eTEACH 2.3.6 Release Notes

Welcome

Welcome to version 2.3.6 of the eTEACH Authoring tool. It's been about 9 months since we released the previous version of eTEACH Author, and we have added many new features and fixed many bugs in that time. We use this tool in production every day. However, no piece of software is ever perfect. Please take note of the items listed below and be sure to let us know about any problems you may discover.

Installation Notes

Note: If you have installed a previous version of eTEACH Author, your machine already meets all the installation requirements for this version.

  1. The installation package for eTEACH Author requires Windows Installer 2.0.
    If you are running:
  2. eTEACH Author is built on the latest development technology from Microsoft called .NET. Because of this it requires installation of the .NET Framework. Upcoming versions of the Windows operating system will come with the framework installed, but for current Windows platforms, you will need to install the framework if you haven't already done so. Microsoft prefers that users get this from the Windows Update Service. Click here for details. You can also download it directly from here. You must have the framework installed for eTEACH Author to work.
  3. eTEACH Author depends on a Windows Media component called AsfChop.ocx. If eTEACH Author fails when attempting to add markers to your video files, you probably have a problem with this component. Our installation software checks for the presence of this component on your machine and will abort with an error message if the component is not found. However, you may have an older version of the component installed which will satisfy the check made by the installation package, but will not work correctly when you try to use the authoring tool. Correct working of eTEACH Author depends on the installation of version 4 or later of this component. Version 4 of the component will be installed if you have Office XP and did a "Full Install", but you may have version 3 if you are running Office 2000. Previously we recommended solving this problem by installing the Windows Media Resource Kit 7 beta. Unfortunately, Microsoft has removed this software from their website. The preferred method of getting the component is to do a "Full Install" of Office XP (also known as Office 2002). If you are unable to do this, contact me for help - my contact information is listed at the bottom of this page.
  4. Previous versions of eTEACH Author were specific to the version of Microsoft Office installed on your machine, i.e. one version worked with Office 2000, and a different version worked with Office 2002. This issue has been resolved, and this version of eTEACH Author works with either Office 2000 or Office 2002.

Additional Office XP Note

This version of the tool supports both the Office XP and Office 2000 versions of PowerPoint (see above). The Office XP version of PowerPoint uses a technology called "DHTML Behaviors" to implement animations in the web pages it produces. The code produced by this version of PowerPoint depends on a component called the "PowerPoint Animation ActiveX Control". Users who have Office XP installed on their machines will already have this component. However, some other users may not have it. In that case they will get a message from Internet Explorer asking if they want to download it from Microsoft. If the user is connected to the internet and has administrative control over their machine, the installation should work. It's quick, painless, and only needs to be done once. Unfortunately, if the user is not connected to the Internet, (they may be viewing an eTEACH Presentation on a CD), or they don't have sufficient privileges on their machine, the installation will fail. In this case the PowerPoint animations defined in your eTEACH Presentation will not work. You can download the necessary ActiveX Control from http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2002/msorun.aspx.

JavaScript Updates

All eTEACH Presentations depend on JavaScript code which runs in the student's browser. This code is automatically created by eTEACH Author. From time to time, we make improvements to this code to resolve bugs and problems that have been discovered by students. If you have created some eTEACH Presentations with earlier versions of the Author, you may want to update the JavaScript code in those earlier Presentations with the latest version of the code. eTEACH Author can update that code for you. You should open the presentation you want to update, then click on the "Options->Show Advanced Features" menu item. This will add additional buttons and tab pages to the authoring tool's window. Next click the "Update Scripts" button. eTEACH Author will ask you to confirm that you have a back-up copy in case something goes wrong, and will make the conversion once you click "OK". This procedure will work for Presentations created with earlier versions of eTEACH_II. We do not have a procedure for updating eTEACH_I Presentations at this time.

Known Bugs

Closed captioning (.SMI) files that have spaces in their names will not work. You will most likely run across this if you create an eTEACH project on your desktop, since on many Windows systems your desktop will be in a folder named "Documents and Settings". We realize that creating an eTEACH project on your desktop is a natural thing to do, and we apologize for this inconvenience. We will try to fix it in the next release.

Feedback

The eTEACH user community now numbers in the thousands. However, if you are installing this authoring tool, you are a member of the much smaller eTEACH Authoring community, which is growing, but still small. We would like your feedback on all aspects of this technology - installation, use, requested features, experience with students, etc. Please call me at 608-262-6122 or email me at mlitzkow@facstaff.wisc.edu.

March 13, 2003
Mike Litzkow