Alert: Numerous Problems with Recordings (V.6.2)
Fri, 11/09/2007 - 8:09am — Yvonne Clark
Lately we have had a number of reports of problems with recordings. We had thought the problems were fixed with the last upgrade from Adobe Connect, but apparently not.
We are working with Adobe to determine and fix the cause of the problems. For now, don't count on a usable recording of your meeting -- if I had to put a number on the success rate of recordings my best guess would be about 75% turn out OK and maybe 25% are having problems.
12/3/07 -- UPDATE
Our most recent information from Adobe: The Adobe Engineering group has now documented a number of instances of recording problems, not only at Penn State, but with other clients as well. These problems increased in frequency with the installation of the most recent update. The problem has been "escalated" (English translation: moved up to the top of the To Do list) and they are hoping to send out a resolution sometime in January.
Suggestions then, for recording?
Hi Yvonne,
We have a course coming up in January that was planning on using Adobe Connect for the students to record presentations on their own for other students and the instructor to view at a later time. Do you have any suggestions for a different technology to use for students to present/record presentations?
Thanks!
Beth
Recording Presentations
After the original bunch of recording problems, we haven't heard of any lately. Even though we don't seem to be having the problem right now, since we're not sure what caused the problem to begin with, we can't guarantee that it won't happen again.
I guess deciding on what to use to record student presentations would depend on how high stakes the assignment is, what the students are using to give their presentations, and what the goals of the assignments are.
There are screen recording applications, like HyperSnap and Camtasia that might be used as a backup to recording in Adobe Connect. These applications are more dependable but they are also more expensive. The streaming video server is available for posting recordings that can be save as video files. There are also free applications that record just the audio, like Audacity -- again, these could be used in coordination with Adobe Connect as a back up to the Adobe Connect recording.
PowerPoint can record narrated presentations if the students are just giving PowerPoint presentations -- each student would have to create their own part of the presentation and someone would need to compile the slides. The staff at Multimedia and Technology Support Services might have some more ideas for recording presentations, or for a backup in case the Adobe Connect recording doesn't work correctly. They also have equipment that they lend to students for class use, although I don't know if they lend it to students who aren't located at University Park.
Other thoughts?