tools to Use Today.” Annual workshop of the Northwest Indiana Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French, hosted by Valparaiso University, February 2014.
• “Building Connections Between Communities of Language Learners Through Conversation. ” Annual conference of the Midwest Association for Language Learning Technology, November 2013.
• “The Flipped Classroom” (co-presenter). Valparaiso Institute for Teaching and Learning Symposium on Innovative Pedagogy, November 2013
• “Moving Stories of Humanity: Using Short Film to Engage Students.” Annual conference of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, October 2013
• “Photo Story: A Low-Tech Story-Telling Tool.” Annual conference of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, November 2008.
• “A la Une: Using Actualités in French Class” (co-presenter). Annual conference of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, November 2008.
• “Warm-ups for the French Classroom: Using Proverbs and Pronunciation Principles.” Annual conference of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, November 2003.

• Organized, promoted and hosted the annual conference of the Midwest Association for Language Learning & Technology, Valparaiso University, 2015.
• Valparaiso University Women’s Conference: Inaugural conference Planning Committee Member (1998), Conference Coordinator (1999), Planning Committee Advisor (2000).