This can occur for a variety of reasons such as a server, system or ISP being overwhelmed, or your home network dropping momentarily. If this happens, try to reconnect.
Some things to look out for on your home network:
1) Are you too far from your wifi router? Make sure the signal is strong. If not, consider moving closer to the wifi router. Also, consider plugging directly into your router with a network cable if that is at all possible. A wired network is more stable than a wireless one.
2) Is anybody else in your house streaming (such as YouTube, Netflix, etc.)? If so, might have to ask them to stop. Depending on your home network, steaming an HD movie, for example, can overwhelm a slower home internet connection.
It is possible that your home Internet connection can be experiencing problems, especially if many people in the area / neighborhood / city are using it heavily. This may not be noticeable when browsing the web, or streaming video/audio in a one-way download; however it will be noticeable when doing live two-way video or audio. You may want to contact your ISP to ask if loads are high in your area. You can also try power cycling your cable modem and wireless router. If a video+audio call is choppy, try turning off video and see if audio improves.
You may have
received an email over the weekend about being added to Microsoft Teams.
That was me (Bob Evans). Microsoft Teams is part of Office 365 and is Microsoft’s flagship
tool for team collaboration which includes chat, videoconferencing, file
sharing, etc. It is a great tool for both local and remote
collaboration. And because it is licensed by Purdue, it is secure and not
being used for commercial data mining of University operations. Teams
will be replacing Skype for Business in July of 2021.
Here is a short
video that gives a quick overview of Teams:
This tool has
recently become available to the campus and last week I began staging Teams for
our College so people can use it if desired.
A “Team” has been created for each major department in our College.
Within each
department, “Channels” have been created for each office, center and/or
program. Channels are where the work and collaboration takes place (chat,
video, file sharing, etc.). If you see a “lock” icon next to a channel,
that means the channel is private and only accessible to the members of that
channel (a team includes everyone, but a channel can be a subset of the team).
Feel free to
check out Microsoft Teams. You can access it via any web browser by
logging into Office 365…
For those who
want to use Microsoft Teams and do not have the client app installed on your
computer/laptop/tablet/phone, you can locate the app using this web page:
Please send email to EdIT@purdue.edu if you have any questions or need an additional private channel added to your departmental Team. EdIT is still learning about Teams and we hope to learn together with all of you as this tool unfolds. Thank you! 😊
Robert Evans Director, Education Office of Information Technology Managing Director, Teaching Resource Center Chair, College of Education Safety Committee Purdue University College of Education
One of the recommendations for delivering content to students is
“synchronous” delivery. The Innovative
Learning group recommends using this method sparingly and focusing on recorded
content using tools such as Camtasia (free video and screen recording
software available to all faculty and staff) in combination with Blackboard and
Brightspace.
However…if you do need to conduct live video sessions with
students, and are not familiar with WebEx, I’ve created a brief 4 ½ minute
video showing how to access and launch your WebEx Personal Room:
If you need help with WebEx, feel free to contact the Education IT team and we would be happy to meet with you to provide more details (see additional help links at the bottom of this post). WebEx should work with any laptop or tablet with a built-in camera and microphone. It also works great on a desktop computer if you have a webcam. If you need to order a webcam — for WebEx or Camtasia – please contact the Education IT team.
For more about synchronous and asynchronous delivery, see “How
will you deliver content?” on this web site:
To download a copy of a video, select the “Edit” option under the “Actions” drop down menu. Once in edit mode, there is an icon at the bottom right of the video window which allows download in .mp4 format. The icon is a folder with a downward pointing arrow.
Let us know if there is anything we can do to help. Thank you!
Once recorded, the recording will go into the Purdue Kaltura/Mediaspace system where the video can be shared with others. Log in here to see recordings:
If you need to make a multi-point telephone call (up to 6-way) from a Purdue phone, here’s how you can do it…
1. You can call the operator and the operator can assist you in making a multi-point phone call at no charge (up to 6 parties). First, dial zero to reach the operator and let them know you need to make a call with up to 6 numbers. Then you’ll need to give the operator the phone numbers that you want to call. If there are long distance numbers, you’ll also need to give the operator your MURS number. The operator will make the calls for you immediately and charge your MURS number for any phone numbers that are long distance. You can make use of this service at any time.
2. All Purdue phones can make six way calls, but it requires a feature activation from the phone office. There is a one-time $10.00 activation fee to enable the phone to make 6 way calls, and then there are no additional charges for this service other than normal long distance charges. For more info about 6-way calls, see:
