SoundBooth | News - The Evolution of SoundBooth
Soundbooth Plus Website – New Version and Free SoundBooth One
July 2011
We have spent the past couple of weeks redesigning the website to have a new look and give more information about SoundBooth as a whole, (not just about the Plus version as was previously the case.) We are also happy to announce that we are providing SoundBooth One free-of-charge to all, just click the link at the top of the SoundBooth One page and fill out your details to automatically be sent a download link via email, or to request a CD.
We are now working on a fully-featured content creator to make the production of lessons for SoundBooth a much simpler task for teachers. Once this is available we will be developing a web-based forum that schools will be able to use to share lessons between themselves. For further information, and to register your interest, please contact us here.
Soundbooth Plus – New Assessment Module Beta Release
February 2010
In 2010 we are continuing with the development and a beta release of our new version of the Soundbooth Plus will be available from the first week of February for any schools who would like to get involved in testing.This new version will now include an assessment module that will allow teachers to leave written and/or recorded comments. These are shown in a pop up box when the student goes back to the item. A summary of comments is placed in a section which cannot be changed by the student.
We believe this new feature will help teachers track their students ongoing progress through the Soundbooth modules and equally will offer a new level of guidance to the students themselves. To sign up to Beta test this exciting new version of Soundbooth Plus please email us here
Soundbooth Plus Virtual Keyboard available in multiple languages
December 2009
Over the last few months we have been putting together virtual keyboards for the student console of Soundbooth Plus. As Soundbooth Plus can be used on standard PC’s with no proprietary hardware we wanted a virtual keyboard so that students could work on PC’s without the language they are learning having to be installed on the device they were using.
The virtual keyboard gives students access to letters and accents without having to remember complicated keyboard shortcuts. To make it even simpler students are able to use their physical keyboard in conjunction with the virtual keyboard.
At this point we already have available French, German, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Pinyin and Cymraeg virtual keyboards. It is a relatively simple procedure to add additional keyboards so please let us know if you have any specific requirements.
Soundbooth Plus Grouping Feature Beta Closed
November 2009
The Soundbooth Plus grouping feature has been in use with selected schools for the last few months and the feedback has been very positive. Users have particularly liked the simplicity of the tool; all you have to do is highlight students and right click to create a group, and it is even easier to add or remove students with drag and drop functionality.
Up to 15 groups can be set up within a single classroom and once a group is set up a single click can give the teacher the ability to listen in to the group or talk to the group as a whole. Students within the group can individually record group discussions. This would be ideal for Drama departments and we would be happy to hear from any school that would like to look into the benefits of using Soundbooth Plus for drama, we are offering a single Soundbooth Plus lab free of charge so please get in touch.
Free Spanish, French and German exam resource available to Soundbooth Plus schools
September 2009
Soundbooth Plus users will have available to them access to GCSE Spanish listening exams from the last five years; these will be from the Edexcel and AQA examination boards. We are converting the papers for use within Soundbooth Plus and will be translating the text where necessary to match the new exam specifications. We hope to have this resource available for existing and future users of Soundbooth Plus by the end of September.
Our existing schools are very excited about using this resource in class and about making it available to their students for use at home. We will also be working on developing the same resource for both German and French GCSEs. The plan is to make this available on a rolling basis through October, November and December. There will be no additional costs to access the lessons for school use for customers who have a support contract for Soundbooth Plus.
Soundbooth Plus Grouping Feature in testing
August 2009
As a result of feedback from schools we have decided to develop a grouping feature in Soundbooth Plus and are busy testing it at the moment. We hope to make it available for general release at the end of the year. Existing schools with a support contract using Soundbooth Plus will not be charged for this feature.
Below you will find a description of the new module which is subject to change dependent on further feedback from users.
The teacher console has a grouping module incorporated in it. This interacts with the student console so that a list of all the members of a group is listed on each group member’s screen.
There can be up to 15 groups with unlimited numbers in each group. The size of groups is totally at the discretion of the teacher and groups can be of differing sizes. Students can be added to groups or they can be removed and added to another group.
The teacher will be able to control who is in what group and a simple drag and drop operation will mean that it is easy to add or remove students from groups.
Students and teachers will always know who is in a group and a coloured icon next to a student’s name will denote who is speaking. Recording is available individually by students so that everyone will have an audio record of the session. For further information on the grouping feature please click on the products tab on our website.
Soundbooth Plus now works across subnets
June/July 2009
We have completed work on a new communications utility for Soundbooth Plus which resolves the issue of teachers and students being on different subnets and for scenarios where multicasting is limited.
A number of schools and colleges are delivering foreign language teaching to students who are not necessarily in the same room as a teacher, or are even in remote sites. The multi-casting capability of Soundbooth Plus automatically connects students to teachers who are on the same IP subnet but we have now introduced an IP addressing capability that enables students on different subnets, or even on different networks, to connect to their teacher. This also means that, where connectivity between terminals is limited by security considerations, Soundbooth Plus remains fully operational.
This is a bonus for local authorities where schools are on the same network but it is physically difficult for teachers to commute between schools. Soundbooth Plus can be run normally but the IP address of the teacher has to be entered by the student when they log-in. Modification of the switch settings to allow terminal to terminal multicasting will allow Soundbooth Plus to run without the insertion of IP addresses.
Soundbooth Plus Ping Utility
May 2009
Soundbooth Plus does not need server interaction, apart from access to stored lessons and saved work by students. Connectivity between the teacher and student is automatic using multicasting. On installation if there is not immediate connectivity the 'Soundbooth Plus Ping' utility can be used.
To diagnose any communication problems between the teacher and student clients users can download a Soundbooth Plus Ping utility. This just looks at Soundbooth Plus traffic to see if there are any issues with connectivity between terminals for both data and audio. A log records all traffic and we can advise on what steps need to be taken to solve any communication issues.
The utility is installed on two or more computers on the network and automatically looks for other terminals running the utility and records TCP and UDP packets transferring between them. If there is no automatic communication the IP addresses of the other terminal can be entered and monitoring resumed.
Soundbooth Plus Ping Utility