FRLA 8252 – Information Technology and Global Issues

The objective of this course is twofold: 1. to introduce students to recent advances in information technology insofar as they intersect with issues germane to globalization broadly conceived; 2. to introduce students to the French language skills and vocabulary necessary to understand and to discuss these advances, while improving their proficiency generally in the principal language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing). A bit more specifically, we will be concerned to highlight how recent developments concerning a number of IT-related phenomena (among them: data and reality mining, crowdsourcing, the increasing use of mobile devices, real-time data, artificial intelligence) inflect our understanding of global issues related to finance, management, marketing and localization, emerging markets, law and law enforcement, national security, public health, climate change, sustainability, education, international migrations, human rights, and other areas of interest. Through in-class discussions, readings, film viewings, and research projects, students will make progress in their ability to use French in order to navigate real-world situations (professional and otherwise) in which knowledge of these IT-related issues is necessary.

Over the length of the semester, the course will be divided into a number of modules, each two to three weeks long, in which a given subject will be explored. Within each module, students will be introduced to key concepts and expressions. They will also, and increasingly as they progress through the course, be asked to synthesize the main issues connecting various subjects. However, the course also aims to be a collaborative venture: students are given the freedom during roughly the final third of the semester to choose the subjects most of interest to them and their specializations. They will thus have the opportunity to hone the specific language skills most relevant to their own professional ambitions.

This course is intended for students whose proficiency-level in French is, per the ACTFL proficiency guidelines, intermediate-low to intermediate-mid. The course is therefore intended for students who have already completed two semesters of college-level French.