Web development to support innovative online language learning and teaching

The iSLCOLLECTIVE team is constantly looking for innovative technology solutions that can make multimedia-enabled language learning and online language learning even more attractive. That’s why they launched their portal video quiz creation and sharing platform nearly 3 years ago, which Cheppers has been involved in developing since 2018. The solutions we have developed are expected to increase the number of visitors as well as the number of published video study materials.

Challenge

Handling

From the data related to the visit as well as the information from the user feedback, it became clear that the website cannot be used smoothly from a mobile device. Creating the responsiveness of the video quiz editor and playback interface was designed to improve manageability. Improvements made by Cheppers provided a solution for easy creation, playback and later editing of video lessons, as well as features that enhance user interactions. Responsiveness and manageability are provided by the Laravel framework used for backend-side development of the portal and React-based units that provide front-end functionality.

Video quiz

Language teachers can take their finished video lessons with them to the lessons: these can be projected on a big screen or work with them using a smart device, or they can even give them as homework for their students. It is the task of the students to answer the interactive questions that pop up while watching the videos. The solution is based on videos uploaded to the largest video platforms (Youtube, Vimeo) and subtitles are generated by Youtube. Instructors can also compile their task sets using the text caption of the videos through the editing interface (e.g., what name was spoken?, what color is the lady’s coat?, etc.). The system places the created interactive questions on the embedded Youtube videos as a layer. The final set of questions is published by teachers on the iSLCOLLECTIVE video quiz platform, making the interface a content-sharing portal where teachers ultimately help each other in addition to themselves.

Auto quiz

One of the special features of the development is the auto quiz, i.e. machine quiz generation, which compiles a complete quiz at the touch of a button on a topic selected by teachers, to improve vocabulary or grammar from the structured data of the processed video texts. Of course, instructors have the opportunity to modify the sets of questions generated by the system individually. Machine automation is under constant development, and iSLCOLLECTIVE will ensure that more and more sophisticated tests with auto quiz are put together in the future, making the work of teachers even easier.

Innovative task types

Of particular interest is the fact that the tests do not only consist of the usual questions: innovative question types such as Listen and tap are available (we see 10 words on the screen, and the language learner has to click on each one when the word is first spoken in the video) or Tappable pictionary (the video stops several times and the student has to click on the given object in the stopped video image).

Teacher-student collaboration

ISLCOLLECTIVE is constantly working to expand the video quiz portal with features that support ever closer and more effective collaboration between teachers and students. In the project, we implemented it so that instructors could compile homework assignments and send personalized assessments to language learners who solved the quizzes. Students can store their responses to each test through their profile and share it with their teacher so they can track their individual progress together.

Results

During the 5-month project, which required a total of 1,200 man-hours, Cheppers performed development, testing and project management tasks. Since the arming of the video quiz platform, instructors have shared 7,000 video language lessons, which have been solved by language learners nearly 3 million times so far. ISLCOLLECTIVE believes that their web service will have an impact on changes in the language teaching tools currently used and the methodology used. And the feedback speaks for itself!
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“This tool is seriously amazing!” – Amy Whitney
“What a gold mine!” – Larry Ferlazzo