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Trying to reduce Attempt abandoned in Hot Potato Hot Pot Moodle quizzes

2013/12/20 Leave a comment
    1. The Hot Potatoes quiz activity per se does not seem to have a submit button, since it is auto-grading, per question.
    2. . When the quiz is completed, the string in ExerciseCompleted (usually: “You have complete the exercise” )appears in a modal dialogue and on top.
    3. image
    4. Before Exercise is complete, the instructions now remain, since I have turned off ShowCompleteSoFar:  clip_image001
    5. One could make  ExerciseCompleted much more visible (like with ShowCompleteSoFar permanently in a Hot Potatoe inhstallation), if looking out for this message would help the students not abandoning the quiz early: image
Categories: assessments, e-learning, service-is-configuring-learning-tools Tags: , , ,

How to get rid of “Questions completed” feedback in Hot Potatoes quizzes

2013/12/20 Leave a comment
  1. If you dig into the JavaScript in the HTML, looking for the default feedback t4ext (“Questions completed so far”), you see (as I have done here manually; this could be relatively easily done also for an entire batch of course quizzes with a global replacement) that you turn this option off:
    1. var CompletedSoFar = ‘Questions completed so far: ‘;
    2. var ShowCompletedSoFar = false;
  2. But that does not get rid of the #/# being displayed.
  3. There is an option to get rid of the Feedback text: image
  4. If I read the options correctly, there is no such setting (we tried the obvious suspects here): image
  5. function CheckQuestionsCompleted(){
    // trp: trying to disable showing to student QuestionsCompleted 
// (entire function  even if somebody changes the variable ShowCompletedSoFar) 
    // if i understand correctly, what users really do not want to show 
// is a misleading completed correctly for completed 
// (which leads to students not know that they have finished?) - \
// is there no better way? 
    // was: if (ShowCompletedSoFar == false )){return '';} 
// trp: cannot find a gui to set ShowCompletedSoFar  to false
    var QsCompleted = 0;
    for (var QNum=0; QNum<State.length; QNum++){         if (State[QNum] != null){             if (State[QNum][0] &gt;= 0){
                QsCompleted++;
            }
        }
    }
//Fixes for 6.2.2.2
    if (QsCompleted >= QArray.length){
        return ExerciseCompleted;
    }
    else{
        return ''; // trp: CompletedSoFar + ' ' + QsCompleted + '/' + QArray.length + '.';
    }
}
  6. Since you can edit the sourcefiles of a HotPotatoes installation, you can turn it also off for a machine permanently:
  7. If this variable is there in the underlying code, shouldn’t there be also an option in the GUI (not necessarily, maybe was never implemented – or maybe I just have not found it…).
  8. For what the output will look like, see here.
Categories: assessments, Authoring-tools, e-learning, sourcecode Tags: ,

How to change your button text in Hot Potatoes activities

2013/12/19 Leave a comment
  1. In Hot Potatoes, use the “options”/ “configure output”:
  2. image
  3. Tab: “Buttons”:image
  4. Save and regenerate the html file: image
  5. Voilà: submit
Categories: assessments, e-learning Tags: ,

Firefox and Chrome – Enterprise version in computer lab image?

2013/12/19 Leave a comment
  1. The tension between having to update the platform while not leaving the ecosystem behind seems one of the oldest issues IT – does the web browser platform add something fundamentally new  to the mix?
  2. My understanding has always been that campus computer labs should run the “enterprise versions” of the Chrome and Firefox web browser, especially if they advertise the non-default web browsers to students on the start menu right next to Internet Explorer (which IT, with the help of the Windows Update tools that allow to shut out forced Internet Explorer’s upgrade, upgrades very conservatively, in order to not break applications).
  3. Reason for installing enterprise versions in the (ahem!) enterprise is that – I believe to know this for Firefox ESR   – the enterprise version:
    1. is kept up to date with security patches, but
    2. is feature-stable (as opposed to the consumer version which gets updated every few weeks) which allows our software  vendors – textbook websites etc. – to make sure their software works on a mainstream, non-cutting edge version of the web browser. Case in point which would likely cause havoc when trying to use online language textbooks in the LRC over the next term: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/10/firefox_26_blocks_java/
    3. Running the enterprise version of the software should also relieve
      1. IT departments of constant updates and testing, and
      2. students using deep-frozen lab computers to – every time they log in on a computer – having  to wait for the auto update of the web browser to go through.
    4. E.g. you can see from this Firefox ESR version history graphic, that it  has been on version 17 since November 2012, and that version 17, after an overlap of a few weeks, is now  (December 3) deprecated, in favor of version 24.
    5. That means: with Firefox ESR, we were spared from having to deal with (test application software compatibility, like online textbooks) the 7 individual upgrades in between. If we upgrade to ESR version 24 now, we will likely for another full year receive security patches, but not have to deal with features that break instructional websites.
  4. Given this, I assume we should upgrade to Firefox ESR (and the Chrome equivalent, if it is one, i.e. works like Firefox ESR) in the LRC image
Categories: e-infrastructure, service-is-it-managing, service-is-project-managing, textbooks, web-browsers Tags: , ,

First steps with MS-Lync 2013 screen sharing and remote control during support calls

2013/12/12 Leave a comment
  1. Start a meeting, by double-clicking on somebody who shows as available in your contact list: image
  2. If you then hover over the monitor item at the bottom, you get the option to “present”, i.e. show your screen to the other person your are meeting with. (Multi-monitor support seems good, if you have multiple monitors like we do): image
  3. If you accept the sharing: image
  4. Voilà, there is your colleague’s screen in a window on your desktop, watch her mouse actions: image
  5. The presenter
    1. receives a visual reminder: image
    2. can also give you control to remote control her mouse: image, the result of which looks like that: image
    3. can stop the presentation at any time.
  6. Finally, the presentations can be recorded which could be extremely useful in a support call for later reuse/review either by the presenter or audience. Click on the 3 dots in the lower right of the “stage”window. image
  7. It looks like a basic, easy workplace-wide screen sharing software that integrates with the local accounts could be extremely productive during daily collaboration. To make such a solution a system-wide service for calling support, one would probably need a queue and pool of supporters and call forwarding.
Categories: e-infrastructure, Learning-logs, service-is-applying-learning-tools, service-is-evaluating-learning-tools, software-old, web-conferencing Tags: , ,

Checklist for light-kits

2013/12/11 Leave a comment
  1. Parts: 25 each, .i.e.:
    1. 4 plates (1)
    2. 2 more plates (2)
    3. 3 extension power cables (3)
    4. 3 lamps (4), containing 3 bulbs (not pictured)
    5. 2 thingamabobs (5)
    6. 8 clamps (6)
    7. 2 stands (7)
    8. CAM04120
  2. Functionality: plug them in and turn them on, like so: CAM04119
Categories: audience-is-language-learning-center-temp-staff, audience-is-students, checklists, documentation, e-infrastructure, Film-studies, service-is-library Tags: ,

Request to download the digital audio lab classroom audio configuration on the fly, program and source for Windows 7

2013/12/09 Leave a comment

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Categories: audience-is-language-learning-center-manager, compiledcode, digital-audio-lab, e-infrastructure, forms, service-is-programming, sourcecode Tags: , , , , ,

Testing and semi-automatically changing the Sanako student audio configuration

2013/12/09 Leave a comment
  1. Problem
    1. We have had teacher complaints about too much background noise from neighboring students being recorded in our Sanako Study 1200, with SLH-07 headsets.
    2. In addition, upon looking through some recordings as samples for a workshop, I found cases of clipping audio, especially in pair recordings.
    3. We are using the default settings for the Sanako SLH-07 headset. However, the default recording level (67) seems high.
  2. Solution approach
    1. We need to test
      1. many other settings quickly for these recording levels. We use my sanakoaudioconfigonthefly utility for this
      2. in an acoustically realistic environment: 5 Lab assistants  site in tight lab area and read out sample English text during a Sanako reading activity
        1. Reading practice
        2. Todo: Pairing
    2. Here is a “window” into the recorded results set, a student’s audio recording shown in Audacity at various (but all lowered) recording levels from (visible) 30 to 5, you can see the diminishing waveform amplitude. image
    1. The waveform per se is not conclusive. You will have to listen in and compare, especially to evaluate background noise (the original complaint – we have no and will not be able to go back to language lab carrels). The Sanako SLH-07 headset microphones are supposed to be highly directional. However, our students to not always wear the headsets properly. And our acoustics is marred by large (almost 50%) window spaces and a tight positioning of the student seats.
    2. Any test recording is only as good as it can mimic the acoustics during an actual class session which we did as much as we could with only 6 concurrent LRC staff. This means  unfortunately some more testing will have to spill into actual classes, but this test is a start.
Categories: digital-audio-lab, e-languages, headphones, multimedia-recording, service-is-configuring-learning-tools Tags: , , , , ,