12th grade government class. Their assignment was a video. So, knowing how these things can go, the first thing I did after reading the lesson plan was to put the DVD into the laptop.
(Gone are the days where one put a VHS tape into a player and then hit play. Now, there is a projector setup that one can plug a laptop in to. I think I've commented on this before.)
The DVD drive made a strange, mechanical noise. Like it was struggling.
I ejected and reinserted the DVD. A couple times. Finally, the menu screen popped up. Just in time for class to start. Whew.
I got class started, went to start the video, and poof... It disappeared.
No, no, no, no, no...
I managed to get it to reload, but it wouldn't play. It was like it was frozen.
I took a deep breath. I realized the DVD was from C-SPAN. It was a tour of the White House. Surely, I could find that online...
Thank God for the Internet.
Google. I typed in the full title. And guess what popped up? (In case you're interested, here's the video.)
Ah, a laptop connected to the Internet. We can just stream the video instead. That could have gone a whole lost worse...
With techie stuff it seem I'm doing my happy dance or I'm banging my head agaist the wall.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
It's either one or the other, isn't it?
DeleteI would never have figured it out!!!
ReplyDeleteI had a teacher save my butt one day doing that. Lesson learned and applied.
DeleteYay for you figuring that out!! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks. Glad it popped into my head.
DeleteThat's the good thing about educational stuff. A lot of it's online for free. It definitely makes for a good backup.
ReplyDeleteAlways got to be one step ahead of the game! Glad you figured out how to "save the day."
ReplyDeletebetty
Oh gosh....I would have been lost. I have no clue how to fix these types of mistakes
ReplyDeleteI was lucky it was online.
DeleteI'm always saying this to my customers. Technology is fantastic, when it works. The rest of the time you can't help but wish for the time when things were a lot more straight forward!
ReplyDeleteI may have to steal that from you. Because so true.
DeleteGood thinking!
ReplyDeleteThanks
DeleteGotta love the power of streaming. I actually just sat down and did an impromptu lecture utilizing remote desktop and screen sharing to introduce someone to Blogspot and how to use it and customize it. It wasn't until after the twenty minutes were done and I had logged back off that it hit me the miracle that is the technology I have in hand. haha
ReplyDeleteSometimes I am just amazed at what we have the capability of doing.
DeleteI worked in I.T. for the state for 13 years. Toward the end, my job was supporting the hearings they had to take away nurses' and doctors' licenses. When they had an issue, it was a HUGE emergency and it made me so nervous! I still freak out when I'm doing a school visit and I plug the projector into my MacBook...there's that moment when I think, "What if it doesn't connect?!!!" Just way too high stress.
ReplyDeleteYup. That can be hard.
DeleteIt seems like it would have been easier just to email you a link instead of messing with a DVD. Isn't the internet wonderful?
ReplyDeleteI don't think she realized it was online. When I emailed her, she said that she had never had problems playing a DVD in her laptop, so it hadn't even occurred to her that that might be a problem.
DeleteHurrah! I don't envy your job on the technology side. Computers can be evil.
ReplyDeleteReferring to the comment you left about common core: I do like what they are doing with deep reading and bringing non-fiction in, but I'm not in love with how math is handled. Yes, it's fine to focus deeper on a few topics, but the long methods are insane. Instead of giving the kids a good understanding of the topic, they are just giving them a longer set of hoops to jump through.
Those "machines" never fail to fail when you're depending on them. Good for you in tackling the issue and solving it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, sometimes. Then sometimes they work as planned.
DeleteYAY! Internet saves the day! (Or sub.) I know the kids were disappointed though; I'm sure they wanted a "free day." :) Did the teacher not provide an alternate assignment in case of electronic problems?
ReplyDeleteThey were seniors, so I suspect they would have probably found other work to do. And no, the teacher didn't provide and alternative because she didn't foresee any problems.
DeleteAhhh technology. A blessing and a curse. lol
ReplyDelete