CALICO Software Review CALICO Journal, Volume 21 Number 2, pp. 458-469 VTrain 4.0 (Vocabulary Trainer) Olaf Böhlke - Creighton University Product at a glance Product type Multimedia Drill & Practice authoring tool; Multimedia Drill & Practice vocabulary training Language Authoring program Version 4 has English, German, and Spanish interface; Exercises/dictionaries can be created in almost any language. Free dictionaries can be downloaded from VTrain's website in more than 40 languages. Level Authoring level suitable for computer users at any level, contents can be created for any subject at any level; Training mode interface suitable for adolescents and adults at any level. Activities Drill & practice. Supports multimedia. Paired- associate items, multiple choice items, sentence- completion items, short-answer items. Media Format Web download of program and dictionaries Operating VTrain 4.0 for 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP (Service System: Pack required for Windows 98 First Edition) Windows only VTrain 1.6 in German for Windows 3.1 & 3.11 Hardware IBM-compatible 386+ requirements Faster processor recommended for 1000+ PC flashcard decks and multimedia. Optional printer to print cutout flashcards or vocabulary lists. RAM 4 MB RAM Hard Disk Space 8 MB for program, more for additional flashcard decks. Sound SoundBlaster compatible sound card, optional microphone Video SVGA video card, 24-bit recommended Supplementary Free WClip available soon: Software formerlyClip2VTrain (copy&paste program to clip vocabulary and export it into VTrainwhen authoring a flashcard deck) On-line Help File has User's Guide and step-by-step Documentation Getting Started Guide, Tip-of-the-day at startup, Context-sensitive help, and Clue Cards. Price: Single User Shareware, free for 30 hours. $15 US or 15 Euros for private use. Multiple Copies Contact author for possible free site license for Site License schools, universities and other academic entities. Distribution Commercial use only with prior written Rights permission. Exact copy of program can be distributed freely. VTrain flashcard decks can be downloaded and used for not-for-profit purposes. General Description VTrain is an authoring program and vocabulary trainer for drill & practice exercises. Itincludes an impressive list of features and a generally user- friendly interface and context-sensitive help (F1). The ease of use and support for more than 40 languages has apparently attracted many users who in turn submit and share their VTrain-authored flashcard decks for free on the VTrain website. These flashcard decks include not only the more commonly taught world languages, but also languages like Cheyenne, Cherokee, Aymara, Swahili, Afrikaans, Esperanto, Latin, Basque, Maltese and many more. The website has abundant information on Windows language support issues like fonts and keyboard mapping. The drill & practice format in VTrain also supports flashcard decks for mathematics, psychology, law, geography etc.. The library of downloadable flashcard decks is growing. Learners for any subject or field of knowledge can implement exercises in formats like paired-associate items, multiple-choice items, sentence-completion items, and short-answer items (Blignaut & Knoetze, 1999). The multimedia features available in VTrain enhance the common text-only drill & practice approach of other programs by supporting images, sounds, videos, diagrams, HTML, and text documents in Rich Text Format. The program supports OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) which allows the user to edit an object, e.g., a Microsoft Paint drawing (*.bmp) directly in VTrain, using the Microsoft Paint toolbar. Sound can either be recorded directly into VTrain, or it can be linked from external, pre-recorded sound files. Other powerful features include an automatic scheduling function for those learners who tend to procrastinate, several statistical graphs to track the learning process, a slideshow feature that presents items in a timed manner without user intervention (“flashing mode”), drag & drop during flashcard deck authoring across documents via MDI (multiple document interface), and a sorting feature. Users will appreciate the editable character map in a floating window and the fact that VTrain can automatically switch between fonts and keyboard layouts. Existing word lists can be imported from plain text files and vocabulary lists can be printed as a list or as cutout flashcards. VTrain's concept of authoring and presenting exercises to the user is structured on two levels. The top level contains the master items list or flashcard decks (*.vok), the lower level consists of cardfile boxes (*.bsy) which can be filled with items from as many flashcard deck files as desired. The cardfile is the basis for a training session during which the flashcards are presented one by one. This structure allows the user to compile a selection of vocabulary items that are currently of interest without editing or compromising the source of the items, i.e., the flashcard decks. Authors and teachers who plan to use the software from a centralized LAN server can even update and correct any file on-the-fly with the "Smart File Update." There is no printed manual available, but the on-line help menu offers many tips on features and theoretical background for this application, e.g., memory learning techniques like mnemonics and explorations into cognitive psychology (http://www.paul-raedle.de/vtrain/sci.htm). Some of the implemented features are based on such research and they will be discussed in detail below. Evaluation Technological Features Installation of this program is straightforward. Visit the website, click on the ‘download’ page and download the 3.4 MB program. Then run the installer. VTrain also comes with an uninstaller. If you plan to use a convenient copy & paste program for collecting vocabulary from other sources for use with VTrain, then download the free utility “WClip (Word Clipper)", which is said to be "available soon" according to the VTrain website 1. A step-by-step tutorial is available and clue cards supplement the tutorial to help the first-time user understand the important differences between flashcard decks and cardfiles, and about the program itself. After launching VTrain, a sample cardfile is loaded automatically. After clicking on the “filled” box with eleven flashcards, the training window appears, accompanied by a floating window character map with international letters for at least French, German, and Spanish. It is best to maximize the training window and resize the top frames to better see the text and image of a phone booth. The training window consists of three frames (two on top and one below). There are five navigation buttons below the bottom frame. As a convenient feature, the program offers keyboard shortcuts to all repetitive commands. Figure 1 below, taken from VTrain 3 (June 2002), shows VTrain in training session mode with the default cardfile loaded. A question, or in this case an image with caption appeared at the top left frame (Question: telephone booth with image). Figure 1 By clicking on the bottom frame, the user is able to type the answer and press <Ctrl + Enter> to check it. The default cardfile does not show any information about the target language on its first flashcard. Assuming sufficient familiarity with the nature of drill & practice programs, the reviewer began by translating “phone booth” into German (Telefonzelle), but after several wrong attempts, the cheating button was used and at this point it was clear that a translation into Spanish, not German was required. It would be helpful to indicate the target language before the first item appears in the sample cardfile. Testing the feedback capabilities, the reviewer typed various correct and incorrect answers. For example, “Una cabina telefonica” lacks the accent (telefónica) and uses the indefinite article, thus the feedback was “Well... 3 word(s) are missing or wrong.” Typing the accent correctly did not improve the feedback, but using “la” instead of “una” helped to reduce the feedback to “2 word(s) are missing or wrong.” Typing “la cabina de telefono” without an accent was evaluated as “still 1 word missing.” Apparently, the sample cardfile did not allow alternate correct responses. Furthermore, the user does not receive any help from the feedback, apart from being correct or incorrect. This may lead to initial frustration since “la cabina de telefono” is very close to the correct answer, yet the feedback does not differentiate between a missing accent and an incorrect lexical choice. The user does not even receive a pointer to figure out which of the four words is wrong. However, given the nature of this drill & practice program, the user will most likely see the same words and images over and over again and will eventually learn the exact wording of any particular flashcard as long as the “Show me the solution” button is used to adjust the learner’s expectation to the exact vocabulary in the cardfile. The VTrain author is working on better error correction for the next version. Authoring Features Authoring flashcard decks in VTrain is easy and the program is very user-friendly. The help menu offers additional tips and information for the beginner as well as for the advanced user. While text- based VTrain exercises can be authored at the beginner level, adding sound files, video and other objects may require a few more computer skills. All objects are accessible via the menu (Edit => Insert Object) and the flashcard deck author doesn’t need to learn any scripting 2. Almost any world language can be input and used on either the front or the back of a flashcard. The text is then stored within the program in a flashcard deck file. The learning curve at the basic text-level is low and VTrain will allow most users to create their first flashcard deck in a very short time. Accessibility for visually impaired users is made easier by giving the flashcard deck authors the option to increase the default size and change font and color of all flashcards, front and back.