Questions RE: using icon sets flexibly.

[ExtremeBartendingDad]

Questions RE: using icon sets flexibly.

1. When we select random placement for the icon for each slide is a truly random or are the icons supplied in the curriculum weighted heavier than sets we've downloaded from the forum or created ourselves? Maybe it's just in my mind but it seems to me that the BrillKids icons come up more frequently.


2. Is there a way to select favorite icon sets and have them display a higher number of times during rotation?  they're definitely sets that  would like to be in higher rotation and other sets but I would like to have been much lower rotation or  take them out of rotation.

A possible workaround that occurred to me was to  duplicate that favorite file one or more times but that seems cumbersome especially considering at the moment, my system is in recognizing when I click the button to remember the commands to rename a file if it already has a duplicate so I have to click it every time.


3. Is there a maximum number of icons each file can contain? Or an optimal number?
The reason I ask is that when you click on the actual file name to get a preview of all the icons in that file, there seems to be a maximum of 16 icons shown in the preview. If there are more than 16 icons in the file, today still get shown/are they accessible to the program even though they do not show in the preview because maybe that all the room that you have created on that screen?


4. If I have a file of 20 icons and I split it up into 2 files of 10 icons how often will that make a difference to how often that theme will get presented? For example; if this file of 20 as a theme of baby Wyatt's toys and I want them to be displayed more often should I split it in half so the random setting will have 2 chances at picking the theme of his toys?


5. Is there a way to “sideline/take out of rotation” a file of icons without deleting them? I have downloaded and paid loyalty points for many file sets as well as created our own custom file sets and I don't want to lose them.


6. I tried to delete an icon set file of planets. I can't remember if they are part of the curriculum or if I downloaded them from the forum. As I said above I don't want to really delete them, only take them out of rotation for a while, but it gave me a warning pop-up screen that said something about it being part of a… Set program?? I can't remember exactly what it said but it made me wary of leaving it because I don't want to have it screw up system somehow.

 If I actually do delete this will something else replace it in wherever it was already scheduled to be part of the program or will leave a hole somehow?


7. For icon placement we can select random or grid but is it possible now or in the future to have a mixture of both?


8. Recording new sound groups. I'm a little unclear about how to use the little reader recording feature to do this. For instance if I wanted to get grandma to record a sound set for numbers 1-100 do I have to do 100 separate files or can I have her record straight through the numbers as long as she creates space between the numbers.

Thank you :-)

[MamaOfWill]

I'll try and answer some of your questions while you wait for someone from the Brill Kids team to answer.

1. I'm not shure, but I think each icon has equal wait not each theme.

2. Why not just put all your favourites in one set, then only dislpay that one set at random, but no, the functionality that you're looking for doesn't exist.

3. No maximum per set, 16 are displayed in the preview, but I have sets as big as 52 and they all get displayed.

4. If I'm right about question nubmer 1 then splitting your icon set will make no difference.

5. You can export your set, then delete it, when you want it back, just import again, but there's no functionality to "sideline/take out of rotation"

6. If you are overriding your Icons Display, then it doesn't matter if you delete sets  that are part of a set program, otherwise it will give you something like a file not found error. (When the lesson is looking for a specific icon set, but the icon set is deleted)

7.  If you don't override icon placement, it will be mixed, we can't choose both at the same time.

8. You'll have to do 100 seperate files, but what a good feature that would be to have it all in one file.

I hope you find your answers

[Kezia]

Hi Scott,

Re: Using random icons in LM

Just to clarify, "Random Placement" refers only to how the icons are arranged on screen. The default setting is "Random," but if you find that your son is having difficulty with seeing randomly arranged icons (or as older children lose the ability to subitize), you can change the Icon Placement setting to "Grid" mode.

I believe what you are asking about is how LM randomly chooses an icon or icon set to use during the lesson.

Lessons in the LM Course are set to use a random icon set every time you play the lesson, and it may be coincidental that you usually get the default LM icons when you play your lessons.

It's not possible to make LM use specific icon sets by "priority" yet, but what you can do is set your Override Settings to quickly switch your lesson to the icons that you want to use.

Please have a look at this article for instructions on using the Override function: http://support.brillkids.com/entries/20608263-how-to-change-playback-settings-for-all-little-math-lessons

You'll need to select a specific "Icon Set" in the Override Settings window and avoid the "Random (each playback)" and "Random (each slide)" options. For "Icon Item" you may pick any of the "Random" options there so LM will use a random icon from your selected icon set.

This way you do not need to actually delete any of the Icon Sets you've downloaded or created. As for deleting the default icon sets, this is something that we do not advise because it may affect how LM works.

If you did end up deleting any default icon set, you can restore it by doing a Repair of Little Math (with the option to "Restore default content"). However, after doing this you need to re-import all of your custom icon / sound sets. You will not be charged points for re-downloading any premium file that you got before.

Re: Creating Icon Sets

There is no limit to the amount of icons you want to include in an Icon Set. The Icon Set preview only shows a few of the icons you've added, but that doesn't mean that you can't add 20 or more icons in your icon set.

To double-check that you've successfully added all the icons in your icon set, click on the small triangle to the left of your Icon Set's name and the list of icons in the set will be displayed.

Re: Random and Grid Icon Placement

Right now we don't have plans of having an option to use both Random and Grid.

Re: Recording new Sound Sets

You can access Easy Voice Recorder even outside of Little Reader, so you don't need to open LR to record anything you need for LM:

 > From Start, go to All Programs
 > Open "BrillKids," then "Little Reader" folder
 > Select "Easy Voice Recorder"

Easy Voice Recorder does not allow you to record all the words you need in one recording session and then "chop up" the recording into individual files. What you can do instead is to record the numbers and symbols separately, and then add those files to your Sound Set.

If you are using a more advanced sound editing software (Adobe Audition, etc.), it is possible record everything in one go (with enough pauses in between words/sentences) and then save specific parts of the recording into separate files.



P.S.
Thank you for helping out too, MamaOfWill!

[ExtremeBartendingDad]

 as usual you give great and complete answers. Thank you Kezia

[Kerileanne99]

Thanks Kezia!
I also found this extremely useful and helpful in clarifying questions I was putting together!

[ExtremeBartendingDad]

Thanks to Mamaofwill as well.

She suggested ...
2. Why not just put all your favourites in one set, then only dislpay that one set at random, but no, the functionality that you're looking for doesn't exist.

3. No maximum per set, 16 are displayed in the preview, but I have sets as big as 52 and they all get displayed.

I did create one big set of family & friends and i tried and succeeded to add duplicates of the girls he has " crushes " on. He is girl crazy now so pictures of them really keeps his interest in LM. Who would have thought. 2 yrs old.

you just go through the normal process of adding icon then click the option of renaming the file.

QUestion: when considering Random and Grid Icon Placement... what age do children start to lose the ability to sub-itize? when should we switch from random to grid?

thanks

[MamaOfWill]

  your little one is girl crazy!  My 14 month old boy loves this picture I have on my tablet of a baby girl in a pink bunny suit, he actually makes puppy crying noises when he sees it and kisses the tablet, it's helarious.

I don't think theres a specific date when kids lose the ability to see quantity, as with anything it will vary, they only say start teaching before the age of 3.  My guess would be that your boy would know all the quantities 0..100 long before his 3rd birthday (and retain this ability for life) so you would therefore never switch to grid view, even after his 3rd birthday.

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