--- Forwarded Message from Deanne Cobb <[log in to unmask]> --- >From: Deanne Cobb <[log in to unmask]> >Sender: [log in to unmask] >Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 13:40:06 -0600 >To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: #7587 authoring tools >In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> >References: <[log in to unmask]> >Disposition-Notification-To: Deanne Cobb <[log in to unmask]> >Return-Receipt-To: Deanne Cobb <[log in to unmask]> >Priority: HIGH Anna, We have been using Hot Potatoes for some time and have been very happy with it. There are always limitations and a tool might not suit all uses, but we have found it to be the perfect solution to our many needs. The nice thing about Hot Potatoes is that you are able to modify the existing source code or even write your own for an entirely different exercise. Although you yourself may not have the knowledge currently to do this, a CS student at your school could easily be hired to design anything different that you really wanted and then you could use it for multiple exercises afterwards. It's very adaptable that way. As well, many others have made it possible for you to download their modified source code giving you further exercise development options. As I said before, no tool is perfect. We have found Hot Potatoes to be very easy to use and very flexible (allowing for audio, video, etc use) and technical knowledge is not required. However, the traditional exercises are more of a drill type so it isn't likely to help with more advanced classes. I have tried out MaxAuthor and several others. I didn't like them as well as Hot Potatoes, but again, they just didn't suit our needs. In addition, Hot Potatoes has a very helpful usersgroup which the authors of the software monitor. Whenever I have found a bug or was having a problem, they were very quick to answer with a solution and even consider modifying the program in its next version according to our suggestions. I have yet to find another software product that is so grass-roots in their approach. Good luck with your search. If you wanted to have a look at some of our exercises, I would suggest you take a look at the exercises we currently have posted to the web. German (last year's version of program; newer, more adaptable version of program now available) http://uregina.ca/~laninstit/HotPot/German/index.html Spanish (old, old version of program, and exercises were made more sporadically. There are some faults in the pages which are entirely due to my errors, not the design of the program) http://uregina.ca/~laninstit/HotPot/Spanish/frames1.html Beginner French (old, old version of program and sporadic like the Spanish. Needs updating and error-checking) http://uregina.ca/~laninstit/HotPot/French/Elementaire/index.html Chinese (new version, not yet live for students and still in development) http://uregina.ca/~laninstit/HotPot/Chinese/ Japanese (new version, not yet live for students and still in development) http://uregina.ca/~laninstit/HotPot/Japanese/ I hope these help. As you can see (particularly with the Chinese and with the Beginner French), we have incorporated audio and pictures into the exercises. Good luck with your search and happy developing :) Deanne Cobb University of Regina On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 08:15:38 EDT LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > --- 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 Deanne Cobb Language Lab Manager Language Resource Centre University of Regina