82-710 Advanced CALL Authoring

| Class description | Prerequisites | Required materials | Grading | Weekly assignments |

Class meetings: Tuesday 3:00-5:40
Location: BH 225C (MLRC)
Professor: Christopher M. Jones
Office: BH 367
Contacts: cjones@andrew.cmu.edu/ 412-268-5065
Office hours: Thursday 3:00 -5:00 in MLRC and by appointment

Class description
Students will work with the Director authoring environment to create a series of prototypes integrating all media with the major types of human-computer interactivity currently possible, applied to the specific instructional goals associated with second language acquisition. A final project will show substantial evidence of technical skill, an iterative development process, and defensible pedagogical design.
All classwork will be done in Director. Students can execute final projects in either Director or Flash, with intended delivery either on CD-ROM or the Web.

Prerequisites top
It is highly recommended that students take 82-784 - Language Courseware Design, before signing up for this course. For Advanced CALL Authoring, a basic knowledge of media processing applications (for sound, image and video) is assumed, as well as an exposure to the data structures involved in all programming. Students should also be familiar with the essentials of html and web delivery of documents

Required materials top
Cameron, Keith, Editor. CALL: Media, Design, & Applications. Lisse (Netherlands): Swets and Zeitlinger Publishers, 1999.
Macromedia Director MX (supplied in MLRC and to MCALL graduate students, available in CMU clusters)
Access to documentation for above software (copies are available in the MLRC and CALL grad student offices) A personal copy of the documentation is highly recommended. This can be downloaded in PDF format from Macromedia. (You will need the Lingo Dictionary and Using Director components). There are also a variety of third-party books on using Director MX available from Amazon and elsewhere.
On-line readings and documentation (URLs supplied below)

Grading top
The grade will be based on successful completion of all assignments (40%), class attendance and participation (20%), and the quality of the final project (40%).


Weekly assignments top
This listing is a preliminary plan, which will be altered according to the pace of the class and our collective desire to make changes. The definitive version will always be the web version at http://ml.hss.cmu.edu/courses/jones/82-710 . Feedback on syllabus content is welcome at any time.

Date Focus Work due
Week 1
Tue 1.13		 Introduction to course and procedures/ Interactive typologies (with reference to Phil Hubbard's work)

• Director tutorials (in Using Director): Ch 1 pp. 19-52 [beginning overview]
• Set up download pages using PKZip (PC) or ZipIt (Mac) [in class]
Date Focus Work due
Week 2
Tue 1.20		 Input: keyboard a) text input; b) trapping for keystrokes; c) buttons/ radio buttons

• Director tutorials: Ch 2 pp. 53-102[basics--score,frames, workspace]; Ch 16 pp. 385-426 [writing scripts w/ Lingo]
• Courseware purchase selection
• Director assignment 1
• Arneil, Stewart and Martin Holmes, "Juggling Hot Potatoes: decisions and compromises in creating authoring tools for the Web". ReCALL, Vol 11, no 2, 12-19.
Date Focus Work due
Week 3
Tue 1.27

Input (cont.): mouse down a) drop-list fields; b) drag-and-drop

 

Cecily leads discussion
Donna Web-based courseware demo

 • Director tutorials: Ch 4 pp. 127-155 [casts and cast members]; Ch 15 pp. 373-384 [navigation and interaction w/ behaviors and Lingo]
• Director assignment 2
• Decoo, Wilfried and Jozef Colpaert, "User-Driven Development and Content-Driven Research." (in Cameron)
Date Focus Work due
Week 4
Tue 2.3

Input (cont.): mouse up a) roll-overs; b) click-on: images/ image maps/

 

Jong-Hyun discussion
Cecily Web-based courseware demo

• Director tutorials: Ch 5 pp. 157-184 [sprites]
• Director assigment 3
• Hegelheimer, Volker & Carol A. Chapelle , "Methodological issues in research on learner-computer interactions in CALL." Language Learning & Technology, Vol. 4, No. 1, May 2000, pp. 41-59
Date Focus Work due
Week 5
Tue 2.10

Feedback: string analysis --basic. Using sound prompts.

Donna discussion
Jong-Hyun Web-based courseware demo

• Director tutorials: Ch 14 pp. 357-371 [behaviors]
• Director assigment 4
• Levy, Mike, "Design Processes in CALL: Integrating Theory, Research and Evaluation" (in Cameron)
Date Focus Work due
Week 6
Tue 2.17

Feedback (cont.) string analysis -- simple LP (conjugation/ agreement) and error prediction. Discussion of agent concepts (using text or sound).

 

• Director tutorials: Ch 12 pp. 319-329 [sound and synchronization]
• Director assigment 5
• Meskill, Carla "Computers as Tools for Sociocollaborative Language Learning" (in Cameron)
Date Focus Work due
Week 7
Tue 2.24

Learning support: a) glossing; b) hypertext; c) sound/ alternate sound; d) instructions; e) help structures.

 

 • Director tutorials: Ch 10 pp. 273-291 [working with text]
• Director assigment 6
• Individual meetings with instructor to discuss projects
Date Focus Work due
Week 8
Tue 3.2

Interface: visualizing structure
Collecting data
Project design presentations

Cecily discussion

 • Director assigment 7
• Leloup, Jean W. and Robert Ponterio, "Interactive and Multimedia Techniques in Online Language Lessons: A Sampler" Language Learning and Technology, Vol 7, No. 3, September 2003, pp.4-17.
Date Focus Work due
Week 9
Tue 3.9

Spring Break - no class

 
Date Focus Work due
Week 10
Tue 3.16

Acquisition goal-based design: comprehension a) reading; b) listening.

Jong-Hyun discussion


 • Director tutorials: Ch 13 pp. 331-340 [using video]
• Director assigment 8
• Harben, Paddy, "An exercise in applying pedagogical principles to multimedia CALL materials design ".
ReCALL 11:3 (1999) 25–33.
Date Focus Work due
Week 11
Tue 3.23

Acquisition goal-based design (cont.): multiple intelligences a) recognition and combination; b) recognition and cognition.

Donna discussion
Jong-Hyun courseware demo

 • Director assigment 9
• Chapelle, Carol A., "Multimedia CALL: Lessons to be Learned from Research on Instructed SLA." Language Learning & Technology, Vol. 2, No. 1, July 1998, pp. 22-34.
Date Focus Work due
Week 12
Tue 3.30

Acquisition goal-based design (cont.): multiple intelligences c) recombination/ wholistic approaches (jumble/ sound, video, text, image ordering) d) integrating communcation.

Cecily discussion
Donna purchased courseware demo

• Director assigment 10
• Dunkel, Patricia, "Considerations in Developing or Using Second/Foreign Language Proficiency Computer-Adaptive Tests." Language Learning & Technology, Vol. 2, No. 2, January 1999, pp. 77-93.
Date Focus Work due
Week 13
Tue 4.6

Code/data separation

Jong-Hyun discussion
Cecily purchased courseware demo

• Director assignment 11: Choose one of the first 3 Director assignments and re-code it so that it functions as a quasi-authoring system.
• Kötter, Markus, Lesley Shield and Anne Stevens. "Real-time audio and e-mail for fluency: promoting distance language learners oral and aural skills via the Internet". ReCALL, Vol 11, no 2, 55-60.
Date Focus Work due
Week 14
Tue 4.13

 

Donna discussion

• Project work
• Doughty, Catherine J. and Michael H. Long, "Optimal Psycholinguistic Environments for On-line Language Learning" Language Learning and Technology, Vol. 7, No. 3, September 2003, pp. 50-80.
Date Focus Work due
Week 15
Tue 4.20		 Delivery: CD-ROM/Web/ hybrid

• Project work
• Director tutorials: Ch 27 all [Using Shockwave Player]
• Director tutorials: Ch 26 all [Packaging movies for distribution]
• Project work
• Cross-platform CD creation and burning
Date Focus Work due
Week 16
Tue 4.27		 Project presentations
Evaluation		 • Project work
• Shockwave/ Flash/ html integration and delivery.
 
 

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