Adapted from the E-Guides training programme

Hot Potatoes: JMix (Jumbled word or sentence exercise)

1. Open the activity E-Guides (located under Related Resources) and complete it to familiarise yourself with its concepts. 2. Start Hot Potatoes (Start > All Programs > Hot Potatoes 6) and select JMix. 3. Enter the title for the exercise: Activity: E-Guides. This will become the main heading of the web page. For the first part of this exercise you will create the quiz using the drag-and-drop output as in the example you have just viewed (see the Software contents section of the in the document Overview of the Hot Potatoes software, for more information on the different outputs available in JMix).

Figure 1: The JMix quiz creation dialog box

4. Enter the following sentence into the Main sentence box, breaking it apart so that each word forms a separate segment on a separate line: The E-Guides programme supports adult and community learning in developing and increasing the use of e-learning across the curriculum. Notes: you can have strings of words forming segments for example: The E-Guides programme could be one segment, provided all its words are on the same line. JMix can also be used for creating jumbled up words instead of sentences, where the letters of a word are entered on separate lines under the Main sentence box 5. This is really all you need to do to create a jumbled sentence. However, you may wish to include some Alternate sentences that are acceptable answers. For example: The E-Guides programme supports adult and community learning in increasing and developing the use of e-learning across the curriculum.

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Adapted from the E-Guides training programme The E-Guides programme supports adult and community learning in the use of e-learning. You can also include sentences that do not use all the words and punctuation in the original sentence, but be sure to select the appropriate Options for alternate sentences. 6. Once you have created the required sentence, select Options > Configure Output.

Figure 2: JMix Configure Output dialog box

JMix provides the option for more buttons than the other Hot Potatoes programs: in standard output mode an Undo button is included, and in both standard and dragand-drop output mode Hint and Restart buttons are also included. The Navigation section under the Buttons tab allows you to link your exercise to other exercises or web pages, enabling you to build linked units of resources. JMix will automatically calculate the students percentage score as they complete the exercise. Deductions will be made as follows: Clicking the Hint button will reduce the score. Clicking the Check button if part of the answer is not correct will incur a penalty: students should be advised to complete the whole exercise before pressing the Check button to ensure they do not lose too great a score. Click OK to exit Configure output once all amendments have been made. The Load, Save and Save As options can be used to save your configuration settings in a separate file. This is useful if you are creating a group of quizzes where the same output settings are required. 7. Save the completed exercise (File > Save). Although the Hot Potatoes file is not required to enable the exercise to run, it is good practice to keep a copy to enable the exercise to be amended or updated at any time.

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Adapted from the E-Guides training programme 8. To enable students to complete the exercise using a web browser, it must be converted into HTML by selecting File > Create Web page > Drag/Drop Web page for v6 browsers. A Save As dialog box will open and, once a File name has been entered, the View or upload the exercise dialog box will open.

Figure 3: View or upload the exercise dialog box

To Upload the file to the hotpotatoes.net Website, you require an additional registration key which is only available following the purchase of a commercial licence (see The Masher in the document Overview of the Hot Potatoes software). Select View the exercise in my browser to review and test your work. 9. This exercise can also be output in standard mode without amendment by following step 8 but, this time, select File > Create Web page > Web Page for V6 Browsers and give it a different file name. 10. Now that you have created your exercise, it is also worth spending a little time experimenting with the Configure Output options to see the effects of any changes you make. It is not necessary to save the Hot Potatoes file each time, but you will need to follow step 8 to see how your amendments will appear in the completed exercise. Either overwrite your existing HTML file or create a new file.

Material is extracted from Community Learning Resource website at www.aclearn.net. It supports the rollout of e-learning into Adult & Community Learning and is funded through the UK Learning & Skills Council. Author: NIACE

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