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Languages & Culture Studies Film Collection: Pivot Table and Labeling System

2011/04/27 Leave a comment

We analyzed the film collection for diversity and media, by setting up a pivot table (the underlying spreadsheet is getting updated currently, but is current enough for an overview), snapshot:

film-collection-pivot

You can make your own analysis at S:\plagwitz\labconfig\spreadsheets\film-collection\film-collection.xlsx. (temporary location).  The sheet also contains the new labeling system to facilitate locating videos:

IN

From

To

Language

AR

0001

0400

Arabic

CH

0401

1400

Chinese

EN

1401

2400

English

FA

2401

2500

Farsi

FR

2501

3900

French

GR

3901

5300

German

IT

5301

5700

Italian

JP

5701

6700

Japanese

KO

6701

6900

Korean

PL

6901

7000

Polish

PT

7001

7200

Portuguese

RU

7201

7400

Russian

SP

7401

9400

Spanish

SW

9401

9500

Swahili

OT

9501

10000

Other
Categories: learning-materials, service-is-library Tags:

Using the MS-Word Quiz Template (and the MS-Excel subtitles spreadsheet)

2011/02/28 Leave a comment

Part I: quiz_dot_create_excel: Watch a screencast on How to ready target language subtitle source material for the quiz template:

0,00

 

Working with subtitle material from the source: time coding is not correct

 

1,40

 

spreadsheet formulae can fix the subtitle time codes

 

2,00

 

why using DVD chapters as learning units

 

2,20

 

filtering on chapters in the DVD

 

3,00

 

ready to copy paste the filtered learning unit text data into the quiz template

 

Part II: Watch a screencast on How you can apply your pedagogy with ease  to a text and transform the same to a quiz, and how the student benefits from both

0,00

 

start quiz from word template (on file share)

 

0,35

 

paste text data, e.g. for listening comprehension, e.g. from target language movie subtitles

 

1,15

 

create markup from pedagogy

 

3,14

 

generate  quiz from markup : parenthesis 1 {helpful hint}, parenthesis 2 [correct answer]

 

3,35

 

closing and saving the quiz, receiving a summary

 

3,55

 

create a  backup

 

4,00

 

open the quiz to test the quiz from student perspective

 

4,30

 

what opening information the student receives

 

5,00

 

how the student inputs answers  and receives feedback

 

5,20

 

language learning lookup menu , after pausing the quiz

 

6,30

 

or double-click words to look them up in the default dictionary for the set language

 

7,10

 

how the student resumes the quiz

 

7,20

 

how the student closes the quiz

 

Part III: Watch a screencast on How you can revise your pedagogy

0,15

 

open the quiz, enable macros

 

0,30

 

unprotect the quiz

 

0,45

 

office 2003: tools / macros / macros

 

1,00

 

now you can edit your pedagogical markup

 

1,10

 

regenerated the altered quiz

 
Categories: e-languages, learning-materials, Screencasts, training Tags: , , , ,

List of Maps for Foreign Language and Culture Study

2011/02/16 Leave a comment

The United Nations has a nice – even though not complete – collection of PDF-downloadable political maps of countries and regions – including some language regions – around the world:

  1. World
  2. [Broken:] Non-Self-Governing Territories (En.)
  3. [Broken:] Non-Self-Governing Territories (Fr.)
  4. [Broken:] Non-Self-Governing Territories (Esp.)
  5. South Asia
  6. South East Asia
  7. Central Asia
  8. Western Asia
  9. Greater Mekong Subregion
  10. Africa
  11. Africa(french)
  12. Eastern Africa
  13. Horn of Africa
  14. Horn of Africa (with Relief)
  15. South-Eastern Africa, Drainage
  16. Western Africa
  17. Great Lakes Region 1
  18. Great Lakes Region 2
  19. Great Lakes Region 2 (french)
  20. Central & Eastern Europe
  21. Baltic States
  22. South Eastern Mediterranean
  23. Middle East Region
  24. ECA
  25. ECE
  26. ECLAC
  27. ESCAP
  28. ESCWA
  29. Darfur Regional map
  30. Afghanistan
  31. Afghanistan, Regions
  32. Albania
  33. Angola
  34. Armenia
  35. Azerbaijan
  36. Bahrain
  37. Bangladesh
  38. Belarus
  39. Bolivia
  40. Bosnia and Herzegovina
  41. Bougainville Island
  42. Burkina Faso
  43. Burundi
  44. Cambodia
  45. Cameroon
  46. Central African Republic
  47. Chad
  48. Central Chile
  49. Chile
  50. Comoros
  51. Congo
  52. Costa Rica
  53. Côte d’Ivoire
  54. Croatia
  55. East Croatia
  56. Cyprus
  57. Czech Republic
  58. Djibouti
  59. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
  60. Democratic Republic of the Congo
  61. Democratic Republic of the Congo (East)
  62. Ecuador
  63. Egypt
  64. El Salvador
  65. Equatorial Guinea
  66. [Removed:] Eritrea
  67. Estonia
  68. [Removed:]Ethiopia
  69. Fiji
  70. Gabon
  71. Georgia
  72. Ghana
  73. Greece
  74. Guatemala
  75. Guatemala (Southern)
  76. Guinea
  77. Guinea-Bissau
  78. Haiti
  79. Honduras
  80. Indonesia
  81. Iran (Islamic Republic of)
  82. Iraq
  83. Israel
  84. Jammu and Kashmir area
  85. Kazakhstan
  86. Kenya
  87. Kosovo
  88. Kuwait
  89. Kyrgyzstan
  90. Lao People’s Democratic Republic
  91. Latvia
  92. Lebanon
  93. Region of Southern Lebanon
  94. Liberia
  95. Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
  96. Lithuania
  97. The frmr Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
  98. Madagascar
  99. Malawi
  100. Mali
  101. Moldova
  102. Mongolia
  103. Montenegro
  104. Morocco
  105. Mozambique
  106. Myanmar
  107. Nepal
  108. Nicaragua
  109. Niger
  110. Nigeria
  111. Oman
  112. Pakistan
  113. Palau
  114. Papua New Guinea
  115. Paraguay
  116. Peru
  117. Poland
  118. Prevlaka
  119. Qatar
  120. Moldova
  121. Romania
  122. Russian Federation
  123. Rwanda
  124. Southern Serbia
  125. Senegal
  126. Serbia
  127. Sierra Leone
  128. Slovakia
  129. Slovenia
  130. Somalia
  131. South Africa
  132. Sri Lanka
  133. Sudan
  134. Syria
  135. Tajikistan
  136. Tanzania, United Republic of
  137. Thailand
  138. Timor-Leste
  139. Timor-Leste (Regions)
  140. Turkmenistan
  141. Uganda
  142. Uganda (regions only)
  143. Ukraine
  144. Uzbekistan
  145. Western Sahara
  146. Yemen
  147. Former Yugoslavia map
  148. Zambia
  149. Zimbabwe
Categories: learning-materials, second-language-acquisition Tags: ,

How to batch-upload learning materials, give students access in Moodle

2011/01/26 Leave a comment

To upload a set of learning materials (e.g. multiple audio tracks from a CD) at once:

  1. On your computer, browse to the files (assuming that, if your source material is on an audio CD, you have already “ripped” the audio to files on your computer)
  2. Zip the folder, e.g. using the built-in Windows right-click/context menu option “send to”/ “compressed file” (for more options, install the free 7-zip is more powerful, which is required on Windows XP if your file names contain foreign language diacritics).

In your Moodle course, Step 1 is to upload the files: click at the bottom of the left menu: “File”

  1. No need to create a folder since this is done automatically (advantage: keep files manageably together, e.g. applying student permissions to an entire folder set of files versus individual files – disadvantage: you may run into our Moodle file size limit (as of 2011-05 64MB for individual files, including the uploaded zip-file; you may ask for an increase or TBA:compress your audio files) .
  2. Enter the folder and upload, by browsing to the zipped file on your computer
  3. Wait for the upload to finish (remember you may have a single file size limit, so while it is not as convenient as uploading all files in one batch, you may have to split the files. When using Windows “Send to”, you have to manage this manually. 7-zip offers more assistance),
  4. Once the file appears in the folder, there will be a link “unzip” to the right of it: Click it.
  5. moodle-upload-zip-files
  6. moodle-upload-zip-files-unzip
  7. Once the initial files appear in the folder, you can and may  want to delete the zipped file. 
  8. moodle-upload-zip-files-unzipped

Step 2 is to to make these files accessible to your students, by wrapping them as a resource:

  1. Button: “Turn editing on.”
  2. Section / drop-down:“Resources” / “Display a directory”.
  3. Enter a descriptive Name (your folder name will not carry over).
  4. You can enter a description of the file if you want into the Summary field. This is optional.
  5. Under “Display a directory”,’ select the desired folder directory from the pull-down menu.
  6. Click “Save and Display” to check the results.
Categories: e-learning, learning-materials Tags: ,

Blackboard: Content System: Ancillary digital textbook material reuse (publish to course participants, roll-over between terms)

2010/04/25 Leave a comment

If you have a well administered language program, your admin should have uploaded all digital (text, audio, textbook and table of contents) materials that come with your textbook for convenient reuse between sections and terms into the Blackboard content system.

As a Blackboard course administrator, you can easily give all course participants access in 1 step (as course administrator, you can also access the audio materials during classes from the Blackboard content system directly).

Here is a video recording of a real-world walkthrough of this process – voice-over is in German, but Blackboard interface is in English:  blackboard-content-system-finding-adding-existing-content-item-to-course-access-play.wmv

Start Time

Topic

0,0

overview of teaching and learning procedure

0,1

course add item / content collection link

1,30

how to search for content. Remember: Search is your friend, if you have a consistent metadata system for your content (start with meaningful file names):

3,15

hot to add permissions for other users

5,3

add to course for for students

5,4

listen to an example audio from course

Once you have given course participants access to the audio materials, and you teach the course again next term, it is even easier to roll over the access: Just use the Copy link in the Blackboard Control Panel.

Categories: audience-is-teachers, e-learning, erepository, learning-materials, lms, service-is-library Tags: , , ,

How a teacher grades a Blackboard audio recording assignment

2010/04/08 Leave a comment
  1. Switch to interactive view, if your vertical scrollbar does not show up, and thus the assignment column is hidden (or reduce the font size in Firefox, e.g. by holding CTRL and rolling the mouse scroll wheel): clip_image002
  2. Once you see the assignment column, you can either download all submissions as a zip file, open it with the built-in zip tools in Windows (XP or newer). This is especially practical if you want to then select all recordings and drag and drop them into an audacity window, for doing easy to comparative grading of student submissions, as described earlier.
  3. To grade,
    1. you still need to click next to the green exclamation marks which indicate where there is an assignment to be graded, clip_image002[5]
    2. on the arrow keys which unfold a menu.clip_image002[7]
  4. This gets you to the grade details: clip_image002
  5. You can also listen to the student recording submission by clicking on the file linked behind “users; file”. clip_image002[5]
  6. Fill out your grade comments and grade.
  7. Instead of doing (only) written comments, you could also oral feedback grade the student recording, and re-upload this new recording.
  8. Finish by clicking button:”submit”.
  9. Next in series: How the student reviews a grade Blackboard audio recording assignments: TBA
  10. First in Series: A better way to do student homework audio recordings in the Sanako LAB 300, using Blackboard:Assignment.
Categories: learning-materials, Listening, lms, service-is-learning-materials-creation, Speaking Tags:

How a student submits a Blackboard model imitation audio recording assignments

2010/04/08 Leave a comment
  1. Access the assignment in the location of your Blackboard course that your instructor pointed you to.
  2. Download the model audio recording attached to the assignment to your desktop (if any).
  3. Right-click on the downloaded file, choose open with (something else but the Sanako Duo which you will use to record).
  4. Play and listen to the model.
  5. Imitate the model, recording yourself using the previous instruction, using pause/play as needed.
  6. Upload the recording into the Blackboard assignment by clicking “browse to local file” [i.e. where you saved your recording].
  7. Click “submit”. If you get an error “Not a valid file’, try using another web browser to open the assignment and submit the file.
  8. Next steps: see How the teacher grades a Blackboard audio recording assignments
  9. First in series: A better way to do student homework audio recordings in the Sanako LAB 300, using Blackboard:Assignment
Categories: assignments, learning-materials, Listening, lms, Speaking Tags: ,

Quia Online Exercises

2010/01/19 Leave a comment

Here are examples from the Treffpunkt Deutsch Quia Website. Quia Treffpunkt Deutsch is organized in chapters which you can select from the dropdown navigation control on the left. As you see on the following page, each chapter contains 3 different types of exercises, organized in sections.

If you click on a section header, you will see a list of exercises:

Here is an example of an exercise, assigned as “A[rbeitsbuch=work book], K[apitel=chapter]9: A9[=chapter-number, again]-1[=exercise-number]”.

The letters and numbers from the assignment repeat in the exercise, see this screenshot:

\

You can also hover your mouse over the info button in the upper left corner to get a summary of this information:

Also note the link to the corresponding preparatory web page which opens in a new window (Problems getting the window to open? the popup-blocker of your web browser may be the root? instead of simply clicking on the link, try CTRL-clicking, on the link as well as the browser information bar, if it comes up). It is crucial to read/review the corresponding preparatory web page first.

It is not necessary to get everything 100% correct. It is not even a good use of your time to redo the exercise until you get everything 100% correct. Especially if you try speeding up this tedious task by doing the first round mechanically to get at the automated feedback answers, then doing the second round mechanically by pasting them in. That is why I have my Quia course “Options” set to “Calculate cumulative scores based on students’ first attempt” and to “Ignore student results after the 1st attempt”.

Therefore, you will see that you have only 1 “Attempt remaining” for each exercise. You will also, unless individually told otherwise, only have to do the exercises that are “Assigned” (consult legend at bottom of page).

Rather use the valuable error feedback to go back to the Structures and try to learn and bring any remaining questions to class  – it is highly likely that fellow students have the same problems, especially if they have the same native tongue. That is also the reason why I review your submission before class – not to mark you down, but to see from your problems help what to spend valuable class time one.

Also, the exercises are integrated into the progression of the course (including your ability to do partner work with others during class meetings). That is why you will not be able to submit exercises long after when they were due:

For reviewing, we will use other materials.

Finally, consult the Help which is linked in the top menu:

Categories: audience-is-students, e-languages, German, Institution-is-Loyola-University-Maryland, learning-materials Tags: ,