1 Computing Arts: Digital Resources for Research in the Humanities 2001 Conference University of Sydney 26th-28th September 2001 On-line Support for Learning French at University Alice Caffarel & Christine Develotte Department of French Studies SEAMELS The University of Sydney This paper reports on the design, use and evaluation of on-line resources for the teaching and learning of French at Beginners and Advanced levels at the University of Sydney. The first part of this paper will provide a description of the WebCT component of the French Introductory course and a preliminary evaluation of its educational potential. The second part will focus on how Advanced students of French make use of the internet for research, and on how they evaluate this new mode of extracting information. 1. Pilot Project 1: Introductory French on-line The Introductory French site has been created to complement the face to face component of the course which has been reduced from four to three tutorial hours. The aim is to develop a powerful multi-modal on- line resource for accelerating and enhancing the learning of French by beginners students. The site enables students to have ongoing access to the French language and cultural resources. This virtual learning environment aims to complement and expand the classroom learning environment and serve to bridge the gap between formal and natural language acquisition. The site is also a means of researching the benefits of web designed language courses, and for the first pilot project a questionnaire was incorporated into the site to obtain students’ feedback. This project is part of a Faculty-wide project, Arts On-line, which is funded by the University's 2000 Teaching Improvement Funding scheme. The WebCT framework has been chosen as the development tool to support web-designed courses at the University of Sydney. It is an on-line course management system linked to the University’s Student Database (FlexSIS) to allow authentication and student management.