Using the keyboard and the mouse, the student can:
The Student's screen presents a lesson to the student.
When the student enters a lesson, the lesson introduction is played
and the following screen appears.
Using the keyboard and the mouse, the student can:
This button plays the students recording from the beginning. This function
may also be accessed from the menu bar by choosing Play or by pressing the function key F2 on the keyboard.
This button starts recording the student's voice. Any previous recording
is replaced by the new recording.
This function may be also accessed by pressing the function key F3 on the keyboard or
from the menu bar by choosing Record and New.
If it is desired to continue a recording from where it left off, this may
be accomplished by selecting Record and Continue from the
menu bar.
Pressing this button in the middle of playing or recording suspends the play
or record. Pressing the button again resumes. This function may also be
accessed from the menu bar by choosing Pause or by pressing F4 on the keyboard.
Pressing this button plays the sound recorded for the item in the lesson.
In example items this plays the example sound that the student is to emulate.
Pressing F5 on the keyboard will also play this audio clip.
This button (or function key F6 on the keyboard) plays the sound recorded for the instructions
that apply to a section of a lesson. If special instructions have
been given to the student for an item these are played instead.
Pressing this button causes all recordings to be played
slower. The sounds do not change in pitch. Pressing the
button again returns to normal speed playback. Pressing F7 on the keyboard will perform the same function.
Pressing this button (or F8 on the keyboard) terminates an item and displays the
item menu. When the item menu is already displayed, this button selects
the next item in sequence.
Pressing this button terminates an item and displays the
preceding completed item.
This ends the student's session in this lesson. Control
returns to the course menu selection system. Function key F9 performs the same function.
At anytime if the cursor is held over the button the function of that button will appear below after a short delay.
If a button function is not available for a certain screen, it will be displayed greyed out.
This help manual is available at anytime but selecting Help from the menu bar.
The topic menu lists the names of
instruction items that divide the lesson into sections. Each of these sections can contain a number
of items. When an instruction is selected, the corresponding item
menu is displayed.
The topmost menu that is visible
is the list of items in the current section of the lesson. Items may
be selected by moving the highlighted bar to the desired item with
the cursor up and cursor down keys and pressing ENTER.
The mouse may also be used by simply clicking twice on the item you
wish to select.
The student selects the next item from the menu or just presses the
Next button.
The following screen presents information in the lesson. This is a "T"
or Teaching point item that explains
a concept.
The screen can include text, graphics, or sound. The sound is played
automatically. Any synchronized text is highlighted as the sound plays.
Directions to the student are Study this explanation. After studying
the explanation, the student is expected to press Next. No
response is recorded or typed in.
The symbol shown on the left represents the minimized volume control.
When the user clicks on it, it expands into the control shown here
on the right. Once expanded, it may be clicked on with the mouse to
adjust the volume of the playing sound. By adjusting it higher, the
sound will get louder. When the playing sound is at the desired level,
it may once again be minimized by clicking on the upper part.
The volume display is a graphical display of the
sound volume over time.
Words or sentences appear as louder sounds
in the display. The student can select a particular location to play
from by clicking the mouse on the volume display. The system will
play the sound from that point.
Finally, if there is synchronized sound, the
student can mouse click on the blue synchronized words in the text and
the sound corresponding to the text will be played.
The following screen is an Example screen.
Two volume displays show the instructor's voice at the top and the
student's own voice below.
This screen allows the student to listen to the instructor's voice
and then repeat and record what the instructor has said. The student
can then compare his own recording with the instructor's.
A typical sequence that could be followed might start out as:
Example Listen to the instructor's voice.
Record Record the student's own voice.
Play Listen to the student's own recorded voice.
Example Compare the student's voice to the instructor's.
The student may record as many times as desired. Each time Record
is pressed, the previous recording is replaced with the new one.
The student can also play either the instructor's or the student's own voice
by mouse clicking on either volume display.
Any text in the item is displayed in a 3 line window. The text may
be synchronized to the sound. As the instructor's voice is played,
the synchronized words are highlighted in turn. The student can mouse
click on a synchronized word to start playing at that word.
If more than three lines of text (these must be synchronized) are
included in the item they will be scrolled as the example plays.
When the student has achieved a satisfactory recording, pressing
Next makes the recording available to the instructor and calls
up the item menu.
This item appears the same on the screen as the Example item
above and incorporates the same components.
However the order of presentation is different. In the Example
item the student first hears the recorded example and then begins
to record.
In the Simultaneous item the student cannot listen to the
recorded example until the Record button is pressed.
The item recording then plays at the same time as the student
speaks.
After the student presses Pause both the item recording and
the student recording can be played separately.
The student's recording is stored when the student selects Next.
This item type is designed to be used in simultaneous translation
exercises.
This item also appears the same on the screen as the Example item
but will not play the sound of the instructors voice until after the student
first records.
After the student presses Pause both the item recording and
the student recording can be played.
The student's recording is stored when the student selects Next.
The screen below is a Read and
record item. If the instructor wants to test for the student's ability
to pronounce words without the aid of an example to listen to, the
"R" item can be used.
Text is required for this item. Graphics may be present. No sound
is recorded by the instructor for the item.
The student is expected to read and record the text on the screen.
The student's own recording can be listened to and repeated
as often as desired.
When the student has achieved a satisfactory recording, pressing
Next makes the recording available to the instructor and calls
up the item menu.
The screen below is a Ask item. The "A" item poses a verbal
question and requires the student to record the response. Text or
graphics may be present.
The instructor's question is played when Example is pressed.
The student records an answer to the question.
There is no volume display of the instructor's voice. However, the
student can see his own voice displayed on the screen and can replay
and re-record as desired.
The item tests a student's ability to understand a spoken question
and to prepare a response without the aid of a recorded example.
When the student has achieved a satisfactory recording, pressing
Next makes the recording available to the instructor and calls
up the item menu.
The screen below is a Multiple
choice question.
The question may include sound, text, and graphics. The sound is played
when the item is displayed. The volume display shows the sound recorded
for the item by the instructor.
The sound can be replayed with the Example button or by clicking
on the volume display.
The student is required to Pick the answer (1 - 4). Each of the
possible answers is numbered. An answer may be selected by entering
the number of the answer with a numeric key or by mouse clicking on
the answer line.
Pressing the Next button makes the answer available to the
instructor and advances to the next item. If feedback (which may include
displaying the correct answer) is provided it will appear after the
Next button is pressed.
Feedback appears in a dialogue box informing the student that the answer
selected is correct or incorrect. The student must press the Next
button to proceed.
If the answer was incorrect and the feedback displays the correct answer,
another box appears informing the student that the
answer has been corrected. The correct answer(s) are highlighted in green.
The student must press the Next button to proceed.
The screen below is a Fill
in the blanks question.
The item may contain graphics as well as sound. The sound is played
when the item is presented and can be replayed with the Example
button or by mouse clicking on the sound display.
The student is required to type in the correct word or words in the
blank spaces on the screen. Each of the blank spaces is displayed
with dark letters on a light background. The text cursor (where the
next letter will go) is shown as a blinking box.
The student uses the keyboard to type in the answer(s). When one area
is filled in, the cursor will move to the next input area of the screen.
The student can use the backspace key to move back to retype
a letter to fix an error. The TAB key can be used to move forward.
Letters can not be deleted; they must be typed over.
The mouse can be used to position the text cursor by mouse clicking
on the new cursor position.
Pressing the Next button makes the answer available to the
instructor and advances to the next item. If feedback (which may include
displaying the correct answer) is provided it will appear after the
Next button is pressed.
Feedback appears in a dialogue box informing the student that the answer
selected is correct or incorrect. The student must press the Next
button to proceed.
If the answer was incorrect and the feedback displays the correct answer,
another box appears informing the student that the
answer has been corrected. The correct answer(s) replace the student's
answer(s) in the input fields.
The student must press the Next button to proceed.
The screen below is a Writing or Dictation item. The "W" or writing item is much like the Record an answer screen only the student's response is written rather then verbal.
The student is given verbal direction on what type of response is required. Either an instruction ("write a paragraph about gorillas") or a dictation to transcribe. An images may also be presented.
The student may print a copy of the text they have created, or save it to file, by selecting print or export from the file menu.
A conversation or dialogue can be created using a combination of the "C" and "E" and appears to the student as an Example item The first line of dialogue is heard followed by an appropriate response. The student is then able to record their own personal response. If Play is then pressed the student will then hear the conversation complete with their response. Graphics and text may also be presented as in the Example lesson.
When the question requires the blanks to be filled in in English, the
student may just use the regular keys on the keyboard. However, in many
cases, the answer must be composed in a language that does not have standard
keys available on the keyboard for doing so. The CAN-8 system provides
three different character input methods.
In cases where only a few accented characters are required that may be
selected from the regular English keyboard, the student may select accented
characters by first typing the character without the accent and then using
the CTRL and A key, cause the character to change to an
accented variant. By repeatedly pressing CTRL A, the student can
cycle through all the possible accents for that character.
Alternatively by right clicking on the character the student will be presented with a pop-up box of available accents for that character that may be selected by clicking on the appropriate one.
In other languages, there is a similar number of characters to the English,
but none of the characters are the same. In these cases, the instructor
may create a keyboard that represents the characters used in the
language.
In this case, the language is Russian and the defined keyboard allows
access to the Cyrillic alphabet.
If the keyboard has be designated as
optional
by the instructor the default characters will be those used by the rest of the system. To use the defined keyboard the student must first click on the keyboard box before beginning to type.
In cases where the defined keyboard's use is non-optional, when the lesson is opened and the keyboard appears on the screen, any character pressed on the computer's
keyboard will come out as the corresponding character displayed on the on-screen keyboard. The
student may also directly click on each key of the on-screen keyboard to
enter the character.
Combinations of the Shift, Alt, and
Ctrl keys can be used to select from up to eight different
keyboards. A mouse click on one of these three keys locks the key down
so that the mouse can be used to select another key.
The Caps Lock key is used to lock whatever combination of shift
keys are currently selected. Pressing Caps Lock again will unlock
the shift keys.
Last, there are languages that have far too many characters to be
easily mapped into a keyboard. In these cases, the students would use
software known as an Input Method Manager. The instructor
may define the input method manager's mode of operation and the student
would use it to answer the question such as this one.
Students can listen to the instructor speaking online in two situations.
The instructor may speak to the whole
class, in which case a message is displayed via the Net Phone telling
the students that the instructor is speaking. The instructor's voice is
heard by all the students in the class.
The screen on the left shows what happens when the instructor selects a
student and calls the student. A
two-way link is set up over the network so that the instructor and
student can speak to each other.
The volume display at the bottom indicates the loudness
of the student's voice.
The conversation is terminated when the instructor or the student
presses Exit.
At any time during the lesson the student can press the F12
key or select Help -> Call Instructor from the menu bar
and the instructor will be notified by an indicator on the screen
that the student is calling.
The instructor chooses whether and when to respond by initiating the
call to begin a conversation.
The information displayed to the student varies depending on how
the lesson is being used.
Unless otherwise specified, the lesson is treated a
drill and practice. In this mode, the menus
indicate items that have been taken by showing them in green. Multiple
choice and Fill-in questions are displayed in green if correct and
in red if not.
However, when the student is taking a test the
item menus are different. When taking a test it is often useful for
the student to know which questions have been answered and what the
marks of the questions are. After looking at the questions, the student
may decide to skip some now, answer the ones that are easy, and come
back to the others later as time allows.
When the test is over and is being reviewed,
the students can see the answers and marks.
The menu shows incorrect items in red, correct in green. In the picture
on the right questions 1 and 2 were incorrect, 3 was correct and the
rest were not answered.
Final marks are displayed when the student enters the lesson. A box
appears near the centre
of the screen. They include rank in class, class average, and highest
mark in class.
In the examples shown above, the student can select the next item from
a menu. When lesson item selection has been set to sequential or random,
no menu of instructions or items appears. The student is presented with
the first item in the lesson and proceeds directly to the next item
when each item is finished.
Within an item, time limits can be set on either or both of the
presentation of the question and the recording of the student's
answer. When timing applies, a timer appears in the bottom left
corner of the student window and counts down.
Presentation time allows the student time to read text and listen
to the recorded sound for the item.
The time to listen to instruction is not counted in the limit.
When the presentation time limit is up, the student recording
is automatically begun. For multiple choice or fill-in items
the item is terminated as if the Next key had been pressed.
During normal timing, the student may use the control buttons to
play, record, or exit as desired. However, when Exact timing
has been specified, these keys are disabled. The item is presented,
student recording is accepted, and the item is terminated without
intervention from the student. If the lesson consists only of
items that are exact timed and presentation is sequential, the lesson
will proceed remorselessly to its end without even allowing the
student to sign off.
Next Chapter - Recording an Item
Previous Chapter - System Supervisor