Hot Potatoes

Joggling life isn’t always easy

   

We are happy when everything runs smoothly. My job, my family and my studies. Well, I’ve got my joggling balls in my hand ready to start my life’s performing act of dealing with a very rewarding job as a language teacher, a wonderful caring and supportive husband and a spunky, bright daughter, who has just returned from Asia. Last but not least, my personal goal to add one more joggling ball “my Master’s” to the many tasks I constantly joggle. Everything runs smoothly, timing is of the essence and organization talent is needed for this hyper-management task, and somehow you manage everything. But suddenly and unexpected a creepy virus sneaks up on you after returning from a wonderful vacation and everything crashes. Well, I’m back on track….

Hot Potatoes, Version 6.3

Authoring Systems and Rapid E-learning (Individual Task, Part I)

What do you know about the ezLearners?
Do the ez-quiz from Hot Potatoes and click on the link www.ezregina.pbworks.com

Authoring Systems and Rapid E-learning (Individual Task, Part II)

HOT POTATOES for ELT
Review of six applications for student activities online

Why Hot Potatoes?

During my job interview for my current position, I was asked if I have ever worked with Hot Potatoes. Unfortunately, I had to say no. These applications are widely used in foreign language teaching, especially in EL and; therefore, I thought it would be a great opportunity to review this tool and create a simple mini quiz using H.P. for my ezLearners study group (please see below for the link).

Hot Potatoes is a computer program that consists of a set of six applications that allows language teachers to create their own web-based activities for their students. The suite creates: 1. a gap-fill excise with JCloze. 2.a question-based quiz with JQuiz.3. a crossword puzzle maker, JCross. 4. an exercise where you match items using JMatch. 5. a jumbled-sentence exercise using JMix. 6. Finally, combines all applications into one unit using The Masher. These applications were developed for language exercises and not for testing purposes. They do not meet the security requirements for language testing scenarios and are not intended for this use. The applications are thought as exercises and should only be used in this context.

It supports today’s standard browsers. It also is able to use Unicode and it can be used in all languages or even with more than one language.  It is widely known in ELT. It allows audio and video material to be uploaded into each exercise and offers a gallery of clipart. The exercises also offer hints and give instant feedback on mistakes. A timer can be added to each exercise. These are very simple to use applications that do not require knowledge HTML or JavaScript, but advanced users have the opportunity to customize the applications.

The basic version is freeware for individuals and educational institutions if the user offers their exercises online. A license fee applies to those using it in closed learning environments. H.P. is not open source and was developed by the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre in Canada. The tool is available at http://hotpot.uvic.ca/ There is also a extensive 40-page handbook available for download. Hot Potatoes also offers its own hosting services, a commercial branch, known as Half- Baked Software Inc. at www.hotpotatoes.net. This fee paid service offers a learning environment with teacher and student accounts. This is a hosting solution for those teachers that do not have access to an LMS or wish to use the extended services. In addition, H.P. offers support for SCORM 1.2 and thus, it can be integrated into an LMS. As of September 2009 support for these applications (latest version 6.3) has ceased. Currently, the developers are planning a new version.

Finally, I could imagine using these applications in my wiki-based courses. In particularly, the simple multiple-choice quizzes are excellent for vocabulary review. I can’t say that I have missed anything specific that the suite does not offer, however it is always very interesting to see how students, in particular adults, react to these type of exercises. In a word full advanced visual graphics, I could imagine that some students might find these applications not exciting enough. But, it is worth a try. From a teacher’s point of view the authoring tool is easy to use, logical and has a good tutorial. Overall, it is a very good tool, specifically geared for language learning.