Clarion

=Citation and General Information=
 * Clarion 2.0.1
 * Author: Daniel Jalkut
 * Publisher: Red Sweater Software
 * http://www.red-sweater.com/products/index.html
 * Copyright 1998-2007
 * Platform: requires Macintosh OSX 10.2 or later; there are no versions of this software that run on PCs.
 * Peripherals: speakers or headphones
 * Grade/Age: Clarion could be configured to work with any group of students from middle school to college. There are several settings which which allow the user to adjust difficulty level.

=Teacher Support=
 * This product does not provide online lesson plans. The intent of this program is to quiz students on interval recognition.

=Instructional Content=
 * Clarion is a interval trainer. This software has quiz presets that allow the user to focus on one of several kinds of intervals, including ascending and descending melodic intervals and harmonic intervals. In the Clarion preferences tab, there are settings that allow the student to hear major, harmonic minor, melodic minor, natural minor, and chromatic interval sets. There is also an option where the student can select an interval and the program will play it back on the virtual piano. The student can also 'play' intervals on the virtual piano.
 * National Standards:
 * Standard 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

=Instructional Design and Pedagogical Soundness=
 * This program is simply a quiz based program to test the knowledge and skills of the students.
 * Clarion contains nothing that will mislead or confuse students.
 * The program is simple enough that any level of student could use it. The user can adjust the difficulty level to fit the needs of beginning to advanced theory students.
 * There are no distracting graphics in this program. The program is organized and intuitive.
 * User can control how the program runs, when to stop or start a quiz, and when he or she can exit the program.
 * Program structure:
 * Drill and Practice
 * The user can control when to start a quiz. The user can take as much time as he or she needs when figuring out an interval, and there is a repeat interval button in the program. The program is not timed and can go on indefinitely.
 * Clarion simply gives the right number of answers out of the total amount of questions. There is a gauge at the top of the presentation that shows the percentage of right answers.
 * The feedback is minimal. The program gives only right or wrong answers. Clarion does allow the user to try again if he or she chooses an incorrect answer, disabling the student's original answer.
 * Sequence of materials: Fair
 * Pace of instruction: Good
 * Quality of interaction: Fair
 * Motivation for Students: Poor

=Record Keeping=
 * No Hall of Fame or Student Records. The only record that the program keeps is of the number of right and wrong answers.

=Overall Evaluation=
 * Clarion is a simple program for quizzing interval recognition. It does not keep track of records or show the user the right answer when he or she gets a wrong answer; it simply lets the user try again. The author is working on having the program recognize which intervals the student has trouble with so the program can "quiz intelligently" for problem intervals. This is not a part of Clarion 2.0.1. The aesthetic presentation is simple and intuitive to work with. While the program may not look great or do everything the user may wish, it does have adjustments for difficulty. This is a major strength.
 * ===Rating - * *===

John Blasko (04/09/2006) Edited by: Becky McGown (10/27/2009)