ARCHIVED: Republishing Adobe Presenter files to the Canvas VoiceThread tool

This content has been archived, and is no longer maintained by Indiana University. Information here may no longer be accurate, and links may no longer be available or reliable.

At Indiana University, the Adobe Connect web collaboration and conferencing system became read-only on September 1, 2017. During the read-only phase, you can access and download previously created recordings and content, but cannot conduct live meetings or create new recordings. If you used Adobe Connect at IU, you should take steps to preserve any archived recordings you want to keep by December 28, 2017, after which the system will be fully decommissioned. For more, see ARCHIVED: About the Adobe Connect retirement.

Note:
UITS is offering a content migration service for faculty who need assistance moving their Presenter content to other platforms. To take advantage of this service, complete the Adobe Presenter Migration Support form.

Before you begin

If you have never used VoiceThread before:

  1. Go into your Canvas course.
  2. Choose Settings from the course navigation.
  3. Choose the Navigation tab.
  4. Find VoiceThread in the list of tools (it will likely be located in the lower section).
  5. Either drag VoiceThread up to the upper section, or click the gear icon and choose Enable.
  6. Remember to scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save.
  7. Click VoiceThread in your course navigation. If you don’t already have a VoiceThread account, it will be automatically created for you.

For more, see About VoiceThread and Configure VoiceThread activities and assignments.

Exporting Adobe Presenter recordings

Download recordings from Connect

  1. Navigate to connect.iu.edu, and log in with your CAS login.
  2. From the top menu bar, choose Content.
  3. Select the Presenter presentation you wish to download, and choose Download Content from the Content Information menu bar at the top of the page.
  4. You will see several choices for files to download. The .zip file under the Output Files section contains the audio files for each slide. The .pptx file under the Source Files heading is your original PowerPoint file. Download the files by clicking each of them.

Create a VoiceThread from your downloaded PowerPoint file

  1. Enter VoiceThread through a Canvas course (see Before you begin).
  2. Choose Create from the top menu.
  3. Click Add Media and choose My Computer.
  4. Browse to your PowerPoint file and open it.
  5. Give your VoiceThread a title, description, and tags, if desired.
  6. Click Save.
  7. Your PowerPoint slides will be uploaded to VoiceThread as individual slides.
  8. To add narration to your slides, click Comment.
  9. Along the bottom of the slide, choose the + (plus sign) icon to bring up your commenting options.
  10. At this point, you can either upload the individual audio files from your Presenter presentation or record new narration for each slide. Note that you can mix how you add the narration. You can upload audio files for some slides and record new narration for some slides. You have the choice on each slide.
    • To record new narration:
      1. Choose either the microphone icon or the video camera icon.
      2. In the box that pops up asking for permission to access your camera and/or microphone, click Allow.
      3. You will get a countdown screen, and then you can begin recording your slide narration. When you finish your narration for the slide, click Stop Recording.
      4. You will have the opportunity to review the recording; choose either Save or Cancel and re-record the narration.
      5. After you save, click the arrow at the bottom right to go to the next slide.
    • To upload the audio file from your Presenter files:
      1. Choose the upload icon.
      2. Browse to the .mp3 files in your unzipped folder containing your Presenter files. It should be in a folder called data. This step is the most challenging because the .mp3 files are not always in order. If the file names end in …x1, x2, x3, they are likely in the correct order.
        Note:
        If the .mp3 file names do not look like they are in the proper order, you can republish the Adobe Presenter files to your computer, which will likely correct the order of the slides. See Exporting your Adobe Presenter recordings above.
      3. Choose the appropriate .mp3 file. It will be uploaded to that slide.

Your new VoiceThread presentation can now be shared with your class. If you choose, you can allow students to comment on the slides. This can provide a way for students to ask questions or provide comments throughout the presentation. Your VoiceThread can also be edited easily. You can add, delete, and move slides around, and all narration and comments remain with the slide. This makes it easy to update presentations as content changes from semester to semester.

For help sharing your VoiceThread presentation with the class, see Configure VoiceThread activities and assignments.

This is document aoeb in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 17:39:25.