One of the biggest improvements in the new site is lesson review. In the existing site, the audio file and the lesson discussion are on one page:
and the vocabulary, expansion and exercises are on another.
Quite frankly, this is awkward so we have decided to put everything together.
The primary lesson page (above) will be open to all users, irregardless of login status.
On the left-hand side you can see the lesson title and the ability to rank the lesson in terms of quality (available to logged in users only). Below the lesson photo there is an audio player that can play both the full episode (available to all users) or a dialogue-only version (available to premium users). Below the player we have topic, function and grammar tags similar to the existing site (note: John is updating the grammar tags which will link to the more detailed grammar guide). Next, we have some meta-information about the lesson including the names of the hosts. Then MP3 download links for the full episode and dialogue-only version (for Premium subscribers). Finally, on the bottom left we have a new Flash lesson player, if you want to syndicate the lesson on your own blog or website.
On the right-hand side, we have the lesson introduction and comments. Anyone can view the comments, but only logged in users can post comments. We have also added individual RSS feeds for the comments of each lesson. Finally, at the top of the right-column is the lesson status where you can see whether or not the lesson has been previously studied and also the place to bookmark the lesson for future study.
Dialogue
Much like our current site, here we break down the core dialogue of the lesson. Individual words can be left-clicked and saved and this is also where the printable PDF (for Basic and Premium users) can be found.
Vocabulary
We have made a few changes in the vocabulary section. First, Connie’s daily supplementary vocabulary has been moved here so it can be more easily saved. Second, we have added checkboxes and ‘Add All’ buttons to make saving vocabulary easier.
Exercises
The original lessons were built into static Flash files which made updates and changes very difficult. We have re-done all the lessons, dynamically generating them from lesson content (thank David) and displaying them with Flash Remoting. In addition, John has designed 10 exercise templates (7 of which are new) which will be appearing in upcoming lessons.
Hank.
Next Post: Lesson Archive & Lesson Re-Indexing
That all looks very promising indeed and I can’t wait for it to be implemented. I soon have to make a decision about extending my subscription and between a basic and a premium one. These new feature may tilt the balance over to the premium side.
You haven’t said anything about the expansion section though. Did that get an overhaul as well? What will it look like after implementing v3? To be honest it has always been a bit of a soar spot for me. Learning additional vocabulary and structures from the “static” expansion page involves a lot of work with in my opinion little gain.
Lesson page looks awesome.
… still in utter shock that 500 podcasts isn’t mentioned on the front page though.
Apologies, but I also instantly thought Cingular Wireless.
Hello. As a mere “Basic” subscriber (ie., podcasts pdfs only), I’d be very sorry if ever it became impossible for me to download at least this very basic information from your “home page”, but had to go deeper, into the “lesson page” in order to download the pdf.
As an Intermediate/ Upper Intermediate student, I really appreciate being able to skim, and “dip” with ease into, the basic materials for the most current lessons.
**Regardless of level**. Quite often, I dip into the current Elementary (or even Newbie) level lessons, because the subject matter looks interesting. And I imagine that I would also like to dip into current “Advanced” lessons from time to time as well, even if my Mandarin may not be quite up to the level.
In my humble opinion, being able to dip easily both “below” as well as “above” my current level makes a huge difference in language learning. The more advanced material sort of pulls me along, and it also provides motivation. At the same time, you’ve done a great job making the CONTENT of your lower levels so original that I almost always find it worth it to downlad and read at least the pdf for Newbie lessons.
Just in case I have misunderstood the structural changes you are explaining to us, could you please assure me that the “home” page will still carry the “headlines” of all the most current lessons (including the pdfs audio), so that I can continue to skim them and dip in and out as things catch my eye, regardless of level?
I am asking because I noticed that the User’s login info at the top of the lesson page now has a label for the User’s level. I am not sure that it is a good idea for a User to label himself or herself. On the one hand, it can promote focus and concentration, but on the other hand it can be self-limiting. When you are talking about something as unique and intuitive as language-learning, this can have an enormous impact on progress, either way.
Thank you!
Auntie
By the way, I think that both the pdfs and the audio are equally important, but I wonder whether any other users also tend to use them differently depending on whether they are going “down” or “up” from their current level.
Eg., for the Newbie and Elementary lessons, my starting point is the pdfs, and I only go on to listen to the audio if there’s a vocab or grammar point that is really useful for me.
But at the time when the “Upper Intermediate” lessons were still a bit too difficult for me, I would always listen to the audio FIRST. And if — and only if — I could spare the time (or was feeling in the mood for a challenge), THEN I would go into the pdf and do the lesson “properly”. This was not always on the same day that I first heard the lesson.
The point is that I didn’t tackle the Upper Intermediate lessons in a linear fashion when I was still easing into that level. Quite often, I would listen first, something would stick in my mind, and a couple of days later (or a few “Intermediate” lessons later), I would have a go at the pdfs.
Have a nice day, all, and thanks for all the work you are putting into the brilliant V3!
New exercises, expanded vocab section…you make me counting days here!
I am really curious how this format will look like for an Advanced show. You should really put up a sample screenshot for those, too.
The good old banners have a format that does not fit the new layout….will they all be discarded? Some of those definately look as if a lot of work has been put into into them, very well done. Too bad if they are now just being thrown away. Maybe you should have some sort of “museum-page” for this kind of stuff.
On a sidenote: I bet the lesson on borrowing and returning hamsters will be published on Sunday in three weeks (beginning of next month).
ZINGER - I think you guys/gals really hit a good one on this. I’m pretty sure it will help facilitate me into doing more review.
More review is something I want to do, but quite frankly, my fingers are too lazy to click over in the current design, and I get distracted by browsing all the latest comments…in various lessons.
It looks like the flow here will definitely help me focus for a little while longer on each lesson. There’s a saying ‘be careful what you ask for, you might get it.’ I ‘think’ I might like a final tab in that page, discussion-dialogue-expansion-exercise-COMMUNITY
The community tab would take me to a page where I see other new comments, maybe other stuff. You know, to keep me going. I’m not sure I’d like a going back and forth from review page-community page, it would be nice to flow smoothly thru those tabs in a nice loop.
And I think it’d be a pretty easy design change to add before the implementation of v3…..
>You haven’t said anything about the expansion section though. Did that get an overhaul as well? What will it look like after implementing v3? To be honest it has always been a bit of a soar spot for me. Learning additional vocabulary and structures from the “static” expansion page involves a lot of work with in my opinion little gain.>
Well opinions may differ, and I suppose that this has to do with learning styles. I love the expansion module, it is really what cements all the new vocabulary and phrases into my brain. I usually spend more that 2 hours on this section alone, repeating, writing down the sentences as I listen to them, etc. So I hope that this section will not change too much. There is room for improvement, like a download link for all the sentences in one mp3 with puses for repeating. It would save me the trouble to do this work myself.
I am looking forward to more exercises. Up till now the exercises were very basic and I only used them at the very end to check if I really acquired the content of the lesson.
Marc in Belgium
I’d like to second mark and say that I find the expansion section extrememly valuable. I only wish that there was an option to hide either the Chinese or the English, so that I could translate from one to the other on my own before seeing the answer. Right now I have to move the window so that half of it falls off the side of the screen.
I’m still a bit freaked out by that white hamster. Looks like something out of “The Ring”…..
First, I love your attention to detail, pursuit of quality, and your feedback-induced evolution.
我佩服你們看前不只看錢。
Wǒ pèifu nǐmen kàn qián bùzhǐ kàn qián.
Another probable reason you’re getting so few hits on the Advanced lessons is that they’re pretty off-putting for anyone wanting to delve into lessons above their level (or even relatively AT their level). Pinyin transcriptions and English translations need to be at least a mouse click away for those who need and want it. Don’t put it on the same page, for those who like the challenge of gleaning meaning, but make it an option. This last bit might be considered for all levels. One of the onerous things about learning Chinese is looking things up in a dictionary; it really slows down the learning process.
Remember the mantra:
Comprehensible input.
P.S. IMHO, I’d lose the Cingular logo.
我佩服你們看前不只看錢。
sounds great! anxious to see it in action!
from brazil
> I usually spend more that 2 hours on this section alone, repeating, writing down the sentences as I listen to them, etc.
马赛儿,
Expansion section will remain pretty much the same.
Auntie,
1) We will be adding the PDF’s to the private RSS feeds to make it easier to receive them.
2) The Explore Lesson section should make it easier to browse and dip into lessons of varying difficulty.
I also agree with David on the hamster - starting to mess with my head as well after looking at it so long.
It’ll be interesting to see how v3.0 looks when it comes out. I have one suggestion though (and I recommend forwarding it to all the CPod staff):
That’s a GUINEA PIG in the picture, not a hamster.
Guinea Pigs are much larger than hamsters, bodies full of hair when they’re born, and squeal a lot.
http://www.answers.com/topic/guinea-pig
Hamsters are small and naked when they’re born.
http://www.answers.com/hamster
Guinea pig in Chinese is 天竺鼠 tian1zhu2shu3
Hamster in Chinese is 仓鼠 cang1shu3
>Expansion section will remain pretty much the same.
So no audio-download as one MP3-file yet?
No additional loudspeaker-icons at phrasing pauses in between long sentences? That would make some material accessible to people from lower levels… of course I understand if you think we should first work on existing material within our current level in order to reach the higher level, but this will take very long and sometimes there are really so useful sentences - which I could grasp and tackle if I’d get them in ~3-second-portions.
So there will be something to expect for V4 concerning the expansion section?
I am looking forward very much to the new exercise layouts! The current 3 versions do not prove for me if I have learned, they are usually too easy to guess.
Will you add those new exercises to old content, too? Then I would use it to test how much need of repetition I have for past lessons.
I would not label myself with a level. I think it is human to be curious about new content rather than existing. Even if it is way beyond my Mandarin level I can always just look at the English part in the pdf as well as in the expansion section to get some of the cultural input.
How will the dialogue only MP3 work? Will it be just the mandarin dialogue from the full version or will it include a translation? Sometimes I download a bunch of these (even if I have not done the exercise) to listen to offline, so in my case a translation would be nice.
Also, would it be possible to include the sentences from the expansion in this type of version for the future?
Hamster… guinea pig… you *must* find a way to keep the guinea pig graphic somewhere on the site. It could be a site easter egg!
Not too sure whether to post here or under Vocabulary Study Tools but to expand on 海宁 / Henning’s question I am really curious how this format will look like for an Advanced show., will there be Supplementary Vocabulary in the Advanced section too?
To me, the ‘banter’ is where I get most value, and meticulously checking this supplementary vocab (quite a lot in Advanced) is what lead me to give the full transcripts a try.
Yv