Blog Task III

In the session on the 26 May you analyzed learning software of various publishers. Please reflect on the two different CD-ROMs you analyzed with your partner(s) and write about the aspects you found interesting. Which importance have the different aspects mentioned on the evaluation sheet? Was there something you wouldn’t have thought about yourself? Which software, if any, would you recommend to your fellow students or later to your colleagues in school and why? How would you use the software with your students?

teentalk britain

First of all I have to say that I our group was not able to have a deep insight into the learning softwares because we did not have a laptop to install the programs and to test them. What we did was searching for a description and for critics in the internet. We found a webpage with various information about the learning software “Teen talk Britain”. This homepage also included a Teentalk Britain brochure (pdf), a guided tour through Teentalk Britain and a Teentalk Britain Demo. These things gave a good overview of the software and we started to analyze it in detail.
The software has been designed for teenagers but can also be used in lower level classes. A third party comment from a user that we found on the webpage was “Teentalk Britain is a seamlessly constructed and imaginative CD which will support the trainer and student well.”(Iatefl Issues, U.K.)
We agree to this statement as the contents are deliberate and systematically connected with each other. It is all about pupils and their daily life in school as well as about their leisure time and –activities. Therefore the program provides lots of authentic material for example videos where pupils describe their schooldays and talk about hobbies, friends, movies and their future. I like this kind of learning material because the learners who use this software can not only listen to the pupils but also see them and read what they are saying.
A more or less important aspect on the evaluation sheet was point number two: “Design Aspects”. We found that the multimedia which is used in this software is clearly arranged and has got highly interactive elements. On the other hand the graphics, colours and sometimes the quality of the multimedia contents is quite poor.
But the most important aspect on the evaluation sheet were point number five “Final Examination/Evaluation” and number six “Comments, Thoughts, Ideas, Etc.”. I prefer these points because here you don’ t have to analyze every single aspect of the software but just write down things that were noticeable and interesting and things that you liked and disliked.
In this section we summarized the software shortly and came to the conclusion that this software is an authentic and imaginative one. We found the idea with the teacher’s room quite innovative and helpful. It is always nice to have some extra materials for the lesson. So the teacher can combine the contents of the learning software with the contents of the lesson.
Another point we liked is the huge amount of things to do. There are many promising buttons where you can find lots of activities behind.
Nevertheless there are also aspects that we disliked about the software: We are missing the fun-factor. There are lots of exercises but only rare games. As this software is designed for teenagers there should be more fun involved.
And what we found very alarming was the price of the software: You can buy it for 53,99€ at Amazon. This is incredibly expensive and in our judgement the price-performance ratio is not convincing!
After we played around a bit with this software I would decide to recommend it to my colleagues in school. But before I do so I would definitely test the original version and not the demo version. Maybe I will change my mind afterwards but at this point of time I do like this software.

tell me more

The second software we analyzed is called “Tell me more (kids)”. We did not look at this software in detail but we got a general overview about it that we can give a final evaluation:
The software which is created for 9-12 years old children has got a bad navigation and it takes very long to open certain contents. The contents themselves are confusing and not very consistent. The whole software is outdated and provides not much authentic materials. The used language is mainly German and not English and the whole program is accompanied with an annoying and stressful music.
We disliked the software very quickly and decided to spend no more time on it. So the answer of recommending this software is obviously: No!