The aim of the proposed project was the multidimensional upgrade, improvement and expansion of the first educational platform that was developed by ILSP / R.C. "Athena" in Greece named "logomatheia" for teaching Greek as a native language.
In the framework of the proposed project, the existing software has been improved from both a technological and a pedagogical view in addition to its expansion in terms of content and provided services. With the development of new language tools by ILSP / R.C. "Athena", however, it has been ascertained that there would be a potential of considerable improvement of various components of the software and of enhancement of the communicative aspect of "logomatheia", which was initially designed on the basis of a grammar-centered approach.
More particularly, the upgraded electronic platform of Nea Logomatheia includes the following:
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new language and multimedia material for the expansion of the content in terms of the dictionary, the exercises component and the presentation of language issues,
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3D-animation environments and graphics for the improvement of the teaching parts of "logomatheia" and for the multimedia support of the lemmas of the lexicon,
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additional tools that have been developed by ILSP / R.C. "Athena" within the framework of other programmes (text-to-speech tool, automatic phonetic transcription tool, spelling checker, tagging/grammatical annotation for lexical forms)
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an automatic word declension tool,
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new language technology tools (tool for searching the educational material, tool for the creation of language exercises, tool for hypertext creation with the use of subsystems of language technology, tool for organizing the lesson or the educational scenaria).
The platform is accompanied by two books, a teacher’s and a pupil’s manual. It should also be noted that the final version of the platform and the accompanied material integrate the results of an evaluation procedure that takes place by end-users in ARSAKEIA TOSITSEIA SCHOOLS.
The new platform of "logomatheia" functions either on a stand-alone PC or on a local network, which takes advantage of the potentials of the Internet. It constitutes a very useful working environment not only for the Greek pupils in Greece and abroad, but for teachers as well, since it provides not only the educational material but also the potential for creation of new exercises and organisation of their lesson in class, or in the context of individualised learning. The new environment provides both teachers and pupils the opportunity to communicate and collaborate creatively. In addition, there have been concerted initiatives for the further dissemination and commercial exploitation of the results of the project in Greece and abroad.