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.

Getting there ! A few news before Glasgow Seminar

A few news from the project as the 4 partners are about to meet in Glasgow for the WP2 seminar.

Our dear Scottish friends in Anniesland college is still in the process of filming their 4 recipes. They will be hosting the next seminar and I'm sure they'll have plenty of exciting things to show us.

German team has been working hard on its own courses.
Following the model set by the french team, they've been able to finalize all the videos for their first course : the Berliner Kartoffelsuppe, AKA the famous The Potato soup, Berlin style. You'll soon know everything to know about what makes german soups so unique.

The Polish team took a different approach : they decided they would start by shooting all the videos for their 4 recipes. And they did. They sent the files and they are perfectly neat : nice fast pace editing, clear pictures and sounds and yummy recipes featuring pierogis, beetroots, cottage cheese and cabbage... and if you thought there wasn't such a thing as "Polish food", prepare to be amazed !

In France, all videos have been shot, edited and uploaded to the YouTube Channel. All the courses for the first recipe, "the norman pie" is ready and being translated in German in order to be tested by beneficiaries of TGZ OPR GmbH. Those lovely guinea pigs are soon coming to France and they shall be prepared in the best way possible for this experience !

Also, we started working with a compagny based in Caen in order to find a solution for the deployment of the course. We found many ! And I'll tell you all about them... but just not now :-)

Happy cooking from the Ecuisine team !

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 ^_^

Quick Seminar Debrief

Last week was our second seminar, an important step for all the partners : an opportunity to get together and find out the practical details about our collaboration the final outcome of the project.

The Scottish partner, Anniesland College, and the German partner, Technologie- und Gründerzentrum Ostprignitz-Ruppin GmbH [DE], came to France in Caen for 2 days. Unfortunately, the polish partners from 36°6CC couldn't come but Mosqi.to, the sub-contractor in charge of the design, brought a Polish touch to this meeting.


Many things were agreed on at this meeting :