Thomas' Work Space

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 .