Friday, June 30, 2006

Classic T.V. Lines

A fun new lesson on classic T.V. lines was added to the Just for Fun group. Check it out.

For those of you authoring lessons it also is an example of the following control characters in the "more options" section of the lesson editor:

[NoneOfTheAbove=off] <-- Don't display "None of the Above" questions.
[Introduction=off] <-- Don't display the "Introduction" mode button.
[Tutor=off] <-- Don't display the "Tutor" mode button.

Also it uses the 'autoplay' option for audio when added to a fact:

[audio=784 autoplay] <-- Play the audio automatically when a fact or question is displayed.

Currently we use control codes to set these advanced features. Eventually, we will get around to putting it all in a GUI. In the meantime, say hello to Marsha, Arnold and the Skipper for me in the classic T.V. lines quiz! How well do you know your TV?

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

All Presidents Final Exam

I finally scored 100% on the all US Presidents Final Exam. Currently the exam is set to display all 128 questions and it took me 16 minutes and 51 seconds to complete. It has been a great deal of fun using StudyTag to slowly slog my way through all this memory work. I was finally motivated to learn my weaker presidents (17-31) by the cool new trophies that display in the trophy room. I even have an Ultimate Carlos trophy in Presidents 9 to 12. I expect that as I learn the Presidents ever better I could shave a few minutes off the time to do all 128 questions. Perhaps I try again in a month or two and report the results.

I have noticed that my knowledge of the Presidents and their terms in office is having a positive benefit on helping me remember other facts about US history. I'll talk about that more in the future including providing specific examples. Of course if you know Lincoln started in 1861 and Johnson in 1865, and you know the Civil War lasted Lincoln's presidency ,then you know the bounding years of the war!

Sunday, June 25, 2006

The Year MCMXCIX

Do you know how to translate MCMXCIX to a decimal number. Visit the StudyTag group Roman Numerals and you will find three lessons that will give you the skills to translate this yourself. Learn how to read the copyright on movies. Think of how valuable the skill will be in your next job!

O.K., perhaps there isn't a good reason to learn Roman Numerals except for fun. Can you get an "Ultimate Carlos" in Introduction to Roman Numerals. Make sure you take the Introduction Mode because the readings in this lesson are really valuable.

June 25, MMVI