Archive
“Sanako License service has not responded to the license query”
The dialogue popped up again after my restarting the study server (running on the same computer). After another “new license query”, the system seemed to operate normally (only that it became unresponsive and crashed (after doing heavy screen sharing and screen recording activities for a considerable time)
This is on a Dell Optiplex 760 – Might this be the root cause, and could running the server on a different computer help?.
Quizlet.com for Vocabulary learning practice
Neallt 2014 is featuring a presentation on “Using Quizlet.com to generate and share vocabulary activities” (William Price, University of Pittsburgh). I cannot attend, but the program inspired me to hold my own sneak preview:
Quizlet.com is yet another site that provides a variety of flashcard and quiz activities for a given wordlist. A nice example is the “Speller”activity – which proves a text-to-speech generated aural cue for dictation (not included in this video):
Or step-by-step:
Unfortunately, the AI seems limited to only 1-1 L1-L2 relationships (which precludes how vocabulary seems to be learnt best: in phrasal contexts):
Feedback on “wrong” user input is color red, aural and visual presentation of the correct form: 
Then the application re-prompts for user input and allows user correction:
This is a “Test activity. Foreign language character input seems easy (but does beg the question since the inputs appear only when they are needed…)
Mix-and-match is called Scatter:
Here is the activity overview: 
Wait, there is more: 
Quizlet supports many dozen languages, including non-western, including ancient, not differentiating between modern and ancient Greek, but the browsing capabilities – admittedly a hard task – are somewhat flat (search and language)):
And boasts 20 million sets (as of today – many consisting of 2 terms or few more). As so often, usefulness for class instruction hinges on the availability of textbook-aligned vocabulary lists. However, if you have them with your textbooks, Quizlet makes it automatic to generate uploaded materials into exercises.
However, as said, you may not like how much you have to dumb it down.
German Frame Semantic Online Lexicon
“The German Frame-based Dictionary is an attempt to apply the linguistic theory of Frame Semantics to the language classroom”, and is “based on the German FrameNet at the University of Texas at Austin, a digital archive of how German words are used in real life contexts”. How to Use the German Frame-based Dictionary.
Example Frame pagE:
The Frames available are limited, but instructive samples which can help the naïve user with dictionary use: 
There are also some Arbeitsblätter, but only a few: 
(On the occasion of Charles Fillmore’s death).
Google new maps’ photo tour slideshow viewer
<Grumble> If these internet companies invent anything else, I won’t get out much anymore.</Grumble> (I have always loved “travelling on a map” too much already
).
This is not your grandparents’ photos feature in Google maps anymore. The new photo tour automatically (I must assume? Based on GIS data included in the photo, image recognition to cluster motifs?) intelligently tags the map includes highlights of well-known sights, and it seems to automatically group similar shots/motifs, providing the feel of an in-depth exploration, even presence. And the occasional grandparents in the foreground remind us, that this remains a crowd-sourced project…
Now how to plan a better intercultural map exploration class with this…
Experiencing frequent crashes of Sanako student light recorder
- The new weekly headset check by LRC assistants brought to light that the Sanako student recorder (updated to 7.1, but I did not observe this during a very brief test at start of term):
- Students provide us with large sets of photos like this:
- Need to investigate:
- what is the detail ?
- only on startup? what happens when the sanako is closed and restarted?
- collect the sanako log files before the (frozen) computer gets restarted
How students need to work around Sanako startup issues at start of 2014
UPDATE: Step 1 is not necessary anymore, Step2 (Microphone click) still is.
LRC Faculty Showcase: Enhancing reading fluency in Spanish through Online Courses
- The videos of the presentation by Maria Mahaffey, Emily Kristoff and Shaun Stone on SPAN2200, using Hot Potatoes exercises in Moodle, and the ensuing discussion, are available on the intranet:
- PowerPoint screencast with audio: “S:\CLAS\LCS\MYDEPT\mahaffey\span2200\showcase\SLP_2014_PowerPoint.wmv” (size: 130MB).
- Video with presenter and PowerPoint on projector: “S:\CLAS\LCS\MYDEPT\mahaffey\span2200\showcase\showcase-SLP-2014.mp4” (size:410MB).
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