Media
Audio & Video in CCSD21 Wikis & Blogs
23.October.2011 17:57 Filed in: Tech Tips
| Instruction
Due to technical limitations that include hard drive
space, physical location, and bandwidth allocation,
on our wiki and blog servers, like most major
websites, we cannot embed video and audio clips
directly within a wiki or a blog. Rather, we post the
audio or video clips to a different server, and then,
we link to those clips within the wiki and blog.
Video and audio clips include any podcasts, sound files, video clips, and MP3s/MP4s.
Due to current bandwidth limitations, we also cannot stream audio and videos via links in our wikis and blogs.
To add a video or audio clip to a wiki or blog with a link, the first step is to send audio or video files to the iTech teacher in your buildings. The audio or video files you send will be placed on our media server, which is designed to hold and distribute these files.
After the file has been uploaded to the media server, the iTech teacher will be send you the link to the file (which is sitting on our media server) to place on your wiki or blog. Then students can interact with the audio and video files right through the wiki or blog, at home or at school.
You can also link audio and video files on the Internet on your wiki or blog. If you choose this option, please make sure it is noted on the wiki or blog that the files can only be played from outside of the school district.
When you, as a teacher, want to share a video or audio clip with your students, you should play it directly from your Staff MacBook, having put the actual clip on the Staff MacBook prior to class. Due to bandwidth limitations, you cannot simply click on audio and video links and stream those across the Internet. Information, for example, on downloading clips from YouTube can be found here.
Video and audio clips include any podcasts, sound files, video clips, and MP3s/MP4s.
Due to current bandwidth limitations, we also cannot stream audio and videos via links in our wikis and blogs.
To add a video or audio clip to a wiki or blog with a link, the first step is to send audio or video files to the iTech teacher in your buildings. The audio or video files you send will be placed on our media server, which is designed to hold and distribute these files.
After the file has been uploaded to the media server, the iTech teacher will be send you the link to the file (which is sitting on our media server) to place on your wiki or blog. Then students can interact with the audio and video files right through the wiki or blog, at home or at school.
You can also link audio and video files on the Internet on your wiki or blog. If you choose this option, please make sure it is noted on the wiki or blog that the files can only be played from outside of the school district.
When you, as a teacher, want to share a video or audio clip with your students, you should play it directly from your Staff MacBook, having put the actual clip on the Staff MacBook prior to class. Due to bandwidth limitations, you cannot simply click on audio and video links and stream those across the Internet. Information, for example, on downloading clips from YouTube can be found here.
Bandwidth Explained
15.November.2010 06:09 Filed in: Tech Tips
"Nope, sorry. We can't do that."
"We don't have enough bandwidth."
"We're looking at increasing our bandwidth to make that possible."
"Yep. We understand that you can do that at home. Here at school we don't have enough bandwidth."
"We do all have to share this small amount of bandwidth, unfortunately."
The quotes listed above are what staff members throughout School District 21 regularly hear said to them by members of District 21's Technology Team. As frustrating as these responses are to hear for teachers who want to try something new, they are equally frustrating for Tech Team members to have to say. Here, we want to provide a brief explanation as to what bandwidth actually is.
Simply put, bandwidth is the maximum amount of information that can be transferred in a given amount of time. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits per second. Bits are tiny little chunks of data, or information. Today's high-speed bandwidth connections allow millions of bits per second to be moved across high-speed data lines. This rate is called megabits per second (abbreviation: Mb/s). This is not to be confused with Megabytes--a measure used to define the capacity of memory. As the need for greater bandwidth increases, connections now also reach Gigabit speeds, allowing data to move even more quickly.
Do you remember when the Internet was referred to as The Information Superhighway in the mid-1990s? If so, that metaphor was true at the time and is still true today. Just like on the road, how network traffic moves is determined by how fast the road can allow traffic to move (speed limit--roads; bandwidth--network connections) and by how much traffic there actually is (roads & network connections). When there's too much traffic, it is not possible to go the speed limit (roads & network connections).
Within our internal local area networks (within a school), we have Gigabit connections in place. Our elementary schools have connections of a minimum of 5 Mb/s, and our middle schools have connections of a minimum of 10 Mb/s. Of course, as in the traffic analogy described above, there are all kinds of factors that impact real-life performance. At home, many people have much faster bandwidth connections. DSL subscribers typically have about the same performance as one of our entire schools, and cable subscribers might have up to twice as much bandwidth as one of our schools! At school, that bandwidth is likely to be share by anywhere from 90 to 150 computers. At home, it might be share by as many as 5 or 6 Internet-connected devices. This is why we have to be very careful about how we use our limited bandwidth at school. There's just not as much to go around.
The charts below show these differences.
On a Sunday night at home, when traffic is high on a shared cable connection in the neighborhood, one still can get very high bandwidth speeds as pictured below. 19.11 Mb/s--Almost twice as much as any of our middle schools can get at this time.
At that same time at school, when traffic was very low (because the buildings were empty), we can see the speeds listed below for Cooper (first) and then for Poe (second).
Cooper--A decent 8.53 Mb/s connection at that time.
Poe--A very poor 1.42 Mb/s connection at that time.
While these numbers at school are dismal compared to the numbers at home, only 16 months ago, the entire District shared a connection of only 6 Mb/s--less than Cooper had by itself on this Sunday night. So, bandwidth underwent a dramatic increase in 2009-2010--by a factor of about 12!!!
We are currently beginning the E-Rate funding process for the 2011-2012 school year, and we are seeking to dramatically increase bandwidth again. E-Rate funding provides District 21 with reimbursements of approximately 60% on our telecommunications expenses, a significant number that cannot be underestimated in allowing us, financially, to make these changes. Like other organizations, including area school districts, we also understand that regular increases in bandwidth (i.e., faster roads) will be a necessary and regular upgrade to our infrastructure.
"We don't have enough bandwidth."
"We're looking at increasing our bandwidth to make that possible."
"Yep. We understand that you can do that at home. Here at school we don't have enough bandwidth."
"We do all have to share this small amount of bandwidth, unfortunately."
The quotes listed above are what staff members throughout School District 21 regularly hear said to them by members of District 21's Technology Team. As frustrating as these responses are to hear for teachers who want to try something new, they are equally frustrating for Tech Team members to have to say. Here, we want to provide a brief explanation as to what bandwidth actually is.
Simply put, bandwidth is the maximum amount of information that can be transferred in a given amount of time. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits per second. Bits are tiny little chunks of data, or information. Today's high-speed bandwidth connections allow millions of bits per second to be moved across high-speed data lines. This rate is called megabits per second (abbreviation: Mb/s). This is not to be confused with Megabytes--a measure used to define the capacity of memory. As the need for greater bandwidth increases, connections now also reach Gigabit speeds, allowing data to move even more quickly.
Do you remember when the Internet was referred to as The Information Superhighway in the mid-1990s? If so, that metaphor was true at the time and is still true today. Just like on the road, how network traffic moves is determined by how fast the road can allow traffic to move (speed limit--roads; bandwidth--network connections) and by how much traffic there actually is (roads & network connections). When there's too much traffic, it is not possible to go the speed limit (roads & network connections).
Within our internal local area networks (within a school), we have Gigabit connections in place. Our elementary schools have connections of a minimum of 5 Mb/s, and our middle schools have connections of a minimum of 10 Mb/s. Of course, as in the traffic analogy described above, there are all kinds of factors that impact real-life performance. At home, many people have much faster bandwidth connections. DSL subscribers typically have about the same performance as one of our entire schools, and cable subscribers might have up to twice as much bandwidth as one of our schools! At school, that bandwidth is likely to be share by anywhere from 90 to 150 computers. At home, it might be share by as many as 5 or 6 Internet-connected devices. This is why we have to be very careful about how we use our limited bandwidth at school. There's just not as much to go around.
The charts below show these differences.
On a Sunday night at home, when traffic is high on a shared cable connection in the neighborhood, one still can get very high bandwidth speeds as pictured below. 19.11 Mb/s--Almost twice as much as any of our middle schools can get at this time.
At that same time at school, when traffic was very low (because the buildings were empty), we can see the speeds listed below for Cooper (first) and then for Poe (second).
Cooper--A decent 8.53 Mb/s connection at that time.
Poe--A very poor 1.42 Mb/s connection at that time.
While these numbers at school are dismal compared to the numbers at home, only 16 months ago, the entire District shared a connection of only 6 Mb/s--less than Cooper had by itself on this Sunday night. So, bandwidth underwent a dramatic increase in 2009-2010--by a factor of about 12!!!
We are currently beginning the E-Rate funding process for the 2011-2012 school year, and we are seeking to dramatically increase bandwidth again. E-Rate funding provides District 21 with reimbursements of approximately 60% on our telecommunications expenses, a significant number that cannot be underestimated in allowing us, financially, to make these changes. Like other organizations, including area school districts, we also understand that regular increases in bandwidth (i.e., faster roads) will be a necessary and regular upgrade to our infrastructure.
Watching YouTube at School
01.November.2010 10:24 Filed in: Tech Tips
You’ve found a great instructional video online on
YouTube or TeacherTube, and you want to show it to
your students. Yet, YouTube is blocked at school, so
you cannot simply stream this content. Well, nearly
all streaming media sites are blocked at school due
to bandwidth limitations, but you can access these
videos to share with your students where they will
benefit instruction when they are on sites that do
not block the ability to download the videos (such as
YouTube).
So, how do I download the video that I want in that case? First, you need to make sure that the video can be used. Outstanding guidelines for Fair Use can be found from The Center for Social Media as well as in a simplified form in this blog post from Edutopia.
Once you’ve established that the video does not violate Copyright laws, you can download it by...
(Unfortunately, because of our bandwidth limitations, this does need to be done outside of CCSD21 for the time being.)
In Safari, go to the YouTube video you want to download.
Now, in the white menu bar for Safari at the top of the screen, go to Windows > Activity and click.
Now, and this part will make you feel like a computer programmer, go ahead in the Activity window/dialog and find the largest file in the list of all of the files. (It will usually be a certain number of MB rather than bytes or KB.) (MB are bigger than KB or bytes!) Simply, double-click on the link to the left of the file size of that largest file. You can do this while the video is playing.
Your video will start downloading directly to your computer (either your Desktop or your Downloads folder) as a Flash file.
When your video is done downloading, you can open it using either Quicktime Player or VLC, both of which are on your Staff MacBook. If you right-click on the file’s icon, you can select Open With... and have the option to choose between either Quicktime Player or VLC.
In either, you can expand the video to full screen, though the quality will vary depending on the quality of the video that you downloaded.
Finally, if you do plan to show video to students from your computer, do be sure to test sound and light quality with speakers and the projector beforehand!
So, how do I download the video that I want in that case? First, you need to make sure that the video can be used. Outstanding guidelines for Fair Use can be found from The Center for Social Media as well as in a simplified form in this blog post from Edutopia.
Once you’ve established that the video does not violate Copyright laws, you can download it by...
(Unfortunately, because of our bandwidth limitations, this does need to be done outside of CCSD21 for the time being.)
In Safari, go to the YouTube video you want to download.
Now, in the white menu bar for Safari at the top of the screen, go to Windows > Activity and click.
Now, and this part will make you feel like a computer programmer, go ahead in the Activity window/dialog and find the largest file in the list of all of the files. (It will usually be a certain number of MB rather than bytes or KB.) (MB are bigger than KB or bytes!) Simply, double-click on the link to the left of the file size of that largest file. You can do this while the video is playing.
Your video will start downloading directly to your computer (either your Desktop or your Downloads folder) as a Flash file.
When your video is done downloading, you can open it using either Quicktime Player or VLC, both of which are on your Staff MacBook. If you right-click on the file’s icon, you can select Open With... and have the option to choose between either Quicktime Player or VLC.
In either, you can expand the video to full screen, though the quality will vary depending on the quality of the video that you downloaded.
Finally, if you do plan to show video to students from your computer, do be sure to test sound and light quality with speakers and the projector beforehand!
Buying Music & Movies on Your Laptops
25.April.2010 18:35 Filed in: Tech Tips
As
per the CCSD21 Staff Laptop Policy, you can house
Movies, Music, and Pictures on your laptop, and this
does include Movies, Music, and Pictures that have
been purchased. Remember, that due to bandwidth and
server space limitations, these items do not sync to
the server, so they should be backed up separately,
using DVDs or CDs or an external hard drive. It is
important that Movie files are kept in the home
directory’s Movies folder, and the same is true for
Music and Photos respectively. These items should
never be stored in the Documents or Desktop folders.
If these items are purchased for school use, and the
staff member is reimbursed by the District, these are
property of the School District, and a copy should be
made to left with the appropriate individuals--i.e.,
the LMC Specialist, the iTech teacher, etc.
Purchases can be made through Amazon and through iTunes. Purchases may also be made through other online or brick-mortar-retailers as long as no software needs to be installed to import the purchase. (For example, no software is needed to import the contents of a physical audio CD that has been purchased as this feature is built-in to iTunes. Accounts are needed for each of these vendors.
Purchases can be made through Amazon and through iTunes. Purchases may also be made through other online or brick-mortar-retailers as long as no software needs to be installed to import the purchase. (For example, no software is needed to import the contents of a physical audio CD that has been purchased as this feature is built-in to iTunes. Accounts are needed for each of these vendors.
