Instructors Frequently Asked Questions

For help with downloading and starting up NEW, send email to disted@netlab.gmu.edu. For special help with installation, call 703 993-1749. For emergency help with connecting to a live class, call 571 238-1049.

Please include in your syllabus the statement:
This course is delivered to the NET section online by Network EducationWare (NEW). Students in all sections have accounts on NEW and can play back the lectures and download the PDF slide files athttps://netlab.gmu.edu/.

Whiteboard converts slides from formats ppt, pdf, tex, or ps to individual pdf and jpg files needed for lecture.

I tried to convert PowerPoint slides using the whiteboard Convert Slides but, but I get a message that conversion failed. What am I doing wrong?

Probably you don't have the required printer driver installed. Part of the conversion i s done using printer driver software. See C:\Program Files\NEW\CONVERT\CONVERT-INFO.txt.

Any submitted filename must begin with the course ID. This should be followed by a two-digit session number; for example, 'CS999-2-01.zip'. Explanatory text may be added after the session number, but the filename may not exceed 40 characters in total. All filenames will be filtered to remove non-alphanumeric characters. Spaces (blanks) will be changed to underscore characters. The characters period (.), hyphen (-), and underscore(_) are permitted. Whiteboard slides must have the extension 'zip'; handout slide must have the extension 'pdf'; original slides may have any of the following extensions: 'pdf', 'ppt', 'rtf', 'tex' or 'ps'. Original recordings have the extension 'nwr' and downloadable recordings may have 'zip', 'nwr', or 'exe'.

GMU faculty members own the copyright to the slides they produce, if they assert a copyright. To avoid any misunderstanding, it is best to assert the copyright on each slide. (See the GMU copyright policy for more information.) Any recording produced by NEW is copyrighted in its entirety to prevent others from using it without permission. Only the faculty member who recorded it may grant permission for its reuse. The NEW copyright states, "Students registered in the course and sections named above may keep one copy of this recording for their personal use. Separate copyright by the presenter or other parties may apply to the graphics presented in this recording."

When you sign on for faculty roles such as adding a student, you must use the NET section number. The non-net (lower) section number signs you on with the student i nterface. If you need to edit the database in the non-net section, sign on to the NET section and enter the courseID for the non-net section on the add or update page.

You can create an account under your course for anybody. This was intended for late registrants but it works for any username you assign. Just login to the higher section number and click on "Add Student".

Send them email describing the evaluation of their work and then return the paper when they come in for an exam. You could also offer to return documents by postal mail, if they request.

It is now possible to access recordings from the previous semesters, for students who were enrolled in the courses at that time. Take the 'Past semesters' link on the menu of the logon page and choose the semester, then logon with your user name and password. Instructors who wish to allow their students who were not enrolled in aone of their past semester courses to view the recordings, may log on to the past semester course and insert those students.

Should you overrun server buffer capacity with slides, you get a warning to slow down and the system catches up gracefully.

It is possible to teach over a good-quality modem line if necessary, although slides are displayed more slowly.

If you accidentally exit from a tool such as the whiteboard, you can restart it by clicking on the master client mini-window, labeled NEW Clients, anywhere but the shutdown X. This avoids disconnecting to restart. To shutdown all tools, click the X on the master client. However, at the end of your class you should just stop the recorder and leave the software running; this will make it simpler for the support person to upload the recording.

I am trying to teach and my projector machine will not display the slides. Please help.

This is a Windows problem. It gets into a state where the whiteboard can not find its supporting Ghostview. The answer is to reboot.

After I run the NEW clients, some of my desktop icons disappear from my screen. What can I do about this?

There is a bad interaction between Windows Explorer (the desktop graphics--not Internet Explorer) and NEW that does this. A workaround on Windows XP is to use the Task Manager to kill and restart the Explorer task. An alternative is to log out of Windows and log back on.

The NEW client works with Microsoft Vista, but the conversion of Powerpoint slides using Vista is not currently working.