WHAT IS
DUOLINGO1
·
Duolingo is a freemium language-learning
platform through a language learning website and app, as well as a
digital language proficiency assessment exam. (A freemium is a pricing strategy
by which a product or service is provided free of charge, but money (premium)
is charged for advanced features, functionality, or related products and
services2);
·
Duolingo offers all its language courses free of
charge;
·
68
different language courses across 23 languages are offered through the language-learning website and app with 22 additional courses in
development (as of Nov 2016);
·
The app is available on iOS, Android and Windows
8 and 10 platforms with about 150 million registered students/users across the
world.
HISTORY1
·
The Duolingo project was created by Carnegie Mellon University professor Luis von Ahn
and his graduate student, Severin Hacker
·
An important inspiration for Duolingo came from
von Ahn himself. He was born in Guatemala and
saw how expensive it was for people in his community to learn English;
·
Both co-founders believe that “free education
will really change the world” and wanted to supply the people an outlet to do
so – hence the initiation of Duolingo.
WHAT DUOLINGO
SAY ABOUT THEMSELVES3
·
Duolingo is a great way to learn a language. It
provides personalized education because people learn in different ways;
·
It’s addictive, the lessons are split into bite-sized units
that feel like games, gamification poured into every lesson;
·
Students can study during breaks, commuting, while
waiting in line;
·
Duolingo teaches students how to read, write,
listen, and speak a language;
·
Extremely effective;
·
Completely free so it is universally accessible:
no annoying ads, no misleading In-App purchases, no subscription fees;
·
The creators know it’s hard to stay motivated when
learning online, so they made Duolingo so much fun that people would prefer picking
up new skills over playing a game.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
ABOUT DUOLINGO
·
According to Dave (studying French from the
English platform):
o Duolingo
is “so much better, not to mention free” – compared to the ones he tried
before;
o Duolingo
is “a lot more interactive and much smarter at becoming progressively yet
appropriately more difficult as you learn things;”
·
According
to Mary (studying German from the English platform):
o “Duolingo
makes learning German language fun and I look forward to my next 10 minutes a
day.”
·
I tested out the Basic French lessons from an English platform, and saw that:
o Daily
goal options for the lessons are “only” 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes/day. These "short" lesson durations look very doable
and encouraging. The fact that students
partake in these "short" lessons daily will ensure that they build up substantial expertise
over time;
o The
lesson activities are “fun” and “interesting.”
LANGUAGES ON
OFFER AT DUOLINGO3
Danish
|
Hindi
|
Spanish
|
Dutch
|
Hungarian
|
Swahili
|
English
|
Italian
|
Swedish
|
Esperanto*
|
Irish
|
Turkish
|
French
|
Norwegian
|
Ukrainian
|
German
|
Polish
|
Vietnamese
|
Greek
|
Portuguese
|
Welsh
|
Hebrew
|
Romanian
|
---
|
High Valyrian*
|
Russian
|
---
|
*Created language
TAKING DUOLINGO LESSONS
·
Create a profile to save your progress;
REFERENCES
Posted by: Dr. Nat
Tuivavalagi
No comments:
Post a Comment