Archive
IALLT 2011 Presentation on Batch-produced time-stretched audio for personalized language learning
Batch-produced time-stretched audio for personalized language learning has been accepted for inclusion in the program for IALLT 2011, June 21-25 at the University of California – Irvine and was presented on June 23:
Pervasive networked digital media (both digitized mass media and pod- and tube-casts) and the build-up of higher education technology infrastructure (classroom management systems, eRepositories, ePortfolios) during what might become the next bubble could form much improved learning environments, if it were not for the impedance mismatch of systems integration challenges. The current challenging financial times can remind us of the original promise of e-learning: increased efficiency. Rapidly expanding second language programs (here English, Spanish and Mandarin) need scalability through automation of learning material provision. Smaller or shrinking programs (here German, Russian, Farsi), where widely differing learner proficiency is increasingly becoming a problem when trying to form classes, need to cope with fragmentation of learning material provision in a “long tail”-economy. Both would benefit from a personalization of instruction that takes into account individual skills, needs and interests. This paper’s software can batch-produce from mp3 and wma input files a user-adjustable range of audio output speeds (see options GUI at https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/language-learning-audio-stretcher/) and – for a more natural sounding output than the time-stretching mechanisms commonly built into current media players – differentiate between language and pause segments in the input when time-stretching (see samples at https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/language-learning-audio-stretcher-ii-samples/). The paper will demonstrate such time-stretched audio in a variety of languages and from both SLA and authentic materials and its use, as one step towards more comprehensible input of level “i+1” in a more personalized language learning provision.
I am grateful for being able to attend so many interesting workshops, posters and presentations on new developments in teaching material production, online distance education, ePortfolios, learning center design and management.
As well as the booths of professional organizations, educational software and content vendor.`
And another idea worth emulating were the ZotWheels bike rent stands 
.
Poster on time-stretching audio @ NEALLT 2011
A wealth of authentic audio materials on the Internet are still out of reach for language learners, and an abundance of textbook materials not as personalized to the learners’ needs as they should since their audio speed cannot be adjusted in a naturalistic way. This poster presents a software that can batch-produce from mp3 and wma input files a user-adjustable range of audio output speeds and – for a more natural sounding output than the time-stretching mechanisms commonly built into current media players – differentiate between language and pause segments in the input when time-stretching: Time-stretching audio POSTER (big)
Plagwitz – eLearning Papers presented
Presentation on Time-stretched Audio and Personalized Provision in Instructor-led Digital Audio Labs @ Nerallt/Neallt 2009, Yale University, New Haven, CT
The pervasiveness of networked digital media – new delivery forms for digital TV and radio by the traditional media industry, as well as new content providers using pod- and tube-casts -, owing to an ever more powerful, robust and – partially as an overhang of the bubble – abundant technical hard- and software infrastructure, has also revitalized – and poured substantial new resources into the modernization of – the older concept of the language lab. Computerized classrooms with network and multimedia facilities, basic classroom management systems and centralized databases, with some interfacing to serve as learning material repositories or portfolios demonstrating learning outcomes, have become a common underlying fabric for many of the constituents’ learning environments. The recent freezing up of the resource flow can serve as a wakeup call to remind us both of the critical “What is the benefit, or return on investment?” and of the original promise of e-learning: increased efficiency. On the one hand, scaling through crowd-sourced or automated sourcing and reuse of materials has become a pressing need in rapidly expanding second language programs like English and Spanish that new technologies can help meet. On the other hand, widely differing learner proficiency is increasingly a problem when trying to form classes in the shrinking programs of other languages, and personalization of learning provision is increasingly expected in an environment shaped by “long tail”-economies. This paper will evaluate common practices in SLA that have served as workaround, recapitulate a number of different time-stretching algorithms, summarize existing software solutions and introduce a new option which is based on MS-Windows Media Encoder’s time-stretching and pause detection capabilities. Finally, the presentation will exemplify instructor-led utilization of this simplified and/or automated time-stretching of authentic materials, with more teacher-control and a more realistic output than that built into current media players, as a – not exclusive, but valuable – step towards more comprehensible input of level “i+1” in a more personalized language learning provision.
Slide Deck: plagwitz_timestretching_audio_nerallt09.pdf
Automating Auralog Tell-Me-More with AutoIt. Presentation at EUROCALL 2008
Auralog Tell-Me-More is a leading language learning software system which provides a vast amount of content in an advanced technical infrastructure that we found lacking in usability within an higher education language learning environment.
AutoIt is a programming language for GUI automation which I used to better integrate the Auralog software into the higher education language learning process, including
- programmatic
creation of courses and accounts - programmatic extraction and digital repository management for over 30.000 learning units.
- programmatic creation of 10,000s of learning paths,
Results 
were presented (screencast) at EUROCALL 2008: “Automating Auralog (pdf)”:
creates 100s of courses 
, creates 
and enrols 
up to 2,000 student accounts every term,
- content extraction
produces files
for adding search 
and spreadsheet for sort/filter functionality: 
- learning path creation.
More detailed background information here: plagwitz_auralog_accounts_project_pub.pdf, plagwitz_auralog_project_pub.pdf
Do more with LLAS. Aston e-Learning Centre Year 1.
Presentation given at the CETL Symposium – Digital Language Labs: exploring good practice, March 15, 2007. SOAS, London, UK.
Questions? Read the About. Or just ask me a quick
Your message has been sent
FAQs for LRC student staff or for students or for teachers. To search our FAQs, in the browser addressbar, add after "https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/feed/?tag=faqs+/" "+TAG1" (from tag cloud below) OR "https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/feed/tag=faqs
&category_name=" "CAT1" (from category hierarchy below). OR search both categories and tags, and multiple TAGs/CATs (connect with "," for OR-search, with "+" for AND-search), like so: https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/feed/?tag=TAG1+TAG2+...TAGn&category_name=CAT1
+CAT2+...CATn"
Other ways to find help
If you cannot find it here, look there: 5,500 Language-Learning Links and Programs for learning or teaching 150 languages
Shortcuts:Our Lists, Our Maps, LRC Staff Moodle Site,LRC Project Moodle Site, 49erexpress, UNCC Moodle, Student Recordings: s:claslcslrcsanakostudent
Learning usage samples: Sanako oral exam, Kaltura webcam presentation, Dictation with speech recognition, Sanako written exam, Chinese and Japanese interactive stroke-order practice
Test the Sanako Installer, Webbrowser Popup Konfigurator for XP, or Windows7, faster LRC TeacherPC Log-in Let MS facilitate diacritics writing by installing for you US-International keyboard layout
This is my personal blog (Google+). The views expressed on these pages are mine alone and not those of my employer. The information in this weblog is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Thomas' Work Space 