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How a teacher best adds cues and pauses to an mp3-recording with Audacity to create student language exercises

2012/01/25 1 comment
  1. The first screencast example uses insert tones and a gut amount of pause, for an interpreting exercise, into an authentic German political speech
    1. 1:00 search for a break (button: play/stop  – pause prevents edits)
    2. 1:05 move the cursor to the break (mouse left-click on timeline)
    3. 1:20 insert a pause (menu:Generate / Silence )
    4. 1:25 zoom in (button:magnifying glass, CTRL + mouse scroll wheel)
    5. 1:45 generate a tone (menu:Generate / Noise), change the duration
    6. 2:10 do not replace the selection
    7. 2:20 use undo, just like in MS-word and other programs
    8. 2:30 move the cursor to the start of the selection (mouse left-click on timeline)
    9. 2:40 generate a tone (menu:Generate / Noise)
    10. don’t forget to review results before distributing to students
  2. the second screencast example, of post-editing a questions/response exercise in ESL, takes the amount of pause inserted from the recorded teacher instruction for the student, and uses copy/paste to speed things up even more.
  3. You can also only insert tones and not pauses, as in the 3rd screencast, and allow the students flexible pause lengths, if you can rely on the Sanako Student recorder Voice insert. Or if you must, let students use audacity for recording also, and have them learn how to move the recording cursor around manually, and throw away the source track.
Categories: documentation, e-languages, Listening, Media, Screencasts, service-is-learning-materials-creation, Speaking Tags: , ,

How a teacher creates audio recordings for use with Sanako Student Voice Insert mode

2012/01/24 Leave a comment
    1. One of the Sanako Student player’s useful features  geared toward language learning activities, is that it can save the teacher the time and effort for inserting pauses into their audio recordings,  so that students can record responses into them.
      1. Meaning the teacher can just press the red speak button sanako-student-player-speakand record through the entire file in one sitting.
      2. The teacher can still help students finding their way around the file, especially where to insert their own audio recording responses, by adding aural cues.
        1. This can be done in minimal time: I once saw a teacher use a bicycle bell – and why not, if it saves time.
        2. A spoken instruction “Respond”/”Answer in 10 seconds” is not more difficult to spot (unless only the voice graph is being browsed) and might be even better.
        3. If you have spare time: 
          1. You can post-edit the file with audacity, generating and inserting sinus tones.
          2. You can use the Sanako player to insert bookmarks instead of cues.
    2. As long as students have been instructed to how to use voice insert recording mode with the Sanako student recorder.
      1. This is for self access of students to teacher recorded files – be it during class or homework.
      2. If you want to record students under exam conditions, a similar insert recording feature is available within the activity: Model imitation, but not with a pre-recorded file, only when the live teacher is the program source students listen to for cues.
Categories: Arabic, audience-is-teachers, documentation, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek (modern), Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Listening, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, presenter-computer, Russian, service-is-learning-materials-creation, software, Spanish, Speaking, Student-Computers, Swahili, Yoruba Tags: , , , ,

How to do writing assignments in Moodle with deadlines, file and response file upload and MS-Word tracked changes

2012/01/20 Leave a comment
  1. Benefits
    1. Keep the cohort in shape and focus it on studying by enforcing deadlines.
    2. You can have students automatically receive reminders of the upcoming deadlines from their calendar (in NINERMAIL, no need to even look at the Moodle Calendar)
    3. You can save time managing the assignment.
      1. Moodle does it for you; you will save even more time once you begin recycling your assignment across terms) and rather provide more timely feedback, and improve changes that your feedback arrives during a teachable moment.
      2. Automatic email notifications,  which are available in Moodle for teachers (if you do not prefer to grade student submissions in a batch) and students to (automatic correction and grading is not ready for prime-time when it comes to essay writing; you may however consider teaching some more basic writing skills using it with close-exercises in Moodle).
    4. Costs
      1. You need to TBA:create a Moodle file upload assignment for writing (once)
      2. You need to grade a Moodle file upload assignment for writing (any time you assign; depending on your preference as submissions arrive or conveniently as a batch from the gradebook past the deadline)
        1. I prefer the MS-Word reviewing features for grading writing assignments,
        2. but other tools have other affordances, e.g. like recently described here for Adobe Acrobat Professional.
      3. Moodle does not automatically add unique usernames to student submitted files like Blackboard. It also does not afford the TBA:convenience of a shared network storage that the WebDAV-based Blackboard Content system provides. However, as long as you do not need to maintain a local archive of student submissions, you can rely on the Moodle gradebook managing the archive of assignment files (student submissions and teacher response files).
      4. How? These 4 posts guide you through the entire workflow from teacher to student back to  teacher to student:
        1. How a teacher creates a Moodle file upload assignment for writing
        2. How a student takes a Moodle file upload assignment for writing
        3. How a teacher grades a Moodle file upload assignment for writing
        4. How a student reviews a Moodle file upload assignment for writing
Categories: assignments, audience-is-teachers, e-languages, lms, office-software, Writing Tags: , , , , ,

How a student reviews a Moodle MS-Word file upload assignment for writing

2012/01/18 1 comment
  1. The student can see the submitted grade in her user report:qw6-view-grading-as-permitted-student
  2. She can view the assignment: corrected-assignment-with-response-file-as-permitted-student
  3. from where she can open the corrected MS-word file w7-open-file-as-permitted-student
  4. for more detailed corrective feedback: w2
  5.  
Categories: Arabic, audience-is-students, documentation, e-languages, English, Farsi, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Writing, Yoruba Tags: , ,

How a teacher grades a Moodle MS-Word file upload assignment for writing

2012/01/18 1 comment
  1. Where students have submitted MS-Word files in the Gradebook, click (1) button “Grade”: writing-gradebook
  2. This opens the (2) Feedback window, with the (3) student MS-Word submission: gradebook2feedback
  3. Download the student MS-Word submission by clicking on the link: w0e-open-word-teacher
  4. open with MS-Word:  w0f-open-word-teacher
  5. Correct with track changes turned on (CTRL+SHIFT+E), and save: w0f-save-word-teacher
  6. YOU WILL SAVE under a different filename (suggest adding “_corrected”at the end) INTO YOUR DEFAULT TEMP DIRECTORY, here is a shortcut to get to it: key-combination WIN+R, %temp%, “ “OK”:w0g-upload-temp
  7. Back in Moodle, select your response file from the temporary directory: w0h-teacher-response-upload
  8. Provide (1) Grade and (2) comment, then (3) upload the file: w0h-upload2
  9. Done, you can move to “ Next” w0i
  10. Which is where you are here: now repeat as above (provided student has submitted his file already) w0h-upload4-next
  11. Or view the gradebook, where your results are visible,w0j-gb-last-modified1
  12. including to the student.
  13. Instead of using the Moodle Response File feature, can I just make my corrections in MS-Word and copy/paste the resulting track changes markup into the Moodle Feedback Window Comment textbox? I would not try this. This way, you are not giving the students the full functionality of the track changes feature in MS-Word  for them to continue working with the file. Moreover, whether the basic coloring of track MS-Word’s changes  get preserved, will likely depend on how the web browser that you (and possibly the student later) uses supports the rich edit control of the comment textbox. If you just want to preserve the colors, I would instead try and Save as PDf from MS-Word 2007 and up, and send the PDF as a Response File.
Categories: all-languages, audience-is-teachers, lms, Writing Tags: , ,

Sanako comparative recording exercises using Moodle

2012/01/13 Leave a comment
  1. Comparative recordings are one of the best-established practices in SLA with technology. We can implement them here using:
    1. The Sanako Study 1200 language lab software installed in LRCRoomCoed434 facilitates comparative recordings by students, based on a teacher-provided model audio, with its student dual track recorder software.
    2. Moodle’s Simple file upload assignment aids in managing the workflow,
      1. from delivering the audio file with the model recording to the student
      2. to  organizing, assessing and grading the student input.
  2. For the teacher
    1. to create such an exercise, she
      1. creates an audio recording that serves as a model for the student pronunciation – a special application of our Audacity recording introduction. It is advised, however, to insert clear cues for the student to start his repetition.
      2. creates a Moodle’s Simple file upload assignment to which she attaches the audio recording
    2. continue with How a teacher grades a Moodle simple file upload assignment

  3. For the students to take such an exercise:

      1. How a student takes a Moodle Simple file upload assignment
      2. TBA: Sanako Student Recorder
Categories: Absolute-Beginner, Arabic, audience-is-teachers, Beginner, documentation, e-languages, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek (modern), Intermediate, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, software, Spanish, Speaking, Student-Computers, Yoruba Tags: , ,

How a teacher grades a Moodle simple file upload assignment

2012/01/13 1 comment
  1. When you initially createdyour single file upload assignment, there were no student submissions: 13
  2. Once there are, the link in the upper right of the assignment will tell you and take you right to the gradebook: 2-assignment-created
  3. Here you have an (1) overview who has submitted, and can click (2) to grade;  14 
  4. In the grading dialogue, you can (1) download and open the file submission (see techniques of grading student audio submissions with Audacity), (2) write comments as you assess the file, (3) assign a final grade and (4) save and move on to the next submission (fastest, when you do batch grading, the notify student of your grading feedback is still useful under these circumstances, but even more so when you your self asked to be notified by email of student submissions as they come in: faster feedback)
  5. 15
Categories: assignments, audience-is-teachers, e-learning, lms, Speaking Tags: , ,

How a student takes a Moodle MS-Word file upload assignment for writing

2012/01/12 1 comment

  1. Find your file upload writing assignment and click on it: w0
  2. Read the assignment text, write an MS-Word file (format not required, but your teacher will likely send you MS-Word back if she uses track changes) and attach it, like so:  w0a
  3. If this shows, you have finished the assignment: w0b
  4. Wait for notification, then go TBA:review your teacher’s comments.
Categories: all-languages, audience-is-students, documentation, e-learning, lms, Uncategorized, Writing Tags: , ,