EcuisineBuddy - The social network

We recently started working with Ingenium, a Caen based compagny that specializes in Elearning.

They've been very helpful and suggested we use a social network since it combines ease of use (for students to find the courses but also for teachers to reach their students) and adds a social layer to the learning experience. Also, we just love the hype, and what is more trendy than having your own social network ^_^ ?

Here's a preview of the website as it will be. We received it this morning.

I don't want to go into details, but it comes with many features that we really like. For example, German students will be able to connect and interact with French students wether it is to practice French or make enquiries before visiting France.

The site will also enable students to publish blog posts or pictures of the recipes they made.

There will be a special section devoted to the chefs who worked on the project where they can publish their details and advertise for their restaurants if they want to.

Of course, the page redirects to our LMS, this blog and a special snakes and ladders boardgame that we will soon tell you about...

From a technical point of view, it is made using Buddypress, a Wordpress offspring.

Language Help inside the courses

There are 2 main aspects to the Ecuisine project :

1. Teaching the basics in cooking 
2. Teaching the basics in language to prepare students for a work placement abroad

To achieve that, each course contains 2 layers :

1. the cooking course
2. a language help

This language help comes in the form of :

• a glossary of the terms that are used in the cooking course (we, French, decided to call it "Dico")
• and a quiz to help students get familiar with and memorize this vocabulary.

We're currently working hard on these glossaries for our test course. Here's what it will probably look like.

Screen capture of the glossary in the language help module

On the left side is the list of the words to learn.

On the right is a nice, yummy and zoomable picture to illustrate the meaning and reinforce memorization. As one of my mentor puts it "Something to which you can hang the word to."

On the center is the "definition" of the word.

For now it only has the English translation but it will soon feature the German and Polish translations.

We also added a couple of exemples with their translations.

Our Scottish partner Anniesland College will proof read the English parts and the other partners will translate in German and Polish.

You can't quite here it from where you are but we will also reccords the entries (fleurer, fondu, pâte,...) so that students learn to recognize the word and get familiar with the sounds of French and their graphical representation.

All this was made using Articulate Engage, quite a bit of electricity and our brains.

This is such an exciting adventure !

... though I'm afraid I've gained a few extra pounds since I started working on this project ^_^