Archive
How to merge PowerPoint 2010 slide shows
- If for example you work with class-size sets of PowerPoint slideshows – which may be unpractical -: The command for merging them is a bit hidden:
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And the process a bit clumsy (does not allow for simultaneous selection of multiple slideshows).
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Plus you have to double click the thumbnails of the slides of the show that you want to insert).
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But it works: Now you can e.g. print in one sitting, including multiple slides
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Solved: Moodle RSS feed not updating
- Here is what I see in my Moodle course:
(in IE9, also tested in Chrome). - Here is how Moodle’s RSS feed is configured:
- If I click on this link, this is the current feed status in IE feed display:
- The last displayed article is not even visible on this page anymore – I “lost” 50 posts, and more in Moodle – what am I missing ?
- Doh. I and the (I find: clumsy) way RSS-feeds have to be configured in Moodle meet again: You RSS feed list may be correct, but then you also need to select the right feed to display.
Google Calendar embedded aggregated calendar won’t show calendar names?
- When I add "Calendars to Display" in the "Google Embeddable Calendar Helper" ,
- Google calendar lets me select calendars I added from iCal sources,
- but it does not "remember" the names I have given these calendars,
- displaying only the default name "Calendar",
- both in the "Google Embeddable Calendar Helper"
- and in the iframe embed:
- both in the "Google Embeddable Calendar Helper"
- rendering the aggregation feature useless (Which is which?).
- Is there a workaround or hidden feature like a “name parameter” in the embed query-string? What is it? I cannot find it in the Google Calendar API reference.
How to configure Java not to check for updates in the frozen computer lab
- Many applications – both web-based or standalone – in the LRC rely on Java. They currently all start Java with the autoupdater:
- and may at least temporarily allow for Java versions not tested for compatibility with LRC applications
- which should not cause permanent problems, since the computers are frozen, but does cause client s unnecessary hassle and delays
- provided that
- the LRC applications have been tested to work with the reasonably recent version of Java in the LRC image
- and staying on this version for, say, a term, causes no overarching security concerns (if it does, the more recent Java version should be frozen into the underlying software image anyway, after testing for compatibility with LRC applications).
- The answer how to shut out the autoupdater is likely in the Java control panel. This screenshot is from version 7.51 while we have 7.45, but likely similar
- Registry keys note 32-bit and 64-bit)
- HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy EnableAutoUpdateCheck
- HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy EnableAutoUpdateCheck
- HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy EnableJavaUpdate
- HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy EnableJavaUpdate
- For programmatically configuring this, a quick web search finds this:
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deployment.expiration.check.enabled
Boolean
true
Must be “true” to prompt users to update the JRE when an out-of-date JRE is found on their system. Set to “false” to suppress the prompt.
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This is a setting in here: The deployment.config file is used for specifying the System-Level deployment.properties in the infrastructure. By default no deployment.config file exists; thus, no system-wide deployment.properties file exists. If deployment.config exists, it is located in one of the directories shown in the following table.
Operating System:Windows
Location
• <Windows Directory>\Sun\Java\Deployment\deployment.config
• ${deployment.java.home}\lib\deployment.config -
in addition, likely this should be included: “SomeKey=SomeValue, may be locked by including another key, SomeKey.locked … so that the user cannot change it”.
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Information is from http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/jweb/index.html which may likely contain other information needed to configure JAVA in the LRC environment.
“Sanako License service has not responded to the license query”
The dialogue popped up again after my restarting the study server (running on the same computer). After another “new license query”, the system seemed to operate normally (only that it became unresponsive and crashed (after doing heavy screen sharing and screen recording activities for a considerable time)
This is on a Dell Optiplex 760 – Might this be the root cause, and could running the server on a different computer help?.
Calendaring can improve instruction
It’s coming: “An Interactive On-line Course Calendar for Multi-Section Courses, by María Paredes Fernández (University of Pennsylvania): The interactive online course calendar was project that received funding from the Penn Language Center at the University of Pennsylvania in early 2012 to streamline class preparation for fellow colleagues, promote transparency for the students, and ensure continuity and quality instruction of the Accelerated Elementary Spanish Course, Spanish 121. The day’s lesson plans organized and uploaded on an interactive webpage on the course management systems Blackboard and Canvas. The lesson plans were comprehensive, as it featured the links, PDF documents and PowerPoint presentations of the day in one convenient location, and were easily shared with students to aid in their preparation. This talk will focus on how the interactive syllabus shaped this course and how it could work for other programs.”
Moodle can ICS exporting, which students and teaches can subscribe to in their NINERMAIL.
Audio player error message involving “pluginfile.php” in Moodle quiz
- LRC assistants may get called by students with this error regarding pluginfile.php in a Moodle quiz, it appears in the audio player interface itself and looks like this:
- The error messages flashes only briefly, and afterwards the audio simply will not play.
- In a Respondus lockdown browser quiz, you can bring up the error message again by clicking “next” and then resuming the attempt. When the quiz page reloads, the error message will briefly flash again.
- LRC assistants cannot work around this error, they need to alert permanent staff. Usually it is related to a quiz author needing to update the audio file link, like so:
- Go into the quiz, on the left, click “edit the quiz”):
- Find the audio file link, edit the link:
- Can you actually load the link? If it says “file not found”, you have the root cause:
- Does it say “draft” in there? Not good. Copy the unique identifier from the path:
- Go to in Moodle course / Files section, locate the offending file (you can use the unique id you put in the clip board to search), i.e. make sure it actually exists:
- Get the correct URL for the file, puit it int the clipboard:
- Go back to editing the quiz, update the wrong URL with the correct one.
- Save the updated quiz.
- Go into the quiz, on the left, click “edit the quiz”):
- Now the student can reload the quiz, if in Respondus lockdown browser, like above by clicking “next”and back.
German Frame Semantic Online Lexicon
“The German Frame-based Dictionary is an attempt to apply the linguistic theory of Frame Semantics to the language classroom”, and is “based on the German FrameNet at the University of Texas at Austin, a digital archive of how German words are used in real life contexts”. How to Use the German Frame-based Dictionary.
Example Frame pagE:
The Frames available are limited, but instructive samples which can help the naïve user with dictionary use: 
There are also some Arbeitsblätter, but only a few: 
(On the occasion of Charles Fillmore’s death).
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Other ways to find help
If you cannot find it here, look there: 5,500 Language-Learning Links and Programs for learning or teaching 150 languages
Shortcuts:Our Lists, Our Maps, LRC Staff Moodle Site,LRC Project Moodle Site, 49erexpress, UNCC Moodle, Student Recordings: s:claslcslrcsanakostudent
Learning usage samples: Sanako oral exam, Kaltura webcam presentation, Dictation with speech recognition, Sanako written exam, Chinese and Japanese interactive stroke-order practice
Test the Sanako Installer, Webbrowser Popup Konfigurator for XP, or Windows7, faster LRC TeacherPC Log-in Let MS facilitate diacritics writing by installing for you US-International keyboard layout
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