Speed School Tablet PC Update

A few days back I blogged about my experiences helping out new students with their Tablet PCs. (Starting the Semester off Sprinting + STUG) To my surprise I received an email from Brian Jones who manages the customer service department at DyKnow.

Since the semester started back up, I'm back producing episodes of Tablet Tips. The first episode of the Fall semester was centered around the same topic.



Brian sent me some feedback on the problems that I outlined. I'll post his response here:

“Quote: It seems like the Gateway models have some problem connecting to the server.” We also don’t know why some of the Gateway computers are experiencing issues connecting to the DyKnow server as well as why they miraculously connect later. We would recommend you have one or more students that can’t connect send us log files so we can provide you/them better insight into the issue:

• Click on the DyKnow symbol in the top left corner
• Click on ‘DyKnow Options’
• Click the ‘Resources’ option on the left menu
• Click the ‘Send Info’ button in the ‘Send Diagnostic Information’ section
• Complete the form and in the notes section please indicate that “My machine cannot connect to our DyKnow server.”
• Click ‘Send’ and wait for the information to transfer to us here at DyKnow before closing the dialog. Someone from our technical support staff and/or your local DyKnow administrator will respond accordingly.

“Quote: …the biggest problem with DyKnow was that student’s accounts were not activating properly.” From what I understand [and as alluded to] this is not at all related to the DyKnow server, but rather specific to an issue with the university’s user account authentication system (Active Directory as the IT dept would call it). I believe that issue should be resolved at this point, but if the student’s continue to have account authentication issues they are advised to touch base with U of L’s IT dept.

“Quote: …they are unable to send files from programs (such as DyKnow) into OneNote so they can be inked on.” This was interesting to us because we ironically got a support email from a student at U of L yesterday that was trying to print to OneNote from DyKnow via the 64-bit Vista OS. We shared the following MSDN thread with him http://blogs.msdn.com/david_rasmussen/archive/2008/04/21/onenote-64-bit-print-driver.aspx and also informed him that it is possible to ink on top of the DyKnow notes natively in DyKnow or use the resizable/un-dock-able Private Notes feature to add panel specific annotations in the DyKnow notebooks. Alternatively, students can condense their notes (e.g. two or four DyKnow panels per slide) by printing the content back into DyKnow using our Notebook Writer such to annotate the combined panels in that manner: www.dyknow.com/download.

I'd like to thank Brian for reaching out to me providing useful information that he has allowed me to republish on my blog. While the beginning of the year is eventful fixing all of the technical problems of the new students, I believe that it is a necessary problem when beginning the education of Tablet using students and future engineers.

Starting the Semester off Sprinting + STUG

I've been busy. I don't even have anything started full swing and somehow I manage to be swamped. Yet somehow, I enjoy it. I go crazy unless I'm constantly busy. My days are packed with more things to do than I can count but I'm still coasting on the beginning of semester momentum. I'm sure it will die off soon and I'll want to sleep all day, but for the mean time, I'm content.

What I really want to talk about are the Speed School freshmen. I've volunteered the past few days helping the students get their tablets up and running. There are a variety of problems that need to be solved and I've definitely learned a lot and had the opportunity to use some of the various models that students purchased.


Wireless: This is such an easy problem for me to fix now. I remember last year when everyone was using the SecureW2 how things barely worked. The client less solution on Vista works amazing. Yet somehow, the university managed to convince a select few students that they should download Odyssey under Vista. I've yet to see someone get Odyssey to work under Vista. Ironically, the client less solution under XP doesn't work unless you are using Intel ProSet wireless manager. I've not seen XP work without that or Odyssey. I appreciate the irony, but wish the university would not tell people to install Odyssey under Vista.

The main problems freshmen were running into is just configuration missteps. It is to be expected, as it isn't always clear to new users how to connect. I was more than happy to lend a helping hand. I believe everyone that was having problems with wireless had their problems resolved.

Another problem in the wireless realm is students who lock themselves out of the wireless. This happens when they type their password in incorrectly too many times. They simply need to call the Help Desk and have their account unlocked. This problem was common, but almost always resolved within a reasonable amount of time. Luckily, Vista does a good job telling you that you are locked out if you know what buttons to click.


DyKnow: Problems with DyKnow are a little more interesting and the success rate at fixing these problems was much lower. Often it was just a configuration problem, but some computers were just crazy! It seems like the Gateway models have some problem connecting to the server. They can ping the server, but DyKnow won't connect. The only solution I've found is randomly changing the settings and then correcting them. This problem is very difficult to reproduce and has only appeared on the Gateway tablets. Many of the computers suffering this problem simply started working for no apparent reason. Very strange...

Also, the biggest problem with DyKnow was that student’s accounts were not activating properly. This was a server problem and wasn't something that I could fix, or something that would be fixed on the spot. These problems sometimes fixed themselves; otherwise students were pointed in the correct direction. Sometimes changing the passwords corrected the problem, but that only worked a small percentage of the time.


Printing to OneNote 2007: This is a complicated problem that wasn't expected. Many students simply did not have the OneNote printer on their computer. Meaning, they are unable to send files from programs (such as DyKnow) into OneNote so they can be inked on. The first part of this problem is that it isn't possible to print to OneNote from the 64bit version of Vista. Microsoft simply decided it wouldn't be possible. The other problem is that the printer isn't listed. This is fixable, but the issue wasn't resolved for everyone. My favorite error was one student who kept getting an "Out Of Paper" error when trying to print to OneNote! Even after repairing the install or uninstalling and reinstalling, some 32bit computers wouldn't have the OneNote print processor making it impossible to correctly configure the printer. I still need to look into this problem further. It is really frustrating that Microsoft doesn't have a standalone patch to correct a OneNote printer mishap.



I've definitely learned a lot helping out the freshmen. This has been a very insightful experience and has several topics which I need to make episodes of Tablet Tips for in the future. I've gathered the desires of many to try and find a way to avoid these IT problems at the beginning of the semester. The most obvious way is to provide a stock tablet preloaded with software. I'm absolutely opposed to this. I strongly believe that an engineering student should be required to learn how to use a computer. If it was another major, I would feel less strongly. No matter what major, an engineer should be able to connect to a wireless network and install applications. This is a very useful skill and should absolutely be a requirement to graduate.

While these skills cannot be thought explicitly, they can be learned through the pains of entering Speed School as you configure and set up your Tablet. I've noticed, while it isn't always fun, it will be beneficial in the long run and is simply a necessary annual headache.

Tablet Tips at Podcamp Ohio

Thanks to Doctor Anonymous for posting the clip of myself, Travis, and Steven at Podcamp Ohio.

Student Tablet User Group Update

I spend most of my time outside of working for GE on my first co-op on STUG and Tablet Tips.  My last big project on STUG was doing a complete redesign of the intro and credits of Tablet Tips.  Not to sound self content with myself, but I feel like the new style of the video makes Tablet Tips look far more professional.  Our current weak point of the podcast is now the audio.  We are using the built in microphone and have not found any way to improve our quality without spending money, which we don’t have.

The next project that I really want to work on is a total redesign of our website, but I just haven’t forced myself to undertake that challenge.

In the past few weeks there have been some major milestones reached.  The primary way to judge the success of a video podcast is by number of views.  We have accumulated 7,463 views on YouTube and 2,719 views on Blip.TV.  While these numbers are not that low, I still hope that Tablet Tips can expand its audience and accumulate more views in the coming months.

The metric that I have consistently been proud of is gleaned from Google Analytics.  While our number of views hasn’t been very high our Average time on Site has consistently been hovering around five minutes.  Coincidently this is approximately the same length as one episode of Tablet Tips.  Using a slight jump in logic, it can be concluded that people are watching about one episode on our website when they visit.

The other metrics that I constantly follow are the Google search results for terms that directly relate to STUG and Tablet Tips.  After some quick Google searching of my own I have determined the following:

Search Term	Rank in Google Search Results
STUG	9
Tablet Tips	4
Speed School of Engineering	13
Student Tablet PC	6
Louisville Tablet PC	7

The big accomplishment here is getting Tablet Tips in such a high standing.  It is a rather vague term and had to overcome a lot of references that didn’t have anything to do with Tablet PCs.  As for STUG, we still have to overcome the Sturmgeschütz III, but the fact we are now on the first page of the search results is exciting.  There are some other search terms that are important but they are typically some combination of Tablet PC, Speed School, Engineering, and University of Louisville.  Most of those in any combination yield some reference to STUG’s website in the first page of results.

 

The next steps for STUG includes the possibility of having to make a poster for an upcoming conference on Tablet based learning.  Our focus in on using new media to educate students on the use of Tablets in the classroom.

Also, STUG will be attending Podcamp Ohip next weekend in Columbus Ohio.  I hope to enhance my understanding of the podcasting and the podcast community along with some networking with other podcasters in the area.  Expect lots of pictures, some video, and a few blog posts relating to the Podcamp.  If I can I’ll be posting while I am at the conference, but more likely I’ll be posting a lot about the unconference after I get back.

Tablet Tips Has a New Look

After an entire weekend of work and some major processor time on my slow desktop, the 22nd episode of Tablet Tips is now out. However, it doesn't look anything like the first 21 episodes. The main difference is the intro, the music, the lower 1/3, and the credits. It really has a level of production quality that will set it apart.

Now that I have the first episode of this new style out it should be easier to release episodes of this higher quality. Also, I updated the formats that I export each episode in. They should look a little better than they have been. Thanks to Cassie for doing a ton of work to make this look as good as it does.

STUG Featured on GottaBeMobile

Travis has spent some time promoting STUG Website and it looks like we have our first feature on a website. Needless to say I'm a little excited.

GottaBeMobile is a blog focusing on Tablet PCs and mobile computing. In a blog post that was posted very early this morning they covered Tablet PC Tips for Students.

My favorite part of the post is where they mention, "they've got some great humor and their effort is to be applauded." That might be a little self centered though. STUG is still really young and we only started our website and Tablet Tips at the beginning of this year. They mentioned that they enjoyed our episode on What Not to do on Your Tablet and our episode on Getting Organized: Paperwork.

Hopefully STUG can continue to promote Tablet PC use in college and use Tablet Tips as instructional videos focusing on Tablet PCs and college students. This is a very niche market that doesn't have much coverage. STUG seems to be niche enough that it can stand on its own. Overall this is good news for STUG and Speed School.

STUG's New Domain Name

STUG now has its official and nice looking URL. The address is http://speedstug.com/ I'm very excited that everything has been migrated. The old URL is currently set to redirect and the site can still be reached by old addresses. However, this URL is much easier to remember and is actually relevant, no more of that e-expo stuff.

It was a little bit of a rocky start. Travis purchased it and set it up in no time flat, however images, CSS, and javascript wasn't loading. I eventually tracked the problem down to the .htaccess file and now things are up and running.

I'm very, very excited about this and currently am working on plastering the URL all over the internet to get some visibility.

University of Louisville, Speed School of Engineering, Student Tablet User Group

STUG Podcast in Full Swing

This is definitely big news. I'll start by explaining how this all got started.

I have been heavily involved in the Student Tablet Users Group from the beginning. Actually, I helped found it. One of our projects that we had on our wish list for last semester was to release instructional videos. This would be a combination of screen casts and other instructional material.

I'm very excited to say that this has become a reality!

Tablet Tips can be found on both YouTube and Blip.TV
http://youtube.com/SpeedSTUG
http://tablettips.blip.tv

The podcast is just really getting started. I'm sad to say the production quality is quite poor. All of the recording is done using my sub-standard webcam. The Logitec Notebook Pro is the exact camera. It can record 640 by 480 video at a full frame rate but doesn't have the crisp looking video of the professional podcasts I enjoy watching.

For having a current budget of $0 and having spent $0, I'm really proud at the quality of what STUG has produced. I'm also excited that the website is slowly morphing into a decent looking video and informational hub for tablet information.

There is still a long way to go. Currently there are a few episodes in planning stages. Steven is working on getting a tablet to configure Linux under and then have a tutorial on the correct way to get everything running. I'm going to review my Toshiba M405 soon and hopefully some OneNote tutorials will be in the near future soon.

Long term goals (long term as hopefully before the end of the semester) is to have some videos directed toward future speed school students and parents of those students. Maybe even having a brief video for show at orientations.

So far this project has been very successful and I hope that it can continue.