Aims
and Objectives
WHAT
IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROGRAM? 1)
Wordspell2 has been created to solve the following problems: -
a)
It provides a means by which students are able to easily learn specialist
vocabularies, b)
It will save time and money for training organisations, by improving staff and
student performance. c)
It measures student ability and monitors learning progress. d)
It is a flexible aid for those in the role of delivering training. e)
It can be used to help identify Dyslexia related problems. HOW
DOES IT ACHIEVE THIS? a)
By using proven methods for efficient learning. b)
It trains students, challenges them and marks their progress. c)
By allowing tutors to easily build simple word lists, either on the fly or at
any convenient free moment for later use. (Or just use standard lists) d)
It is addictive and encourages students to want to learn. e)
It is friendly and fun to use.
f)
It provides an easy way to measure student ability and monitor learning
progress. (Which it does automatically) g)
It appeals to a wide range of student abilities h)
Student results can easily be transferred for use in Spreadsheets Databases, or
Word-processing documents (i.e. Word, Excel and Access) i)
It is extremely simple for students and tutors to use. j)
It provides a unique friendly style of online help. k)
WordSpell2 talks with real natural speech.
How WordSpell2 Works!
The Learning Program where students are Trained and Tested. The Administration Program, which is the control center and for staff use only. The Learning Program. This is the part the students see and it is where they are trained and tested. Encouragement without embarrassment. It is no use having a program if students are to embarrassed or do not want to use it. WordSpell has been designed specifically to prevent embarrassment. Although there is no need for the students to choose to be tested, the program encourages them to be competitive in their desire to learn. Learning the words - 'Play'.
Quietly try out any new 'Wordlist' that has been setup for them, without any pressure. Although students may check their own progress as regards percentage and the number of words correct, they are neither timed nor scored in this part. The 'on-screen' keyboard display, allows trainees the option to use either a mouse only, or normal keyboard entry, to spell words from the pre-prepared list. Students have if desired, an excellent range of colour backgrounds to choose from, which can help with certain visual impairments. Taking the test - 'Time Challenge'.
Students must log on to the system if they want to use this part of the program. Here they can try and set the fastest time, or challenge for the 'Highscore'. Each correct word scores points, marks are deducted during the test for - wrong spellings, missed words and each second of time taken. The scoring system is designed to create 'in house' challenges for individuals or groups. To prevent embarrassment to low scoring students, only the highest scoring person gets their name emblazoned across the screen. Sound Effects. Encouraging sound effects are used throughout which reinforces the visual learning, adds humour and lightens the program.
Help. WordSpell2 has been designed to be so easy to use that students will probably never need any help. But just in case they do, an effective task relevant help is available throughout the program, which points out - SIMPLY just what you need to know. The Administration Program. Only staff have access to this part of the program and students need not know that it exists. Controlling the learning environment.
Setup, personalise and take control of the whole program. Enter their own words and create custom lists of words to store. Record their own voice to read out words. Choose to have the words on permanent display or briefly flashed onto the screen. Control which word lists students have access to. Reset the 'Highscore' and 'Highscore Name'. Setup an access password. Analysing the data. During the Time Challenge all the students performance data is logged to a results store where teachers may: - Easily monitor all the students performance results and progress. Transfer any required data from the results log, direct to Floppy Disk or into their own file or folder on the Hard Disk. Print the entire contents of the students results log. Export the results for a Report, Spreadsheet or Database. Delete the contents of the results store and setup a new results log. Compare student abilities on entry, exit and during their respective courses.
What is WordSpell2?A Simple Yet Extremely Powerful, Uniquely Customisable Spelling Program. "WordSpell2 is a tool; which has been designed to encourage students at A computer based interactive multi-media independent learning system, which both teaches and marks. It also provides an easy way for educational establishments to easily measure and compare student abilities, on entry, exit and during their respective courses. WordSpell2 provides the means by which students are able to easily learn English vocabularies, many of which may be specialist and unique to their specific area of learning. WordSpell2's bold and brightly coloured simple interface belies its true power. It has been specifically designed to be extremely simple for students and staff to use. The key to WordSpell2's success is that it enables teachers to enter their own words and wordlists. Teachers know only too well which words are commonly spelled incorrectly, or which words students find hard to grasp and remember year after year. Now WordSpell2 provides an opportunity for all teachers to control this situation, by easily building appropriate wordlists to challenge and train students in their individual topic areas. Although the package has been designed with concern for those with a low level of literacy and or computer phobia, the content can be set to any academic level. This WordSpell2 program covers all areas required for training, whether highly academic, vocational, secondary, junior or special needs. WordSpell2 is modular in construction and customisable to suit any specific subject or topic area, whether workshop, classroom or home based. It may also be used to help identify dyslexia related problems and deliver specialist courses such as "Wordpower". Although the program is designed to work with single clicking of the left mouse button for operation, (including program navigation, learning and all testing,) it trains students in the use of the QWERTY keyboard layout. The 'Rote' learning technique has again been recognised as a preferred method of teaching certain basic skills and the English language, where there is no obvious logic throughout, is a prime target for its use. This WordSpell2 program uses the addiction and repetitiveness of computer gameplay, to both consciously and subconsciously teach English spelling and to help students remember key words. Messages and sound effects are used to reinforce the learning and to create an attention grabbing, compulsive educational tool. WordSpell2 provides a supervisor accessible only, online record of all student test results and allows those results to be easily viewed, printed, saved to floppy disk or transferred for use in reports, databases, spreadsheets and word processing documents. "A highly effective classroom aid, which can run on low specification PC's and has been designed primarily with ease of use, for both students and staff."
The Proof of the Pudding! WordSpell2 has had tests at Primary and Secondary Schools, with students of Further and Higher Education and also with Special Needs. All reported students wanting to use the program frequently, competitively and with great success as regards to improvement in spelling ability. This program is a highly effective classroom aid, which will run on low specification PC's (Windows 95 or newer, - including XP) and has been designed primarily with ease of use, for both students and staff. For more information please read the accompanying documents 'Aims and Objectives', 'How it Works' and the WordSpell2 brochure webpage. Please direct further enquiries to Adrian Harris - ASHGEM SOFTWARE 01647-61426 (UK)
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This is where: -
Spoken words can be
repeated at any time.