Language learning stacks

[Wilhelm Sanke]

On Sat Jul 10, 2010, Mark Swindell mdswindell at cruzio.com wrote:

> Has anyone developed any vocabulary/ language learning stacks in Rev?  
> Seems like an apt application for the tool, but I didn't see anything 
> in revOnLine.  Picture dictionary type things with rollovers for 
> different languages?  Remember those First Thousand Words books with 
> contextualized drawings showing vocabulary for the kitchen, barnyard, 
> garden, etc.?


We had been discussing such things on this list - and the 
"education-revolution" list 
<http://mail.runrev.com/pipermail/education-revolution/> (last entry Feb 
2007) - when Marielle Lange was still with us.

At our institutution we are using a set of language exercises "Language 
Suite" developed with Metacard/Revolution. The format of the exercises 
is more "traditional" , having a distant similarity to the language 
programs of Wida Software <http://www.wida.co.uk/noframes/index.htm>.

Our "Language Suite" has until now not been released publicly. Maybe we 
should present some examples in the near future.

An overview of the "Language Suite" - although only in German - can be 
found here
<http://www.sanke.org/MetaMedia/LanguageSuite.htm>.

Among the exercises are such based on the "cloze" principle with 
"fill-in" and "drag.and-drop" variants, other types of "text 
reconstruction" (scrambled paragraphs, lines, words - along with the old 
"Sequitur" format (originally developed on the C 64) where a text is 
complemented by adding the next line being chosen from 4 multiple-choice 
lines), and a number of word-based exercises (words and definitions in 
the same language, bi-lingual word exercises, multiple-choice and memory 
formats).--

A number of language-learning related stacks - not belonging to the 
"Language Suite" - can be found and downloaded from my website 
<http://www.sanke.org/MetaMedia>, but I am not sure whether these stacks 
run flawlessly with the newer versions of Rev.
There are meant as "sample stacks" for students who engage in 
educational programming. Other stacks were reactions to specific 
discussions on this list.

Examples.

- <http://www.sanke.org/Software/Animals-drag.zip>

Drag-and-drop exercise with animal pictures and translations of the 
corresponding names.

- <http://www.sanke.org/Software/ImageAndWords.zip>

Learning words through pictures in five different versions: Wordshow, 
Move and Click, Test and Learn, Test with Loop, Final Test. Basic part 
of the stack is an image with polygon overlays corresponding to the 
outlines of objects. Mode "Test with Loop" is an example for an 
instructional programs that allows the repetition of unsolved problems.

- <http://www.sanke.org/Software/MultipleChoice.zip>

This stacks contains 7 different formats of multiple-choice questions, 
arranged in "incremental" steps from a primitive version with fixed 
positions of solution and distractors (which should be avoided by all 
means) to a version with flexible positioning with the option to choose 
the number of problems from a repertoire and a "loop" for unsolved 
problems. After all problems have been worked on, the user gets the 
option to try the "wrong" problems once more etc. Thus the programs 
adapts to the individual needs of the user.

- <http://www.sanke.org/Software/SimpleWordScramble.zip>

A simple "word-scramble" exercise with various forms of learner support 
and the possibility to edit the "lexicon".


- <http://www.sanke.org/Software/HypertextAnnotations.zip>

Two versions of "annotations" using "linkclicked" or "clicktext". 
Clicking on words set to "bold" or "link" will display an "annotation" 
field near the word containing additional information (translation, 
definition etc.). The annotated words are defined in a glossary field.

- <http://www.sanke.org/Software/Wordmatch.zip>

The main purpose of this stack is to demonstrate how the findings of  
the discussion in thread "Dynamic labels for buttons with (oddshaped) 
icon images?" on the use-revolution list in Feb 2009 could be applied to 
a practical example. From the two "help" buttons:

"Drag a green button with mousedown to one of the yellow frames.

If the label of the red button to the right of the frame is  the correct 
translation, the dragged button will move into the frame on mouseup.
If it is incorrect, then the dragged button will return to its former place.

Button "vocabulary"  randomly selects six pairs of matching words from 
the hidden field "Lexicon".

Button "repeat" distributes the currently selected matching words 
differently to allow further training with the same words, thus 
eliminating the so-called "position effect"".-----

Kind regards,

Wilhelm Sanke, Prof. emeritus
University of Kassel, Germany
Educational Technology

<http://www.sanke.org/MetaMedia>