ELR Software Pty Ltd
eLr - What's New
| Home Page |
| Support |
Summary of additions and changes to eLr
Comments to support@elr.com.au
|
ELR Software Pty Ltd | ||
eLr - What's New | |||
|
Summary of additions and changes to eLr | ||
| 2021 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan | ||
| 2020 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul |
| Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan | |
| 2019-2001 | ||||||
Twenty-six new tasks have been added to "Reading and Spelling - early skills" in the some of the "Consonant sounds" and "Other useful groupings" subsections: the /h/ sound, the schwa vowel, and "y" as a vowel for the /ee/ /ie/, and short /i/ sounds as in "story, sky, and gym" respectively. All new tasks use the WordBreaker model which now appears in many of the "Reading and Spelling" subsections.
This model is useful to strengthen word reading and spelling using a word study approach. A word is selected from the available group and its syllables, consonant sounds, vowel sounds, and stress pattern can be displayed. This allows the instructor to teach a range of concepts: breaking words into syllables and sounds, identifying the vowel sound, discovering how stress pattern impacts on the pronunciation of some vowel sounds (eg the schwa vowel), and finally, encouraging automatic recognition of words.
As with all eLr materials, the role of the instructor is a central factor to encourage accurate responses from the learner. In the examples above, expanding knowledge of the meanings of words by discussion and using the word in a range of sentences, helps develop connections between the word (orthographic representation), the pronunciation (semantic representation), and the meaning (semantic representation).
We welcome your feedback about these tasks and any aspect of eLr, as well as your suggestions about additions and modifications to eLr.
Twenty one new tasks have been added to "Reading and Spelling - early skills" in the some of the "Long/Other Consonant Sounds" subsections /z, sh, zh, th, m, n, l, r/. All new tasks use the WordBreaker model which now appears in many of the "Reading and Spelling" subsections. This model is useful to strengthen word reading and spelling using a word study approach. A word is selected from the available group and its syllables, consonant sounds, vowel sounds, and stress pattern can be displayed. This allows the instructor to teach a range of concepts: breaking words into syllables and sounds, identifying the vowel sound, discovering how stress pattern impacts on the pronunciation of some vowel sounds (eg the schwa vowel), and finally, encouraging automatic recognition of words.
As with all eLr materials, the role of the instructor is a central factor to encourage accurate responses from the learner. In the examples above, expanding knowledge of the meanings of words by discussion and using the word in a range of sentences, helps develop connections between the word (orthographic representation), the pronunciation (semantic representation), and the meaning (semantic representation).
We welcome your feedback about these tasks and any aspect of eLr, as well as your suggestions about additions and modifications to eLr.
Seventeen new tasks have been added to "Reading and Spelling - early skills" in the some of the "Consonant Sounds" subsections /p, b, t, d, k, g, ch, dge, f, v, s, z/. All new tasks use the WordBreaker model. This model is useful to strengthen word reading and spelling using a word study approach. A word is selected from the available group and its syllables, consonant sounds, vowel sounds, and stress pattern can be displayed. This allows the instructor to teach a range of concepts: breaking words into syllables and sounds, identifying the vowel sound, discovering how stress pattern impacts on the pronunciation of some vowel sounds (eg the schwa vowel), and finally, encouraging automatic recognition of words.
The WordBreaker model appears in most of the "Reading and Spelling" subsections. It is especially useful when teaching the various spelling patterns of particular vowel sounds. For example, the /er/ sound may be spelled as "er, ear, ir, ur, or". Once these spelling patterns have been mastered, the student may then be encouraged to consolidate letter-sound knowledge by WordBreaker tasks which include all of these spelling patterns. After each word has been examined, the student "sorts" the word to groups, according to the vowel spelling pattern, eg words spelled with "er" (term, her, verb, fern), versus those spelled with "ir" (stir, dirt, skirt, girl).
As with all eLr materials, the role of the instructor is a central factor to encourage accurate responses from the learner. In the examples above, expanding knowledge of the meanings of words by discussion and using the word in a range of sentences, helps develop connections between the word (orthographic representation), the pronunciation (semantic representation), and the meaning (semantic representation).
We welcome your feedback about these tasks and any aspect of eLr, as well as your suggestions about additions and modifications to eLr.
This month we've added a "Pen Tool" to all eLr tasks. Essentially it's a selectable, transparent "Whiteboard" layer which overlays the task content, and was inspired by the usefulness of the annotation tools provided by teletherapy platforms such as Zoom. This similar, but simplified, version of that functionality will work in both teletherapy and conventional eLr sessions, and multipage eLr tasks allow separate annotations on each page. You toggle the tool on/off by clicking the "pen" in right hand box of the existing (but slightly modified) "Color Changer" task control, and draw with a mouse, touch screen, or stylus. Settings allow selection of line color and "pen/highlighter" mode.
This tool allows the user to annotate task features, write words and personalize an interactive session. For example, it may be used in the LettersToWords model added last month to provide an additional on-screen writing component to reinforce spelling and encoding skills. Another useful scenario in models like MemoryPics and ConnectWords is to have the child and instructer take turns in finding, saying, and marking the duplicate pictures/words. This allows you to repeat the activity in a fun but different way to provide reinforcement.
Users of eLr may already have many different strategies for using such on-screen annotation, and we'd appreciate feedback on your experiences and eLr tasks that you find it useful for.
A new model called LettersToWords with twenty one new tasks, has been added to "Systematic synthetic phonics" in the "Reading & Spelling - Early Skills" section, and in "Letter names and sounds" in the "Phonological Awareness" section. This new model is a re-arranging letters activity (like "Magnetic Letters"). A panel of letters is displayed across the top of the screen, and, depending on the goal, selected graphemes (single letters and digraphs) are initially "active" and draggable to the lower part of the screen which resembles a lined writing page.
As an example, in the first set of letter-sounds in the "Systematic synthetic phonics section", only "s, a, t, p, i, n" are initially active. The model allows selection of as many multiples of active letters as required which may then be used to make words using those letters. The instructor is then able to engage the learner in activities which have been shown to be effective in teaching accurate decoding and spelling. Some examples are as follows:
- To reinforce decoding, the instructor may drag a sequence of letters to make a word (eg "s-a-t"), and encourage the learner to say each sound and blend to read the word. The instructor may then take one letter away and replace with a different letter (eg replace the "t" with a "p"), and then encourage the learner to accurately decode the new word, "sap".
- The reverse of this is to encourage the learner to accurately break words into sounds and spell. The instructor may say a word (eg "sat") and allow the learner to say each sound as they drag the letters to spell the word. Then the instructor may say, "now I'll say a different word - sap". And the learner can either take the "t" away and replace it with "p", or construct the new word below the first word, highlighting the difference between the words. This process may be repeated so that the learner creates word chains, such as "sat - sap - sip - tip - tin".
There are a few features of the LettersToWords model which make it particularly flexible in teaching alphabet knowledge, and accurate decoding and spelling.
- All letters are presented within the context of the complete alphabet. This helps to provide subtle reinforcement of alphabetic sequence: a skill that is required in tasks that require knowledge of alphabetic order.
- Attention is drawn to the spelling of digraphs by having their letters spaced more closely than the single letters, and by highlighting them with a red border (which may be disabled if preferred).
- A full alphabet (and set of digraphs - depending on the subsection and goal) may be made active at any time to enable all possible alphabetic combinations (using the "All" control), so that the learner is able to create ad hoc words which may be of interest, eg their name, their pet's name, or a word of relevance to the session.
This model complements the other existing models used in this section which encourage the learner to name target sounds and/or letters. These include Jumping letters (clicked targets appear randomly on the screen), TicTacLetters (targets are used in a game like "TicTacToe"), and MemoryWords (a memory game involving the target letters). Each of these activities presents the target sounds and/or letters individually.
The addition of the LettersToWords model in "Phonological Awareness" provides practice at naming target sounds and letters which are displayed within the context of the whole alphabet, which, as noted above, helps develop both letter-sound and alphabet knowledge. Within this section, the instructor is able to name a target letter or sound and encourage the learner to drag the letter on to the lined part of the screen, or the instructor may encourage the learner to independently click and name letters and sounds.
Forty four new tasks have been added to the "Systematic synthetic phonics" (SSP) section within "Reading & Spelling - Early Skills". These new tasks correct an oversight in our earlier development of some of the sub-sections to now include the model ConnectWords - a Connect 4 type game which encourages automatic recognition of words.
There are two main skills required for skilled reading: being able to accurately read words and having the oral language skills to comprehend the meaning of what has been read. SSP targets the first skill: accurate word reading. In this approach students are taught letter-sound (grapheme-phoneme) knowledge, and how to use that knowledge to sound out and blend sounds to accurately read words.
The SSP tasks in eLr are organised in groups consistent with Jolly Phonics (an SSP approach). Each of the groups is divided into two subsections. One subsection provides a range of tasks to introduce each grapheme (letter/s), and the second subsection targets all grapheme-phoneme relationships within that level. A range of models (activities) are now avaialble in all subsections. The WordSound Buttons and WordSearch models encourage the student to sound out and blend the sounds to read each word; LookThenCover and SmileyMan support the student's ability to recall spelling patterns; and MemoryWords and ConnectWords provide a fun way to consolidate automatic recognition of previously decoded words (sight words). A further model, WordBreaker, is used for those tasks that target multi-syllabic words. It allows the learner to select a word, attempt to decode, and then examine the word according to how many syllables, how many sounds, and the spelling pattern for the vowel sounds.
eLr, our extensive resource of interactive speech and language activities, is now available as a "Universal App" for "Offline" use. There are actually two new Apps, "eLr-Pro Offline" and "eLr-Guest Offline": The "Pro" version is free for registered subscribers and enables selection and delivery of all eLr activities in familiar ways. The "Guest" version is also free and is for clients of registered users who have been provided a specific set of activities for home or school practice. Over the coming months this new solution will replace the separate Windows and iPad "eLr-Offline App" we've supplied for many years.
You may install the "Pro" version from www.elr.com.au/elrpro.htm, or "Guest" version from www.elr.com.au/elrguest.htm. They've been developed and tested on Windows (Chrome and MS Edge), MacOS (Chrome), iPad (Safari), and Android tablet and Chromebook (both Chrome) devices. Please be aware - this installation process uses new browser technologies and is probably unfamiliar to most people - it is all done from within your browser in a process that can generally be described as "Saving to your homescreen". The steps vary slightly according to the device/browser you are using. The "Install" button in each App offers guidance, and we are very happy to be contacted for advice. Once you have an App installed, you'll need to "register" if for ongoing use with the same "Appkeys" we've previously supplied for the iPad eLr-Offline App. If you're not currently a subscriber, please contact us for a free trial.
You'll probably also find that the web sites indicated above don't load quite as fast as standard eLr web pages. For each App your browser first assembles the entire set of eLr activities, then presents the package for installation. The total size of each App (under 50 MB) is similar to our previous Windows and iPad Apps, and for comparison, each entire App, containing almost 15,000 activities, is equivalent to approximately 20-25 modern digital photos, so the initial installation does take a few moments.
From our point of view, the exciting thing about these new Apps is that they will work on all modern computers and tablets. And the content on all platforms is absolutely identical, and is integrated and updated with the rest of the eLr website. As a user, your installed App will also automatically update whenever we change or update the content. If you'd like more information, please contact us for more specific details and Zoom support if you need it. Any other feedback about these Apps will also be much appreciated.
eLr, our extensive set of interactive speech and language resources, has been available from our website for more than 20 years. There are 2 modes of access. The "Pro" mode for registered subscribers enables selection and management of intervention activities. The "Guest" mode is free and is for clients of registered users who have been provided a specific set of activities for home or school practice. In the "early days" we realised that for many clinical situations and families, internet coverage was poor or unavailable, so we provided "offline" versions for Windows (since 2001) and iPad (since 2013) for both "Pro" and "Guest" users.
Although internet connections are now much better for most people, there are many clinicians who need reliable access without an internet connection, and families whose children may want to do eLr practice "in the back seat of a car". So, we've now almost completed a universal eLr App which can be installed directly from our website. This means that there'll be an "offline" option for both "Pro" and "Guest" users which will work on all the various, current devices, and which will eventually replace those original Windows and iPad "offline" versions.
Our initial effort has been focussed mainly on the "Guest Access" version (called eLr-Guest App), and it's now ready for public use. The "Pro" version is not yet quite ready for this step, but should be available over the next few weeks. eLr-Guest has been tested on Windows (mainly Windows 10), MacOS, iPad/iPhone, Android tablet and Chromebook devices.
To get a feel for how the current Guest App works, go to eLr at www.elr.com.au/elr.htm and choose "Guest Access". Enter your User ID, tick the "Yes" box to try the new "web app" layout and Logon. The page that opens has both a web-based version of the App for you to explore, and a link to the new installable eLr-Guest App. (If you are not a current subscriber you can get a temporary ID Code to do this from www.elr.com.au/elrtrial.htm).
We announced last month a prototype "universal" eLr App that is initially available in the "Guest Access" area of the eLr web site. Work has continued to allow this to be installed directly from the site for "offline use". Progress has been made, but not quite as quickly as we'd hoped. However it is now installable on Windows, MacOS, and Chromebook computers, and iPad and Android tablets.
It you're trying it, be warned it has some "slow moments" during which it isn't always clear what's happening, and there are some differences in behaviour on different devices. The coming month should see improvements in these areas, and extension of the process to a full "Pro" version containing the full "Directory", "Session Planner" etc. Any feedback will be much appreciated.
We've always understood the desirabilty of a version of eLr which could be used in situations without web access, and have for many years produced two entirely separate "Offline" versions for Windows computers and iPads. Current web technologies have now provided more compatible browser standards, and a development path to create a single app which will work from the web, and which can also be installed for offline use directly on Windows, Mac and Chromebook computers, as well as Apple and Android tablets and even phones.
The first public viewing of our "universal" eLr app is now available in the "Guest Access" area of the eLr web site. A similar, extended, "Pro" version will also follow over the coming month. The appearance and operation are still somewhat unpolished, and the current offering doesn't yet include the download mechanism for offline use. But you are welcome to logon to the website as a "Guest user" and elect to try it. Any feedback will be much appreciated.
We're pleased this month to be able to tell you about two powerful, new tools that have been added to eLr.
This has been added to the loader pages for both "Registered" and "Guest" users. You select eLr tasks (up to 50), then MyStack generates a single window containing icons representing those tasks for use within a clinical session. Loading any required task from this "stack" is just just a matter of clicking on its icon.
MyStack replaces the original "multi-window" mechanism used in earlier versions of eLr. It doesn't clutter the screen with multiple windows, works in all browsers, and is especially convenient as a shared teletherapy screen. For all users, MyStack is available from the new Paste-box Loader, and for Registered users it's also available from the Session Planner and Quick Load List.
This "Loader" has also been added to both the "Registered" and "Guest" loader pages. It allows pasting from the clipboard of eLr task numbers for immediate opening in MyStack. The numbers maybe in any format such as a simple list, or contained within larger texts such as an email.
Registered users are also able to paste lists generated in either the Session Planner, the Quick Load List, or copied from client records. Any such list may be further edited to produce a "home program" which families are able subsequently to paste directly in to their "Loader".
These additions currently work only on the eLr website and Windows version of eLr-Offline but, unfortunately, not yet the iPad App version of eLr-Offline. So, for the present we also recommend families using "Guest" access do so via the eLr web site if possible, since these new tools will work on any device, including all modern computers, and Apple or Android tablets.
Several eLr activities use "dragging" to move items about the screen, and we've implemented a "teleplatform fix" in which a "click/touch" is used to select the appropriate item, followed by a second, separate "click/touch" at the target location. This achieves the same intention and will work in situations where "drag" is not available.
Also, based on user feedback and request, we've implemented 2 further additions to eLr to make the free "Guest" mechanism more useful for families doing home practice:
One hundred and forty-six new tasks have been added to the "Systematics synthetic phonics" section within "Reading & Spelling - Early Skills". These new tasks complete our development of materials to teach early word reading skills using a systematic synthetic phonics approach. The tasks are organised according to the Jolly Phonics scope and sequence. The first seven sets include the most frequent way of spelling the 42 main sounds of English, and the subsequent three sets introduce alternative, less frequent spelling patterns:
Forty one new tasks have been added to the "Systematics synthetic phonics" section within "Reading & Spelling - Early Skills". These tasks are to assist in teaching spelling of the 42 main sounds of English, and are organised according to the Jolly Phonics scope and sequence. We have now covered the first eight sets
Web based eLr activities (at www.elr.com.au/elr.htm) that use "mouse drag" should now also respond reliably to "touch drag" on touchpad and touchscreen laptops such as the "Microsoft Surface", as well as Apple and Android tablets.
As a part of widespread coding changes in eLr this year, touchscreen users should now change to a long (about half the width of the screen) swipe to move to the end or start of a set of "multiscreen tasks", while the "short" (about a quarter of the screen width) swipe has been retained to move back and forth between pages in those tasks.
In January this year we implemented widespread coding changes to eLr so that tasks (activities) will fit, look and respond better on any device you are using. They'll automatically resize up to make better use of the large, modern computer screens and the iPad-Pro, and resize down for the smaller tablet and phone screens. These changes apply whether you are accessing eLr directly from the internet with a web browser, or an "Offline" App on Windows or iPad/iPhone.
Our efforts this month were concentrated on fixing a few errors amongst these changes, and extending the adjustments to the group of activities in the Directory section called "User Guides and Screening Tools". Briefly, both of these sections provide "annotated access" to specialised subsets of eLr tasks. In the case of the "User Guides" these are illustrative tasks which allow a quick overview of what's in eLr, and how it's arranged. The "Screening Tools" are groups of tasks which have been designed for use within clinical settings, and are particularly useful for progress monitoring. They are covered in more detail in March 2020 edition of ELR-News.
We hope you'll enjoy this "new look" and check out the "User Guides and Screening Tools". If you have comments or come across errors, we'd appreciate hearing from you with the particular task details (eg screenshot), and the platform you're using.
As a number of you are probably aware, ELR Software is based in East Gippsland, Victoria, and this summer has seen a prolonged drought merge into catastrophic fire. Thankfully, none of our small team has been hurt or lost property. But the events have been stressful and disruptive to the extent that, for the first time in 20 years, we've made no new eLr content for the month. As we write this, the worst seems over, and hopefully "normal services" will now resume. If you are an eLr subscriber who has been impacted by fire, please contact us to have your subscription fee waived.
Marking 20 years of eLr we've made a major upgrade to the display "internals". Tasks will now automatically resize up to make better use of the large, modern computer screens and the iPad-Pro, and resize down for the smaller tablet and phone screens. These changes apply whether you are accessing eLr directly from the internet with a web browser, or an "Offline" App on Windows or iPad/iPhone.
If you have comments or come across errors, we'd appreciate hearing from you with the particular task details (eg screenshot), and the platform you're using.
Copyright ©1999-2019 ELR Software Pty Ltd