We did laptop distribution today and I worked hard to streamline the process this year. I was the first to greet people and have them change their active directory password. Next they picked up their laptop, case, and charger, and headed for one of the two classrooms we had running. The idea was to have it work like a museum: once there were enough people in the classroom, they would close the door and start the video. Students had to change the password on their laptop and for their google account, watch the video, and fill out a checkout form.
I wanted to ease the stress of running the classroom by not having someone have to give the responsible use spiel over and over, so I made this video: RUA & Maintenance and Care of your Laptop.
I got the idea to speed it up because it was just taking too long to listen to the whole thing, and I like the feature of podcasts that you can make them go faster or slower. It turns out, however, that with iMovie ’09 there is a glitch that causes the audio to not export. So after a few days of feeling frustrated that it wasn’t going to work, I found a forum thread suggesting I detach the audio from the clip. I did it and Voila! It worked. Overall it was well received.
Julie Kallio, PhD 