Education Directory

In this section we have placed some major submissions for anyone requiring careers advice or special needs software. There are also a selection of demo programs from Xavier Educational Software, plus some material of interest to history students of any level.

In EDUCATION/CAREERS:

Careers Workshop Demo (Robert Werry, commercial software)
A sophisticated educational tool that analyses vocational options and prints out a personal report for each user. It also incorporates database management systems that allow teachers and supervisors to keep accurate client records, and to create and maintain detailed records of local and other employers for use with the main program.

In EDUCATION:

!CogProgs

!CogSys

In EDUCATION/HIST_PICS:

Historical Images (David Morfitt, freeware, 5mb zip)
This collection of images and textfiles are of great value to any history students of all levels. This resource can be viewed directly from the CD.

In EDUCATION/XAVIERSOFT:

Chatback Demo (Xavier, commercial software)
This is the Demonstration version of Chatback, a program which will be of interest to speech therapists and any teachers working with students with auditory discrimination or pronunciation problems. The program allows pupils to listen to an example word recorded by the teacher, record their own attempt, and compare the two in a process of instant feedback.
Pumper Demo (Xavier, commercial software)
While the first step in learning spellings is to study and remember separate words - in groups or by spelling patterns, it is useful for this to be followed up by dictation of the same words in carefully composed sentences. This gives pupils an opportunity to practise the learned vocabulary in a structured context along with cumulative revision of previous work.

Sentence Pumper II presents sentences for dictation using two speech systems - sampled and synthesised. Sampled speech is used for sentences which practise common homophones (homonyms). The sentences here have been kept short, to give pupils the maximum chance of getting these tricky words correct, while recalling the whole. (A mnemonic cue to the sound or to the spelling pattern has been included wherever possible.) Synthesised speech is used to present two extensive word groups: single syllable words with short vowels, and long vowel words with 'Magic-e'. These are adapted from the lists in the Hi-Spell Sentence Pumper program and build on the word lists practised in the ArcSpell / Hi-Spell 'Word Maze' and 'Magic-e' (Acorn) programs.
QuizMaster Demo (Xavier, commercial software)
Quizmaster has been written with the intention of providing a program for the creation and presentation of multi-media multiple- choice quizzes and will be useful for testing knowledge of National Curriculum subjects in an entertaining way. The user may compile lists of questions and answers, including graphics and sound effects, and the program may be used by one pupil, or two pupils playing against each other.
Sounds and Rhymes Demo (Xavier, commercial software)
Children who have difficulty learning to read and write often have problems at the basic level of letter-sounds correspondence and with perceiving and separating individual sounds within words. Inability to identify rhymes has been found to be a reliable indicator of later reading difficulty.

The Sounds & Rhymes programs are intended as a means for practising some of these crucial sounds-segmentation and rhyming skills.
SoapBox 2 Demo (Xavier, commercial software)
This is the Demonstration version of Soapbox, a program which aims to help speech learning by emphasising the relationship between the spelling pattern and the vowel sound. Each word is pronounced, the consonant pattern is emphasised by highlighting, and contrasts are made between words with short and long vowel sounds. Thus, a short vowel sound will normally be associated with two highlighted consonants, and a long vowel sound by one highlighted consonant.