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Posts Tagged ‘ms-windows’

Faculty Workshop Spring 2014: "Mira, mamá! Sin manos!". Practice speaking L2 with automatic intelligent feedback by operating LRC PCs through speech recognition instead of keyboard/mouse

2014/03/13 Leave a comment
  1. When: March 28, 2:15-3:15, April 4, 2:00-3:00
  2. Where: LRCRoomCoed434
  3. What: Language learning speaking practice assignments with automatic intelligent feedback using Windows Speech Recognition
    1. As part of the foreign language tools we installed with Windows 7 this past Fall, we got speech recognition on the LRC PCs for 6 languages (English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Spanish ) representing over 85% of our enrolment.
    2. Unlike the speech recognition that comes with learning content packages like Auralog or Rosetta Stone
      1. which had to be purchased, for individual languages, but stopped functioning on the server on a long time ago,
      2. was limited to built-in content ,
      3. was restricted by a separate account system,
    3. Windows Speech Recognition is
      1. free (with the operating system), runs on the local lab pcs, and should be a bit more robust,
      2. content agnostic and hence can integrate flexibly with your curriculum and contribute meaningfully to your students’ progression,
      3. can be integrated with the existing user accounts.
    4. We combine Windows speech recognition with the new LRC screencast software, MS-Office and Moodle to offer a simple self-access assignment type that
      1. is available on all 45 LRC PCs (= scales even to large enrolment languages and 1st-year classes that cannot use the 24-seat Sanako for face-to-face speaking proficiency training)
      2. and blends the “artificial intelligence” of speech recognition with human intelligence to provide students with immediate automated feedback during pedagogically sound speaking practice, with minimal grading overhead for the teacher (= grade secure assignments by looking at the very end of a student-submitted screencast).
    5. This workshop will show actual speech recognition usage and assignment samples
      1. so far in English, French, German;
      2. if you want to bring your own samples to this workshop – there might still be time- , or to an upcoming faculty showcase, I can help you during my biweekly LRC clinics (see LRC main schedule, or schedule your own).
    6. We will step you through – hands-on, including tips&tricks – a sample voice training and assignment completion: Better than my made-up assignments would be if you could bring one or more concrete tasks to be solved using speech recognition that we could prepare assigning to your students. Here are some parameters for that:
      1. Speech recognition can replace mouse and keyboard when operating the computer. Voice commands are simpler than sentences, so this could be a beginner task, as long as you have students study the (limited) command vocabulary (which I will make available during the workshop).
      2. Speech recognition can replace any writing task with dictation. Suggestions for proficiency levels:
        1. I have dictated a web page assigned for reading comprehension in a textbook used in 1200 or even a as a false beginner.
        2. However, a one-time training helping the computer recognize an individual’s voice is required and comes sentences that vary in complexity between languages
          1. English: very easy, Beginner level;
          2. German, French: let’s have a look together, I’d say 1202 level;
          3. Japanese: 3000 level, I was told;
          4. Please test with me during the workshop: Spanish, Chinese.
  4. Download the SlideDeck (too big too embed)
Categories: audience-is-teachers, English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, os, Slideshows, Spanish, Speaking, workshops Tags: , ,

MS-Surface RT unboxing

2014/01/29 Leave a comment
Categories: e-infrastructure, hardware, os, tablets Tags: , , ,

How to connect an MS-Surface RT to the secure campus wireless

2014/01/29 Leave a comment
  1. This worked on a 1st generation Surface, but with Windows 8.1.
  2. No problem getting onto the UNCC49er network, but the Surface/Windows 8 is not supported on the NINERWifi-secure yet. Specifically, loading the automated configuration tools provided when first trying to access the   NINERWifi-secure, fails on the RT platform. CAM04613CAM04614
  3. I received seemingly conflicting instructions:
    1. The campus website
      1. has for devices that are not supported manual configuration settings.
      2. Another campus that uses the same secure wireless provider has these instructions for Windows 8.
      3. I could piece it together from there,
      4. including any translation to (there is none needed that I could see which BTW actually amazes me) Windows 8 RT.
    2. Maybe the following would have worked also, but I did not try it since I was already in the middle of the above steps:
      1. Swipe in from the right-edge of the screen, and tap Settings. (If you’re using a mouse, point to upper-right corner of screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Settings.)
      2. Tap or click the wireless network icon Wireless network icon. A list of available wireless networks should appear.
      3. Look for the “Hidden Network” option and then choose it.
      4. When it prompts for a SSID, type in exactly: NinerWiFi-Secure
      5. It should then prompt for username/password (NinerNET credentials).
      6. Say yes to any certificates warnings that pop up.
Categories: e-infrastructure, Institution-is-University-of-North-Carolina-Charlotte, tablets Tags: , , , ,

Overview over speech recognition assignment possibilities in the LRC–from beginning to end

2014/01/21 1 comment
  1. UPDATE: now with more videos to watch.
  2. First switch languages, once you are in the right language:
  3. The speech recognition loads at startup with this window:
    image
  4. or can be started from the desktop shortcut:
    image
  5. To activate = make it start/stop listening, click on the microphone image
  6. create and save individualized voice training data (only the first time you use speech recognition in the LRC),
    1. Watch how to train (for English, short 5 minutes);
    2. Watch how to back up/restore;
    3. beginner voice training example (long, before/after effect in speech recognition),
  7. homework assignment exercise design,
    1. Watch how (for English, with correction in MS-Word)
    2. dictation example.
Categories: assignments, e-languages, English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, os, Spanish, Speaking Tags: , ,

Sanakoaudioconfigonthefly software utilities updated for Vista/Windows7

2013/12/09 Leave a comment
  1. (Shortcut to download – now fixed) The reason why a colleague’s signature reads: “Worrying about a large institution, especially when it has computers, is like worrying about a large gorilla, especially when it’s on fire" (Bruce Sterling) might just be that a multimedia-capable fully computerized classroom – think 30 PCs and 30 students trying not only to listen to, but record responses to exam audio – is a notoriously difficult beast to control, and all too easily spins out of the same (a classroom humming in an endless audio feedback loop is neither a pleasant nor an unfamiliar sight).
  2. The Sanako Study 1200 is a digital audio lab software that facilitates the use of personal computers in face-to-face class settings. However, while the Sanako Study 1200 features many ways for the teacher to control and manage the student PCs, the students’ audio settings cannot be controlled on the fly.
  3. Enter these little sanakoaudioconfigonthefly utilities (written in AutoIt) for Windows 7 and Vista  (old Windows PX version still available here) that extend the Sanako Study 1200.
  4. We now use  (as it is completely adequate and actually superior to to the seemingly more applicable PC control / Launch programs features which is requires the program executable to reside under the same path on student and tutor computer) Playlist / copy and launch (folder icon) and the Sanako grouping feature to send a program with your choice of action to the student PCs  of your choice. In this example,
    1. click playlist, 01
    2. and in the window that opens, click (1) to send to “all”, then click (2) to select which program to send: image_thumb[3]
  5. Files included in this release (each for 64-bit, and as source code, so that you can compile your own if you are still on MS-Vista/MS-Windows-732-bit platform):
    1. Change student recording levels (microphone sensitivity).
    2. Toggle student sidetone ( in Sanako = “listen” to this device in Windows)
    3. Control student playback level (headphone volume).
  6. Likely these programs can be adapted beyond Sanako Study 1200, but I do not remember (helpful comments appreciated)
    1. whether other digital audio lab platforms (Sony Virtuoso, Robotel SmartClass) allow for changing the student audio config on the fly
    2. and what mechanism (if any – but likely) they (and Sanako Lab300) provide to launch programs on the students’ computers
  8. Prerequisites:
    1. None other than your digital audio lab software and the utilities you can download below. In particular, it is not required to install AutoIt on teacher or student computers.
    2. However, there should be only 1 microphone/speaker per student computer in the digital audio lab. If you have more, you likely have bigger problems to solve first, but you also need to alter the source code (included) to select the microphone you want to work with (should be easy; note however, that I have not tested this scenario, for: “There should be only 1 microphone/speaker per student computer in the digital audio lab” Smile
  9. Request here to download these utilities.
    Categories: audience-is-language-learning-center-manager, digital-audio-lab, multimedia-recording, service-is-configuring-learning-tools, service-is-programming Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Finding a balance between speed of log-in and readiness on help desk computers

    2013/11/11 Leave a comment
    1. Problem:
      1. The LRC reception desk has 3 computers, each with 2 screens, one client-facing,  that, when not shared during collaboration for clerical tasks, display (LRC assistants have been instructed which screen has to show which information) LRC-related information (LRC calendar, home page with news and FAQs, slide show with signs).
      2. However, when a teacher was bringing student to Spanish tutor after tutoring hours, I  noticed,  that no LRC calendar was visible at reception desk (SAFARI on rightmost computer), nor could be loaded easily.
      3. Upon my asking, LRC assistant reported, Firefox never comes up correctly on her computer.
      4. What I could observe: Firefox came up with 2 windows w/o preconfigured tabs. image
      5. Safari came  up with 2 windows , also empty.image
    2. Root cause:
      1. It turned out that other students did not have this issue when logging in on the computers.

      2. It also turned out that the offending student’s profile had been frozen prematurely (in an obsolete state not incorporating changes we had to do during the term to maintain functionality of the reception desk computers in a changing campus IT environment).

    3. Workaround: Unfreeze the computer, delete the prematurely frozen profiles, have the student log in to recreate it using current default user settings, freeze the computer, to make the computer, 3 weeks before classes end…
    4. Solution: not sure I have one.
      1. Trying to have everything set up stably at term start is not the solution, but the problem.
      2. How can agility be increased?
        1. LRC assistants need to report problems. They may need better training to be aware of problems, and need an incentive to report problems, and a culture where reporting problems is not considered a problem in itself, but an achievement.
        2. The LRC lost its Symantec-Ghost imaging infrastructure which it could not only use for the lab PCs, but also to maintain 3 identical computers at its reception desk. This requirement for imaging was not considered during the recent upgrade of the labs imaging infrastructure, and we do not know how to get this capability back.
    Categories: e-infrastructure, Reception-desk Tags: , , , ,

    Switch to Color Scheme Basic not working for students

    2013/10/25 Leave a comment
      1. Works for me: CAM03648
      2. Does not work for students for whom it primarily has to work: CAM03640
      3. Strangely, student seems to be not stuck on the original, but on an unsaved theme:

    CAM03641

    Categories: e-infrastructure, Institution-is-University-of-North-Carolina-Charlotte, Student-Computers Tags: , , , ,

    How to bypass error 442 when trying to connect to your office network with Cisco VPN Client 5 from Windows 8

    2013/10/25 Leave a comment
    1. Problem: image
    2. Solution:
      1. in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CVirtA]
        "DisplayName"="@oem25.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows"
      2. remove: “@oem25.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;”.
    Categories: e-infrastructure Tags: , , ,