E-HELP: Recommended Software

[John Simkin]

At the meeting it was suggested that we start a section where members of the Forum can recommend good software.

[John Simkin]

Hot Potatoes is a suite of programs published by Victoria University and Half-Baked Software. Teachers use the Hot Potatoes programs to create educational materials, especially exercises and tests. The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, crossword, matching/ordering, jumbled-sentence and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for non-profit educational users who make their pages available on the web.

http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/

[John Simkin]

Webmonkey has been teaching people how to build websites of their own since 1996. If you intend to create a website, then this is the right place to visit. Information is organised under Authoring (HTML Basics, Tables, Frames, Browsers, Tools, Stylesheets, DHTML, XML); Design (Site Building, Graphics, Fonts); Multimedia (Audio/MP3, Shockwave/Flash, Video, Animation); Programming (JavaScript, Java, ASP, PHP, ColdFusion, Perl/CGI); Backend (Databases, Apache/XSSI, Unix, Security, Networks, Protocols, Jobs).

http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/index.html

[Andrew Field]

Perhaps slightly cheeky, there is also my own range of software that I am developing at http://www.ContentGenerator.net/

Currently anyone can purchase my Penalty Shootout generator, my Walk the Plank generator and my Interactive Diagram generator (iDG) for extremely reasonable amounts.

I am a few days away from releasing free versions of my software to enable any educator to develop their own simple quizzes and match-up exercises. These will be free to anyone who makes their quizzes freely available to others.

In the future I plan to continue to make entertaining eLearning activities available for educational use.

Please feel free to explore http://www.ContentGenerator.net/

[Andrew Field]

I also feel online presentation software will have a major role to play in the future. Macromedia's Contribute software (http://www.macromedia.com/contribute) makes it simple to put together a presentation with audio commentary.

Macromedia Breeze also looks very interesting (and expensive) - http://www.macromedia.com/breeze/ - of the experiences I've had with Breeze users can be involved in an online presentation which can then be recorded and streamed for use in the future.

However, these are just tools - how the tools are used is the main issue.

[John Simkin]

Quandary is an application for creating Web-based Action Mazes. An Action Maze is a kind of interactive case-study; the user is presented with a situation, and a number of choices as to a course of action to deal with it. On choosing one of the options, the resulting situation is then presented, again with a set of options. Working through this branching tree is like negotiating a maze, hence the name "Action Maze". Action mazes can be used for many purposes, including problem-solving, diagnosis, procedural training, and surveys/questionnaires.

http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php

[Guest]

ContentGenerator.net enables anyone to generate their own interactive e-Learning materials - games, quizzes and activities.

http://contentgenerator.net/

[Vicente López-Brea Fernández]

Hot Potatoes is a suite of programs published by Victoria University and Half-Baked Software. Teachers use the Hot Potatoes programs to create educational materials, especially exercises and tests. The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, crossword, matching/ordering, jumbled-sentence and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for non-profit educational users who make their pages available on the web.

http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I do agree on the description. For Spanish speakers there is a web page where you can find updated tutorials and examples:

http://www.aula21.net/segunda/hotpotenlaces.htm

One thing to be borne in mind is that while, as stated, is free of charge for educational users, its most resourceful element, "The Masher" (which helps to blend the exercises) is not for free.

[Graham Davies]

Like Andrew Field, I'm going to be cheeky too. My business, Camsoft, has been selling software to schools in the UK since 1982. Our best-seller, an authoring package called Fun with Texts, is in use in over UK 3000 schools. It's geared mainly to Modern Foreign Languages and English as a Foreign Language. Further details at:

http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/fwt.htm - although this site is playing up a bit today. Try the mirror site at:

http://www.camsoft.f9.co.uk

Hot Potatoes and Quandary, by the way, were also designed initially for Modern Foreign languages and English as a Foreign Language. I know the designers personally: Martin Holmes and Stewart Arneil, University of Victoria, Canada. They make regular appearances at EUROCALL conferences:

http://www.eurocall-languages.org

[David Richardson]

Quandary is an application for creating Web-based Action Mazes. An Action Maze is a kind of interactive case-study; the user is presented with a situation, and a number of choices as to a course of action to deal with it. On choosing one of the options, the resulting situation is then presented, again with a set of options. Working through this branching tree is like negotiating a maze, hence the name "Action Maze". Action mazes can be used for many purposes, including problem-solving, diagnosis, procedural training, and surveys/questionnaires.

http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you want to take a look at a Maze I adapted from a Mario Rinvolucri book, and then made in Flash, go to http://www.humsam.hik.se/distans/existstud/toolbox.htm and click on Talking Exercises -> The Hijacking Maze.

[D Letouzey]

If I may, as I miss money to buy expensive softwares,

at school, I use 2 types :

- "Free softwares", for example :

. OpenOffice as a wordprocessor, spreadsheet, multimedia presentations.

. Firefox as a browser...

- Online teaching applications :

for instance, Geoclip : http://www.geoclip.net/fr/p14_themes.htm

Sorry to have miss the Colomiers meeting. Hope to see you some other day.

Daniel

Edited February 24, 2005 by D Letouzey

[Graham Davies]

David mentions the Mazes book. I know it well - and its still as valid today as when it was first published:

Berer M. & Rinvolucri M. (1981) Mazes: a problem-solving reader, London: Heinemann.

I created a text-only version of this (with Heinemann's permission) for the BBC Microcomputer in around 1986 as part of the activities of the National Centre for Computer Assisted Language Learning (now defunct) at Ealing College of HE, London.

[Janos Blasszauer]

At the meeting it was suggested that we start a section where members of the Forum can recommend good software.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here are some softwares/tools that you might find useful:

Photo Story can be downloaded free from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/d...ry/default.mspx

Narration can be inserted over series of photographs, and is ideal for students to tell their own stories.

QuickTopic

http://www.quicktopic.com/

For any one-topic group discussion, use the QuickTopic free bulletin boards instead of just email! Your messages will be in a private central place, and each of your friends can opt to participate by email or just use the web forum. That's because QuickTopic's super-easy single-topic web bulletin boards are also fully email-enabled: you can get and post messages via email. Use it on your web site too.

3D Writer

http://www.3dwriting.com/html/download.html

3D Writer is a simple yet powerful free writing tool with hypertext abilities.

InstantWebquest

http://www.instantprojects.org/webquest/

InstantWebquest is a web based software for creating WebQuests in a short time. When you use InstantWebQuest, you will not need any of writing HTML code or using any web editor software. InstantWebQuest creates all the necessary files and puts them into the server free. Hosting is FREE!

Backflip

http://www.backflip.com/login.ihtml

It's the easiest way to save and share important things you see on the Web. With Backflip's organization and powerful search, you'll never lose anything interesting again. You can use it from any computer. And it's totally free.

Gagglenet

http://www.gaggle.net/

There are dozens of free e-mail services, but Gaggle.Net is the only service designed specifically for classroom use. The biggest difference is that the teacher is in charge. The system automatically monitors message content. If a suspicious message is detected, it is sent to the teacher for review. The teacher decides whether to send the message on to the intended recipient. The monitoring controls can also be turned off or customized by the teacher at any time.

Noodle Tools

http://www.noodletools.com/

NoodleTools is a suite of interactive tools designed to aid students and professionals with their online research. From selecting a search engine and finding some relevant sources, to citing those sources in MLA or APA style, NoodleTools makes online research easier.

Filamentality

http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/

Filamentality is a fill-in-the-blank tool that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Web, gathering good Internet links, and turning them into learning activities. It combines the "filament" of the Web with a learner's "mentality". Support is built-in through Mentality Tips that guide you along the way. In the end, you'll create a Web-based activity you can share with others even if you don't know anything about HTML, Web servers, or all that www-dot stuff.

Click Answers (downloadable tool)

http://www.answers.com/

Search engines are terrific when you've got a complex request; if you are trying to recall, say, the name of a Victorian Scottish woolen bonnet*, there's probably a page out there that you can dig up. But if you need to know what pie in the sky means, when Benjamin Franklin was born, or whether Aeschylating is a cromulent word, a search engine isn't your best bet. You need a FREE one stop reference tool. This is certainly a great tool to download.

Mindmanager X5 Pro (the software I used in Toulouse) :-)

http://www.mindjet.com/eu/

It's a visual tool for planning and collaboration.

You can have a free trial for 21 days.

Cmap tools (Great tool)

http://cmap.ihmc.us/

The CmapTools program empowers users to construct, navigate, share and criticize knowledge models represented as concept maps. It allows users to, among many other features, construct their Cmaps in their personal computer, share them on servers (CmapServers) anywhere on the Internet, link their Cmaps to other Cmaps on servers, automatically create web pages of their concept maps on servers, edit their maps synchronously (at the same time) with other users on the Internet, and search the web for information relevant to a concept map.

The CmapTools client is free for use by anybody, whether its use is commercial or non-commercial. In particular, schools and universities are encouraged to download it and install it in as many computers as desired, and students and teachers may make copies of it and install it at home.

NB.: I have put some materials online making use of this tool: http://www.eltandict.com/oral/erettsegi.html

[D Letouzey]

Click Answers (downloadable tool)

http://www.answers.com/

on this site quoted by Janos, you can read this :

Simkin : "Simkin is a scripting language that can be embedded in Java or C++ applications".

http://www.simkin.co.uk/

Daniel

[John Simkin]

On this site quoted by Janos, you can read this :

Simkin : "Simkin is a scripting language that can be embedded in Java or C++ applications".

http://www.simkin.co.uk/ 

Exposed. All these years I have been posing as a history teacher and it takes a couple of foreigners to reveal the truth.