High-tech Authoring Program is Perfect Tool for Creating Exciting Language-learning Programs
I, on the other hand, find it to be a very useful tool for producing simple language learning lessons that students really enjoy. I have been able to create a wide variety of lessons incorporating simple graphics and digital movies for both ESL and citizenship preparation. The lessons can focus on skill acquisition, practice or testing or a combination of all three. Once created, they can then be transferred to CD-ROM for use on other computers or "shocked" for use on a website.
No "programming" skill is needed to create simple exercises. Instead, icons representing different basic processes are placed in sequential order on a "flowline". If one wants a student to view an image such as the simple colored circle below (to teach or practice colors, shapes or prepositions for example), then the icon representing an image (the "display" icon) is placed on the flowline and the colored circle can be imported into the frame created by that icon from any graphics program.
Text of any type can be added to the image as well. When you want the image to be removed, the "erase" icon is placed on the flowline, assigned a time value and the image will be erased after the time indicated has passed. Such a sequence of appearing and disappearing text and images can serve as the instructional component of the lesson.
Multimedia lessons and exercises are created by importing photos, video, digital movies and sound. For the lesson on prepositions for example, the following photo demonstrating "next to" was taken using a Sony Mavica digital camera, cropped to fit in a photo processing program and imported into the lesson. For a lesson on the present continuous (or any other tense) a video of some action taking place can be directly imported into the lesson. In the lesson the student would than watch the video segment and read text describing the action. Any type of sound can be incorporated into the lesson. Sounds could be part of a video, the focus of the lesson itself ("The doorbell rang.") or the text of the lesson being read out loud.
Authorware makes incorporating practice into the lesson easy. Built into the program are several basic question formats such as multiple choice, drag and drop, typed responses or what are called "hotspot" responses. In a "hotspot" question, the student would have to move the cursor over the correct "spot" on the screen to answer the question. Using the same example of the preposition exercise above, a student would have to move the cursor anywhere over the white car to indicate "on the left". If the cursor is moved over the other car, the student can be given immediate feedback such as a hint or a "Try again" message. A simple to use system for keeping track of correct responses is also built into the program. This allows the student to see how many correct answers they got in the practice session. The same system can, of course, also be used to create quizzes and exams covering the material. For an example of a multiple choice question as it might appear while it is being created in Authorware see figure 2. More advanced users can create simple navigational buttons within the exercise so that students can move around within the lesson or repeat segments if they want extra practice. Drop down lists or glossaries of terms that appear or disappear with a mouse click can also be added.
The program is not inexpensive. The educational version is... Try to get your school or school district to purchase it for you.
While the basics are not very difficult to learn and there are good training manuals available, it is probably best to attend some sort of class or training when first getting acquainted with the program. The program does come with many templates which can be used as models for your own programs, but they do need to be adapted. On the other hand, once you have created a working segment or complete program, subsequent questions or exercises can be added by simply cutting and pasting new text and images. In other words, once you have a successful multiple choice question formatted, the underlying programming is copied and repeated and new text is pasted into the display frame. The question can then be replicated as many times as necessary. Once a "bank" of questions is created, it is an easy step to direct the program to pick a specific number of questions at random from the total number of questions available, thus giving the student a different experience every attempt.
Do expect to invest a lot of time in creating the lessons themselves. The results, however, will be well worth it, especially when you see your students reacting with interest and enthusiasm to lessons that you have created specifically for them.