ICT in Collaborative, Project-Based Teaching and Learning Malta, Summer 2013

Course Participants Reference Notes

The Hot Potatoes software suite includes five applications that can construct exercises and are very simple to create. You dont need to be a computer programmer to use this software. The applications are JCloze, JCross, JMatch, JMix and JQuiz and all these can be very helpful to teachers who want to create their own exercises. There is also a sixth application called The Masher, that will compile all the Hot Potatoes exercises into one unit. Hot Potatoes is freeware, and you may use it for any purpose or project you like. To download Hot Potatoes simply go to: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/#downloads , download and install the software (which will take just a few minutes) and start creating exercises. ______________________________________________________________________________

General Features
There are some buttons on the top menu that can be found in all (or almost all) the 5 applications. These are some of them: 1) 2) 3) 4) The Save Button: This will save you current exercise as a Hot Potatoes file. The Export Button: This will create a Hot Potatoes Web Page. The Insert Picture Button: This will insert a picture by copying the Web URL. The Insert Picture Button: This will insert a picture from your hard drive.

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JCloze
The JCloze program creates gap-fill exercises. Unlimited correct answers can be specified for each gap, and the student can ask for a hint and see a letter of the correct answer. A specific clue can also be included for each gap. Automatic scoring is also included. The program allows gapping of selected words, or the automatic gapping of every nth word in a text. Once you write your paragraph in the provided space, you need to select the words that will be hidden for your students. You have to highlight these words and choose Gap for each word. Its important to add a clue, so that if the students have difficulties in finding a particular word, they can ask for a clue to help them. In this way you can add as many words as you like for your JCloze. If you want to delete a chosen word, just select that word and click on Delete Gap. The Clear Gaps button will delete all the gaps. The Auto-Gap button creates a gap automatically every specific number of words you decide to give.

JCross
The JCross program creates crossword puzzles which can be completed online. You can use a grid of virtually any size. As in JQuiz and JCloze, a hint button allows the student to request a free letter if help is needed. Underneath Title you can write a title for your crossword puzzle. Then, just start writing words in the grid (one letter in each box) as shown in the picture below. You can write horizontally or vertically. For each word, you have to write a clue. Just click on the Add Clues button and a dialog box will appear.

Click on a word that you have in this dialog box and in the space provided write down a clue and click Ok. Make sure you write a clue for each word, otherwise the crossword puzzle wont work.

JMatch
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The JMatch program creates matching or ordering exercises. A list of fixed items appears on the left (these can be pictures or text), with jumbled items on the right. This can be used for matching vocabulary to pictures or translations, or for ordering sentences to form a sequence or a conversation.

You can start this exercise by writing a title on top and then start writing a word or insert a picture in the left column. The matching word should be inserted in the column on the right. When the exercise is processed in a web file, the system will take care to jumble up all the words in the column on the right. For this program, there are two options for you to process the exercise in a web file; you can choose the classic Export to create a version 6 Web page (shortcut: F6) or you can create a Drag and drop Web page.

JMix
The JMix program creates jumbled-sentence exercises. You can specify as many different correct answers as you want, based on the words and punctuation in the base sentence, and a hint button prompts the student with the next correct word or segment of the sentence if needed.

The method is very simple. You write a title next to Title. Then write your sentences in order under Main Sentence, pressing the enter key after every sentence so that you start a new line for each sentence as you can see in the diagram. If there are any alternate, correct answers, you can type them under Alternate Sentences.

JQuiz
The JQuiz program creates question-based quizzes. Questions can be of four different types: multiple-choice, short-answer, hybrid and multi-select. These can be selected from the top-right corner of your screen as seen in the diagram. Specific feedback can be
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provided both for right answers and predicted wrong answers or distractors. In short-answer questions, the student's guess is intelligently parsed and helpful feedback to show what part of a guess is right and what part is wrong. The student can ask for a hint in the form of a "free letter" from the answer.

The process is quite simple. First, you have to give a title to your quiz. Then, you have to write the question next to Q1 or Q2 etc. etc. Next, you write a number of possible answers, including the correct answer. Dont forget to tick the correct answer from the right hand part of the screen. Finally, you can add feedback or additional information in the appropriate box underneath Feedback.

N.B. The Hybrid question is a combination of a multiple-choice question and a short-answer question. In this type of question, the student is first presented with a text box and asked to type the answer. However, if the student fails to get the answer right after a specified number of tries (which you can configure in the configuration screen), the question changes to a multiple-choice question to make it easier.

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