so it should work on nearly any speed connection.
Could people please try the button above and report here whether it works or not?
Very nice 
All working here!
System:
Mozilla 1.6 on Linux
Shockwave Flash 6.0 r79
Speed: 4000 kbit/s (so no problem with bandwith here)
All working here!
System:
Mozilla 1.6 on Linux
Shockwave Flash 6.0 r79
Speed: 4000 kbit/s (so no problem with bandwith here)
Works fine, nice selection.
Yeah, it's Grant Green (he's the guitarist). I love the drums in this one - very controlled but funky as anything.
I shouldn't really be using copyrighted tracks even for testing ... I'll use unrestricted music from now on.
I shouldn't really be using copyrighted tracks even for testing ... I'll use unrestricted music from now on.
Works for me with Mozilla, not with IE 6.0. I get a solid black frame where the control is supposed to be.
Got the same results on both platforms.
Will
Edit: It means, it worked for me in Mozilla Firebird 0.7 but not in IE 6.0
Yes, me too now! Could have sworn it was working before! 
(Martin digs in code)
(Martin digs in code)
Whoops, found it - it was a silly typo I added recently. IE should work fine now.
Hi!
Yes, it is now visible in MyIE2 so I am sure it is now visible in IE6.
WP1
And it does.
Great, thanks
Works great, very slick! Mozilla 1.6; Flash 7
BROWSER | VERSION | LINK | BUTTONS | PLAY |
| IE6 | 6.0.2800.1106 | Present | Stop/Present | Yes |
| OPERA | 7.23 | Present | Stop/Present | Yes |
| MYIE2 | 0.9.16 | Present | Stop/Present | Yes |
| NS7 | 7.1 | Present | Stop/Present | Yes |
| FIREBIRD | 0.7 | Present | Stop/Present | Yes |
(Edited by Martin to reflect later fixes)
Yep, works fine. Galeon, Mozilla and Firebird under Linux
Rick
Funkyyyy!
Rick
Funkyyyy!
Fine on IE6
Paul
Yup, works with IE6 and Firefox 0.8 and Mozilla 1.6, all under Windows 2000 using Flash 7
Oxford Beardie
Oxford Beardie
Working fine on IE6, Flash7, XP
Richard
Nobody uses a Mac
Mac OS X 10.3.2 fine with Safari 1.2 (v125), IE 5.2.3, Mozilla Firebird 0.7 and Mozilla 1.6
Mac OS X 10.3.2 fine with Safari 1.2 (v125), IE 5.2.3, Mozilla Firebird 0.7 and Mozilla 1.6
Excellent! Flash really rocks - you'll be seeing a lot more of it in future versions of Moodle. 
Hi,
Personaly, I don't like to force anyone to have any plug-in installed in order to appreciate something in its full bright (or shine or... ?)
That's the main reason (beside its weight) why I don't like to use Java as a web tool (unless strictly necessary)
What if someone does not have nor want to have flash installed?
Yes, I know, I'm looking for the fifth leg of the cat but "every computer's a world"...
Personaly, I don't like to force anyone to have any plug-in installed in order to appreciate something in its full bright (or shine or... ?)
That's the main reason (beside its weight) why I don't like to use Java as a web tool (unless strictly necessary)
What if someone does not have nor want to have flash installed?
Yes, I know, I'm looking for the fifth leg of the cat but "every computer's a world"...
For sure, I totally agree. That's why the link is retained for those who need it - there should always be a lowtech alternative.
You must agree that Flash is a very small, stable, mature, cross-platform and powerful thing ... really it's everything Java promised to be but never delivered on.
You must agree that Flash is a very small, stable, mature, cross-platform and powerful thing ... really it's everything Java promised to be but never delivered on.
> Flash really rocks
Indeed it does. But remember that a lot of educational establishments are going to have to be delivering course content to people with disabilities, and there are rules about usability (I know that the UK and US both have these kinds of legislation). So core functionality will always have to include the ability to deliver content in plain text.
I've seen at least one British educational thing (in this case a CD-ROM based product) created entirely in flash. Looked *very* good...assuming you could actually see the screen. Would be useless with a screen reader program or other things like braille pads. All graphical you see. I told the team leader guy right at the start, and he nodded and made "Yes, I agree totally" noises, and then they delivered something that locks out a small but (legally) significant percentage of users. A later version was supposed to have a built in audio player that could be switched on if needed to read out text content ...but they found that part of it conflicted with a built-in notepad feature...so what did they do? Removed the screen-reader thing in order to make the notepad work. Nice priorities guys!
Don't get me wrong, I love what you're doing Martin, it is well cool, but please don't lose sight of these pesky legal requirements, otherwise a fair number of us will find ourselves unable to continue using moodle...and that would be a BIG shame!
Oxford Beardie
P.S. Don't take the above *Too* seriously...It's just that I've just been in meetings and stuff today where little details like this get droned on about for hours.
Indeed it does. But remember that a lot of educational establishments are going to have to be delivering course content to people with disabilities, and there are rules about usability (I know that the UK and US both have these kinds of legislation). So core functionality will always have to include the ability to deliver content in plain text.
I've seen at least one British educational thing (in this case a CD-ROM based product) created entirely in flash. Looked *very* good...assuming you could actually see the screen. Would be useless with a screen reader program or other things like braille pads. All graphical you see. I told the team leader guy right at the start, and he nodded and made "Yes, I agree totally" noises, and then they delivered something that locks out a small but (legally) significant percentage of users. A later version was supposed to have a built in audio player that could be switched on if needed to read out text content ...but they found that part of it conflicted with a built-in notepad feature...so what did they do? Removed the screen-reader thing in order to make the notepad work. Nice priorities guys!
Don't get me wrong, I love what you're doing Martin, it is well cool, but please don't lose sight of these pesky legal requirements, otherwise a fair number of us will find ourselves unable to continue using moodle...and that would be a BIG shame!
Oxford Beardie
P.S. Don't take the above *Too* seriously...It's just that I've just been in meetings and stuff today where little details like this get droned on about for hours.
Totally with you - don't worry. Flash will always be optional.
My next four to six months promises to be completely working on accessibility issues in Moodle so I need all the cool toy time I can get! And just occasionally do things for the 95% majority, you know.
My next four to six months promises to be completely working on accessibility issues in Moodle so I need all the cool toy time I can get!
Sorry if it sounded like I was on my high horse. Sometimes the management nagging gets to me and it spills over.
Oxford Beardie
Working on accessibility issues seems to me to be not only compassionate, but also smart. This is a big issue where I live - getting bigger all the time, too.
-- Art Lader
-- Art Lader
Please click on the blue letter for an audio representation
The following is the letter
A basic guide to ASL
The following is the letter
A basic guide to ASL
So core functionality will always have to include the ability to deliver content in plain text.
Sean,
I think the Macromedia mob are well aware of the problems of accessibility re Flash . I recently authored material aimed at schools for the Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory. HVO is part of USGS and requires an accessible version of anything posted on their site, at the time of writing last year Flash could be made accessible; animations and buttons could have an 'alt' tag attached which could be read by a screen reader. However, it was only Microsoft reader compliant and I suspect that popular screen readers such as Jaws do not comply with this standard. The outcome was that we went the belt and braces, 'all text version' route but if I had to do the site again I would consider writing similar material with accessibility wrapped up in flash if I was convinced that the common screen readers could deal with the Flash alt tags.
This was done as a volunteer (hey, Hawaii is a really tough place to hang out 
) and my purpose was to showcase what Flash could do educationally. IMHO Flash is not just a way to add whizz to a button or produce an annoying ad; simple, interactive vector animations are really effective in explaining physical processes (in this case volcano eruptions). A friend of mine is a much better flash programmer, see his education examples
I'm not sure where this leaves accessibility. Its a must, period. However, I used Flash in my material to enhance the educational experience for visual users - more fun, easier to comprehend. If users can't see the animations I can't enhance their exprience even if their screen readers can translate the site.
I seem to remember the figure that in its day Flash 5 plugin was on 95%+ of online computers worldwide, I am usually a staunch defender of the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle but I would argue that the added value of flash in education is worth the complexities of dealing with accessibility and installation issues.
Richard
Hi Richard,
Thanks for that info...very interesting. It is good to know that alt tags and such can be used inside flash (I really must open this Flash-MX box that's sitting on the corner of my desk...).
As you (and Martin) have said, there's no point in denying the 95% of users a good net experience because the other 5% can't use it.
As far as I know, the SENDA regulations in the UK basically say that you have to make a best effort to present material to all. Obviously something that *has* to be visual by its very nature (an animation, video or so on) will not be accessible *ever* by visually impaired users. We just have to make sure in that case that we have at least a textual summary that can be put in its place as seamlessly as possible, (or in the case of video, a way for the user to hear the soundtrack).
I'm sure we'll be able to do that in moodle.
I agree with you about the great use of flash for animated diagrams. We don't use that much at the moment, but I bought this copy of flash specifically so that I could experiment.
regards
Oxford Beardie
Thanks for that info...very interesting. It is good to know that alt tags and such can be used inside flash (I really must open this Flash-MX box that's sitting on the corner of my desk...).
As you (and Martin) have said, there's no point in denying the 95% of users a good net experience because the other 5% can't use it.
As far as I know, the SENDA regulations in the UK basically say that you have to make a best effort to present material to all. Obviously something that *has* to be visual by its very nature (an animation, video or so on) will not be accessible *ever* by visually impaired users. We just have to make sure in that case that we have at least a textual summary that can be put in its place as seamlessly as possible, (or in the case of video, a way for the user to hear the soundtrack).
I'm sure we'll be able to do that in moodle.
I agree with you about the great use of flash for animated diagrams. We don't use that much at the moment, but I bought this copy of flash specifically so that I could experiment.
regards
Oxford Beardie
Hi Sean,
Didn't know regulations in the UK were from SENDA, that's good to know.
I think I am a bit schizo about the use of technology in e-learning, I have seen real magic worked with tools a lot simpler than moodle and I worry about 'featurism', people thinking their teaching will improve vastly if they could just alter the colour of that font or access the records of all their blue eyed students with a one click button 
. IMHO the true skill in teaching is in nuturing, challenging, facilitating, etc., not that dependant on the medium (so long as it is robust, intuiative and designed around the student [for which read 'moodle']), very human skills and just the same as with face to face teaching....
BUT
Flash is just so cool! I used to teach water geology and it was painful to try and explain how water moves around in rocks using just words and pictures. When I added some simple animations (using click buttons and graphs in XL as it happens, this was 96) it cut the time to explain the content down by 2/3 and students found it much more enjoyable. But be careful, when you discover the answer to 'can I make it do this visual thing?' is always 'yes' in Flash it can get very addictive.
I could go on about how I think Flash is misused on a lot of educational sites but I don't want to wear my keyboard out just yet
All the best
Richard
Yup: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/facsocsci/access/senda.htm
is what I've been using as a basic guideline.
Flash could be considered a gimmick or a tool depending on how, and for whom, it's used. One example is the fact that approximately 2 billion people will live and die without ever learning how to read. Most will obviously never see a computer but for the few who do Flash will be very effective at delivering content. Images and sound are the medium of reality for these 2 billion souls...
I like it because it's cool and satisfies my childish need for pictures and sounds as I have the attention span of the average 3 year old and my formal education ended with the successful completion of Grade 9. For 33% of the people on Earth it could be a very effective way to teach them to read and write...
I like it because it's cool and satisfies my childish need for pictures and sounds as I have the attention span of the average 3 year old and my formal education ended with the successful completion of Grade 9. For 33% of the people on Earth it could be a very effective way to teach them to read and write...
how would I make this work on my site?
- You need Moodle 1.2
- download and extract the mediaplugin from http://moodle.org/download/modules/#filters
- add in the configurationscreen for variables filter/mediaplugin/filter.php by tekstfilters
Lay back and enjoy
exactly what I did. I must be linking the mp3 wrong.
Thanks for the prompt reply Koen!
For making the correct link, I haven't found an elegant sollution yet 
I upload the file in my course, then rightclick on the file and as properties. You can than copy/paste the correct path.
So, now we have this most excellent and fool-proof player, can anyone advise the best or easiest way to create mp3 files? Preferably info for Windows users. The specific task involved here would be for recording voice and saving as mp3.
So far I'm able to record them and save them as mp3 but when I upload them to my Moodle site they don't work. I get the play button etc. but no audio stream.
I'm un-cool and have never ripped an mp3 file. I don't know the first thing about it. I'm thinking this feature will be used mostly by language and or speech teachers so maybe some beginner level docs would be of use to more than a few Moodlers.
Thanks for any advise.
So far I'm able to record them and save them as mp3 but when I upload them to my Moodle site they don't work. I get the play button etc. but no audio stream.
I'm un-cool and have never ripped an mp3 file. I don't know the first thing about it. I'm thinking this feature will be used mostly by language and or speech teachers so maybe some beginner level docs would be of use to more than a few Moodlers.
Thanks for any advise.
QUOTE
"...I'm un-cool and have never ripped an mp3 file. I don't know the first thing about it. I'm thinking this feature will be used mostly by language and or speech teachers so maybe some beginner level docs would be of use to more than a few Moodlers." John Captain
Thank you for asking the question. I think you are correct. The answer will help many Moodlers and add to the instructional diversity of MOODLE.
WP1
John, you might try a free product called dbpoweramp music converter at http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm
It is a little confusing if you just intall and run the music converter because it is written specifically to convert one digital audio format to another (typically .wav to .mp3).
But, if you also install the "Auxiliary Input" add-on (it is at the bottom of the download page) and run that, it will allow you to record directly to .mp3 from any auxiliary input (your PC MIC in our case). It was written to allow those with old albums and tapes to convert them to .mp3.
Like you, I have not had a lot of time to mess around with audio conversion tech, but I have used dbpoweramp on occasion to make .mp3s from the MIC. I have not, however, tried to upload and use them in Martin's latest Marvel - I hope to play around with it soon though.
It is a little confusing if you just intall and run the music converter because it is written specifically to convert one digital audio format to another (typically .wav to .mp3).
But, if you also install the "Auxiliary Input" add-on (it is at the bottom of the download page) and run that, it will allow you to record directly to .mp3 from any auxiliary input (your PC MIC in our case
). It was written to allow those with old albums and tapes to convert them to .mp3.Like you, I have not had a lot of time to mess around with audio conversion tech, but I have used dbpoweramp on occasion to make .mp3s from the MIC. I have not, however, tried to upload and use them in Martin's latest Marvel
- I hope to play around with it soon though.
(edited from earlier post)
! This works great right out of the box! In my case clicking the link itself downloads the file and plays it with Quick Time or I can press play on the icon and there it is. So one file and two options for playback. Some very brief instructions can make it possible for anyone to teach and learn using audio recordings. The installation of the necessary software is very easy and in most cases and locations this will be an acceptable method of providing lessons.
John, you are most welcome. Glad it works for you. I am sure other moodlers will post their personal "favorite" audio converters as time goes on.
Hi John!
I also DLed and installed "dbpoweramp" which was recommended by Paul. What did you do to be able to insert the audio into a forum post? Sounds good.
WP1
Hi W,
Upload the mp3 to a site, access it and copy the url. Paste that url into your forum post and as long as the file has an mp3 extension it works.
John
Upload the mp3 to a site, access it and copy the url. Paste that url into your forum post and as long as the file has an mp3 extension it works.
John
Hi John,
Personaly, I use Absolute MP3-recorder, downloadeble from http://www.techlogic.ca/r4/product.mv?5+1 and freeware.
You can record sound from any source on your pc (line, micro, mixer (for recording streaming audio...) and save it imidiately to wav or mp3. One thing you must know: by default, the program saves the mp3-files in program files\techlogic\....