Tutorial

Introduction
A wide variety of comprehension-type exercises can be created using two key new features added to the HTML web page editor - Multiple choice lists and Scored hotspots. These two features allow you to create a wide range of reading, aural and visual comprehension exercises. You may wish to read more about these features and check out some examples of the types of comprehension exercises that can be produced with Japanese WordMage.

A selection of templates to help you quickly create comprehension exercises are now available via the Template input button on the Text dialog. These templates can also be used to help you learn how to lay out your HTML web pages for these types of exercises.

Suggested reading
You may wish to read information about how to use the HTML web page editor to create HTML web pages, since you should already know how to do this before working through this tutorial. For details about how to create Linked hotspots and how to assign different cursor styles to hotspots, please see the Interactive storybook tutorial. You might also like to read information about Organising Course modules.

Multiple choice lists
Multiple choice lists are very similar to Unordered lists and can be inserted into a HTML web page document via the Lists tag input button at the top of the Text dialog. When you select the Multiple choice list... item from this menu, the dialog shown in Figure 1 will be displayed.

Figure 1. The Multiple choice list dialog

There are two entries you can make in this dialog. The first determines how many items will be included in the list (note: you can manually add and remove items simply later by editing the MCL tags in your document). The second textbox allows you to change the default score of each item (this simply saves you time compared to changing them manually in the document).

For multiple choice exercises to promote learning, there needs to be a penalty for incorrect answers and a bonus for correct answers. Just changing the SCORE value in each MCL tag allows you to change the number of points awarded to the student after they have made their choices and tallied their score. An example code fragment for a multiple choice list is shown below in Figure 2:

Figure 2. Source code for an example multiple choice list

As you can see, all SCORE values are -1, except for Answer 4 and Answer 6. In this simple example, this score allocation suggests that Answer 4 is the best answer, but Answer 6 is also quite good. Of course, in your own documents you are free to allocate whatever score values you like for any MCL item (anywhere from -100 to +100), and you will also put in meaningful answers in Japanese or Engish (rather than Answer 1, Answer 2, etc).

If you were to look at a complete HTML document (ie. with a HTML header, etc) containing this code fragment by opening it as a Course module (select Open Course module... from the Exercises menu), the multiple choice list would look like Figure 3 below.

Figure 3. A multiple choice list

Of course, to build a useful exercise, you will need to place a passage of text, an audio recording or a picture at the top of the page. The student will then examine this and make appropriate choices from the multiple choice list. You may also wish to include some simple instructions telling the student how to complete the exercise.

Once a student tallies the score of a page containing a multiple choice list (by pressing the Tally button), the choices with positive SCORE values will have a green dot printed next to them. This indicates to the student which choices they should have made to get the points.

As you can see, the process of building multiple choice exercises is so simple that you can produce a full course of reading, aural and visual comprehension exercises in very little time.

Scored hotspots
One of the best new features in JWM is the ability to add Hotspots to pictures. A hotspot is simply a rectangle, circle or polygon (a shape with three or more corners) on a picture. These areas can be used for various purposes, such as links to new HTML web pages, part of a visual comprehension exercise, to play a sound, etc. The following section assumes you have already read further information about Adding hotspots to a picture.

Scored hotspots allow you to create visual comprehension exercises. For example, you could have a picture containing four parts, one of which is the correct choice for a question posed at the top of the page. The student would be asked (in the instructions you include on the page) to choose one option and then press the Tally button to confirm whether they made the right choice. If they did, they get the SCORE value allocated to that hotspot added to their total score.

You also have a wide choice of cursor shapes for each hotspot (as usual), though only the Tick and Cross cursors are appropriate for visual comprehension exercises in which a choice is required. If the exercise you are building requires a student to select a correct choice, you should use the Tick cursor. If the exercise requires the student to eliminate wrong choices, you should use the Cross cursor.

If you assign a Tick or Cross cursor to a hotspot with a SCORE value, clicking the mouse in this hotspot will stamp it with the Tick or Cross. Clicking it again will remove the stamp. This allows students to select one or more hotspots on a picture when making their choices.

In the same way that a green dot is printed next to correct choices in multiple choice lists, an Answerdot can also be set for visual comprehension exercises. To assign an Answerdot, press the Answerdot button in the Imagemap dialog - you will then be asked to click the position of the Answerdot on the picture. Each hotspot can have an associated Answerdot, though it is only meaningful to put Answerdots on correct hotspots.