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What does your computerized classroom look like to you?

Language Lab: Silly fun for crash test dummies, or were you hoping to get there faster than on foot?

What does your computerized classroom feel like?

Language lab: You can get there fast, but only if you know how to land, not crash.

LRC training animated-gifs

  1. This link gives you a nice overview list of the LRC animated gif’s for training.
    1. Chrome users need to install this first,  still can view get only a subset.
    2. Neither Chrome nor  Firefox offer a search-within like Internet Explorer.
  2. They are meant for display on the left lrc teacher station screen.
  3. whether you display them as student training material on the projector
  4. or display them as guidance for yourself
  5. Did you miss something?
    1. The animated gif’s cycle in an infinite loop. Just wait for the next round.
    2. If you want to restart the video now, press F5 or click the Refresh button image in your browser address bar.
    3. Or use one of the slower speed videos I made.
  6. I also made clickable versions that you can hand-browse (more control. More effort also).

Have I reserved the LRC? 10 safety nets for you, plus a bonus

    1. No need to use them all: The first one you notice suffices. But we hope 1 of the 10 will work for you. Starting (that is why it is in explained in How to book LRC resources – explained in one screenshot: “Book me!”versus “Leave me alone!”) with the tab: scheduling assistant” in your “meeting requestitself before you try to book the room: It tells you when the room is free (white or blank along the timeline). Don’t try to book the room when the room’s timeline is not blank and the hovering tool tip tells you “Busy”: It is futile. scheduling-assistant busy
    2. But if you do, there will be more alerts: Immediately after you send the meeting request, a so-called “toast” (think of a slice of bread jumping out of a toaster – depending on email client you are using for NINERMAIL in the lower or upper right of the screen) flashes briefly with the automatic response from the room attendant. The response has in the subject : “Accepted or Denied” (you will not get “Tentative” from the room like in the example – UPDATE: only faculty and staff used to receive such toasts, but with the next upgrade of NINERMAIL, students will also!):room attentendant response as toast
    3. Never mind if you miss the toast: it just notified you that the automatic response from the room attendant went into your inbox. You can see it on top there (here I unfolded it). image It tells you in the subject and in bold in the body whether your booking was accepted or denied. If you have questions about these messages, you can forward them with your comment like any other email (no point in responding though).room attendant auto response declined  This does NOT remove the appointment from your own NINERRMAIL calendar (makes sense if you think about it: You still have your appointment (exam etc.), just the room can not be part of it).
    4. If you miss that also, go to the LRC homepage and click on “Hours&Events” under the Quick links in the upper left (How to view ?) imageimage
    5. You do not even need to visit the LRC home page: you have privileged access to the the LRC hours end events calendar  from your NINERMAIL, if you subscribe to it there (shortcut: start @ #3 armed with this link:http://mail.uncc.edu/owa/calendar/LRCRoomCOED434@uncc.edu/Calendar/calendar.ics).
    6. You can do all this under guidance at the LRC reception desk: We try to have 1-3 name-tagged student assistants there at all times during LRC opening hours, 8 eyes see more than 2.
    7. One day after your booking, you will also be able to see your reservation (if successful!) on the lrc-coed433-reception-client-welcome-screen: .
    8. If in doubt, do all this well before your class takes place.
    9. Take a training: ITS supports NINERMAIL and CTL teaches Taming your inbox.
    10. Bonus: In the unfortunate event of  a “Denied” response to your booking request, if it is not just an AM/PM error or similar which you can easily correct, the response includes information on the prior reservation, organizer, and email address.
      1. Why not email  the colleague (click on the underlined name of the colleague that booked the LRC before you) from right here and see whether you both can rearrange? Remember: Sharing is caring. room attendant response denied prior booking
      2. There is a departmental initiative to  reschedule entire classes that might conflict over the use of the LRC. Talk to the departmental office well before the the prior term ends (i.e. before next term’s class schedules are finalized).
      3. Still confused? At this point, talk to LRC permanent staff who will go through above list with you. Please understand that the LRC staff cannot cancel other faculty’s bookings, we only extended the availability and bookability of the LRC which is readily available and easily bookable at many times during each term.

How a teacher can organize a student-controlled high-stakes assessment recording session using the Sanako in the LRC

  1. How:
    1. An initial central microphone and speaker test (animated step-by-step) is recommended. Clear the session afterwards.
    2. Recording: Have the student operate the Sanako recorder to individually record (like during a self-access assignment)
      1. For starters, teacher can display this narrated individual recordings with the Sanako Student Recorder training screencast, it auto-starts and auto-cycles):
      2. And/or explain:
        1. Red Record Button to record;
        2. Blue Stop button to stop recording
        3. Green Play Button to play their assignment for review (also use the recap button to jump back)
        4. Menu: “File / New”, if they want to redo the assignment.
        5. Button: call/envelope to call the teacher on the teacher station for help (an audio connection between student and teacher should pause  the recorder automatically)
    3. Submitting:
      1. Individually by students:
        1. Menu “File” / “Save” (opt to save as student track mp3), to save locally, once student is happy to submit.
        2. (recommended:) upload the save file to a Moodle single-file upload assignment. Requires the teacher to create a Moodle Single file upload assignment, with optional attached file first.
      2. From the Sanako tutor at the teacher station:
        1. For entire class (If you do not need the flexibility to have students end at different times). TBA
        2. Group-wise (varying (staggered) recording times):  TBA
  2. Pro’s:
    1. Less distraction from language learning by having to operate technology (editing audio rather then practicing L2) and more language-learning-specific features (sidetone, recap) than if using Audacity.
    2. Works with the Sanako Study 1200 teacher stations (e.g. automatic pause of recorder when remote connecting to student during monitoring of recording task).
  3. Con’s:
    1. noise interference with dozens of student speaking in a confined space simultaneously. Nobody wants to return to the language lab station of yore, i.e. in a cubicle. However, a teacher-controlled oral exam (sample video, step-by-step video),
      1. can play a soothing background sound to students over the headphones which insulates them from their neighbors (prevents both distraction and cheating);
      2. there is no room  for distracting unrelated chit-chat;
      3. there is no need for distracting conversation when  students do technical troubleshooting, during highly structured question/response exams.
    2. More user flexibility/control  is achieved by more individual distracting operation of computer technology, which always implies more opportunity for user error. To reduce (not eliminate!) the error ratio:
      1. Students
        1. have to have received the general digital audio lab introduction for students.
        2. have to double-check their recordings for quality before submitting.
      2. Teachers
        1. have to monitor students’ recording progress closely
          1. which the Sanako Study 1200 teacher station (link cannot replace hands-on training) greatly facilitates (provided Students use  the Sanako Student Recorder, as described above).
          2. however, even with a classroom management system like Sanako Study 1200, it is impossible to completely monitor a class size of students operating computers. Therefore teachers
        2. have to check the validity of submissions before students leave.
          1. If you use submission through Moodle, here are 2 tips how to do this quicker:
            1. how to quickly download their Moodle file submissions
          2. Whether you use submission through Moodle or collection through Sanako tutor:
            1. view end of this video for how to quickly check validity of all file submissions in a folder using Audacity
          3. are advised to have a make-up assessment plan not only for those students missing the exam, but also for those that miss to complete the computerized multimedia assessment correctly.

How a teacher can adapt a Sanako teacher-controlled class recording activity for individual student recordings

  1. Pedagogical need:
    1. A teacher wants her students to record a presentation,
    2. but allow the students to move around freely in their recording afterwards, when evaluating it, and submit the best out of 3 tries:
  2. Technical implementation:
    1. Using Sanako activity:model imitation of differing for multiple groups
      1. offers maximum control, least flexibility: students have to speak their presentation linearly
      2. if you anticipate presentations of considerably different lengths
        1. first try asking your students – might be useful to them anyway to realize if theirs turns out to be much shorter than others,
        2. if students are unsure about the length of their presentation,
          1. conduct the first recording with the entire class and
          2. have students note what time their recorder time counter is at when they finish, and send you the time as text via the button:envelope
          3. group your students (grouping step-by-step) into Sessions A-F by incrementing  time according to what the student icon bubble shows
        3. then differentiate class into as many groups as necessary (if <= the 6 “sessions”A-F  Sanako Study 1200 offers) end the recording at a different time for each group
      3. for each group (one or more up to 6),
        1. choose from dropdown activity:  model imitation recording
          1. and from dropdown: source: none) with more than one group at a time,
          2. and (optionally) for not more than one group at a time (suggest choosing the biggest group for that) from (dropdown: source: file )  the  background noise to play
        2. and after each group’s allocated time (+ buffer) is up,
        3. press button:end to end the recording
        4. after collection of the recordings from students is finished, you can
        5. press button:replay image, to let each student listen to her recording (linearly, without control), and
        6. press button:free image, to let  students freely move back and forth on the timeline)
        7. eventually, press button: clear, to be ready:
      4. for tries 2 and 3: repeat above steps.
    2. using Sanako activity: self access:
      1. provides
        1. the teacher some  control (none over this turning into more of an editing than coherent language practice exercise),
        2. and students more flexibility (hence requiring prior recording training for students);
      2. students individually
        1. record
        2. move around freely in the file
        3. replay
        4. record over prior footage and/or start completely over  (menu: File / new)
        5. press button:envelope to text message the teacher that they are finished and want their (final )  recording to be collected by the teacher
      3. teacher
        1. moves signaling students into a group  (grouping step-by-step) that is
          1. dedicated for collecting recordings (TBA:does this not empty their buffer?)
          2. and button:pc control: locked (= no further or accidental changes)
        2. once an appropriate  (compromise between finished students wanting to leave and teacher not having to collect each recording individually) number of students have been added to this group, presses
          1. button: end to collect and
          2. button: clear session to clear the button
        3. assesses the recordings in the folder that opens with audacity;
          1. in case of problems, moves students  back to the group dedicated to recording
          2. else lets students leave

How teachers find their Sanako materials – even from home

  1. The best way (from your office)  I described here and support, for lack of any other possibilities, by getting you the desktop shortcuts and Sanako student recorder.
  2. Other ways are supported by whatever home connection to network shares ITS supports:
    1. The myfiles portal: https://myfiles.uncc.edu
      1. how the sanako looks like in DriveS DVOL1  COAS  LCS  LRC  UNCC myfiles portal
      2. You can use the folders listed in here,
        1. except you have to translate “S:” into (1) “DVOL1”.
        2. Rest  stays the same (2).
      3. Cons’:
        1. Slower network
        2. You cannot easily save back after comment on your students audio or text (but give it a shot).
    2. VPN
      1. which I test and explain here in detail,
      2. Pro’s: it is a better experience
        1. instead of it  requiring you to do yet another path translation, you can simply click here;
        2. you can (batch) open and save files (maintaining ownership) like on your office PC (no extra upload and download operations required, and no need to manually route files to students)
      3. Con’s:  Slower network.

Automating language learning listening material creation with Google Translate text-to-speech: The technology

  1. A digital audio lab heavily depends on the availability of, but does not usually come with digital learning materials (and recent exceptions are exceptions for a reason)  Some digital audio materials that come with your textbook may be adaptable. “Rolling your own” has all kinds of advantages (allows for personalization, for both teachers to express themselves, and for students to learn), but can be a chore.
  2. Can the LRC find a workaround?  Here is one attempt: making Google translate (too often abused by students in its original interface) text-to-speech (unusable for learning material in its original interface since severely crippled) usable for digital audio learning material production, provided you have a source text in the target language. image
  3. GoogleTTS can serve as the gateway to better suiting Google Translate text-to-speech features to the needs of the LRC:
    1. imageGoogleTTS allows for arbitrary-length input text (it chunks it automatically).
    2. GoogleTTS produces intermediate local audio files which we can postprocess.
    3. Google Translate’s automatic language recognition remains a sore point: it is not reliable. Unlike Google Translate, GoogleTTS has no interface to set the language manually when the automatic recognition fails.
  4. Batch-download the files from Google Translate, using MS-PowerShell: <
    $global:folder = 'G:\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5'
    $filter = '*.mp3' # &lt;-- set this according to your requirements
    $global:destination = 'G:\conf\programs\GoogleTTS\mp3'
    $global:path
    $global:path1
    $currenttimeFunction MonitorAndMoveFile{
    $fsw = New-Object IO.FileSystemWatcher $folder, $filter -Property @{
    IncludeSubdirectories = $true # ja, brauch ich für googletts i&lt;-- set this according to your requirements
    NotifyFilter = [IO.NotifyFilters]'FileName, LastWrite'
    }
    $onCreated = Register-ObjectEvent $fsw Created -SourceIdentifier FileCreated -Action { # the even monitored is file created - to force recreation of files by googletts, you may have to clear watched folder of all mp3 &lt; 100kb first
    $global:path = $Event.SourceEventArgs.FullPath
    Write-Host $global:path -ForegroundColor Magenta # this works also
    $name = $Event.SourceEventArgs.Name
    $changeType = $Event.SourceEventArgs.ChangeType
    start-sleep -Seconds 2 # The OnCreated event is raised as soon as a file is created.
    if ($global:path -ne $global:path1) # it is a createdevent on a different file from last time - just in caseon oncreated not firing clear cut, but it seems to
    {
    $currenttime = Get-Date -Format yyyy-MM-dd-hhmmss
    Write-Host "attempt copy $global:path1 to $cuurrenttime" # try copying the past file
    # Copy-Item -Path $global:path1 -Destination "G:\conf\programs\GoogleTTS\mp3\$currenttime.mp3" -Force # that worked with the last generated file, wait: the last one is the one that remaisn behind, earlier ones get overwritten
    Copy-Item -LiteralPath $global:path1 -Destination "G:\conf\programs\GoogleTTS\mp3\$currenttime.mp3" -Force # that worked with the last generated file, wait: the last one is the one that remaisn behind, earlier ones get overwritten
    # use parameter -literalPath because files in the temp folder have usually [ and ] inside the name which acts as wildcards characters
    $global:path1 = $global:path
    }}
    while (1) {
    sleep -Milliseconds 100
    write-host $global:path # this works
    }}
    MonitorAndMoveFile
    #Unregister-Event -SourceIdentifier FileCreated
    
    
  5. Merge the downloaded files (wisely numbered sequentially):
  6. image
  7. Fix minor errors in your audio editor:
  8. image
  9. Done:
    1. Here I have a lot of questions for a speaking exam in ESL, and with a much better accent than my own.
    2. Nifty, plus output sounds even better for German than for English. Note, there is no attempt to parse sentences semantically. Some languages chunk better than others (I made some little improvements in this regard to the original program). Other common problems include numbers and in German I find myself, when listening, tending to look up once in a while and shake a high school students by the shoulders, asking him: “Do you actually understand what you are reading?!” Smile– which in my eyes is an indicator to the progress made in speech-synthesis.
    3. Other examples include French,
    4. Hindi,
    5. Italian,
    6. Spanish.
  10. So can the LRC relieve teachers from recording their cue files for the digital audio lab listening comprehension and exam? Within limitiations.