Archive
How a teacher can divide a class into groups, each sharing audio and one screen, in Sanako Study 1200–the ultimate training summary…
- … using animated GIFS
- make groups (=sessions) like shown here;
- share audio/screen within each group so that (ideal for enforcing oral communication during a shared computer task)
Sanako Study 1200 V6.1 implements text-to-speech with language learner features
- Sanako continues its foray into learning materials – this time semi-automated (makes sense to me: what can be automated, will be automated) and into text-to-speech automation (makes sense to me: one of the more robust (since simpler) applications of AI to NLP) for pronunciation help (also makes sense to me: can help my language learners fight their fear of losing face).
- Text-to-speech looks like a great addition in Sanako Study 1200 V.61 for the language learner:
- especially since it
- includes play speed options
- allows for download of speech rendition for review
- can blend with a human expert in the face-to-face classroom
- while saving human experts time to record audio learning materials.
- Caveats:
- Would like to know more about IVONA voices.
- Pricing? Available Languages?
- especially since it
- We are still on Sanako 5.2, but will be losing our Deskbot text-to-speech wizard with XP soon – so coincidentally I have just been wondering whether we will be able to hack together a text-to-speech on Windows 7, maybe using Google translate voices, but without the Google translate features that are commonly abused by language learners? Update: Look here for automating Google translate text-to-speech.
Protected: Block common translator, webmail and/or social web sites during LRC class by loading a RUL file in Sanako Study 1200
Sanako homework files do not save
Recommended settings for a departmental Sanako Lite Recorder installation
The following settings are not in the default installation for the language lab, but rather manually overridden (in the Student Recorder Settings) for installation on faculty office computers: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sanako\Study\Student\Settings]
“My files directory”=”s:\\coas\\lcs\\lrc\\sanako\\teacher\\”
“AlwaysUseRecorderLiteVersion”=dword:00000001
The following setting obviously needs to be generalized:[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sanako\Study\Student\Settings]
“Temporary files directory”=”C:\\Documents and Settings\\tplagwit\\Local Settings\\Temp\\”
The helper.exe architecture should be disabled outside of the Sanako classroom (details here):
[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sanako Helper]
“Start”==dword:0×00000004
and for backup:
[HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Sanako Helper]
“Start”=dword:0×00000004
Even with the helper.exe neutralized, the “associate media files” option appears too greedy – at least here I cannot get it to associate, as it seems to promise, the media files only when the student.exe is running, rather the following file associations changes seem to get baked into the registry permanently – so the following is not recommended (leave the checkbox in the settings unchecked):
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mff]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\StudyStudent.Document]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\StudyStudent.Document\DefaultIcon]
“”=”C:\\Program Files\\Sanako\\Study\\Student\\Student.exe,0”
The following associations seem to be added when checking “associate media files”in admin settings , but it does not look like this association is limited to during run time of the recorder
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\StudyStudent.Document\shell\open\command]
“”=”C:\\Program Files\\Sanako\\Study\\Student\\Student.exe %1”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.dim]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.maa]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.wav]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.snd]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.au]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.aif]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.aic]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.aifc]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.aiff]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.asf]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.asx]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.wax]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.wm]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.wma]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.wmd]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.wmp]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.wmx]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.wp1]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.wvx]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mid]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.midi]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.rmi]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mp3]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.m3u]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.m1v]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mp2]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mpa]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mpe]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mpeg]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.dat]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mp2v]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mpv2]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.ogg]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mov]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.qt]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mp4]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.ra]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.rm]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.ram]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.rmm]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.rmx]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.swf]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.smi]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.rmj]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.rt]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.mnd]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\.pls]
“”=”StudyStudent.Document”
“Content Type”=”Application/StudyStudent.Document”
How to install the Sanako Lite Recorder without it auto-starting and auto-restarting
- Problem:
- For a personal installation, but especially for a faculty-wide deploy, the default installation of the Sanako Lite Recorder seems to have too much of a footprint: Sanako Lite Recorder not only auto-starts (see e.g. the student icon in the notification area) with Windows, but also auto-restarts when exited –
- a useful feature of the classroom recorder from which the standalone recorder is derived, but not so much for a standalone recorder rollout. The feature is achieved by installing a service (helper.exe) that itself is during installation set to SERVICE_AUTO_START (0x00000002).
- This architecture also makes the installation option to “associate media files” with the Sanako Lite Recorder too greedy, even though it could be useful during the actual work of faculty with the Recorder.
- Workaround (for either manual reconfiguration after the install or to be integrated into the automated deployment):
- Can one set the underlying helper.exe service that gets installed during the Sanako Lite install to SERVICE_DEMAND_START (0x00000003)? Not tested. At best, this would help between computer restarts, but not when a teacher is done with editing the study recorder and tries to exit it (helper.exe, if itself started, will restarts the student.exe).
- Can one entirely disable this helper.exe service from services.msc, will the recorder still start? Testing with starting the student.exe and playing audio files did work. So one should try also during a deploy, use value SERVICE_DISABLED (0x00000004) for keys HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sanako Helper\Start (and, in case something goes wrong later: HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Sanako Helper\Start).


