Learnosity Blog

Learnosity are hiring Developers in Sydney

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:44:00 -0000

Learnosity are looking for a number of Developers to join our team in Sydney

About Learnosity

Learnosity develop cutting edge tools for language learning and is used by the leading educational publishers and assessment companies globally. We deliver millions of assessments every year, to users on 6 continents.

Cambridge ESOL Online Speaking Practice

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:40:00 -0000

Supporting their mission to deliver excellence and innovation in the field of language assessment, University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL), one of the largest English Language testing bodies in the world, just launched a new, interactive, web-based learning solution to help students prepare for the speaking part of the Cambridge English: First exam.

With the help of Learnosity, Cambridge ESOL's Online Speaking Practice provides students with an authentic way to practice and refine their speaking skills. Christine Nuttall, director of Cambridge ESOL, explains:

“Speaking is a very complex skill and often presents many challenges for the learner. We’ve used videos of real examiners to create as authentic an experience as possible for people preparing for the speaking test of Cambridge English: First”

Cambridge ESOL’s Online Speaking Practice incorporates video footage of a real Cambridge ESOL examiner asking authentic exam questions. Students can record and share their answers with teachers and friends via a URL. They can also compare their responses with videos of students giving sample answers.

As the technical solution behind Online Speaking Practice Learnosity are thrilled with the successful launch of the final product - the culmination of more than three months of hard work. Learnosity are really proud of our work as we feel that Online Speaking Practice highlights much of our expertise in the area of audio capture.

This is the first solution developed under our new "Powered by Learnosity" brand and looks set to be the first of many more. Keep your eyes open for more Learnosity-powered solutions in the near future.

The Open University Celebrates 20 Years of Languages

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:03:00 -0000

We send our congratulations to our customers the Open University who recently celebrated 20 years of languages.

To mark this significant milestone staff past and present got together at Walton Hall in Milton Keynes along with guests and speakers.

Contributions included that of Dr Regine Hampel whose presentation focused on the use of technology to overcome the possible isolation of the distance language learner.

Learnosity has worked with The Open University on a number of significant projects where Learnosity Voice was used by French and English language learners. This two phase project saw students’ first using mobile phones and later OU Voice, an app for iPhone/iPod.

More than 80 students took part in the projects which enabled them to submit spoken work for self assessment and tutor for review. Feedback from the project was very positive with students feeling that Learnosity Voice offers a more “realistic experience”, stretching and developing their skills in oral interaction more effectively, especially in the context of having little opportunities for real oral interaction.

Open University Mobile strategy coordinator, Rhodri Thomas, highlighted the benefits of Learnosity Voice,

"students are able to respond to verbal prompts as if they are out and about in France talking to local people. In the past students would have been given oral testing drills online or on DVDs"

He believes that because users have to give an almost immediate response to the verbal prompt as opposed to when using a DVD Learnosity Voice offers,

"the potential to offer a more natural conversation approach ... getting closer to a reviewable real-time role-playing model than previously."

Read more about the projects undertaken with the Open University.

The Road to E-ATP

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:49:00 -0000

I’m very much looking forward to the upcoming European Association of Test Publishers (E-ATP) conference which is taking place in Prague from 28 to 30 September.

I will be speaking with Patrick Craven from Cambridge Assessment on Thursday 29th in the Tiber/Seine room at the Coninthia Hotel. Our session entitled ‘Assessment & Learning – the Yin-Yang of Education’ will see a premier of our recent work with Cambridge ESOL.

Peter Pascale from Pearson VU will be speaking earlier on the same day in his session entitled “Mobile Technology in Education and Assessment - Separating Opportunity from Hype”. In what’s sure to be an interesting session, Peter is likely to talk about some Learnosity’s latest work including iPhone/iPod apps and our new iPad app that we have called “Learnosity Capture”.

I am really looking forward to seeing everyone at the conference. If you can’t make my session and would like to catch up then please do contact me.

Email: Gavin.Cooney[at]Learnosity.com

Phone: +353857111222

Twitter: @gcooney

Learnosity makes the E-Learning Awards 2011 Shortlist

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:23:00 -0000

We are delighted to announce that Learnosity have been shortlisted for the prestigious e-Learning Awards in three categories.

In the region of 250 entries from all over the world were submitted to organisers, e-Learning Age Magazine.

With such high levels of entries, making it onto the shortlist is a great achievement. We are proud to have made the shortlist in 3 categories:

E-Learning Development Company of the Year
Best Distance Learning Project – Open University and Learnosity
Best Use of Mobile Learning

Learnosity have been lucky to win an e-Learning Award for the two past years in the categories Best Use of Mobile Learning and Most Innovative New Product or E-Learning Tool. We are really hoping to continue the winning streak for a third year.

Winners will be announced at a Gala Evening in London on November 10th.

Technology in Schools - Balancing Innovation and Academic Accountability.

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:25:00 -0000

As students start to go back to school around about now, I came across a rather timely article recently in Education Week’s Digital Directions which examined the challenges that face schools when adopting new technology for education.

The article focuses on the Mooresville School District in North Carolina which rolled out an ambitious laptop initiative three years ago. The district gave over 5,000 laptops to students - everyone from 4th grade to high school. We are told that Superintendant Mark Edwards had braced himself in advance for the expected drop in grade scores as students and teachers adjusted to using the technology and the digital curricula.

Interestingly, just the opposite happened.

In just 3 years the district went from ranking 30th in the state in school performance to 4th place. There were changes in other areas of performance also, suspensions dropped by 65% at the high school and district-wide by 50%. In further reading about the programme I learned that drop-out rates deceased quite dramatically and graduation numbers increased.

Edwards tells us that the programme has been as success because students like using the relevant tools and materials, are more engaged and excited about school, and importantly, they are seeing the link between what they are doing in class and what they will do in the future.

Whilst Mooresville have fully committed to technology in schools, the article goes on to look at the challenge for schools just starting out on their journey and how they can balance introducing innovation whilst maintaining test scores.

Christopher Dede, a professor of educational technology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education uses use the analogy of a hospital when he talks about achieving a balance. He proposes that if a hospital with a high death rate refused to try new, modern practices because they'd be unsure of the outcome or that there might be a learning curve, then people would be upset because they're maintaining a bad situation under the guise of being accountable.

Dede reminds us that schools are accountable to students in areas other than just test scores such as, providing high quality education and are accountable to parents and local business in producing students well prepared for college and work.

The Chappaqua Central School District, near New York City, has moved to create a model that reflects Dede's multi-dimensional accountability scale. We’re told that in 2007, the district's school board adopted a strategic question as an underlying philosophy of education. The question asks how the district can go beyond content knowledge and focus to ensuring that all students learn to think deeply, support their thinking, apply problem-solving skills and actively participate in their learning.

Darleen M. Nicolosi, the director of instructional technology for the district is quoted in the article saying, "We try to move beyond the test scores to more creative and critical thinking for our students."

Importantly, the district doesn't separate the use of new technology from that goal, as Nicolosi sets out;

"We're not focused on technology bells and whistles. We're focused on what improves teaching and learning."

I was particularly interested in this article because in developing tools for spoken language learning, Learnosity have always innovated with education goals in mind. Our solutions deliver real, measurable success for our customers and it’s not a case of technology for technology’s sake.

Similar to those examples in this article, we have seen how students improve language skills, confidence and motivation through using Learnosity Voice through computers, mobile phones, iPods etc.

To read more, check out our latest Case Studies.

Spotlight on m-Learning

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:41:00 -0000

A recent article by Archana Venkatraman in elearning age magazine shines the spotlight on mobile learning and leading solutions providers including Learnosity. Our CEO Gavin Cooney spoke to Venkatraman and shared his thoughts on the future of m-learning.

The article concedes that the growth opportunities for m-learning are linked to the ubiquity of attractive, user friendly and engaging mobile devices. These devices are used in times when employees or students have a few spare minutes to spend on m-learning, such as, on the bus or waiting for a class or meeting to start. These users are already so familiar with the technology and interfaces of the devices that there are no barriers or learning curves.

Gavin sets out some of the benefits of m-learning,

"Mobile devices are apt for language learning. They encourage reflection and improve learner confidence as learners can practice the language within their comfort zones."

Content is seen as a key part of the recipe for m-learning success. Gavin maintains that in order to be effective, content should be suitable for the medium. In mobile learning, less is often more, as learners may be overwhelmed if presented with large amounts of information.

With the launch of smart phones and tablet devices m-learning has ‘best of both worlds’ vehicles to bring it forward – small, mobile devices with significant computing power.

"The real push came when the mobile phone became a multi-purpose device that can be used for communication, accessing data, playing games, performing calculations, access and upload multi-media content and most of all interact seamlessly with the web."

Learnosity has leveraged the power of these smarter devices to launch a range of apps for iPhone, iPod, Android and iPads.

Experts agree that technology is an enabler to learning. Gavin has this advice for those contemplating m-learning,

"Don’t focus on m-learning before deciding whether it will serve the purpose, add value to e-learning and most importantly whether you need it."

Read more about how Learnosity is helping our clients achieve learning and assessment objectives, in our Case Studies section.

New Sydney Office for Learnosity

Thu, 05 May 2011 03:34:00 -0000

We are delighted to announce that the Learnosity team in Australia is moving to a fantastic new office.

Our new office is the penthouse suite at number 40 King Street, located on the corner of King and Kent streets with spectacular views over Darling Harbour. The new place is just around the corner from our valued long standing client the Board of Studies NSW.

The busy team of 10 will be able to enjoy the benefits of the spacious new office which includes a great entertainment area. The team is looking forward to getting settled in the coming weeks into this large space that will allow for continued growth of the organisation.

If you would like to join the Learnosity team at our new office we would love to hear from you so please check out our careers section for current opportunities.

screenshots screenshots

Solutions for Recruitment & Candidate Selection.

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:58:00 -0000

Learnosity Voice is ideal for pre-screening candidates in the recruitment process.

Whether it’s first round telephone interviews or language assessment, we have the tools to assist in improving your selection process. Using Learnosity Voice will free up your Human Resource team's valuable time as we will take care of the time consuming interviews and assessments.

Candidates will be thinking on their feet so you will get a better sense of their abilities. You get to listen to interviews online in your own time, it’s that convenient.

So how does it work?

Using Learnosity Voice you simply and easily set your interview questions from your computer.

Secure access id codes and PINs will be automatically generated by the system for each of your candidates.

The process then follows these simple steps:

The candidates access the system using a conventional phone or Skype.
They enter their access id code and PIN.
They are then guided through the interview questions that you set earlier.
Once complete the interviews are available online for you to listen to and review

Solutions for Call Centres

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:12:00 -0000

Keeping Call Centre staff up-to-date with the latest information is a constant challenge. Training and assessing large teams can be time consuming and costly.

A Call Centre is the outward voice of the company and often the only touch point with which your customer engages. For this reason your Call Centre needs to deliver a stand out customer experience.

Learnosity Voice helps in-house and outsourced Call Centres:

Recruit the Best People.
Train staff.
Ensure full understanding of training material.
Maintain ongoing quality and staff knowledge levels.

How can Learnosity Voice help my Call Centre?

Imagine you are a Call Centre manager in a utilities company and a high value customer calls to cancel their contract due to a service issue. Your Call Centre staff need to ensure that this customer does not leave.

Wouldn't it be ideal if your staff had role played this and other scenarios to ensure that this unhappy high value customer is retained?

With Learnosity Voice you can do just that, and more.

So how does it work?

We have put together a suite of effective and low cost tools to help Call Centres better manage the knowledge and skills within their teams.
You can easily set up role play scenarios or spoken quizzes. Your staff accesses the training or assessment materials by just making a phone call, using Skype or an ipod Touch application.
To avoid information overload that can happen during long training sessions we enable you to set up a short burst of training that can be built into a daily schedule for your Call Centre teams.

NCCA FÓN Project– findings from latest phase released.

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:00:00 -0000

Our partners NCCA recently released their report on the latest phase of the FÓN project. This third phase carried out the recommendations from the previous phase - to examine the potential role of Learnosity Voice in supporting the assessment of spoken Irish in the state oral examinations.

The project took place in 2010 over 14 weeks and involved 117 students and 5 teachers during the run up to the Junior Certificate Oral Irish exams.

The students used Learnosity Voice in a structured way to enable continuous assessment models and use of e-portfolios. The participating students were given the opportunity to be involved in selecting their best pieces of recorded spoken work and submitting them as evidence of learning.

During the project the students used the following elements of Learnosity Voice that were mapped onto the existing elements of the oral exam structure:

Voice Response – Using Learnosity TalkBack to enable students to record spoken responses to questions set by teachers.
Picture Sequence – Using TalkBack in conjunction with five hard copy pictures, the student has a minute to review the image and then record a spoken description of what he sees.
Role Play – Using Learnosity Connect for role play where each student is assigned to participate in any one of 8 role plays.
Voice Chat – Using Learnosity Connect to enable student-to-student conversation on subjects guided by the teacher or for general practice by students.

Findings:

All teachers involved said that that their students had benefited from their participation in the project. They said that there were huge improvements in class behaviour, motivation for learning Irish, submission of homework and general enthusiasm for the Irish language.

All of the teachers were very happy with their students’ performance in the state exam and cited FÓN’s benefits as an exam preparation tool as well as the transferable benefits seen in terms of aural and written language.

...it’s oral based, they’re hearing questions, they become familiar with questions and they become familiar with their own voice, they hear their mistakes.Teacher, NCCA FÓN Project

Students who did the most tests [FÓN sessions] did a lot better in their oral exam. Teacher, NCCA FÓN Project

Teachers praised FÓN for its unique ability to enable spoken homework. The report tells us of instances where students did not have a family member at home that that could help them practice oral Irish and in this case FÓN was of great benefit.

...in terms of practice, it’s great, because there is no other way to give them that type of homework. Teacher, NCCA FÓN Project

In using FÓN for continuous assessment, teachers saw the benefits in the reduction of stress and anxiety.

...they nearly lost their lives around the oral exam but listen to them on the FÓN system and they’re nearly singing.Teacher, NCCA FÓN Project

Learnosity Job Vacancy - Web Application Developer (Junior to Mid Level)

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:55:00 -0000

Learnosity develop cutting edge tools for teachers and educators. Our flagship product Learnosity Voice uses the telephone to enable language students and teachers to interact on a one to one level.

Our service:

Makes it practical for students to practice Oral and Aural skills.
Is efficient and effective for teachers, as they can listen to each student individually at a time to suit them.
Can be used for homework assignments or “High Stakes Assessments”.

Learnosity are creating the next generation of language and assessment technology for use in schools and education worldwide. The current product portfolio includes:

High availability web based systems.
Cross platform software platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux).
iPhone/Android native applications.
VOIP and SMS applications.

We need someone who can:

Use Javascript or Actionscript to create great user interfaces.
Develop highly scalable web applications using ColdFusion, PHP or similar.
Cut code with the best in the world.

You will also need to be:

keen to continue learning new technologies.
able to have a conversation with non technical people.

You'll need:

1-3 years of programming experience.
Expert in at least one Client side language (Actionscript or Javascript/jQuery).
Experience in at least one Server side language (eg PHP, Java, ColdFusion, etc).
Understanding of Object Oriented design.
Understanding of XHTML and CSS.

It would be good if you have:

a degree in Computer Science, Engineering or similar.
been working with open source tools.
been playing around with iPhone/Android applications.
experience with some of Linux/VOIP/SIP/Asterisk/Jabber/XMPP.

This is a full time role and you will be working in a casual workplace with flexible hours in the Sydney CBD. Salary commensurate with experience.

If this sounds like the job for you, email a covering letter explaining why you'll be great and your resume to mark.lynch[at]learnosity.com - no agencies please.

New Developments in Marking

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 11:30:00 -0000

Learnosity have developed a powerful new rubrics (marking) engine that will be launched by Gavin Cooney, CEO, at the ATP Conference in Phoenix this week.

We are delighted to release these new marking schemes which will allow for better, more flexible marking, some examples of which are shown below.

Marking Interface

The solution supports single, double marking and 'n' marking.
Markers log on to a secure web interface to view the tests assigned to them.
Different markers can be assigned entire tests, certain questions or sections of the tests.
A second marker will not have access to the marks/feedback provided by the first marker.
Once the second marker has given a grade or some feedback the exam will no longer be available for another marker.

The table below outlines the feedback types and how they can be displayed to the candiate.

Type of Feedback	Display Mode
Single Select	Radio buttons-horizontal display Radio buttons-vertical display Drop-down menu
Multi-select	Checkboxes-horizontal display Checkboxes-vertical display Multi-select box
Spoken Feedback	Record in browser
Text	Single-line text input Multi-line text input
Numeric	Text box Text box with range validation Slider

Sample Marking Options

Our marking schemes are very flexible and marking can be implemented in practically every way. Below are some popular marking schemes that give a flavour of what is possible. Marks can be assigned to each individual question or to a group of questions.

Single Criteria

In the example shown here, a marker listens online to three responses, then determines which grade best reflects the student’s overall performance and just clicks the radio button to apply that grade in respect of the 3 answers.

Audio Feedback

In this example markers listen to the audio response and then give a score out of 10 (or any other number). Written comment and/or audio feedback can also be left for the student. This can be very useful for addressing particular issues, for example, a candidate that may tend to mis-pronounce a particular word.

Multiple Criteria

This enables the marker to listen to the response and then assign an individual grade for each of a number of elements. For a language assignment these may be based on fluency, comprehensibility and coherence.

Checkboxes

By using checkboxes, innovative assessments can be created where a candidate listens to a story and then retells that story as best they can. The marker uses check boxes to indicate if key elements were included in the student’s versions. Scores are based then on the numbers of boxes that have been checked.

Showing the marking scheme (Rubric)

By clicking the (i) icon, markers and students can view the description of each grade and the requirements needed to achieve a particular grade. The option to show the information to candiates can be disabled.

If you would like to talk to us about your marking requirements, please do Contact Us.

Mobile Phones Set to Eliminate the Digital Divide

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:58:00 -0000

A recent article in The Journal claims that within five years, every K-12 student in America will be using a mobile handheld device as a part of learning.

This is according to Elliot Soloway a professor at the University of Michigan and founding CEO of GoKnow an education consultancy.

Soloway makes compelling points in support of the claim, which resonate with many of the findings from the Learnosity Voice customer projects.

With the falling cost of both devices and phone usage fees, he claims that it will be possible for every child, rich or poor, to have a mobile phone 24/7.

Phones are relevant to students; they themselves are already bringing the devices to school. As users they are already highly competent so the learning curve is low.

Portability is key and Soloway claims that this is a more important factor than screen size, battery life and keyboard size. Students are comfortable with using devices of this size and, as smaller people, the devices are in proportion.

Phones are the technology of today, and by using them in learning we are preparing students for 21st century life. Soloway encourages schools to adopt mobile phones into learning and teaching in order to benefit from the enormous advantages of mobile technologies.

Study Reveals that Testing is a Better way to Learn.

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:24:00 -0000

Testing helps students learn and works better than some other well known methods, this is according to a recent article in the New York Times , which features research by Purdue University, Indiana. (Registration may be needed to read article).

The study looked at three learning methods – repeated studying, drawing detailed diagrams, known also as concept mapping, and finally retrieval practice testing.

The piece is an interesting read and shares some fascinating insights including ;

Students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods.

Concept mapping and repeated studying seem to give students the illusion that they know material better than they do.

In explaining why practice testing is so effective in learning, Robert Bjork, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said, “What we recall becomes more recallable in the future. In a sense you are practicing what you are going to need to do later.”

Learnosity provides OnScreen practice testing for large organisations such as the New South Wales Board of Studies. In this deployment we deliver multiple choice questions with graphic reference content, across 34 subjects, to both a home and a classroom environment.

The project proved a phenomenal success with a total of over 12 million tests taken online since its launch in 2006.