HOT POTATOES?

Have you heard about HOT POTATOES?

Some may say yes! Some may say  no!

For those who are semester eight students and have been in semester eight surely a big yes! 

So, what is HOT POTATOES anyway?

It is not a freeware, but it is free of charge. It is for non-profit educational users who make their pages available on the web. It has six applications, which are JMix, JMatch, JCloze, JCross, JQuiz and The Masher. These application will assist you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching or ordering and gap-fill exercises and make them available on a web page. HOT POTATOES uses advanced Javascript but it does not expect the users to know anything about Javascript or HTML or any other programming language to get things done.

Therefore, these are some of the advantages of using HOT POTATOES that I could share with you, First, it can facilitate the teachers  in constructing the exercises with minimal training of using this application. Teachers do not have to be stressed to produce one piece of exercise to the students. In addition, the exercises that have been produced by HOT POTATOES are interactive as the teachers can includes sounds and pictures to attract students interest in completing the tasks. Moreover, the interactivity of the exercises will motivate the learners to act independently and  help them in keeping their motivation level high. Learners also will have more control (pace, choices, etc) in doing the tasks rather than a paper exercise where any one word can be the stumbling block to understanding as this type of exercise provides the tools to overcome the difficulty. Lastly, instant feedback in completing the task will help the learners in their learning.

Nevertheless, there are also the disadvantages of HOT POTATOES that I have discovered. Firstly, it has limited interaction between the learners, teachers and the computer itself. It is all too often a "click-and-go" approach, which can mean that the student is not given sufficient scaffolding or support in the learning process. Secondly, it creates the tendency of the learners to operate a binary correction strategy whereby the learners use the assumption 'If X is wrong, then Y must be the answer'. HOT POTATOES could only be used as a self-learning or a self assessment tool, but does not have merit as a testing tool.

In brief, HOT POTATOES is a tool that assist the teacher to embrace the technology in classrooms. It will give new opportunities to empower students to reach new heights. I believe when the teachers keep students away from technology, they take away the opportunities that are readily available overseas.