Thomas' Work Space

1. Do not follow the instructions for installing apache-maven-3.0.4  on “Windows 2000/XP”, or your final test running mvn –version to verify that it is correctly installed will fail.
2. When adapting the Environment variable path, do not use %M2_HOME%\bin, but rather repeat the explicit path, e.g. “G:\conf\lang\java\apache\maven\apache-maven-3.0.4” 
3. 
4. Why is that?

1. Tired of burning, lugging around, inserting, ejecting, or forgetting, losing, scratching and replacing CD- and DVD- media, or hard- and thumb drives to handle your large multimedia files? Do you have internet and web browser where you need to access and play your files? Then you can use UNCC Google Apps  instead.
2. Go to your UNCC Google Apps (you have to log into UNC)
3. Click on the Hard-drive-icon in the upper left and on “files”, select a video file:
   1. (many formats and underlying codecs supported, including Flash, MOV, AVI, WMV, MPG. File size limits: currently “every user is given 1GB of free storage space for files” (not enough for much HD footage, but difficult to upload, and didn’t Google Drive just increase this limit to 5GB, or does this not carry over to Google Apps? Stay tuned for updates), click “Start upload”..
4. Wait until upload is finished, and then, depending:
   1. if you want to share the file with colleagues, click on “share” (appears after “cancel”) and fill out the dialogue. You can share your file both
      1. inside the university community and
   2. outside of the university community:
   3. if you want to share the files with students in your course, there is a better way using Moodle Kaltura video upload;
   4. if you just want to play the file yourself (including to your students in the classroom), you are already done.
   5. Go to your files and click on the file in the list to play the video:
   6. Also, you can always “get your file back” by “Download”: (and note you can also prevent users from downloading the files. This is useful if you only want to temporarily share it, but later revoke permissions).
5. More help is available from the  from the  source
   1. How save files to your Google Docs
   2. How to play back video files in Google Docs

1. There are many ways, including many that are easier than doing it manually in Audacity.
2. MergeMP3 is a free and easy one that worked here:

1. We experienced slowness of Moodle during an exam where about 12 students
   1. load a Moodle quiz into the Respondus lockdown browser (lockdown browser hangs with message "page loading"),
   2. but also already when logging into Moodle with a regular browser (hangs on login page).
2. Turns out large classes used the Moodle quiz function elsewhere on campus which put lots of load on the Moodle servers.
3. What can we do on our end to work around this as smoothly as possible?
   1. First, be patient while Respondus-lockdown–browser displays “Page loading”
   2. “Refresh” or “Back/forward” are the next resort once “Page loading” attempt has stopped and the page
      1. states it cannot be loaded
      2. displays an error about missing CSS component (likely due to incomplete load before timeout)
      3. says it “can be loaded only in Respondus-lockdown–browser” while you are in Respondus-lockdown–browser (Huh?).
   3. Keep calm and carry on, i.e. on your current computer.
      1. In general, trying on additional “fallback” computers is likely to make matters only worse, since even more load is put on the Moodle server system.
      2. Specifically, however, does Respondus-lockdown–browser block when a user attempts to load a Moodle quiz in Respondus-lockdown–browser on 2 different computers simultaneously? One student kept getting “can be loaded only in Respondus-lockdown–browser” consistently, until closing Respondus-lockdown–browser on this computer. Then the quiz would finally load in Respondus-lockdown–browser where she was logged in on another computer (can this being tracked by the Respondus-lockdown–browser security layer that checks whether a page is loaded within Respondus-lockdown–browser? Why then no more helpful error message, or is this “Security by obscurity”? Data seems inconclusive).
4. Additional tips for takers (and authors) of Moodle exams are available.

1. I am trying to back up my system partition to external media. The 3rd party utility I boot into refuses to get to work since it sees inconsistencies on the partition.
2. I schedule a chkdsk /f /r from Windows 7 which on restart runs without errors.
3. Upon completion, however, Windows 7 fails to  boot.
4. I go in the Startup Repair, but System Repair tells me it cannot fix my problem, but offers System Restore, which I try twice, to no avail.
5. Cryptic Error IDs 21200664, googling of which leads to nothing but MS System Engineers advising reimaging the system partition to the factory copy which would lose my 16 months worth of system customizations.
6. I feel I have other things to do to research the innards of Windows 7. Faintly I remember that fixmbr used to get me out of fixes with non-starting XP installations. It has been replaced by bootsect /nt60 <driveletter>, and on top of that, it responds with an apparent failure “since the volume could not be locked during the update” (actually deemed likely harmless, or use /force).
7. Windows 7 starts up. (WTH?! Check disk versus the master boot record?!)
8. Now, am I supposed to use a 3rd party or a Microsoft tool for my system partition backup?

Receded computer screens would save us having to rename the LRC  learning environment from “face-to-face” to “face-hidden-behind-screen-from-face”, and are especially good for communicative language class activities that are not computer-mediated, but only –aided. Receded screens also provide pretty good privacy, and are essential for written exam integrity.

… and sent us a thick envelope chock-full of these very sweet handwritten thank-you notes.

I have twin nieces their age, so I know that it can take a bit to get them to write these notes (I am looking at you, Miss M…! ).

The little man on the screen they mention, that can talk in tongues is the Microsoft-Deskbot, and the headphones they mention were connected to a Sanako Study 1200 digital audio lab.

I hope we can upgrade all this to Windows 7 this summer, and that the Language Academy will be back next spring to admire it all…

		LRC intrigues Language Learners VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

1. Problem: Rear connectors of computers get disconnected or even damaged. Input  (keyboard, mouse, microphone) and output devices (headset) get disconnected connected and therefore fails to work. Damaged equipment needs to be ordered and replaced, at considerable cost of time and money ($TBA per Sanako cable). It is too time-consuming to test equipment functionality (30 headsets and mice and keyboards) before each assessments and exam.
2. Example of student in seat:
3. We have observed these and similar damages regularly: 
   1. 
   2. 
   3. Cause: Our language lab computer desks and rows are too narrow, for individual student sitting in front of the computer, not to mention classes moving in and out of their seats
   4. Other requirements:
      1. We need to have equipment plugged in the rear connectors of the computer and cable-tied to prevent students from trying to adjust or “fix” computers by re-plugging the equipment (often improperly, making them fail to work), and also because there is limited desk surface in front of the computers, given keyboard and mouse need to fit in front.
      2. For the functionality of the Sanako digital audio language lab system, we especially need to make sure,  that the headset is plugged in on the same USB port in all computers.

   5. Solutions that we have

      1. already tried
         1. we have tied down the connectors with cable ties, but this has not worked sufficiently.

      2. yet to try: is there a way

         1. to permanently attach computers in a different, safer position on the existing furniture?
         2. or to buy and install different furniture, computers seated under desks inaccessible for end user and locked?

1. View screens (best viewed side by side, but note that left and right screen are not synchronized):
   1. for full slide show (note the included short links for convenient further reading), left screen
   2. for Sanako interface and full audio track, right screen.
2. Table of contents:
   1. Overview of a Sanako Oral Exam
   2. Examples of Exam teachers’ exam question recordings
   3. Example of a Sanako Exam
   4. Loop induction
   1. creating an exam question recording
   2. by taking a Sanako exam as a student
   5. Step-by-Step of administering a Sanako oral exam
   6. Grading Sanako oral exam student files
      1. Sanako voice insert for
         1. facilitating recording oral assignments for student without hard-coded pauses
         2. commenting on student responses during grading
   7. Sanako authoring tool for providing visual on top of aural cues to students
3.