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July 2004, Week 3

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From:
LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 21 Jul 2004 14:58:53 EDT
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--- Forwarded Message from "Waid, Alexander Ph.D." <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Subject: RE: #7587 authoring tools
>Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 09:10:12 -0400
>Disposition-Notification-To: "Waid, Alexander Ph.D." <[log in to unmask]>
>Thread-Topic: #7587 authoring tools
>Thread-Index: AcRvHtm6i6PFub/kQ/ugkWdSbRM8GAAAkQLQ
>From: "Waid, Alexander Ph.D." <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum"
<[log in to unmask]>

Hi Anna,
        I've used several web-authoring tools.  The most generic, the
html editor (in general), is probably the most fundamental and basic.
Being at the Coast Guard Academy, I'm relegated to whatever software the
Dept. of Homeland Security wants us to use, so I use FrontPage 2002
(we're a totally Microsoft workplace).  FP is perfectly fine and what's
nice is that it works pretty much like MS Word.  It's pretty much "what
you see is what you get" [WYSIWYG] and you don't have to know any html
editing.  If you know some html, you can rummage through the code and do
some stuff that the program doesn't do, or you can simply type, insert
pictures, bold, underline & etc. just like in Word. Making links is a
snap too.  I've also used Hot Potatoes and really like it, especially
the Crossword puzzle maker.  I've used it for a variety of things: timed
reading quizzes they do in the lab or at home, to matching exercises, to
cloze passage making.  It's a good little tool; and it's free too if you
put your stuff on the web.  We're on a closed network here so we paid
the $100 license fee, definitely worth it (Oh! and with HotPot you can
simply click on a "Print" icon and make a separate "printer friendly"
version of whatever you've done.  So, for instance, if I want my kids to
do a X-word puzzle as a warm-up or cool down in class, I'll make the
printable version and hand that out and after a set period of time,
we'll do the digital one that I project ot the front of the room.  It's
not earth-shattering stuff, but it does do a lot of different things.
Finally, if you are comfortable with html, or at least daring enough to
go playing around with it, i'd recommend going to different
dhtml/javascript/freeware sites to incoporate dynamic elements to
whatever pages you're building (www.dynamicdrive.com is a popular one).
I use a standard dhtml menu in all of my pages for really easy
navigation and on my main page for each class I've put in a dropbox in
which I make announcements, put in the "Estudiante de la semana" and
sometimes put in language races where I'll give them a cultural artifact
that they have to tell me about and the first one to do so gets a point
on that week's quiz or something like that.  I guess I'm not done!  I
just realized that I also make extensive use of OverLib for popups on my
homepages.  What the popups do is cause a small window to "pop up" when
one's cursor hovers over an "overlib-ed" piece of text, picture, etc.
So, I use it online to translate new or unfamiliar vocab.  I'll put it
into online practice tests to give clues on difficult sections, or even
in pictures, I'll make parts of pictures "hot" so I can give students
more info. in an interactive way (like, I'll point out landmarks on a
picture of Bogota, or if it's a cartoon that I'm using for grammar, I'll
use the popup to point out whatever grammar point I'm emphasizing...)


Menu:  http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex1/hvmenu/index.htm
Dropbox address:
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex17/dropinbox.htm

cheers,
alex
PS  Sorry so long!

Alexander Waid, Ph.D.
Professor of Spanish
Department of Humanities

United States Coast Guard Academy (dh)
Department of Humanities
27 Mohegan Avenue
New London, CT 06320-4195
860-701-6866


-----Original Message-----
From: LLTI-Editor [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 8:16 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: #7587 authoring tools


--- Forwarded Message from [log in to unmask] ---

>From: [log in to unmask]
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: authoring tools
>Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 17:57:40 +0000

I would be grateful to those of you who have used (web) authoring tools
(such as
MaxAuthor, Extemplate, HotPotatoesO) to share your experience
implementing and
using these products.

I would also appreciate any articles, reviews or recommendations on
(web)
authoring tools.

Thanks in advance.

Best,

Anna

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