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1. a lesson pause it rewind or fast forward it I found this to be an excellent feature No This is definitely a weak area that I will address in the final section of the evaluation Yes students and teachers have unlimited access through one account login No Another weak area No Yes under the Lesson Overview section there is always a PDF file called Student Progress Tracker You can type directly on the chart or you can teach your students how to track his her progress independently Objectives are met through the 8 features provided in each lesson Know More Words Words Words Read It Write I Hear it Say It Play It Warm Up You Can Do It The You Can 4 Do It feature is the formal assessment while the other features mentioned above are the informal assessments IV Human Factoring Does the layout of the screen focus your visual attention to the task at hand Is there ever a need to visually search the screen to locate a necessary tool button or piece of information Is there a consistent format or layout used throughout the software site How easy is the software site to use In what way does the software site interact with the user Definitely The site s layout is visually appealing and easy to navigate Definitely depending on the learner For example if a student is watching the video and wants a visually representation of the words in the video they can search
2. the vocabulary words presented to them through visual images Students can practice reading and listening to the new vocabulary words through the Words Words Words feature Guided writing exercises can be found in the Write It feature In the Hear It Say It feature students can practice pronouncing the words and phrases from the movie In the Play It feature students can play a fun game over and over that reinforces the grammar The games vary from lesson to lesson The Warm Up feature is an exercise where students can review what he she has learned This could be a matching exercise fill in the blank activity or a fun drag and drop game In the You Can Do It feature learning is assessed in a variety of ways In Level 1 Unit 1 Lesson 1 students are assessed by listening to a prompt and then choosing the image that best matches it In Level 2 Unit 1 Lesson 1 students are assessed through a multiple choice quiz I think the variety of activities offered is what makes this program so successful Students are Is there a focus on meaningful use of TL or formal manipulations e g grammar exercises What feedback on errors is provided Is there any record of the learner s previous use of the software site Is there an option to go back and review previous answers attempts Does the level of difficulty seem reasonable from one level to the next Appropriate target language explanations constantly engaged with
3. the activities Yes As I mentioned above this is a grammar based program so almost all the activities are grammar exercises but they come in a variety of formats Each lesson has a feature called You Can Do It This is a quiz that students can take after completing the lesson Feedback for errors on is not provided until the quiz is complete No At the end of a quiz students can review which questions they missed but only after completing the quiz There is not a function that allows them to go back and view previous quiz attempts Yes the level of difficulty seems reasonable especially because each lesson builds upon previously taught elements Yes the language explanations are very appropriate This program is highly visual Vocabulary introduced is always provided with a visual cue and the grammar is always presented with an advanced organizer III Instructional Management Can you start over Is there a running tally of your progress through the software site Can multiple users use this same software site at the same time Are scores or a running tally available for a group of users Are the learner s production errors collected verbatim Can you make a print out of the progress scores etc How does software site determine that objectives have been met Yes students and teachers can view any lesson in any sequence There is no limit to how many times you can view a lesson You can watch
4. Homework 2 CALL Software Site Evaluation ESL 5073 The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to critically and thoroughly evaluate a piece of CALL software or a language teaching site To complete this assignment you will first test out the software site exploring the navigation and help options and making note of usability and design features to provide a response to every question or prompt in the tables below You will also give a 5 minute presentation of your findings to the class Evaluation of Computer Based Language Teaching Materials Adapted from Hart 1986 unpublished manuscript Name of reviewer Mary Potocny Krider Title of the application Language teaching website Location http www brainpopesl com Brief description of the software or site BrainPOP ESL is a comprehensive language learning program which focuses on the building blocks of language listening reading writing and speaking It is a grammar based program with a strong emphasis on vocabulary development Each unit is comprised of 5 interactive lessons Lessons begin with a highly engaging animated video which introduces the grammar topic and vocabulary The eight engaging features provided accompany the lessons These interactive activities compliment and reinforce the grammar lessons in fun and meaningful ways I Context Intended target audience BrainPOP ESL is designed for all English Language Learners from begi
5. e their own login so that I can track progress and actually see which questions they missed or which concepts they are having difficulty with I can also specifically assign activities to different students to meet their individual needs I suggest that this site learn from programs similar to Riverdeep to make it easier for teachers to track student progress I also noticed that under the Hear It Say It feature students first listen to the new vocabulary word being said and then they are supposed to say it While I found this feature very visual and appealing to students it is lacking a voice recognition tool I think this feature would be even more effective if students could record themselves saying the word and play it back as feedback Or the voice recognition could somehow provide feedback and ask students to say the word again for additional practice When I attended one of the archived webinars for the program the Director of Outreach did mention that they are currently working on that feature so hopefully we can see that in the near future I did thoroughly enjoy the BrainPOP Educators feature This database is large and has an assortment of helpful information for teachers using any of the Brain POP sites However I think it would be more helpful if it were broken up into sections For example create a specific section for only BrainPOP ESL Since BrainPOP ESL is a part of all the other BrainPOP sites the resources are all mix
6. ed in together Also a document or chart would be helpful to for educators to gage which lessons to begin with for students at different language levels beginning intermediate advanced or advanced high Educators new to the site might find it difficult at first to figure out so I think a simple chart would be useful Maybe a chart that goes by reading level could be a good place to begin Obviously as time goes by and educators are more familiar with the program they will have a better feel for which lessons their students would benefit most from
7. f Brain POP Brain POP Jr Brain POP ESL and Brain POP Espanol In large school districts with large amounts of technology funding I think the price is reasonable I ve found this to be quite an engaging program so I definitely think it is worth the investment Absolutely I think this program would work best as a supplemental instructional tool especially with teachers that have interactive whiteboards or LCD projectors in their classrooms Since it is easy to search for a grammar topic you know your students need work on all you do is click on the At a Glance button then search for what you are looking for and you are ready to go I d call that efficient VIII Suggestions for Improvement 2 3 paragraphs Although I found Brain POP ESL to be one of the best supplemental technology tools for English Language Learners on the market today I did find many areas that still need to be improved The first being that the site s student tracking form does not automatically calculate student progress Since there is only one login it s impossible to know which lessons your students have completed Yes a student progress tracker PDF is included but it s time consuming and time is something teachers don t have a lot of Since it s computer based I m sure the site could easily find a way to calculate student progress I ve been using a Math intervention program called Riverdeep for over 5 years now and students hav
8. it s not impossible to use is as the primary curriculum It would depend on the setting If you have a full classroom of 21 students then the best way to utilize the program would be using it as a supplemental teaching learning tool If you work one on one with ELLs then the site could actually provide the major portion of instruction as long as you are actively monitoring students The overall goal for the site is to teach English grammar by incorporating all language skills listening speaking reading writing Since the site currently has 50 different lessons the objectives vary from lesson to lesson depending on the grammar skill presented Lesson objectives for each lesson are always outlined in the Lesson Overview which can be found by clicking on the Teaching Tools button For Level 1 Lesson 1 the unit s objectives are Students will Recognize and identify Subject Pronouns Use the verb be in the Present Affirmative in short phrases Convert the verb be to contractions Identify 12 new words The login is very simple All you need to do is enter your username and password and then you have full access to the entire site Then students or teachers would click on the level unit and lesson of their choosing Is there verification that you have logged on Are there advanced organizers Not really The only thing that changes when you login is that there is now a logout button at the top Ye
9. n terms of how to use the site no I could not What online information or documentation is available Describe how easy or difficult the manuals or documentation are to browse locate a file that could be printed out and used as a manual but there is a getting started guide for BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr so it seems only likely that there will eventually be one You can watch a fairly short 5 minute video tutorial that goes over the main functions of the site I found that to be thorough enough for someone new to the site You can also watch archived webinars that are an excellent tool for someone who has never used the site These webinars are located in the BrainPOP Educators section under Newbies The Teaching Tools feature provides a lesson overview with detailed lesson plans and supplemental teaching materials a Know More section of the grammar presented and an Extra Practice section for each lesson The Brain POP Educators section is a large database of online information In my opinion this is one of the best features of the site There is online information ranging from resources lesson plans additional activities graphic organizers webinars standards professional development conferences video tutorials funding etc There s also a BrainPOP Blog gives up to date information in regards to all of their sites The instructor s lessons plans are easy to browse and consistent throughout each lesson Co
10. nning to advanced learners When I attended two webinars with the Director of Outreach for Brain POP ESL each time she made it very clear that their target audience is language learners of all levels and not necessarily one particular age group or grade level The site s main character Ben is in middle school but the social situations and content presented in the lessons are appealing to all age groups Young learners up to adult language learners can use this site Are the materials self contained Yes it functions as a self contained ESL curriculum How are the materials to be coordinated with the Each lesson can be used as a supplemental tool class work and homework for teachers to use alongside their existing curriculum especially in the area of grammar There is a large database of scripted lesson plans for teachers each lesson plan having a Are the materials supplementary or do they provide the major portion of the instruction What are the overall goals and lesson objectives What are the entry conditions i e how do you log on start the program site II Instructional Design homework section If a school has 24 7 access students could actually complete a lesson as homework from his her home In a classroom setting most of the materials and lessons can be used as supplementary grammar instruction Currently I would have to say that most teachers are using this as supplemental instruction although
11. nsistency is key here Each lesson is outlined with the following sections objectives grammar new words reading and writing lesson plans materials and time Since no user manual was found this question does not apply VI Evaluating Computer Based Instructional Design How appropriate is the design of the software site for the target audience In what way does the design of the software site help meet the learning objectives How efficient is the design of the software site Design is very appropriate for the target audience It is extremely visual engaging and non threatening to the language learner The visuals in this program are outstanding the games and activities are engaging and the quizzes are created in such a way that students feel successful in their learning of the language The consistency of the 8 features described earlier is yet again another design feature that helps meet the learning objectives in each lesson Since the site is so consistent and well organized throughout I would have to say that it is How does the software site compare to other materials that deal with the same learning objectives extremely efficient The only other language tool that I ve used is Starfall com That program is not specifically geared towards language learners but it is geared towards phonics grammar and reading Starfall uses flash animation and incorporates REAL pictures which is something
12. s a wide variety of advanced organizers can What type of knowledge is presented What is the underlying language teaching approach or philosophy What kinds of activities are used be found First there is a Lesson Overview for each lesson This provides teachers with a comprehensive breakdown of the entire lesson Numerous lesson plans PDFs for each lesson can be found in the lesson overview section Also the Know More section provides an advanced organizer of the grammar being presented in that lesson with additional information for the student or teacher Here you can always find a visual chart of the grammar rule The lessons plans also come with a variety of graphic organizers from KWL charts to Venn Diagrams These are also PDF files and can be easily printed out This is a grammar oriented learning tool so every lesson is grammar based Brain POP ESL first addresses the needs of different learning styles and recognizes the needs of the language learner This is done by engaging students in a large variety of activities throughout the program The lessons reflect everyday situations with contextualized language and content There are too many activities to list but all of the activities are engaging in one way or another The first activity in each lesson is the animated video Students can watch the video with closed captions and read along with it which I found to be a great feature Then students can have
13. that BrainPOP ESL does not do It also teaches reading strategies such as breaking apart phonemes in words which BrainPOP ESL does not do The two are very similar in the sense that both sites allow for learners to explore areas of interest and are free to pick and choice activities rather than be given one set activity to complete VII Practical Considerations Is the hardware software or site available or accessible to students How cost effective is the site software Will the program improve teaching learning efficiency It depends on the subscription you purchase If you pay for the school subscription and also add the 24 hour remote access for an additional fee students can access the site 24 7 7 days a week as long as the teacher gives them the login information This program does provide a large variety of options for everyone Access to this site is offered for school districts schools media labs individual classrooms public libraries home schools virtual schools and even family subscriptions However it s not necessarily cheap If I wanted this program just for my classroom I would have to pay 115 per year This does allow 24 7 access but I d only be allowed to use it on 3 computers at a time As a teacher we are already putting a lot of our own money into classroom materials already The school rates and media lab rates do offer multi year discounts You can also purchase bundle packages o
14. the screen for the Words to Know button This site is very learner oriented and allows for learner choice throughout the entire lesson Yes each lesson has an animated video with the same 8 features A student not as familiar with technology can quickly learn what each feature means Consistency seems to be a key factor in the design of this program Being a technology expert I learned very quickly I also have access to Brain POP and Brain POP Jr at my school so I had prior knowledge of how site worked going into this assignment Since the layout is so consistent it s really not difficult at all to figure out The visuals provided also make it very easy to use for even a beginner technology learner This site interacts with the user in a variety of ways Most of which I already outlined in the activities section A lot of the learning and interaction occurs through the use of the 8 distinct features of each lesson V Documentation Is there an instructor s manual Is a transcript of all example text available Is there a user s manual Yes the lesson plans for each lesson located under Teaching Tools should be considered as an instructor s manual These lesson plans are highly scripted and easy to follow Yes under the At a Glance feature students and teachers are presented with an overview transcript of all the content presented in the chosen lesson You can view it by unit or alphabetically I

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