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Archive for the ‘Student-Computers’ Category

How a teacher creates audio recordings for use with Sanako Student Voice Insert mode

    1. One of the Sanako Student player’s useful features  geared toward language learning activities, is that it can save the teacher the time and effort for inserting pauses into their audio recordings,  so that students can record responses into them.
      1. Meaning the teacher can just press the red speak button sanako-student-player-speakand record through the entire file in one sitting.
      2. The teacher can still help students finding their way around the file, especially where to insert their own audio recording responses, by adding aural cues.
        1. This can be done in minimal time: I once saw a teacher use a bicycle bell – and why not, if it saves time.
        2. A spoken instruction “Respond”/”Answer in 10 seconds” is not more difficult to spot (unless only the voice graph is being browsed) and might be even better.
        3. If you have spare time: 
          1. You can post-edit the file with audacity, generating and inserting sinus tones.
          2. You can use the Sanako player to insert bookmarks instead of cues.
    2. As long as students have been instructed to how to use voice insert recording mode with the Sanako student recorder.
      1. This is for self access of students to teacher recorded files – be it during class or homework.
      2. If you want to record students under exam conditions, a similar insert recording feature is available within the activity: Model imitation, but not with a pre-recorded file, only when the live teacher is the program source students listen to for cues.

Students get an error when trying to open links from MS-Word file

  1. Error reads: “”this operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer”.
  2. Immediate workaround:
    1. right-click on the link, choose copy, open a web browser window CIMG0001and paste the link into the address bar, browse to it from there.
    2. File / Save as / Web page. From where you saved the web page, double click to open it in the your web browser, click the links form within there. CIMG0002
    3. Have you tried saving your MS-Word files to the new SkyDrive.live.com (login with your NINERNET password) yet? Students can choose to open MS-Word documents in either MS-Word or their web browser which should also bypass the problem.
  3. Solution: Investigating. Seems related to no “default browser set” in XP Control Panel / Internet options. If you cannot live with the workaround, do ask your System Administrator. Or stay tuned

Sanako comparative recording exercises using Moodle

  1. Comparative recordings are one of the best-established practices in SLA with technology. We can implement them here using:
    1. The Sanako Study 1200 language lab software installed in LRCRoomCoed434 facilitates comparative recordings by students, based on a teacher-provided model audio, with its student dual track recorder software.
    2. Moodle’s Simple file upload assignment aids in managing the workflow,
      1. from delivering the audio file with the model recording to the student
      2. to  organizing, assessing and grading the student input.
  2. For the teacher
    1. to create such an exercise, she
      1. creates an audio recording that serves as a model for the student pronunciation – a special application of our Audacity recording introduction. It is advised, however, to insert clear cues for the student to start his repetition.
      2. creates a Moodle’s Simple file upload assignment to which she attaches the audio recording
    2. continue with How a teacher grades a Moodle simple file upload assignment
  3. For the students to take such an exercise:

      1. How a student takes a Moodle Simple file upload assignment
      2. TBA: Sanako Student Recorder

Screencasts for Fall 2011 Workshop: Computer classroom management in the LRC using Sanako Study 1200

  1. The workshop stayed  “this side of the digital audio lab”, i.e. focused on those generic teaching tasks that the Sanako Study 1200 can facilitate which have the widest teaching application (including in, but also beyond language-skill-courses):
    1. remote controlling student computers,
    2. screen sharing, collaborating with students,
    3. launching applications on students computers,
    4. sending students to webpages,
    5. launching handout files to students and collecting their input back
    6. locking their computers, screens or keyboards,
    7. “clicker” classroom polls, for which I have written a PowerPoint Template you can base your own clicker-like face-to-face class exercises on.
    8. and more…
    9. Here are two screencasts of my presentation:
      1. one for the right screen/participant screen (using the Study1200 teacher to student screen casting). Requires Windows Media Player on PC, like in the LRC: download from MS-SkyDrive.
      2. one for the left screen/projector, where I displayed mostly a PowerPoint. You can watch this in parallel using another player, e.g. the VLC player, like in the LRC. However, it can also stream from MS-SkyDrive.

Streaming Problems with Realmedia via RTSP from ereserves with VLC Player (and Internet Explorer. And NetOp School)

  1. VLC-player
    1. version 1.1.9,  but also currently newest 1.1.11 as well on Windows CXP SP 3
    2. opens from IE8 and Firefox 3.6
    3. but is not able to play files (tested even multi) through. Rather, it nicely falls on its face, with the audio stream simply appearing to stop, mid-sentence, after 2:38 (pretty consistently – a buffering bug? A great way to slip through pre-testing).
    4. In the LRC, I could hardly bring the taskswitcher up, let alone (15 minutes of waiting) the task manager, to even find that vlc.exe is the culprit, with a CPU utilization of 99% solid (Ouch!). ereserves (4)
    5. Not quite so bad in the office computer where it hovered slightly above 25%, maybe busying  only one CPU core. ereserves-crashes-vlcplayer-at238-diana
  2. My Google searches do not find anything quite similar.
  3. RealPlayer 14 to the rescue?
    1. In IE8, RealPlayer does not open when clicking on the web page link with the RM file which causes a dialogue to open if VLC-player is the default player, rather a strange unplayable content error..
    2. realplayer-cannot-open-ram-from-ereserves-in-ie8
    3. In Firefox, RealPlayer open and plays (and pre-buffers) the stream completely.realplayer-cannot-open-ram-from-ereserves-but-from-firefox
    4. Note that ereserves “download as zip” cannot serve as a workaround: gives you only the links like http://dlib4.uncc.edu/streaming/media_play.php?file=9364cb66b9e1cae26aed0f471e9eab5b, which require you to re-authenticate, even if in the same browser session, and do not redirect to the resource, neither audio nor web page form which you could launch the audio (in short, I do not get what this download as zip is good for)
    5. Next Problem: This may work on my office computer. In the lab we have NetOp School installed. That adds another layer of NetOp School problems which look like they can be resolved next time the lab is reimaged. For now, use instead audio from Moodle metacourses where possible. next time I get around to design and run a Symantec-Ghost Software and File Action on the computers (all LRC lab PCs) and test the result (on PC10) which was now.

Solved: NetOp School NLSP.dll prevents streaming of Real Media via RTSP on student computers

  1. On a NetOp School system, Realplayer 14, when trying to load e.g. rtsp://dlib4.uncc.edu:554/e_reserves/CD4French1-7.rm (from Firefox, or disk, authenticated), crashes nlsp.dll (version 6, part of of NetOp School from Danware). This is the  NetOp Browser Policy IP Filter.
  2. The MS-windows appcompat contains this:
  3. NAME

    RealPlay.exe

    nlsp.dll

    kernel32.dll

    FILTER

    GRABMI_FILTER_PRIVACY

    GRABMI_FILTER_THISFILEONLY

    GRABMI_FILTER_THISFILEONLY

    NAME2

    cddbcontrol.dll

    nlsp.dll

    kernel32.dll

    SIZE

    2041072

    243728

    989696

    CHECKSUM

    0x902F78A2

    0xB9006E28

    0x2D998938

    BIN_FILE_VERSION

    2.6.206.205

    6.20.2010.349

    5.1.2600.5781

    BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION

    2.6.206.205

    6.20.2010.349

    5.1.2600.5781

    PRODUCT_VERSION

    2, 6, 206, 205

    6.20 (2010349)

    5.1.2600.5781

    FILE_DESCRIPTION

    CDDBControl Core Module

    NetOp Browser Policy IP Filter

    Windows NT BASE API Client DLL

    COMPANY_NAME

    Gracenote, Inc.

    Netop Business Solutions A/S

    Microsoft Corporation

    PRODUCT_NAME

    CDDBControl Core Module

    Netop School

    Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

    FILE_VERSION

    2, 6, 206, 205

    6.20 (2010349)

    5.1.2600.5781 (xpsp_sp3_gdr.090321-1317)

    ORIGINAL_FILENAME

    CDDBControl.DLL

    NLSP.DLL

    kernel32

    `

     

     

     

    INTERNAL_NAME

    CDDBControl

    NLSP

    kernel32

    LEGAL_COPYRIGHT

    Copyright 1999 – 2009

    Copyright © 1981-2010 Netop Business Solutions A/S. All Rights Reserved. Portions used under license from third parties.

    © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

    VERFILEDATEHI

    0x0

    0x0

    0x0

    VERFILEDATELO

    0x0

    0x0

    0x0

    VERFILEOS

    0x4

    0x4

    0x40004

    VERFILETYPE

    0x2

    0x2

    0x2

    MODULE_TYPE

    WIN32

    WIN32

    WIN32

    PE_CHECKSUM

    0x1F6508

    0x4526B

    0xFE572

    LINKER_VERSION

    0x0

    0x0

    0x50001

    UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION

    2.6.206.205

    6.20.2010.349

    5.1.2600.5781

    UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION

    2.6.206.205

    6.20.2010.349

    5.1.2600.5781

    LINK_DATE

    04/13/2010 19:48:37

    12/15/2010 19:38:53

    03/21/2009 14:06:58

    UPTO_LINK_DATE

    04/13/2010 19:48:37

    12/15/2010 19:38:53

    03/21/2009 14:06:58

    VER_LANGUAGE

    English (United States) [0x409]

    Language Neutral [0x0]

    English (United States) [0x409]

  4. NetOp support advises to try, among other things, resetting the Winsock catalog via    "netsh winsock reset", which seems to work on a testmachine.

Protected: Sharing the LRC main classroom, using LRC Calendar LRCRoomCoed434

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Learn Chinese character stroke-order with slowed-down animated GIFs

Further to our prior tips on learning Chinese stroke order, now you can take your time, in the LRC: To facilitate your practicing of Chinese character stroke-order, we have used the most helpful site (also available by direct download) created by Tim Xie for the California State University, Long Beach, to create 100 different speed versions, and one comic strip like static image, for each of the several hundred of animated GIFs demonstrating Chinese character writing, and made them available on the LRC computers under Internet Explorer Favorites – Example:

a1f5_strip

You can access the files with the stroke order speed of your preference from the LRCCOED434 student computers, like so:

chinese-stroke-order-animated-html

(Many thanks also to the authors of programmable ImageMagick image editor and corresponding Unix shell scripts that we could use in the production of the slowed down animated GIFs. To create your own version of these slowed down animated GIFs, or others similar websites, feel free to pick up and/or adapt our shell script here).