21st Century Language Learning

Most language labs can send, collect and manage audio and video files from teacher to student, however there are some extra and very important features that any discerning teacher / procurer should look for which will increase student attainment and engagement, these are particularly around clear audio, increased functionality and product future proofing and being accessed from anywhere on a local or wide area network.

Here to help you is a list of 15 key functions that highlight these attributes

1. There is no discernible ‘lag’ between a teacher and multiple students talking to each other
2. The ‘Collect work’ function should be simple and easy to implement.
3. There should be a file association functionality
4. New student pairing can be added without having to restart the lesson
5. There should be an ‘Automatic Comparative Recording’ (ACR) facility on the student player
6. There should be a  ‘text chat’ in pairs
7. There should be a ‘real time’ recording between teacher and student
8. The teacher console should be able to send multiple files to a student desktop
9. There should be a disable windows function from teacher console to any designated student desktop
10. There should be an extensive bookmarking functionality on the student software
11. On the student client software extra audio can be added by ‘right click, insert, record’
12. Audio can be easily extracted from video files
13. The teacher interface is simple
14. The teacher can control audio files after they have been sent to students
15. The teacher can open and close files for individual students