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Archive for October, 2013

JAVA warning dialogues to bypass during NanoGong activities

2013/10/17 Leave a comment
  1. You may be prompted to update JAVA – likely a not a bad idea: java outdated warning_thumb[1]
  2. Click “RUN”: image_thumb[8]_thumb[1]
  3. Check (1) “Accept”and Click (2) “Run”: CAM03105_thumb
  4. Click “Don’t Block”: CAM03106_thumb[1]
  5. Even more annoying when warning dialogues do not come to the foreground, and your computer/web browser simply seems to be stuck. Check your task bar/dock for blinking/jumping JAVA notifications, like here: CAM03112_thumb.
  6. You have to bypass these dialogues only once – per session (lab) or possibly per computer. Choose the right answer, for university assignments, it is safe to “Allow! Allow! Allow! (“run”, “don’t block:”, update”, what ever – use common sense).
  7. Remember, thinks could be worse,  – like if you try to use NanoGong in a Firefox that has not been explicitly configured to allow JAVA applets – read more on our troubleshooting NanoGong page. 
Categories: assignments, audience-is-students, audience-is-teachers, e-languages, Glitches&Errors, lms, multimedia-recording, recording-software, service-is-documenting, service-is-testing-troubleshooting-debugging, Speaking Tags: , ,

How teachers can ease their editing pain by turning on "filters" in Moodle

2013/10/17 Leave a comment
  1. A teacher called my attention to the filters when she reported that the automatic linking of references to chapter/topic activities in the chapter/topic text stopped working for her with the upgrade to Moodle 2. If you change the below setting for "Activity names auto-linking", it will start working again:
  2. clip_image001
  3. A "filter" in Moodle (if turned on) examines what is being add to your course by you (also by your students: That’s at least what I assume the Word censorship” filters is meant for!) and if it finds a certain pattern/feature, “automagically” enhances or adorns your input. This can save you a lot of manual editing time .
  4. You can view and change the filter settings by clicking  on "filters" in Activities:
  5. clip_image002
  6. There is a campus default – which, to judge from my course, seems to be  this:
  7. clip_image003
  8.   The teacher of the individual course can override this default (there seems to be no personalization that would allow you to use the same settings for all courses you teach, within and across terms):
  9. The documentation linked on the filter settings page explains what these filters do. I only quote the filters which I think are of interest to language and humanities:
    1. “Activity names auto-linking – This scans text for activity titles that exist in the same course and creates a link
    2. Convert URLs into links – This filter converts URLs in selected formats, such as Moodle auto-format, to click-able links
    3. Database auto-linking – As the name suggests, this filter enables automatic linking of Database module entries
    4. Display emoticons as images – This converts emoticon (smiley) characters into images
    5. Glossary auto-linking – This scans text for glossary entries that exist in the same course and creates a link
    6. Multimedia plugins – This finds a link in text that points to a multimedia resource and replaces the link with an appropriate multimedia player code which can play the resource.”
    7. [This one we do not seem to have installed, unfortunately:] Multi-language content – This filter enables resources to be created in multiple languages.
    8. [These ones are not included in the documentation linked on the filter settings page, since these plugins  are specific to our campus installation, but extremely useful for authentic speaking proficiency assignments: ] NanoGong, Kaltura.
  10. For what it is worth, here are the filter settings that I am testing now in my course: 
  11. clip_image004
Categories: audience-is-teachers, e-learning, lms, service-is-configuring-learning-tools Tags: , ,

How a student can easily complete an audio recording assignment in Moodle, using the new NanoGong plugin

2013/10/17 Leave a comment
  1. Open your assignment (note the loudspeaker/dummy icon for NanoGong assignments/) from the Moodle landing page.CAM03104
  2. Unfortunately, there are a considerable number JAVA warning dialogues to bypass during NanoGong activities before you can even see the recorder plugin on the page, and may be more when you try to submit.
  3. Once you are on the NanoGong assignment page: click red button to record, image_thumb[10]
  4. Make sure the volume meter shows input when speaking (loud enough) or playing back: image_thumb[13]
  5. After recording, submit: image
  6. After submitting,
    1. You can still edit your submission, by
      1. (1) deleting your recording or
      2. re-adding – or (provided your teacher’s assignment allows for (3) multiple recordings)  just adding – (2) your recordings
      3. or adding a (4) message to the teacher
    2. you can also revisit this page to read (5) feedback the teacher gives you about your recording:CAM03108
  7. Experiencing issues? Check troubleshooting page here.
Categories: Arabic, assignments, audience-is-students, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek (modern), Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, lms, Mandarin, multimedia-recording, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Speaking, Swahili, Yoruba Tags: ,

How a teacher can easily assign an audio recording in Moodle, using the new NanoGong plugin

2013/10/17 Leave a comment
  1. We are back in business with easy audio recording assignments in the LMS, thanks to NanoGong – the free recorder I recommended when first starting here – now being available in MOODLE (presumably with the Upgrade to Moodle 2, I almost missed that….)
  2. To assign, click “turn editing on”, “Add activity or resource”, select “NanoGong voice activity”, as pictured below: image
  3. There are a few interesting options:
    1. you can limit the duration
    2. you can limit the number of recordings (attempts?) allowed  (0 is unlimited)
    3. You can let students listen to each other recordings. (Is there a rating feature that can be combined with this?) image
    4. And this is what
      1. you will see (TBA:read on for how to listen to student submissions, give feedback and grade.)image
    5. your students will see…
Categories: Arabic, assignments, audience-is-teachers, e-languages, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek (modern), Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, lms, Mandarin, multimedia-recording, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Speaking, Swahili, Yoruba Tags: ,

Teacher cannot remote control student computers in Sanako Study 1200 Autoscan

2013/10/15 Leave a comment
  1. Problem:
      1. The 1st video shows me unable to remote control a student PC from the Sanako  Tutor/ Screensharing / Autoscan window, despite (audibly) clicking the mouse and typing on the keyboard.
      2. The 2nd  video demonstrates another strange behavior: Not only can I not remote control the student PC – the Autoscan window keeps showing the same screen even after switching to the next student – although students all work on different texts, as is further evidenced by the thumbnail view of the whole classroom on the left.
      3. This photo was supposed to demonstrate another oddity: the teacher’s typing (instead of going to the student) flashing up in the upper left of the Autoscan window, between the “Monitor” button and the “Word” window frame – but I missed the right moment. Besides, it may be an additional complication due to the Office 2010 Japanese IME chosen here on both teacher and student. Or it may be the root of the problems (but including mouse? screen not updating)
      4. image
  2. Additional Info: For what it is worth: here are the Sanako log files from
    1. the teacher (unfrozen, all times):
    2. a couple of students
  3. Debugging:
    1. Can this be replicated with an IME other than Office 2010 Japanese (or any non-Western IM), on teacher and/or student?  An actual student should be logged in (<- permissions issue?), preferably many (<- performance issue?). Update: No, could not be replicated yet using another keyboard than an East-Asian IME is involved – bug?
Categories: digital-audio-lab, e-languages, Glitches&Errors Tags: , , ,

Driverinstaller has stopped working

2013/10/14 Leave a comment

A frequent crash message on both student and teacher station:

CAM03049CAM03050

Update: I think this could be a Sanako issue. The release notes for Sanako Study 1200 ver 7.1 mention: “Fixed issue where a "DriverInstaller has stopped working" notification was shown in Windows 7 64bit environments when Student application was started up after crashing ”. This indeed looks like the context  I have been seeing this in regularly: image

Categories: audience-is-IT-staff, Glitches&Errors Tags: ,

How to book a resource in Office365–the ultimate training…

2013/10/14 Leave a comment

…using animated .GIFs. Different speed? 0.25sec,0.5sec, 0.75sec, 1sec, , 2sec, 3sec, 4sec, 5sec, 6sec, 7sec, 8sec, 9sec, 10sec.

Categories: animated-GIFs, audience-is-language-learning-center-temp-staff, audience-is-students, Film-studies, service-is-library Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Protected: A checklist for our regular equipment inventories

2013/10/10 Enter your password to view comments.

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Categories: audience-is-language-learning-center-staff, audience-is-language-learning-center-temp-staff, checklists, faculty-equipment, Film-studies, film-studies-equipment, service-is-library Tags: ,