CERN e-learning project

Mandate

This project aims at promoting features, tools and, mostly IT, services via very short videos - ideally not exceeding 5 minutes. These short informative and educational sequences can be recorded by the CERN audiovisual services and/or screen capture tools at the desk. Our aim is to provide tools and advice for content owners and/or users of the information to do this.

Tools' index

• Project description here. It contains some Use Cases and Content owners.
• e-group here. Members can be viewed.
• vidyo portal here. It can be used for any meeting or rehearsal.
• Indico category dedicated to e-learning here.
• CDS category dedicated to e-learning here
• CERN e-learning logo in progress. Request sent by Maria Dimou to the CERN designer Fabienne Marcastel on 2016/01/20. CERN decided to make a common logo for all such activities. Pending.

Utilities

• Teleprompter mirrorscript: A free-of-charge teleprompter on the web, easy to use, removes all speaker's stress to remember the text and pronounce it without hesitation.
• Terminal recording tool asciinema: A simple to use from a terminal tool that records/replays what you type. Example thanks to Pedro Ferreira.
• Screen capture tool ffmpeg: A free, open source and cross platform command line tool to make tutorials from your desk. Example thanks to Alexandre Racine (attached to this twiki).

Points for speakers' preparation and recording set-up:

• Create an event in the e-learning indico category for every rehearsal to keep trace of the process and notes for future use.
• Write down every word you plan to say. Attach it to the relevant indico event. Example the lhcathome tutorial's text by Karolina Bozek.
• Give a structure to your text and say where you are s you go on, e.g. "This tutorial is about this cool feature... I'll explain what it does, how to install, how to configure, how to start, stop, monitor..."
• Use a teleprompter (like a TV news' broadcaster). !! At least until the 50th rehearsal it is needed. This free-of-charge teleprompter on the web allows very esay upload of your text.
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Use colleagues familiar with the domain as your public to obtain feedback.
• Measure the time. Mini-tutorials should not exceed 5' to maintain audience attention. Dropping from 8' to 4' requires many rehearsals.
• Check what is already available on the web, as examples to learn from.
• Make sure everything you type in the video respects security rules. No personal emails, logins, passwords etc. The CERN IT recording team cannot edit video to blur text.
• Avoid typing commands 'live'. Rather make slides, screenshots or web page tabs with the commands on.
• If you have slides, select the 16*9 landscape format for the slide dimension.
• Make sure the web pages of the application you present are clear for new-comers. Else, talk to their webmasters before recording the tutorial.
• Browser and terminal windows should be in one of the CERN official languages. Starting point should be a CERN web page.
• If you present a tool that works on multiple Operating systems, make a generic introduction and shorter episodes per Operating System.
• The camera should show the speaker first with a CERN picture in the background and then the slides, web pages and command lines of the tutorial.
• Display the tailor-made CERN logo before starting and at tutorial closing. A CERN e-learning logo is in preparation common to the whole organisation.
• Make sure no items get in the video belonging to commercial brands (e.g. water or soda bottles). Laptops are fine.
• Write "Do NOT disturb" on the door when recording to avoid people entering during your best try.
• Use a normal chair (no wheels, not twisting) to minimise body movements during the video. Keep hands visible.
• Screen capture tool and example

Use cases

Some of the Use Cases submitted with the original proposal and their content owners can be found in the project description document. They are summarised together with more recent additions below:

1. "User-friendly" video series for IT services. Overall contact: Michal Kwiatek - IT DTO:
   1. Installing an application using the Mac Self-Service
   2. Printing a document using Mail2Print
   3. Getting Microsoft Office for home (using the O365 subscription under the CERN Campus agreement with Microsoft)
   4. Agile Infrastructure (AI) tutorial. Contact: Manuel Guijarro
   5. Indico functionality. Contact: Pedro Ferreira
      1. Workflows explained:
         1. Meeting / Lecture
         2. Conference
            1. Call for Abstracts
      2. Registration forms;
         1. Creating basic registration forms for meetings and/or conferences;
      3. Using the invitation and moderation workflows;
      4. Setting up a form with paid options and electronic payment;
      5. Minute/notes - creating, editing and compiling;
      6. Customization of conference pages - menus and layout options;
      7. Timetables (contributions vs sessions)
      8. Surveys - creating and publishing;
      9. Configuring event reminders, import into calendaring tools and synchronization with MS Exchange.
2. e-learning for LHC experiment experts, shifters, users on computing tools:
   1. Data transfer failures' investigation. Contact: Simone Campana.
   2. New Grid site set-up. Contacts: Maarten Litmaath, Julia Andreeva.
   3. Computing tutorials for the HEP software and computing knowledge base. Contact: Torre Wenaus
3. Mini-tutorials for volunteer computing participants
   1. lhcathome. Pilot case. Material and rehearsals in indico. DONE Video by Karolina Bozek in our dedicated CDS category.
   2. atlasathome
   3. ...
4. Mini-tutorials for physics masterclasses.
   1. ALICE strange particles
   2. ...

Presentations

• 2016-02-29 : ATLAS Software & Computing Workshop (at 16h30) on https://indico.cern.ch/event/438204/
• 2015-10-02: IT Lightning Talk (1st in the list on MOOCs) https://indico.cern.ch/e/ITLT-7

MariaDimou - 2016-01-26