Randall Davis English Language Institute, University of Utah Email: eslrandall@yahoo.

com

The ABCs of Authoring Online Listening Activities

Creating listening activities for Web-based learning involves both pedagogical and technological considerations. In some wa s! technolog is light ears of our efforts to effectivel craft them for teaching and learning purposes. Therefore! tr ing to blend both concerns is paramount for success. "ere are some considerations in integrating technolog with pedagog .

The ABCs of Authoring Online Listening Activities

1. Identify Your Audience and Prepare Your Content# The

first step is to identif who ou are targeting in preparing online content. $ou don%t want to recreate something alread done! nor do ou want to prepare multimedia that can%t be used easil b our audience due to limitations in Internet connectivit issues. &earch the Internet first and see what is alread out there. With our audience in mind! additional issues ou will need to consider include the t pes of e'ercises ou create! the levels of our audience! and how ou write the scenarios for the listening activities. Whatever direction ou decide! follow the police of L(&& is )O*(. In other words! don%t let the glit+ of Webpage design overshadow our content.

2. Recording and Editing# Once ou have carefull considered our audience and written our
content! ou need to record and edit our media files. As part of this process! ou need to prepare our ,recording- studio which might include a couple of microphones! shielded audio cables! recording software .e.g.! audacit .sourceforge.net or nch.com.au/wavepad0! and a homemade pop screen .for reducing pops and hisses in the recordings0. 1. Encoding Media Files# 2ow! ou need to encode the audio files into our preferred format which might depend on our audience and the pla er software the have installed on their computers. Two ma3or formats include Windows )edia4 .www.microsoft.com0 and *eal)edia4 .www.real.com0. Other options include 5uic6Time4 and )71. 8eep in mind that audio prepared for high-speed connections will download li6e molasses through a straw on slow! dial-up connections. 9. Putting Media Online# If ou are creating our own Website outside of our regular 3ob! then ou probabl need to have our sited hosted b an independent compan . In other words! ou need a Web host which will allow ou to put our files on one of their servers so people can have access to our Webpages. The challenge is finding one that will be here toda A2: tomorrow because these t pes of companies come and go. Consider a compan ou can call toll-free ;9/< with a complete mone -bac6 guarantee! so ou can get help when problems arise.

Davis, R. S. ( !! ". #o$ to %uild a multimedia $e%site for language study. &he Internet &ESL 'ournal, (( ". URL: htt):**itesl+.org*&echni,ues*Davis-.ultimediaSite

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)ultimedia Web &ites for Improving Listening Comprehension &6ills

These sites represent a ver small collection of multimedia resources on the Internet.
3 media format 4 online use and*or do$nloada%le 4 level 5

ESL Oriented 0rea6ing English - .news and commentaries0 http#//www.brea6ingnewsenglish.com = )71 > download > intermediate to advanced ?

General Audience 001 <orld Service http#//www.bbc.co.u6/worldservice/learningenglish/ = *eal > online > beginning to advanced ? Digital Story &elling http#//www.bbc.co.u6/wales/digitalstor telling = *eal > online > beginning to advanced ? #istory /nd 7olitics 2ut Loud @ .famous speeches0 http#//www.hpol.org = *eal > online > advanced ? Living on Earth @ .environmental issues0 http#//www.loe.org/ = *eal / )71 > download > advanced ? =ational >eogra)hic http#//pulseplanet.nationalgeographic.com = *eal / Win > online > beginning to advanced ? =ational 7u%lic Radio @ http#//npr.com = *eal / Win > online > beginning to advanced ? 2nline =e$s#our http#//www.pbs.org/newshour/newshourBinde'.html = *eal / Win > online > beginning to advanced ? 7ulse of the 7lanet @ .nature and science0 http#//www.pulseplanet.com = )71 > download > advanced ? Radio Diaries - http#//www.radiodiaries.org = *eal / )71 > download > advanced ? Sound 7ortraits @ :ocumentaries of ever da people http#//www.soundportraits.org = *eal > online > intermediate to advanced ? ?oice of /merica S)ecial English @ http#//www.voanews.com/specialenglish/ = *eal / )71 > download > advanced ? Music and Songs

Daily ESL @ .ever da conversation topics0 http#//www.dail esl.com = Win > online > high beginning to intermediate ? Encarta Dictionary - .dictionar with audio0 http#//encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionar / dictionar home.asp' = )71 > online > all levels > English Language Listening La% 2nline http#//www.elllo.org = Alash! )71 > online-download > beginning to advanced ? English Listening Lounge @ .unscripted interviews0 http#//www.englishlistening.com = Alash > online > beginning to advanced ?

ESL 7odcast @ http#//www.eslpod.com = )71 > download > intermediate to advanced ? Evie$s @ http#//www.eviews.net .interviews0 = )71 > download > intermediate to advanced ? E8 Slang.com @ .dail conversation with idioms0 http#//www.e+slang.com = Win > online > intermediate to advanced ? 9oneti6s @ .pronunciation0 http#//www.foneti6s.org 9ocus on English @ .conversational (nglish0 http#//www.focusenglish.com = *eal > online > beginning to advanced ? Learn a Song 7odcast @ .fol6 songs0 http#//www.man things.org/songs = Alash > online > beginning to intermediate ? Learning Resources @.news stories0 http#//literac net.org/cnnsf/home.html = *eal > online > intermediate to advanced ? Randall:s ESL 1y%er Listening Lab @ http#//www.esl-lab.com =*eal / Win > online > all levels ?

=ational Institute of Environmental #ealth Sciences @idsA 7age - http#//www.niehs.nih.gov/6ids/music.htm = midi > online > beginning @ intermediate ? ;ahooB Launch - www.launch.com = Win > online > beginning to advanced ? )icrosoft @ http#//www.microsoft.com *eal2etwor6s @ http#//www.real.com &ana6o @ http#//www.sana6o.com

English &railers @ .movie previews0 http#//www.english-trailers.com = 5uic6Time > online > intermediate to advanced ? &rain ;our /ccent @ .accent reduction training0 http#//www.train ouraccent.com = Win > online > intermediate to advanced ?

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