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Shenandoah University Mac User Group

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Blackboard 8 - Embedding media in quizzes at SU (II)

Our colleague Tom Shaw has put together this video, demonstrating how to add audio to assessments in Blackboard v8.

Tom is extremely nice to have put this together on his own time to help the community and is very generous with the credit. For that, I am grateful.

Thanks, Tom.

posted by Unknown at 2:40 PM | 0 Comments

Integrated Mobile Learning New at Shenandoah this Fall

The Sun has an article on the "Not a Laptop Program" in this week's issue.

Y'know, PDF school newspapers don't make life any easier for bloggers. There's no easy way to deep link to an interior article.

Something to think about...

posted by Unknown at 8:31 AM | 0 Comments

Macworld: Shenandoah University chooses eco-friendly MacBook

From Macworld:
Shenandoah University has chosen Apple’s environmentally-friendly MacBook computer and the iPod touch as the foundation for its new mobile learning program. University officials said Apple’s commitment to the environment was crucial in its decision.
The article is a fine bit of PR -- single-sourced (Journalism students beware!), and mostly accurate -- but hey, positive press is positive press. One example: author Jim Dalrymple writes,
Using all the technology available, Shenandoah will also provide iPod touches for students and faculty.
iPod touch, the height of Apple's portable tech? iPhone, anyone? Sure, it might be expensive and awkward to implement across a university population, but it's definitely "available" technology.

One side note: the "classroom flip" model mentioned in the article has been called a "hybrid" model for years. Many distance learning advocates [including yours truly and, one imagines, VPAA Grigsby] have been trumpeting this model at schools and conferences for years.

posted by Unknown at 8:27 AM | 0 Comments

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

USAT - Hot iPhone Tips

I was surprised at how many of the tips in Marc Saltzman's article (short as the list was) that I didn't know.

Worth a read-through.

posted by Unknown at 6:44 PM | 0 Comments

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Blackboard 8 - Embedding media in quizzes at SU

A colleague approached me this week with a question about Blackboard (currently v8.0.307.0) and assessments. He's a music prof and wants to put music in his quizzes and tests. One can imagine questions along the lines of "Which of the following selections is Hip Hop?" followed by three or four audio selections.

Bb currently lacks an easy way to add audio (or video) to questions, even with the <HTML> option active. Among other issues, Bb does a yeoman's job of tearing up old-school embeds.

Here's what we came up with, after mixing and matching bits of code from various sites (Bb shredded several other solutions):

<p>Text before the audio</p>
<object type="audio/mpeg" data="http://www.music-webclass.com/MULTsnds/Q1Ex1.mp3" width="200" height="30">
<param name="src" value="http://www.music-webclass.com/MULTsnds/Q1Ex1.mp3">
<param name="autoplay" value="false">
<param name="autoStart" value="0">
alt : <a href="http://www.music-webclass.com/MULTsnds/Q1Ex1.mp3">Text to display if the audio code fails</a>
</object>
<p>Text after the audio</p>

Here's the result (I'll put it in a <div> box for clarity):
Text before the audio
alt : Text to display if the audio code fails
Text after the audio

IE users may need to give permission for ActiveX, which could cause the quiz to reset; so, if you're considering using this XHTML, please keep that in mind. It's an IE thing.

A variation on the code should be usable for video. Just remember to change the object type from audio/mpeg (which works for MP3s) to something appropriate for your media.

We tested this solution with the latest Firefox 3, Safari 3.2 and a fairly recent IE that we found on a student's laptop (perhaps not the most rigorous method of testing). My colleague and I both run Macs -- in the Conservatory Mac lab -- so IE isn't a top priority.

Coders may wonder about the 30-pixel height of the object. A bit tall for an audio controller, eh? That's what I thought until I noticed the oversized play button on my IE-using student's Windows Media Player. Oy.

Good luck with the code. I'm happy to take suggestions for upgrades, but please -- they must run in Blackboard assessments (questions, answers and feedback). Thanks.

posted by Unknown at 8:54 AM | 0 Comments


 
 
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