ScreenFlow: an awesome screencaster for a premium price

ScreenFlow has just become my newest screencasting solution for 95% of the projects I do. (I recommend using the “full-screen” viewing option from viddler’s controls below.) I should have said that ScreenFlow is a “mostly non-destructive” editor. Once you record,…

ScreenFlow has just become my newest  screencasting solution for 95% of the projects I do. (I recommend using the “full-screen” viewing option from viddler’s controls below.)

I should have said that ScreenFlow is a “mostly non-destructive” editor. Once you record, you will edit a project that maintains an original copy of the media you recorded. If you accidentally delete something, you’ll have to re-insert that segment. That’s acceptable to me!

I’ve just started using it. I’ll have to update my findings after I’ve used it on a few projects.

CE@UP Faculty Portal

This information is a continuation of the information originally posted on my Tiddlywiki.Remaining steps:update CE@UP with current statusfinish uploading available content and resources into the RedDot test portaledit content in RedDotidentify content owners and establish permissionsprovide training in RedDot to…

This information is a continuation of the information originally posted on my Tiddlywiki.

Remaining steps:

  1. update CE@UP with current status
  2. finish uploading available content and resources into the RedDot test portal
  3. edit content in RedDot
  4. identify content owners and establish permissions
  5. provide training in RedDot to CE@UP staff
  6. publish live version of the website for CE@UP faculty

The Outreach Faculty Development social networking NING has over 160 members. The network has not been formally promoted as of yet. Content and cross-promotion needs to be evaluated before the live-launch of the CE@UP RedDot portal.

Important links:

Just2It: Adobe Connect Pro Lesson Finished!

It’s been a long time coming. I’ve finally finished porting and updating the Connect Pro Lesson in the Outreach faculty development OL 3000: Just2It course. And the work comes just in time since we have our kick off session tomorrow….

It’s been a long time coming. I’ve finally finished porting and updating the Connect Pro Lesson in the Outreach faculty development OL 3000: Just2It course. And the work comes just in time since we have our kick off session tomorrow. This will be the second running of OL 3000. This time around, I am not only teaching the section on Connect Pro, but also the lesson on iGoogle. I still have to review that content before the participants reach that lesson.

Email from ANGEL Drop boxes are being updated

Dawn Lorenz, an instructor for CE@UP’s RHS 301 course, made me aware that if an instructor sends an email from the clickable option from the grading feature on a drop box, the resulting course mail is flagged as a low…

Dawn Lorenz, an instructor for CE@UP’s RHS 301 course, made me aware that if an instructor sends an email from the clickable option from the grading feature on a drop box, the resulting course mail is flagged as a low priority message.
screencap_low_priority_emails_sent_from_dropboxes.jpgI asked the Outreach Helpdesk about the issue and they said they will keep their eye on the situation after the next ANGEL update on Jan 23rd, 2010. However, this is actually part of a related but bigger bug. Those course mails cannot be replied to successfully. If a student receives a course mail generated from the drop box feature and he or she wants to reply to that email, perhaps they disagree with the grade or have a question about it, the mail is lost in the ether. Apparently the bug doesn’t correctly add the proper “reply to” address and the message is never received by the instructor. This has of course led to some problems.

As of now, I have asked the Helpdesk to hold tight on passing the “low priority” query to the ANGEL Ops team until they fix the bigger bug. The Helpdesk will do their own testing on the “low priority” query after the upgrade later this month.

NURS 6008 Development

New QuizzesChange the title of the quizdelete all pre-existing questionsreview the new questions and determine whether to manually or import the questions into the quizadd/import the questionsyou’re finished for now!New Evalschange program title in the headingskip to “Speaker Evaluation”change the…

New Quizzes

  1. Change the title of the quiz
  2. delete all pre-existing questions
  3. review the new questions and determine whether to manually or import the questions into the quiz
  4. add/import the questions
  5. you’re finished for now!

New Evals

  1. change program title in the heading
  2. skip to “Speaker Evaluation”
  3. change the name of the speaker to match course author
  4. delete old/previous questions and update with newly provided evaluation questions
  5. you’re done for now! skip the marketing section (it’s the same for all of the evals)

Update Email in Eval Settings

  1. go to Action editor and change…
  2. SUBMIT ALERT for course title
  3. also change the SUBJECT and MESSAGE TEXT in the SUBMIT EMAIL action item
  4. you done for now!

Automatic Redirects

  1. Evaluation: SUBMIT GOTO action item, change the long string of characters to match the ID for the Print Your Certificate object in the the Content tab
  2. Academic Integrity: SUBMIT GOTO action item, see above to redirect to the quiz

Set Password Access

  1. review instructions from the “Password Information” document

ooVoo Testing

Linas, Molly and I tested out ooVoo tonight from our respective homes. I was connected via my wireless router hooked up to Comcast cable internet. The ABA program is using ooVoo for the Virtual Practicum course. It is a videoconferencing…

Linas, Molly and I tested out ooVoo tonight from our respective homes. I was connected via my wireless router hooked up to Comcast cable internet. The ABA program is using ooVoo for the Virtual Practicum course. It is a videoconferencing solution that features the following with a paid account: 6-way video chatting (paid desktop client to 5 un-paid web-based clients). The nice thing about using the paid account to generate a URL for non-members to use has definite advantages of ease-of-use and no client software installation. The browsers require Java and I’m sure there are minimum system requirements, but I doubt they’ll be a problem for the participating students.

When we first logged on, Linas sent Molly and I a URL to call his standard (unpaid) account. We fooled around with the settings and eventually had four computers connected (I had two on my side). The quality was awful to put it bluntly. Linas only had two bars on the video quality scale. We couldn’t figure it out since we both did network speed tests and found we had more than enough bandwidth.
network_test.png

In a last-ditch effort, I opened my desktop client using one of Ed Donovan’s paid accounts (psumi15) and generated a URL to share with Linas. The difference was night and day. We were able to chat normally and declared the test a success! I was even able to share my desktop with them, but the frame rates were pretty low (1-4 fps). I wasn’t able to send any files or text chat with them, but that’s not suprising given that they were connected via their web browsers. Twice, the video from my second laptop dropped out, but it only lasted for a second or two.

So, I think Dr. David Lee’s course should go well (knock on wood) as long as he has a paid account and no more than five students to chat with at one time.

Here’s a snapshot of the three of us chatting away:
oovoo_snapshot.jpg

PBWorks for RHS 301

One of the courses I’m supporting is RHS 301. The instructor is Dawn Lorenz. Dawn just sent me an email that she’s going to use PBWorks as a wiki platform for her class’s final project. To get reacquainted with the…

One of the courses I’m supporting is RHS 301. The instructor is Dawn Lorenz. Dawn just sent me an email that she’s going to use PBWorks as a wiki platform for her class’s final project. To get reacquainted with the UI, I setup a workspace for testing purposes. I already began looking at how PBWorks compares to PSU’s Wikispaces solution.

I’ll have to see what I can do to help her with any questions she has about this and other aspects of her course.

  • how to assist the student(s) that are uncomfortable with the technology and other aspects of the course to insure their success in the course
  • her student’s blogs (how students can share permalinks from their blogs with Dawn)
  • assessments and evaluations
  • video’s in the classroom
  • Adobe Connect Pro
  • Jeopardy games
  • Polycom support and use during the class
  • and anything else on Dawn’s mind 🙂

Free course work from Stanford on iPhone development

I love my iPhone. It does all I need it to do:email, scheduling (though it would be nice if syncing were easier with Oracle), addressessyncing URL’s thanks to Xmarksnotes, tasks, unit conversions, VNC control over my desktop computer, voice recordingaccessing,…

I love my iPhone. It does all I need it to do:

  • email, scheduling (though it would be nice if syncing were easier with Oracle), addresses
  • syncing URL’s thanks to Xmarks
  • notes, tasks, unit conversions, VNC control over my desktop computer, voice recording
  • accessing, editing, and creating databases thanks to Bento
  • taking photos, playing videos and my music (downloaded and via Pandora)
  • portable file storage accessible via wireless networks
  • IM’ing, tweeting, Skype phone calls over WiFi
  • movie listings, Netflix and TiVo management, maps, weather
  • eBook readers, news aggregation
  • advanced star charts for use with my telescope thanks to StarmapPro
  • grilling recipes from Weber’s On the Grill
  • and a few games to boot!

Now, how cool would it be to make my own apps! I just read about a course offered through Stanford being taught by Apple employees! I’m going to have to check this out when I’m done with my current course from Lynda.com.

I wonder what kind of app I’d make. What about you?