Internship in the area of computational linguistics
"Self generated exercises" 
(Ref. ELDIT/EXER)

Interactive contact with the learning material as well as the provision of immediate feedback is the main advantage of e-learning in comparison to classical learning environments. However, former developments gave the impression that researchers, educators and developers had to choose either quality OR quantity in exercise development. As a solution to this dilemma we propose the automatic generation of exercises by reusing existing language data and providing high-quality feedback with the help of NLP-tools and structured language resources. In ELDIT, a web based language learning system for the German and Italian languages (www.eurac.edu/eldit), the main content of the system is described and stored according to a very detailed data model. In addition, different tools included provide language information collected externally. Reusing part of these highly structured data, we developed a prototype, which succeeded in providing quantity and quality in automatic exercise generation and correction. This prototype should be improved and enlarged; also an intuitive and didactically meaningful interface must be developed. The main purpose of this internship is to provide a new and extended prototype for automatic exercise generation.

Requirements:

• strong familiarity with XML/HTML
• good confidence with Java programming language
• Windows/Linux/Unix
• basic practical knowledge of databases and SQL

Additional desired skills:

• knowledge of computational linguistics
  Starting date: March-April 2007

Duration: 6 months

Please send your application (including a letter of motivation and your CV) to the following address citing the reference:

European Academy Bolzano
Institute for Specialised Communication and Multilingualism
Viale Druso 1, I – 39100 Bolzano
communication.multilingualism@eurac.edu

Please add the following phrase to you CV otherwise your application can not be considered:
'I consent to the use of my personal data in accordance with the provisions of decree 196/2003.'