We gave Centra another go. There are still huge bandwidth problems. Despite compressing photographs PowerPoint still does not load well with animations. There is no problem with simple PowerPoints – I use that for my agenda and it comes up instantly. However, students want to add transitions, animations and music and it just gets scrambled in the server.
One groups of students simplified their PowerPoint from 37MB to 10.8MB. Then they compressed the pictures, which you can do within PowerPoint itself by clicking a picture and then have the option of compressing all pictures. Once the pictures were compressed it was only 1.97MB. However, the transitions and animations did not play well over Centra.
Another group of students chose to have only 3 slides. They compressed it down to 347kb but with the music and fancy transitons it also got scrambled in the server.
The transitions and animations must be the problem because two other groups played a 3.26MB and 1.44MB Photostory – wmv files – without any problems at all.
The students enjoyed the session. I used the survey tool to ask questions and 100% said they’d like to use Centra again. I need to work out how to upload my own survey and my own evaluation sheets. I can create them in Agenda Builder and save them as a .sav file but when I come to import them I get a message saying I can’t do that. The surveys ‘on the fly’ worked well. When we used the ‘How many?’ pre-prepared survey one student demonstrated her new knowledge of file sizes by asking ‘How many MB’s should a file be?’ and then quickly changed it to kb’s when she looked at the number range.
Once again there were a great many frustrations with using Centra. It took half an hour to log 10 computers on. However, we tried out the video successfully and today none of our machines crashed. It was great to have another eTeacher drop in and say, ‘Hi.’ Unfortunately it was while we were still doing our half hour set up but it was good to know we were connected to Victor Harbor.
Centra seems to boost the students self-esteem. It gives them a sense of power even though everything does not go according to plan. They certainly work hard to produce something that is worth showcasing and we are all learning to work within the limits of the technology.
Reflections on Celebrate Success 2 15th November 2007
Involved 3 teachers, 60 children
Working on 12 computers with headsets and two SMARTBoards with USB microphones
Agenda included
- simple PowerPoint of 7 slides showing procedure for session
- Complex animated PowerPoint – E.P.A. 37,434KB
- single slide showing graph work 132kb
- wmv file – Monster Mayhem – 4,089kb (ppt converted to PhotoStory)
- PowerPoint with background music – Bokashi Bin 7,488kb
Results
- Computers crashing all over the school. SMARTBoard needed restarting
- Presenter and Co-presenter had to restart machines 5 times each as they froze. They froze simultaneously on at least 3 occasions
- Kids on remote computers coming to get help
- Technician was pre-booked by another teacher – so was able to help inone remote room
- Project Officer in remote location was able to keep things going for part of the time
- Best section was the single slide of 132kb. The presenting student felt proud of his work
- Some students were disappointed as they had worked hard on their PowerPoints
- One student was using text chat inappropriately. He was asked to give his machine to another student but the presenter was not able to follow through and there is no telephone connection to that room. He will lose some computer privileges
- Delays in transmission were quite lengthy
- Co-presenter (Year 4 boy) did a marvellous job and is keen to perform the role again. His self-esteem was boosted
- Teachers in remote rooms were very forgiving. One is keen to set up pairs of students for the next session but she will not involve the whole class
- Students taking part are keen to be involved again
Solutions
- Keep having a Presenter and Co-presenter
- Bigger band width. My technician told me it was a bandwidth problem. Our server is being rebuilt late this year, ready for 2008. He seems to think that the delays would not be so great if the computers were spread over more schools
- Maybe try turning PowerPoints into wmv files. May not be easy with the animated one. The one with music in the background will be easier
