Speaking | Thomas' Work Space

How to set text-to-speech to a different language on LRC Windows XP computers

2013/01/29 plagwitz Leave a comment

Example for Portuguese – choose your own language instead.

Categories: audience-is-students, audience-is-teachers, Screenshots, Speaking Tags: deskbot, speech-recognition

How teachers can conduct a 1-on-1 student oral assessment in their office using Sanako Lite Recorder

2013/01/22 plagwitz Leave a comment

If you need to conduct an OPI or other one-on-one oral exam instead of class-size oral exams we offer in the LRC,
1. we have conducted 1-on-1 speaking assessments using the Sanako headsets and Student Recorder in the LRC.
2. However, since this setting does not offer much privacy (and also because it blocks the LRC classroom ), we would recommend conducting such exams in faculty offices. For this scenario, teachers can use:
  1. one of the headsets that can now be checked out by faculty, and in working condition,
  2. the Sanako LITE or standalone recorder – which could not be rolled out by IT on all teacher computers, but I programmed a workaround installer – and is friendlier (for recording and listening/grading) than Audacity. Sanako recently provided a useful guide for one-on-one examinations with the Study Lite recorder here (you do not need a desktop microphone like shown here, it is sufficient to position the headphone appropriately on the desk instead).

Categories: announcements, Arabic, assessments, audience-is-teachers, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek (modern), Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Listening, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, service-is-applying-learning-tools, Spanish, Speaking Tags: sanako-study-1200, student.exe

How to record and submit a photo presentation assignment

2013/01/22 plagwitz Leave a comment

A step-by-step explanation how Moodle/PowerPoint allow

a student
1. to create a photo album from their photos (remind them that they need to be able to download their photos onto the LRC computers), we will load this from their computers analogous to this: How to create a visual cue exam file using Insert Photo album in PowerPoint
2. to narrate the photoalbum
  1. In the LRC with 2007: https://thomasplagwitz.com/2013/01/22/how-students-can-record-their-picture-or-photo-presentations-with-powerpoint-2007/
  2. or if they use 2010 outside of the LRC, https://thomasplagwitz.com/2013/01/17/recording-student-picture-presentations-with-powerpoint/
3. To refine their presentation:
  1. Do not edit your audio – not good language learning pedagogy.
  2. Rather redo your entire presentation, paying extra attention to the weaknesses you observed when reflecting on your last recorded attempt . You will learn more foreign language this way than if you learn how to edit digital audio. Before you re-record your narration, clear the existing narration from PowerPoint, or save into a new file to be able to compare the Before/After.
4. to submit: How a student takes a Moodle Single file upload assignment.
a teacher
1. to prepare:How a teacher creates a Moodle Single file upload assignment, with optional attached file
2. to grade (reviewHow a teacher grades a Moodle Single file upload assignment):
  1. Save the Moodle file submission assignment
  2. Double-click the PPSX file to play the file in PowerPoint.
  3. Use the Moodle grade book to grade and provide other feedback.

How students can record their picture or photo presentations with PowerPoint 2010

2013/01/17 plagwitz Leave a comment

The screencast shows the necessary steps:
1. inserting a photo album,
2. presenting while recording the presentation with narration
3. saving as a show (.ppsx) – make sure you have ribbon:”Slide show”/ “Play narrations” checked:
to prepare an assignment for a Moodle single-file-upload (How a student takes a Moodle Simple file upload assignment).

A comparison of options for student oral photo presentation assignment

2013/01/15 plagwitz Leave a comment

Objective: Student presents personal photos in target language (e.g. home). b
Contenders for Tools:
1. Voicethread (free version)
2. University-environment
  1. For Multimedia authoring:
    1. MS-PowerPoint
    2. not yet contenders
      1. MS-Community Clips (screen capture recording, to be installed)
        
        benefit: single purpose, record yourself talking while flipping through the images on your computer
        
        cost: new tool to learn, and no long term perspective
      2. Sanako Student Recorder: not a contender, it has subtitling options, but cannot author multimedia presentations (teachers used to with the Sanako authoring tool, but this is not longer supported).
  2. As LMS: Moodle.
Comparison:
1. Student
  1. Authoring:
    1. (PowerPoint ties:) Image upload is easy in Voicethread (including batches): , but PowerPoints Insert / Photo album is as fast (if you have digital photos).
    2. Image narration:
  2. Assignment submission: Voicethread (free) has no support for assignments, only for sharing. Students have to find a way to submit their Voicethread,
    1. either by email or invitation to pre-created contacts:
    2. or, – with higher initial setup cost, but greater reusability benefit – by invitation to a pre-created contact: ,
  3. Sharing/peer-editing/grading:
    1. (Moodle would win where it has peer-grading options. YMMV:) Sharing within the class is possible, but sharing with "anyone" is a privacy (possibly FERPA) issue, and sharing with a handmade class list (no import) is tedious.
2. Teacher: grading
  1. Managing submissions
    1. (LMS wins?:) Voicethread (free) does not allow an export that could be uploaded to the LMS. Student can email links or invitations like these: . It is up to you managing them, and completion of assignment and grading for the class. This is no LMS gradebook.
    2. (Voicethread wins:) PowerPoint can be saved as a slideshow that starts on click (save as .ppsx) (including with narration). But opening and listening, without the need for saving to a local file, remains easier in Voicethread.
  2. (Voicethread wins:) Providing feedback is possible, including oral – but is this insert recording? And providing editing access is not the default:
  3. Record-keeping:
    1. (Moodle wins:) Voicethread: Uh.. oh..?! I see no retention story, especially not in the free version. With Moodle, you can leave all that to the institutional support.
3. Student: receiving feedback
  1. (A tie:) Voicethread’s audio feedback versus Moodle/PowerPoints gradebook access.
4. Learning curve:
5. Voicethread has the advantage of being a specialized tool (relatively few options, still relatively simple interface – few distractions).
6. Other tools have the advantage of greater familiarity in the long run and reusability. Of course it depends also where you are working: stable positions get greater benefit from embarking on the institutional environment.
Summary: PowerPoint/Moodle remains the solution for the pedagogical task at hand that the LRC currently supports. Fortunately
1. a narration of a picture presentation using PowerPoint and
2. its submission by the student and grading by the teacher on the basis of a Moodle single file upload assignment are not too difficult.