--- Forwarded Message from Ann Cook <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2003 13:39:13 -0800
>From: Ann Cook <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>Organization: American Accent Training, Inc.
>User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum    <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: From Information to Implementation
>References: <[log in to unmask]>

  As a thank you to this list for the myriad questions and solutions 
posted on testing and recording, I'd like to show how this has all been 
implemented into an online bit of "courseware," and give you free access 
to the test, which we call the WhizBang Accent Exam. You need to use 
Explorer (system requirements listed below). Here's the back door 
entrance, which will be accessible for two weeks:

   1. Go to: http://americanaccent.blackstone.ca/vm/aat/listserv_signup.html
   2. Choose Click here if you have not previously registered for the
      WhizBang Accent Exam.
   3. Fill in the Register info and click the Register button
   4. Close the Register window
   5. Click Take the Exam

If you want to get back in later, go to 
http://americanaccent.blackstone.ca/vm/aat/signup.asp, and choose 
Registered Users and you'll be able to pick up where you left off. 
You'll also be able to revisit the scored page of the tests already 
taken. Feel free to share this with colleagues, and if you have any 
suggestions, I'd be most appreciative.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Windows
Internet Explorer version 5.0 (or greater) with a plugin capable of 
playing .mp3 sounds (such as Quicktime or Windows Media Player.

Macintosh
Internet Explorer version 5.0 (or greater) or Safari. To play .mp3 
sound, Quicktime is needed. Since all Macintoshes come with Quicktime 
pre-installed, chances are you already have it.

I am a die-hard Mac user, on a G4 laptop, so I was first interested in 
getting the audio in. I had a nice digital mic from Sony, and nowhere to 
plug it, so I bought the recommended iMic 
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/index.html. The audio was 
OK, but far from studio quality. At first, to get around the baseline 
hum, I would record onto a Sony minidisc, and then import it in through 
Peak (http://www.bias-inc.com). This was a clunky, time consuming 
solution, but then I somehow figured out that if I took my minidisc 
player and hooked it between the mic and the iMic, the sound quality 
improved dramatically (a standard cable connects the minidisc line out 
and the iMic mic input; the iMic usb connects to the computer. The 
microphone plugs into the minidisc. Very Rube Goldberg). You don't even 
actually have to record ... you can set it to record and hit pause and 
the audio is pretty good. But not good enough. Unfortunately, I should 
have gotten the audio cleaner before we installed the audio, but for 
next time, I will use Bias' SoundSoap ($99) which gets rid of hisses, 
hums, pops, lipsmacks, etc. I also use a pop filter 
(http://www.musiciansfriend.com $19.99) which makes things much nicer 
for the listener. For those of us without sound studios, I did a low 
tech replication by putting cuphooks in the ceiling and an equal number 
of safety pins around the edge of a large piece of fleece. I then hook 
the fleece up so that it looks like a voting booth (ceiling to floor), 
with me recording inside. This deadens the sound and greatly improves 
the audio quality. And you can fold it up when you're done recording.

Next, I had to decide how to put the test up. I tried CAN8, which has a 
lot of features, but is counter-intuitive to the nth degree and quite 
difficult to install. I also like the Divace Solo, but I wasn't able to 
program it at that time. I learned some cgi scripting with MasterQuiz 
$99 www.willmaster.com/master/quiz/index.shtml to go along with my 
semi-OK html skills, but it made me realize that I needed something 
already scripted. I like Pronunciation Power, and they referred me to 
http://www.blackstone.ca, a great bunch of programmers in Canada. They 
have a template (ViaMedia) from which you can make perfectly acceptable 
self-authored tests, with audio, stills, video, multiple choice, cloze, 
matching and other test types. Our goals were ease of navigation and 
freedom of choice. If I had been planning to use this test in-house, I 
would have gone with the templates. Since it will be available to the 
public, we needed a "look" of our own.

Because the WhizBang is a hearing skills test, we went with multiple 
choice for the test type. Each test takes about 3-4 minutes. We use a 
menu (the jukebox), so test takers always knows how many tests there 
are, and which ones have been completed. On each test page, they can see 
that they are on page X of X. The tests are computer scored, and test 
takers are able to see their percentage score, and the corrected test 
itself. On the corrected tests, they can listen to the audio from the 
test, and the audio from all the answers. After all ten tests have been 
completed, an average appears in the middle of the jukebox. There is 
also a fair amount of text added to the results page, so that test 
takers can read about each topic.

In terms of administration, the instructor can immediately track student 
work in the database, including test scores, scored test pages, and 
audio (though this particular test has no student audio).

As it's not freeware, (except to you, right now) we had to decide how to 
make it payable. We decided to go with iBill, though they take a hefty 
15% of each transaction. They take care of everything, though, so as an 
author who normally gets 10% of net, I'm happy enough with 85% of list. 
We also chose iBill over something like NetBilling (1.5% per 
transaction) because iBill has an affiliate program, whereas NetBilling 
has something linked to something, but it's more complicated.

Before I started this venture, I already had most of the content, and 
was administering and scoring it manually. All in all, the conversion to 
digital took, on and off, from November until now.

I hope this is helpful. Although I'm clearly not a tech-whiz, feel free 
to ask about any aspect of online testing, and where I can't answer, 
I'll find you a resource.

Enjoy!

Ann Cook