--- Forwarded Message from Bob Peckham <[log in to unmask]> --- >Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 17:29:20 -0600 (CST) >From: Bob Peckham <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: PC accents We have a MAC lab, but since we have no director or staff (except the department secretary and occasional student work-studies, the lab clases at 5, and many of our students cannot use it. We have great first-year CDs and some dasher drills (effective when they are done). I found that even when I gave very specific instructions for getting the US international keyboard, and an illustrated way of using them, students were unable to complete the assignments using their home PCs. Many with Windows 98 did not have the keyboard installed and were not computer savey enough to install it. Some (regularly hard-working) students declared that they were only able to make "some" of the key commands work. Since I am a MAC person, I borrowed these routines from others, only after I tried them myself and had several PC users do the same. http://fmc.utm.edu/~rpeckham/accents.html One class was able to make more use of their PCs than the other, and the class where students regularly used their PCs did better. I was able to bring some students into the lab (they were able to change work schedules). All of these completed their work, and were rewardingly good during the final. Both classes complained about the lab not being open past five. Question. I realize that making students use code for extended ascii caracters (three-digits) will yield consistant results, but I have found that students who do this do not learn the spelling of accented words as well as those who use other means of rendering accents with their computers. Any ideas for improving this situation? What do you think about our hours? Is their an easier and more sure way for these students, most of whom just got their home PCs, to produce accents that will go in ANY and EVERY interface their computers throw at them? TBob Bob Peckham Director, The Globe-Gate Project Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages Univ. of Tennessee-Martin Martin, TN 38238 USA e-mail: [log in to unmask] http://www.utm.edu/departments/french/french.html CV: http://globegate.utm.edu/french/globegate_mirror/tbobcv.html