Call for ideas: new content type 'interactive text'

Submitted by serettig on Sat, 09/29/2018 - 13:11
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Hi,

I'm planning to create a new content type that allows creators to write interactive texts for second language learning. In these texts, the users can click on expression (annotated by the teacher) to receive explanations. translations or pronunciation help. They can also open collapsed sections of the text, which the creator has marked as such. Students with normal proficiency in the target language could read the shortened versions, whereas excellent students could look at the collapsed sections as well. I see the main application in second language teaching at intermediate levels in which students are presented authentic texts but still need some help when reading them.

I've created a GitHub project and written down use cases for content creators and users. I've also though about the syntax with which the creators would annotate their texts. I would be more than happy about more ideas or feedback, either here in this forum or in the GitHub issue tracker!

Sebastian

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otacke

Mon, 10/01/2018 - 10:14

Hi Sebastian!

I don't have any expertise in language learning, but I'll gladly share my spontaneous thoughts on your ideas ...

  • "The creator can mark words which link to dictionary entries (dictionary identifier, optional: headword)." -- I think that ideally you'd implement the link to dictionaries as a handler similar to how H5P.Video implements handlers for different video sources. This way, it'd be much easier to add new dictionaries (or similar services that might be useful) later. Wait, after reading the lower part I probably misunderstood what the dictionary feature is meant to be :-) I was thinking of using some REST API to get explanation from services such as the wikipedia (maybe something similar for pronounciation) to be embedded in a popup. Just linking would be much easier at least, and some kind of query definition similar to configuring custom search engines in browsers would suffice.
  • "The creator can add references to the document's source (URL, autor, title, date, ...)" -- depending on what exactly you have in mind, this will probably be covered by the upcoming metadata feature of H5P.
  • "If an annotation includes pronunciation it is automatically played." It's probably not relevant in your case, but might be good to keep in mind: browsers will be stricter soon regarding autoplay. The user will have to have interacted with the content at least, otherwise audio will be blocked. Have not looked into the details though.

Best,
Oliver

jgarate

Mon, 10/01/2018 - 12:00

Hi, all that sounds to me a great idea, if I get it right, that would be like a "tooltips" systeme but easier to use, isn't it? I think that the possibility to add audio and video to words would be a great help. 

I'm a language teacher (spanish and basque) and I would be more than eager to test the new item if you need someone to give it a try. I've already have a wordpress site with lots of H5P content to learn basque: elantzen.eus. So, if you need some testing I'm ready to go

Thanks a lot

 

Jesus

Mohammed Haboubi

Mon, 10/01/2018 - 12:19

I liked your idea of making interactive text, here is some content I made using Mindomo (mindmapping tool), I made these for fun but I can surely use the same idea for language learners by adding some dictionary explanations  for difficult words with images

 

Part 1

https://www.mindomo.com/mindmap/introduction2-19fc86a1d542446b78b0e0252b...

Part 2

https://www.mindomo.com/mindmap/donald-anderson2-a2dfcef7dfaefaf75d08f77...

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akud

Wed, 10/03/2018 - 12:11

With my students and colleagues we made some learning materials and of course we are excited to see the new interactive text.

Here some of our experiences: https://sandbox.ital2.org/

At your disposal

Best,

maude

Fri, 10/19/2018 - 23:36

Hi there

if you ever need testers, I'llbe happy to volunteer.