Wida Software Ltd's Program for Language Teaching. listed for information only
Wida's Authoring Suite Version 2 for Windows
Wida's Authoring Suite enables language teachers to write their own computer assisted language learning materials. This programme combines 7 of Wida's well-established authoring programmes into a single integrated package to work under Windows 3.1, Windows 95 / 98 and Windows NT4, Windows 2000. ME, XP
Wida's Authoring suite places the strongest emphasis on text-based exercises and sound / picture enhancements comes second. However, text based exercises can now be enhanced by video, still picture, sound clips plus Rich Text formatting.
One still picture, one video clip, and one sound clip can be attached to the exercise as a whole, and each gap, or question item can also have its own associated sound clip or picture as well as a text-based hint.
Graphics: Teachers can attach pictures to the exercise as a whole and to individual questions, gaps or items. To create pictures you need a standard paint programmes such as MSPaint or a scanner capable of producing pictures in bitmap (.bmp) format. Pictures can be in .bmp format created with standard Windows Paint programs
Sounds: a sound clip can be attached to the exercise as a whole and to the individual questions, gaps or items. To use sound you connect a standard cassette recorder to the line-input socket of the sound card at the back of your computer and use the standard digitising and editing software that comes with your sound card e.g. Wave Edit (.wav files) to import and edit the sound. Sound is best created off-computer on tape and then transferred to the computer (digitised) using the standard sound editing program that comes with your Sound Card, such as WaveEdit (.wav files).
Video
sequences (.avi files) can be attached to an exercise
directly from an existing cd-rom, without the need to copy them
on to the hard disk or else transferred from a single camcorder
video tape using a special analog to digital converter card such
as VideoLogic, and then edited using a full low cost version of
Video for Windows produced by Microsoft. If you don't need these
enhancements you can do without them because in language learning
words should come first.
Glossaries: Students can use a Glossary made by
the teacher which can be attached to one or a number of exercises
and which students can consult.
Rich Text: the appearance of text - in introductions, help screens, etc can be improved by the use of colour, different fonts, different sizes, emboldening, italics, underlining etc
Notepad:
students can take notes while doing an exercise which can be
printed or saved. these can also be used to leave messages for
the supervisor.
When authoring with text and only a modest number of pictures, a
hard disk will probably be adequate. Sound and videos take up too
much of hard disk storage space and even a huge hard disk is
unlikely to be enough.
From 2002 when you acquire
the Wida Authoring Suite Version 2 only 1 cd-rom will be provided.
It contains all the required the softwares, samples and manuals. You need a fairly
powerful PC, a fast 486 with at least 64 MB of RAM
& 10 MB of free HDD space running on Windows 95 / 98 /NT4 / 2000 / ME / XP and Sound Blaster
compatible sound card are desirable. Intranet (Novell) compatible.
The basic bundled licence for all the 7 programmes present in
Wida's Authoring Suite is UKP 475.00 for upto 5
concurrent users and the extended price for upto 25 concurrent
users is UKP 915.00 Apply to us for special licensing
arrangement if you need to cover a larger number of concurrent
users. e.g. Wide Area Network Licence for the whole institution would cost
UKP 2375 per site. Air
shipping is UKP 36.00 . If individual titles are
acquired each cost UKp 75.00 for the basic licence and UKp 150.00
for the extended licence. For users of WIDA Version 1 the upgrade charges are:
Bundled Basic 7 titles for up to 5 concurrent users UKP252 and Bundled Extended
7 titles upto 25 concurrent users UKP504. Per title Basic 5 users is UKP 40 and
per title Extended 25 users is UKP 80
Basic Licence: You are permitted to use the
software on a maximum or 5 computers, or onto a network
comprising not more than 5 computers , excluding the file server.
All the computers must be located on a single physical site. The
type of licence is stated in the start up screen.
Extended Site Licence: You are permitted to use
the software on a maximum of 25 computers whether standalone or
on a network on a single campus site.
Multiple copies of the Authoring Suite CD-ROM are essential when working on many standalone multimedia stations or when the network system is not powerful enough to deliver the video and sound clips simultaneously to many stations. These additional CD-ROM are available at UKP 10.00 each disc + UKP 8.00 for air shipping
Wida's Authoring Suite - Version II compatible for use with Windows XP
What does Wida's Authoring Suite II have to offer?
- New look and feel
Both Teacher and Student programs have been given an extensive face-lift. The 'flow' of the Student program has also been redesigned for maximum simplicity and clarity.
- More multimedia formats
You can now attach more picture, sound and video formats. These include .jpg, .wmf, .emf, .gif and .bmp (pictures); .mp3, .aif, .asf, .mid and .wav (sounds); .mpeg, .mpg, .mov and .avi (video).
- Multimedia glossaries
Glossary entries can now feature pictures (useful for objects, actions, etc.) and sounds (useful as a pronunciation guide).
- Improved word-processing features
In continuous texts (Introductions, Help pages, and Gapmaster and Storyboard texts) teachers can now draw tables, insert pictures, and set margins, tabs and line spacing. You can use tables for displaying information in Help pages, and (in Gapmaster) for table-completion tasks.
- Extended student printing
The Student Print facility (if switched on by the teacher) allows learners to select - and preview - elements to print, including introduction and help pages.
- Maximised Student screen
Teachers can set the Student program to 'maximised', if they don't want learners distracted by other things on the computer desktop.
- Item choice in Snap and Memory
When using Matchmaster files with more than 10 pairs of items, students can now select the items they want to work with (or they can ask for a random selection).
- Word-list feature in Vocab
Vocab has a new help feature: an alphabetical list of all the items, which learners can call up at any time. This feature can be switched on or off by the teacher.