Genre-is-any | Thomas' Work Space

How to work around “Audio init failed” when recording in MyLanguageLab

2013/11/12 plagwitz Leave a comment

If you see this (or similar errors):
Try running the browser tune-up,

check for any new software versions (you can update Java, unfortunately only for your current session on this computer)
finally run the voice recording setup wizard to check for results.

Suggest you do this before entering a homework assignment, since a timer may be keeping running while you troubleshoot

Categories: audience-is-language-learning-center-temp-staff, audience-is-students, Glitches&Errors, multimedia-recording, textbooks Tags: FAQs, mygermanlab, mylanguagelab, pearson

Why not streaming audio from teacher to students in the Sanako is a poor workaround

2013/11/12 plagwitz Leave a comment

We lost streaming capabilities with upgrade to Sanako Version 7 – still investigating how we can get them back, for the workaround is not working well: Now class activities fail because of permission issues that we did not have when we still were able to stream.
Below is the result of an attempt today to play a listening comprehension activity to students for a TOEFL list mock exam with a student that has regular SANAKO permissions, but not the ones to download from this file location (would need to redo the permissions if we keep streaming).

Categories: audience-is-IT-staff, audience-is-language-learning-center-staff, Glitches&Errors Tags: image2013, sanako-study-1200

How to create screencasts of student presentations for the language learner ePortfolio in the digital audio lab

2013/11/08 plagwitz Leave a comment

Students can now easily video-record their own screens during class presentations – not only when using PowerPoint; instead students could demo a website, like their Facebook page.
Last year, we were limited to PowerPoint’s record slideshow with timing and narration feature, and either send the PPSX (small, but requires the PowerPoint viewer) or the “Save as” video (new in PowerPoint 2010; computing intensive and large file size).
Now with MS-Community Clips, screencasts are
1. minimal effort to create (keyboard shortcut WIN+ALT+R or T; save on desktop; drag/drop into Sanako homework folder)
2. and little effort to distribute:
  1. Students could have uploaded to a Moodle’ file upload assignment (default file size limit: 64MB) or Kaltura file upload assignment (not sure whether there is a size limit). This seems more suitable for assignments with screencasts recordings.
  2. In this instance
    1. Sanako collected the Homework files to the Sanako share,
    2. my langlabemailer emailed them as attachment (so far tested to allow for 25MB attachment size, the equivalent of 7-8 minute screencast, a hefty space to fill in L2! We also established: 45MB is too much… ) to the originating student and teacher, for review, grading –
  3. and – provided it passes muster as an attractive and significant piece – possibly for re-use in the student’s language learner ePortfolio.
In addition,
1. Before the presentations, the teacher easily collaborated on proof-reading the slide decks of individual students, by using the Sanako Remote control screen sharing feature.
2. During the presentation, students followed more closely – which seemed to increase their attention and comprehension -, thanks to audio and screen being shared to them from the presenter, using the Sanako’s “Model student” feature.

Static noise on sanako headsets

2013/11/08 plagwitz Leave a comment

We seem to have one of these outages in ever class recently. Not sure, whether it is the hardware – the headphone seems not always have static, but frequently. What would be a good way to test this before class, or – to not have to log in individually on all lab computers – at beginning of class?

Categories: digital-audio-lab, Glitches&Errors, hardware, headphones Tags: sanako-slh-07, sanako-study-1200

View a path to where you can start troubleshooting Pearson MyLanguageLab Wimba Voice Java

2013/11/06 plagwitz Leave a comment

We used to do proctored LRC chapter exams using this textbook online component, but the Wimba Voice student recording tools stopped working, although a possible solution has been proposed with the problem report. This screencast leads to an exercise where more testing (each supported browser will behave differently – this is Chrome) is possible::

Categories: audience-is-IT-staff, audience-is-language-learning-center-staff, German, Glitches&Errors, Student-Computers, textbooks Tags: image2013, java, mylanguagelab, pearson, wimba-voice

How to record your screen with MS-Community Clips

2013/11/06 plagwitz Leave a comment

During presentations, when creating demonstrations etc., it can be useful to record your screen (and your voice, if you speak into the headphone microphone). In the LRC, we have MS Community Clips pre-installed for this purpose. To start recording:
To stop recording, follow the same steps, but in step 3 choose “stop”.
Or forget about the menus and remember the keyboard shortcuts: WIN+ALT+R or T.
The video will play automatically. Click stop, menu: Save, Save your recording where you need it (e.g. Desktop).
If your teacher wants you to submit your recording, in the LRC you can drop it into the Sanako Homework window and “send” it:

Categories: assessments, audience-is-students, digital-audio-lab, documentation, e-languages, multimedia-recording, presentations, Student-Computers Tags: ms-community-clips, sanako-study-1200

Forced downgrade to Color scheme Windows 7 Basic since “exceeded its allowed memory”

2013/10/31 plagwitz Leave a comment

This warning and forced downgrade appeared on the teacher after starting using MS-Community Clips (which is just a GUI wrapper for Windows Media Encoder internally, which we used on the same machine successfully while it was still on XP).
The error seems slightly more informative than what we received earlier, but I did not manage to investigate since this was in the middle of supporting a teaching use .

Categories: e-infrastructure, Glitches&Errors, multimedia-recording, Presenter-Computer, software-old Tags: 7, colorschemes, image2013, ms-community-clips, windows, Windows-media-encoder

How to run a microphone test before taking an ACTFL exam on languagetesting.com

2013/10/28 plagwitz Leave a comment

To avoid having your test recordings rejected for quality reasons (and having to take the entire test again), please run this simple microphone test OUTSIDE of languagetesting.com:
1. This microphone test can be run either
  1. at the listening stations (see sign 433a, brown headsets) or
  2. (PREFERABLY) in the main classroom (see sign 434, black headsets).
2. After logging in, put the headphones on. No need to re-plug anything.
3. From the desktop, open Audacity .
4. In Audacity, Press the red RECORD button .
5. Speak into the microphone.
6. Check the results:
  1. You should see something like this:
  2. Press the green PLAY button and listen to your recording.
  3. Does the recording look AND sound OK?
    1. NO: let the LRC staff at the reception desk know the computer number and switch computers.
    2. Yes: Save the recording using menu: File / Export / [name = number of computer].mp3 to your “my documents” folder (if your test gets rejected, you have evidence that you ran the test and that the LRC headset hardware you used was o.k.).
You also need to run the test WITHIN languagetesting.com (which just tests for volume, not for quality).