Universal Campus presentations

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Bård Engen 2
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Universal Campus presentations

Post by Bård Engen 2 »

I've just started to use Universal Campus on some university courses. I've been searching around, also in this forum, for instructions for using presentations in my classes. I first stumbled across Preso-Matic Turbo from Kitley Markeds. That was more or less a waste of money. Too old and too buggy.

Then I discovered an old thread in this forum about the same topic. One suggestion made me aware of the possibility to show browser content on the displays. After some trial and error I've now managed to present YouTube movies, web pages, etc. Regarding presentations, I can now just upload PowerPoint slides to Google Drive and present my slides in Google Slides on every thinkable displays in the Universal campus. However, I'm still not completely finished in finding the perfect solution.

The problem is that what I choose to present on the displays is only visible to me. After I have linked media to a specific display, my students or colleagues also get controls to browse web pages etc., but the content only applies to each individual. So my question is how I can make the output on the display apply to every person/avatar in the same room? In other words: I want to present my google slides on the display so that every student can see what I'm presenting and at the same time preventing them any interactions with the content besides watching me changing between slides?

Anyone?
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Re: Universal Campus presentations

Post by Selby Evans »

What you want is a slide presenter like Preso matic Turbo. These show textures, not media. I have seen several in use on Marian and they are working well. Here is the location of one in a Firestorm hop
hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Marian Island/137/114/22
Put this in the address bar of Firestorm and press return.

There is one deficiency with Preso -- this may have made it seem buggy-- as set up for use, the controls respond to anyone's click and the screen may also respond to anyone's click. People in the audience will click on things and cause the slide to change. The simple solution to that: put a transparent prim between it and the audience. You stand on the Preso side of the prim and your clicks work. The clicks from the audience go to the transparent prim. If you need help on this (or anything else) feel free to ask. I am a retired professor (TCU). I set you a friend invitation.

Marian Island is the home of a group of professors and students in the MALET program at Empire State College (SUNY). You would be welcome to come to meetings. Eileen O'Conner, the owner, is a professor in that program. She owns and uses the Preso, so she could help you with any problem.

I have a simpler slide-show script--I can edit that, so if you want I can give you a simpler (and not buggy) slide show. If you find a bug, I can probably fix it.
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Re: Universal Campus presentations

Post by Bård Engen 2 »

Selby Evans wrote:
Wed Mar 18, 2020 2:55 pm
What you want is a slide presenter like Preso matic Turbo. These show textures, not media. I have seen several in use on Marian and they are working well. Here is the location of one in a Firestorm hop
hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Marian Island/137/114/22
Put this in the address bar of Firestorm and press return.
Thank you so much. As said, I'm quite new to Open Sim even though I've been doing some teaching in Second Life on a "borrowed" island with no possibilities to modify or make changes.
Selby Evans wrote:
Wed Mar 18, 2020 2:55 pm
There is one deficiency with Preso -- this may have made it seem buggy-- as set up for use, the controls respond to anyone's click and the screen may also respond to anyone's click. People in the audience will click on things and cause the slide to change. The simple solution to that: put a transparent prim between it and the audience. You stand on the Preso side of the prim and your clicks work. The clicks from the audience go to the transparent prim. If you need help on this (or anything else) feel free to ask. I am a retired professor (TCU). I set you a friend invitation.
I looked at the examples at Marian Island and got Preso matic Turbo to work much better now on my Universal Campus. How do I proceed to make a transparent prim? I'm a professor at OMU, Norway btw.
Selby Evans wrote:
Wed Mar 18, 2020 2:55 pm
Marian Island is the home of a group of professors and students in the MALET program at Empire State College (SUNY). You would be welcome to come to meetings. Eileen O'Conner, the owner, is a professor in that program. She owns and uses the Preso, so she could help you with any problem.
A meeting would be very interesting. I would like to learn from your experiences.
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Re: Universal Campus presentations

Post by Alexina Proctor »

Selby, How do I get the slide show that you made. I purchased Preso-matic but it is not going to work for the Sendalonde Community Library (on Wellspring). I create small slide shows, like what is fable, fantasy, etc. and need people who visit the library to go through the slide show if they wish.

Thank you.
--Alexina
--Alexina Proctor
Co-founder with Prax Maryjasz of Sendalonde Community Library
Library: hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Wellspring
https://virtualpeers.com/
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Re: Universal Campus presentations

Post by Selby Evans »

I sent you a copy of the script in a notecard
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Re: Universal Campus presentations

Post by Graham Mills »

I'm very out of touch with this but if you want a shared web interface visible to students then I suspect what you need is a realtime collaboration whiteboard-type product or conferencing tool, e.g.

https://alternativeto.net/software/webboard/ (for whiteboards)
Bård Engen 2 wrote:
Tue Mar 17, 2020 8:18 pm
I've just started to use Universal Campus on some university courses. I've been searching around, also in this forum, for instructions for using presentations in my classes. I first stumbled across Preso-Matic Turbo from Kitley Markeds. That was more or less a waste of money. Too old and too buggy.

Then I discovered an old thread in this forum about the same topic. One suggestion made me aware of the possibility to show browser content on the displays. After some trial and error I've now managed to present YouTube movies, web pages, etc. Regarding presentations, I can now just upload PowerPoint slides to Google Drive and present my slides in Google Slides on every thinkable displays in the Universal campus. However, I'm still not completely finished in finding the perfect solution.

The problem is that what I choose to present on the displays is only visible to me. After I have linked media to a specific display, my students or colleagues also get controls to browse web pages etc., but the content only applies to each individual. So my question is how I can make the output on the display apply to every person/avatar in the same room? In other words: I want to present my google slides on the display so that every student can see what I'm presenting and at the same time preventing them any interactions with the content besides watching me changing between slides?

Anyone?
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Re: Universal Campus presentations

Post by onyxty delta »

I've also played around with different approaches to classroom presentations. The version of Preso-Matic Turbo that I have includes a lock button on the side to prevent others from navigating the slides. This is good for in-person presentations. I also setup a series of Preso-Matics with content and the lock in the unlocked position so that visitors could navigate the slides at will.

It's been a while, but I've tried different web-based solutions that give me control of the content while allowing visitors to follow along. The core challenge that I think you have run into is using web on a prim essentially behaves like individual instances of a browser for each user. Makes sense technically but creates a challenge when one is hoping to control the dialogue. :)
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Re: Universal Campus presentations

Post by Selby Evans »

I recommend rethinking presentations. You are not limited to a single stage. You don't have to put up one image at a time. You can put all the images on posters running around the perimeter in order. For a presentation, you walk around and stand in front of the one you are talking about. For a lasting display (24/7), you put a notecard in each poster.
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Re: Universal Campus presentations

Post by Bård Engen 2 »

Selby Evans wrote:
Thu Aug 20, 2020 3:21 pm
I recommend rethinking presentations. You are not limited to a single stage. You don't have to put up one image at a time. You can put all the images on posters running around the perimeter in order. For a presentation, you walk around and stand in front of the one you are talking about. For a lasting display (24/7), you put a notecard in each poster.
I used posters (whiteboards) in my teaching several times. One obvious advantage is that students get more activated. One drawback is with larger group of students. They often get in each other's way making it difficult to see the content on the posters etc. As with preso-matic, this solution is still limited to show still images in plenary. To show films or more dynamic content, each student have to start the movie on their own. If it could be possible for me to show such dynamic content in my presentations in plenary, it would be a huge step forward.
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