English
December 11, 2021

VIPKID "AI-Enhanced" Class Functions Overview

The client for students. I took a demonstration class and got to know how to use the entire new system.

Introduction

This article will explain some interactions when taking a "VIPKID AI-Enhanced Class", which it's a kind of backup plan after shutting down the teaching service that involves foreign teachers.

This article is for some former VIPKID foreign teachers that I'm able to keep in touch with. If you're reading this, you must be the one that I knew.

You can use the Table of Contents above to navigate anywhere you like.

Notes

If you're seeing a text with an orange background, then it means that this text is written by myself to introduce some other stuff related to the content.

If you're seeing a text with a cyan-blue background, it means the text here is the translation of the Chinese parts in the image (context included).

Speaking Questions - 语音题

Explanation

语音题, or "Speaking Questions", is a kind of question that asks students to answer the question with a microphone.

What's the common instructions (hints) for it:

  • Get Ready to Read
  • Let's Talk

What should students do:

  • When you see there's a microphone (icon), speak out the word or sentence in front of the microphone
  • Be aware of the available answer time displayed.

Examples

Depending on the context, the available answer time varies.

When the teacher asks students to read a word, the duration is shorter, usually around 3-5 seconds. When asked to read a sentence, the duration is longer, at 15 seconds or so.

"Let's talk" is a kind of question that allows students to answer the questions freely.

From the results of my tests, it seems that the system doesn't really care about what you said, but just detecting if there's someone speaking long enough when answering this type of question.

I tested it a few times in which I make fuzzy nonsense sounds and say the word "test". The result shows no difference as I keep getting 10 points (the highest point) on such questions.

Multiple Choice - 选择题

Explanation

Language And Culture Difference WARNING

According to Wikipedia, the term "Multiple Choices" is:

Multiple choice (MC),[1] objective response, or MCQ (for Multiple Choice Question) is a form of an objective assessment in which respondents are asked to select only correct answers from the choices offered as a list.

In Chinese, we call such questions "选择题" (lit. Choosing Question). The form is basically the same: one question with multiple choices.

But this can be divided into "单选题" (lit. Single Choice Question) and "多选题" (lit. Multiple Choices Question); what the difference is that the former has only one correct answer, but the latter one can go beyond one.

In this case, it's "Single Choice Question", the question with only one answer. I haven't seen any question with answers more than one.

"选择题", or "Multiple Choice Question", as its name suggests, this kind of question comes with a question and several choices. The students are asked to choose the right one with a mouse or touch screen.

What's the common instructions (hints) for it:

  • Look and Choose
  • Read and Click

What should students do:

  • Use your fingers to choose the right answer according to instructions.
  • Be aware of the available answer time.
  • Within the time window, if you answer it wrong, you can redo it.

Example

When the question is being answered, the choices in the PPT will become clickable. For a PC user, when you hover the mouse on a choice, the choice will be bigger to highlight your selection.

When you click on a choice, there will have a mark that is either "Correct" or "Wrong" shown next to the choice.

At the same time, a progress bar will be displayed at the bottom of the PPT. The less time used, the higher point you got. The bar is divided into five equal parts, with points decreased from right to left.

This is what it looks like when you finish answering a multiple-choice question. Note the green checkmark next to option C.

Drag & Drop - 拖拽题

Explanation

拖拽题, which means "Drag & Drop Question", is a kind of question that is similar to multiple choices. It comes with a question consisting of multiple blanks, and students will be asked to drag and drop the correct answer into the correct blank.

I'm not sure if there're answers that are incorrect. But from what I experienced so far, it seems like that all choices would be able to be put in a blank.

What's the common instructions (hints) for it:

  • Look and Drag
  • Read and Drag

What should students do:

  • Press and hold and drag the element (=choice) to the correct area (=blank).
  • Be aware of the available answer time.
  • Within the time window, if you answer it wrong, you can drag another one to redo it.

Example

When the question is being answered, the choices will be draggable and the blanks will accept and insert (=reposition) the choice into the blank.

It also comes with a progress bar that is exactly the same as the one in "Multiple Choice" type questions.

Matching Question - 连线题

Explanation

(It's a pity that I didn't manage to capture a screenshot for it.)

"连线题", which means "Matching Question", is a kind of question asking students to match two things together. More details are in the "Example" section.

Example

This is a simple and easy matching question.

To begin with, the students need to choose an option from one side first. By clicking on a choice, the option will be highlighted (it gets bigger) and stay still.

Then, students need to choose another option from the other side. When two options are matched, the options will resize to the original and a line will be drawn between them.

I didn't test the situation when selecting two options that don't match.

Quiz Question - 抢答题

Explanation

What is a "Quiz"? Like an exam?

No, totally wrong. If you search "define quiz" on Google, the definitions from Oxford Languages will pop up. In this case, I'm referring to this definition:

a test of knowledge, especially as a competition between individuals or teams as a form of entertainment.
https://www.google.com/search?q=define+quiz

As its name goes, a "Quiz" question will ask students to compete to answer the question. More details are in the "Example" section.

What's the common instructions (hints) for it:

  • Race and Say
  • Race and Click

What should students do:

  • After the teacher gives instruction, press/click the button that is centered on the screen to compete for the seat.
  • If you got a seat, you will be answering the question on the stage.
  • Be aware of the available answer time.
  • Within the time window, if you answer it wrong, you can redo it.

Example

When the function is invoked, it will start to countdown from 3. When the countdown is done, a button will pop up. The student who clicks the button the fastest will be the one who represents the team to answer the question.

After a period of short time (I'm assuming it is around 3 seconds), if there's nobody pressing the button, the system will choose a student from the team randomly.

The system message above the button is:

"Nobody is competing for the seat of this quiz. Dino (VIPKID's iconic dinosaur) will put someone on the stage by calling one's name."

In my case, this is a "Multiple Choice" question.

When someone is chosen to answer the question, others in the same team will be able to see their camera (as seen at the right top in this image). The camera will be no longer visible after the teacher ends this session.

Team Game - 团战题

Explanation

团战题 (lit. Group Battle Question), which means "Team Game", is a special way to answer a series of questions. The exact way will be explained in the "Example" section.

What does "团战" mean?

It's a term in gaming in Chinese. It is especially connected to some highly competitive game genres like FPS (First Person Shooter; eg. CS:GO) and MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, aka ARTS for Action Real-Time Strategy; eg. DOTA 2, League of Legends).

Such games often require teamwork to win.

The character "团" means group/corps/team. The character "战" means fight/battle/war. The meaning of this word is "to fight in/with a group/team".

What's the common instructions (hints) for it:

  • Team Game

What should students do:

  • The members of the team will answer the questions in turn.
  • When it's your turn, answer the question carefully according to (teacher's) instructions.
  • Be aware of the available answer time.
  • Within the time window, if you answer it wrong, you can redo it.

Example

When the function is invoked, all students will be sent to a special window that looks like this. The window becomes a square, with four members' names on each side connected with lines and the PPT in the center. The teacher is still able to instruct students through voice.

This is an example with a "Read and Drag" question. The current question will be highlighted.

The initial Team Game screen.

The students will be asked in an order that starts from the top to the right and so on. When a question is being answered, the line between the current student and the next student will be filled with colors gradually as time goes by.

The score will be determined with the time used. The less time used, the higher the points.

The first round.

When it's others' turn to answer, it will show which student is answering the question. Each side has its own color.

Since there's only me in the team at that time, the pop window says "the undefined student is answering..." In programming, when something is "undefined", it means that the thing doesn't exist and the system couldn't find it, but in order to not crash the app, it is being processed with an unharmful value "undefined", warning to the developers.

When the last question is being answered successfully (which in my case, no), the UI will be like this:

When all questions are answered, it will show up a result ranking all the teams by the points that are gained in this session.

The system message means:

"(My team) Got the third place in this session."

As the teacher ends the session, it will back to the normal class window.