The document summarizes Fabrizio Fornara's presentation at the MLA 2016 conference on his experiences as an interdisciplinary graduate student. It discusses how he has gained expertise in instructional design, technology, and language teaching through his academic background and jobs. This interdisciplinary experience has prepared him for careers in higher education like faculty positions combining fields or alternative academic roles involving instructional design, technology, or administration. The presentation provides examples of job advertisements requiring interdisciplinary backgrounds and skills.

1. THE GRADUATE STUDENT CAUCUS OF THE MODERN LANGUAGES
GRAD EXPERIENCES: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
MLA 2016 – Austin, Texas – January 9, 2016
1
Fabrizio Fornara
Florida State University
Boost Your Chances to Get Hired:
The Interdisciplinary Expertise

2. 2
Educational Background

3. 3
Academic Experience

4. 4
Academic Experience (cont.)
Language Faculty Advisor (IES Abroad):
• Taught undergraduate-level Spanish courses;
• Served as Spanish language faculty coordinator;
• Advised students;
• Contributed to the development of the Spanish
language curriculum.

5. 5
The field of instructional design and technology
encompasses the analysis of learning and
performance problems, and the design,
development, implementation, evaluation and
management of instructional and noninstructional
processes and resources intended to improve
learning and performance in a variety of settings,
particularly educational institutions and the
workplace (Reiser, 2001).
Instructional Design & Technology

6. 6
Instructional Designers (ID) draw up the specifications of a
course, after analyzing the training needs, define the learning
scope and objectives and decide on the format, as well as on
the assessment method.
Subject Matter Experts (SME) communicate their knowledge,
offer an outline of the subjects that should be covered,
define the resources and check the accuracy of the material
provided by the ID team, but they are usually not the ones
creating a course (Pappas, February 26, 2013).
Instructional Design & Technology (cont.)

7. Interdisciplinary Knowledge
7
Knowledge that spans the disciplines and
interdisciplinary fields and crosses the
space between the academy and society
at large (Frodeman, 2010).

8. Disciplines
8
Universities: Colleges and Departments
Disciplinary knowledge – Formal
accreditation
Disciplinary labor market
(Weingart, 2010)

9. Disciplines (cont.)
9
Emergence of inter- and transdisciplinary
structures that would replace traditional
disciplines (Jacobs, 2014).
Growing number of specialties:
New recombinations
New interdisciplinary research
fields

10. Interdisciplinarity
10
Primary drivers of interdisciplinarity:
• The inherent complexity of nature and society;
• The desire to explore problems and questions
that are not confined to a single discipline;
• The need to solve societal problems;
• The power of new technologies.
(National Academy of Science, 2004, in Thompson Klein, 2010)

11. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
11
Organizations: The Computer Assisted Language
Instruction Consortium (CALICO), EuroCALL,
IAALT, APACALL, WorldCALL, etc.
Journals: CALICO Journal, Language Learning and
Technology, CALL Journal, ReCALL, System, IAALT
Journal, etc.

12. Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Students
12
Disciplinary and interdisciplinary
Intellectual communities
Research paths Identities
(Graybill & Shandas, 2010)

13. 13
Putting it into Practice

14. 14
Courses taught:
• ITA 1120 – Elementary Italian 1
• ITA 1121 – Elementary Italian 2
• ITA 2220 – Reading and Conversation
• SPN 1120 – Elementary Spanish 1
• SPN 1121 – Elementary Spanish 2
• SPN 2220 – Intermediate Spanish 1
• FOL 3930 – Italian for Spanish Speakers 1 and 2
Teaching

15. 15
• Promoting L2 Interpersonal Written Communication Using
WhatsApp. (MLA 2016)
• Factors Influencing Second Language Student Production on
Twitter. (AECT 2015)
• Micro-input: Effects of an Instructor Model on L2 Student
Practice on Twitter. (CALICO 2015)
• Exploring the Intercomprehension Approach: The Case of a
Multilevel Italian Course. (AAIS 2015)
• Pull your Students to the Target Language: Facebook for
Language Learning. (NeMLA 2014)
Conference Presentations

16. 16
• Intercomprehension and Plurilingual Education
(Online, forthcoming)
• Social Media for Active Learning (MOOC, 2014)
• Italian for Spanish Speakers (Face-to-face, FSU,
2012)
• Advanced Spanish for Liberal Arts (Face-to-face,
IES Abroad, 2010)
Design and Development

17. 17
As an interdisciplinary Ph.D. student, you have an extra
challenge on the job market because you are “not as
instantly appealing as candidates whose Ph.D.’s are actually
in those fields” (Kelsky, June 16, 2014).
When you are still in grad school, however, you can build an
academic record that places you firmly in your disciplinary
field. At the same time, you can apply the principles and
methodologies of your discipline to a second discipline and
become the ideal candidate for an interdisciplinary position.
Job Market

18. 18
Assistant Professor in Technology & Second Language Acquisition
The Department of Modern Languages […] invites applications for a
tenure-track Assistant Professor of Second Language Acquisition (SLA)
with a specialization in technology in SLA […]. The applicant should have
additional expertise in at least one of the languages taught in the
department and have native or near-native competency in that language.
Requirements include: a Ph.D. or equivalent in Second Language
Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, or related field, with a particular focus on
the use of technology in SLA. The successful candidate will have expertise
in technology-enhanced language pedagogy, as well as experience with
technology-enhanced curriculum development, materials, and
assessments.
Job Search: Faculty

19. 19
Assistant Professor of Educational Technology
The School of Education […] invites applications for a tenure track faculty
position in Educational Technology at the rank of Assistant Professor […].
Faculty in the School of Education seek a dynamic, innovative, and
enthusiastic colleague who brings strong research and teaching expertise
in educational technology […].
The successful candidate will join a collegial team of leading educational
technology educators and researchers in the Center for Technology in […].
Job Search: Faculty (cont.)

20. 20
The experience and the knowledge gained in graduate
school can be excellent preparation for a variety of
occupations in the university sector. […] There is a whole
array of alternative academic positions in Higher Education,
known sometimes as “alt-academic” or “para-academic”
careers: Researchers, administrators, librarians, senior
managers, learning technologists, policy-makers, grant-
writers, grant-administrators, fundraisers, and others
(Kennedy, 2014).
(The Grad Caucus Chronicle, Issue #19)
Job Search: Alt-Academic

21. 21
Instructional Designer
The Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT) […] is seeking
candidates for the Instructional Designer (full-time, 12
month) position. This position plays a key role in […]
University’s efforts to provide consultation in pedagogy,
instructional design, and course development to University
faculty and teaching assistants. These areas of consultation
are typically related to courses, modules, and whole
curriculum activities for traditional (face-to-face), online, and
hybrid course projects.
Job Search: Alt-Academic (cont.)

22. ff11@my.fsu.edu @ffornara
MLA 2016 – Austin, Texas – January 8, 2016 22
Fabrizio Fornara
Florida State University
Good Luck!