I started out thinking about posting this in the language teachers course, but then I decided it might be better posted here!
I discovered this link from the yackpack (moodle yackpack) site! Also reported here on Moodle.org. I know about the moodlespeex module, discussed in the developers forum. I would like to get advice from some of you who are using these applications, if you don't mind.
I am not a language teacher, but I am planning to be involved in a speaking across the curriculum effort at my university. I think that voice applications could be quite useful in this regard, however I have to think carefully about the technical ramifications and scalability.
I have not gotten very far with moodlespeex because of the java requirement client side. It seemed to me that a flash player and YackPack would be more reliable, because the flash plugin is usually installed on student computers.
The complicating factor is likely scalability. "Across the curriculum" means that several hundred students could be doing multiple assignments with the tools provided, so scalability and storage certainly become a significant concern. Given this situation, YackPack might be a poor choice since they are not likely to want to host an entire university (albeit a small one!) on their servers! (and I haven't seen any possibility of us hosting it ourselves, nor do I have any inkling of the technical requirements of such hosting).
I particularly think we need something that does not require a lot of steps for recording and uploading or downloading and listening. It has to be transparent to the user. (Getting microphones and headphones is likely to be a difficult problem in itself!!)
Have any of you used both applications? Could you weigh in with some advice on which is easiest to use, has fewest technical problems, but still seems to be functional enough for across the board use? And perhaps post some ideas or more questions that I should be considering prior to adopting such a tool for university-wide use? (We are a small university, 1400 students, and I would guess that a fairly small number of instructors would use such a tool; however, I would see up to 200-300 students using it system wide).
Thank you for your thoughts,
atw
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Need advice on choosing a voice applications in/with Moodle
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