Computer Service Centre - Information Technology Services for Academic Staff

Quick Guide for Operating with SANAKO LAB

Starting the SANAKO LAB	Creating Sessions	Selecting Activities
Collecting and saving students recorded tracks	Recording Activities	Student icons
Download Sanako User Guide (PDF file)		Download Sanako Student Guide (PDF file)

INTRODUCTION

The SANAKO Lab 100 is a language lab system that allows to perform a wide range of language learning activities.
The SANAKO Lab 100 is operated by the teacher through the computer and an User Audio Panel. Students perform the activities through the User Audio Panel, that allows audio recording or answering teacher's questions. The system also comprises of a Media Storage Unit (MSU) to store audio files.

The teacher may create simultaneous sessions in the class and assign different students and learning activities with different materials to each session.

STARTING THE SANAKO LAB

Turn the computer on and click the Start button on the Windows taskbar. Go to Programs ----> SANAKO Lab ----> Lab 100, or click the SANAKO lab 100 icon on the desktop.

SANAKO lab 100 icon

The teacher's interface window will open with the display of the class seating plan and the Session Screen.

CREATING SESSIONS

Creating sessions allows to have different activities assigned to different groups of students.

1. Click the New Session button, at the top menu, to create a session.

The Session Screen opens and display the controls for the session, such as selecting and adding students.

2. Make sure the Add/Remove button is pressed down

and do either A or B:

A. click the icons of the students you want to select while holding the "shift" key.
B. drag the mouse pointer around the students icons with the left mouse button pressed down.

To select all the students for a session click the "All Remaining" button.

3. After selecting the students for a session, click the "Select Activity" pull-down menu, to display all the available activities and select one from the list.

Repeat steps 1 to 3 to create new sessions with unassigned students and different activities.

The sessions' details will be shown both in the Session Screen and in the Session Status Bar at the bottom of the interface. Clicking on these tabs allows switching between sections.

ACTIVITIES

SANAKO LAB provides a wide range of language learning activities, each one with its own special features and requirements. For each activity, different controls will appear on the screen.

Some activities, such as Interpreting or Model Imitation, require an audio source, that can be selected from a pull-down menu as below. This menu include any Media File stored in the hard-disk or played through the CD/MD players and Audio or VHS cassette players. The MSU file is accessed and controled through the teacher's interface of Sanako Lab. Selecting the teacher or one of the students as the audio source for one session is also available from the menu.
NOTE: The PC Audio CD is connected to the HiClassII system and not to the Sanako Lab. Thus, don’t use the PC to play audio CD’s while working with the Sanako Lab.

After selecting the activity and the audio source for one session, the teacher may give instructions to the students in that session by clicking the "Session Call" button.

Then, the teacher's voice will be broadcast to the students in that session. To stop, click the button again.

To give instructions to the whole class, click the "All Call" button, at the top menu.

To start the activity for the session, click the "Start" button

on the Session screen at left .

To interrupt or stop the activity, click the "Pause" button or the "End" button respectively

on the Session screen.

During any activity, the teacher can listen to individual students through the monitoring feature.
To monitor a student, click on a student icon.

RECORDING ACTIVITIES
Each activity has pre-defined settings for recording. To change these settings, click on the "Advanced" button.

The Activity options window opens, allowing to select what will be recorded.
	Check "Record student track" to record the student's voice. Check "Record master track" to record the master/audio source. Check "Sidetone" to enable the students to listen to their own voices while recording. This option may interfere with some activities, such as in Simultaneous Interpreting, where the student must listen clearly to a Master track at the same time s/he is speaking.
After setting the recording options, the teacher may click the "Start" button to begin the activity recording. If the source is a MSU file, the system will play it automatically after clicking the "Start" button. If an external audio source is required (CD/MD Player, etc.) the teacher must play it.
Students independent activities
Students may practice independently if the teacher click the Free button. In this way students can operate their user panels.
When the Lock button is on , only the teacher can control students' activities.
MONITORING STUDENTS
While students are working individually, you can listen to them by using the monitoring feature. To monitor a student, click on a student icon.

COLLECTING AND SAVING STUDENTS' RECORDED TRACKS
After clicking the "End" button, the following window will appear:

The first "Save" button refers to the Master track or Audio Source. For example, if the audio source used was a CD track and the teacher will need to use the same track in future classes, it can be saved in the MSU for later playback.
The second button, "Collect" refers to the students recordings . Click the "Collect" button in order to save the students tracks and listen to them later on.
The student tracks window appears and the teacher can collect all the students files at once (which may take a while, according to the number of students and recording length). The files can be collected in MP3, WAV or WMA format. Choose .MP3 for generating smaller file sizes.

If the class size is big or the recordings are long, it's better not to collect all files at once and to select only 3 or 4 files to be collected each time.

In both cases, the teacher needs to assign a name to the folder where the files are to be saved.

Type the name of the folder and Click the "Save" button. Then you must choose the location for saving the files. Never choose drive C, if you need to listen to the files later. Choose D or your own network drive.

STUDENT ICONS

	Student not selected		Student in intercom
	Student in a session		Student calling
	Student listening		Student recording
	Student speaking		Student in monitor mode

Note: When something breaks or disappears please, inform the Helpdesk and the school administrator immediately.
Let us know what improvements you would like to see in the classroom or in our service. Email: helpdesk@ipm.edu.mo

Last updated: by Computer Service Centre.