Teachers can use it to create various quizzes and exercises, including multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering, and fill-in-the-blank. Also, the exercises will be uploaded to WWW so that they can be widely-spread.
Different from the tools I previously introduced, Hot Potatoes is a program that you should be download and install on your PC first. Here are the links:
Windows: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/setup_hotpot_6305.exe
Mac: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/javahotpot61.zip
No registration is required so far. After installing it onto your PC, you can explore and try it freely.
JCloze -- fill-in-the-blank
In this post, I'm going to show you how to use JCloze to create a fill-in-the-blank exercise. The link to the exercise I made is here: http://goo.gl/s0S4feTo create a cloze quiz, the prerequisite is text. The article I used here is extracted from my former post.
After putting in the text and title, you can start "digging" some gaps. Just highlight your targets and push the buttons below, and you can make it as you wish. In my example, I used Auto-Gap, which is convenient. All I did was deciding the distance between one gap and another.
This is what I got first. It's convenient for a teacher to make exercises like this, but it doesn't mean the result is exactly suitable for students to practice. For instance, some blanks may be too ambiguous, and the context around the blank may also lack helpful information to get the answer. Therefore, teachers should be cautious of the feasibility and suitability of the exercises for the students. Exploiting the convenience, teachers are supposed to bring their profession knowledge into full play.
After saving the project, you can choose to upload it to WWW. You have to create a demo account, which you only need to decide on a username and secure the password right afterward. You are not required for any other personal information.
At last, you can keep the link to the exercise you made and spread it through the blog, email, twitter, etc.
Other types of quizzes are demonstrated below. (Most tutorials on the official site are invalid, so I search for some videos in English, hoping they will help.)
JCross -- crossword puzzle
JMatch -- matching/ordering quiz
JMix -- jumbled sentences
JQuiz -- multiple choice
You can make as many individual exercises as you want. If you want the quizzes/exercises with a core theme to form a whole, then try The Masher.
It's quite powerful and versatile, isn't it? However, being not very eye-catching is the "mortal wound" of Hot Potatoes. It is useful to make online quizzes, which are pretty "portable." You can bring it to the classroom to do formative assessment; otherwise, students can do it outside the classroom as practice. Without many dazzling special effects, it can be run faster on computers. Admittedly, it can be boring for students to do and even for teachers to make the quizzes. Since it is free, don't be too harsh, blaming it on non-charmingness. :P
Hi James - The notional essence of a hot potato is that you want to get rid of it, and pass it onto somebody else as quickly as possible. At first glance, this site looks to be of that ilk. However when digging deeper, like you explained, there are a lot of interesting things that you can bring into and outside the ELT classroom. This site is living proof that you should never judge a book by its cover, and I think you get that point that across very well. Gary
回覆刪除Hi Gary
回覆刪除WOW! I didn't notice this pun in the name. I was just wondering why the hand can hold a hot potato so tight, thinking the "hot" representing "popular." Thank you for the reference! I guess it somewhat implies the fact that people can pass the "potatoes" over fast.
Thanks,
James