it2go – The IT Training Podcast

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There are four players available on lyndaCampus:  Flash, QuickTime Standard, QuickTime Custom, and Windows Media. You can choose a player (after you’ve logged in to lynda) by going to My Account and then Site Preferences. You’ll see a list of available players and their features. Just lick the radio button next to the player you want to use and click Update. 

Player preferences

You can also change player preferences from within the movie you’re watching by clicking Player Prefs in the lower right corner of the window. The movie will then reload using the new player.

Let’s look at what you can do with the different players.

Flash

With the flash player, you can maximize the movie’s view area, closed captions are available if you need them, and you can bookmark a movie or a spot on the movie’s timeline.

The Flash player does not give you the option to increase or decrease the speed of the movie, and when you click a timeline bookmark from the Bookmarks page, the play head will not automatically jump to the bookmarked spot.

QuickTime Standard

QuickTime Standard supports closed captioning, but none of the other features–so no bookmarks. QuickTime Standard is also not compatible with 64-bit operating systems; this makes it a poor choice for those of us who own a newer computer.

QuickTime Custom

With QuickTime Custom, you can click a timeline bookmark on the Bookmarks page and have the movie jump to that bookmark. This is the only player in which this feature works. You also get closed captioning, speed control, and bookmarks.  You can’t maximize the viewing area with this player.

Windows Media (this one’s kind of tricky)

Windows Media Player works on Windows computers only. It supports closed captioning, speed control, and bookmarks. lynda documentation says that you can’t maximize the view size in Windows Media, and that’s true if you’re using Firefox or Chrome. We at IT Training, however, discovered that if you”re using Internet Explorer 9 or above, maximize view size does work in Windows Media.

Speaking of Firefox and Chrome-Windows Media Player is not automatically installed on these browsers. If you haven’t already installed the plug-in for Windows Media on Firefox or Chrome,  follow these links to do so.

Windows Media Player for Firefox | Windows Media Player for Chrome

It’s easy to switch back and forth between players in lyndaCampus, so when you choose one you’re not really making a commitment.

*Note for iPad and iPhone users (This probably applies to other mobile devices as well.)

When you go to lyndaCampus using a browser on an iPad or iPhone (not the lynda app), you can choose either “high quality, for faster connection,” or “low quality, for slower connection.”

Now that you know which video player to use in lyndaCampus, go log in and start learning.

Welcome to lyndaCampus!

http://ittraining.iu.edu/lynda

it2go – The IT Training Podcast

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• Attend a workshop that will teach you how you can integrate lynda.com content into your academic course delivery
• Learn how you can get the most out of your personal lynda learning experience
• Speak with lynda.com’s usability experts about your favorite features and areas you think can be improved
• Learn about key features and best practices for using lynda’s online training library

Lynda.com representatives will be available to speak with at the following times and locations:

• Wednesday, Feb. 29, Noon – 5pm in the Wells Library lobby (IU Bloomington)
• Thursday, Mar. 1, 9am – Noon in the Campus Center lobby (IUPUI)

As part of these events, IU faculty and IT Training staff will present a special session titled Integrate lynda.com Content into your Academic Course. You will learn why you might want to integrate lynda.com content into your academic course and get ideas for a number of different ways you can do it. Additionally, lynda representative Jen Jortner will be presenting Tips and Tricks for Using lynda.com online and in-person at IUPUI. Take this session to learn how you can get the most out of your lynda.com learning experience.

Registration for both sessions is free. You can read descriptions, dates and times of these sessions and register online!

Questions? Contact us!

Check out our lynda.com offerings here.

Lynda.com has not only changed its appearance, but has added enhancements to its search features.

The new interface allows you to search lynda’s library of training videos by choosing the subject, the software, or the author of the topic you are looking for:

Filters can be applied to your search to narrow down and find just the course that you need.

Additional filters can be added by clicking on the desired result:

The “new” option on the menu will allow you to see the newest releases, documentaries and information about new features of the web site.

The search on the menu bar allows multiple words to be entered to help narrow the search.

You can continue to filtering the search by choosing the options that closely match the topic you want to learn.

Once you are in a course, the Table of Contents allows you to see each part of the course and the time allotted for each video. Exercise files are available on the exercise files tab.

Closed Captioning is available by turning on the option:

You can search for text within the courses that have been captioned by going to the transcript tab. Here are all the transcripts for the movies in the course.

New courses are constantly added to lynda.com. Functionality is always being improved.

Questions can be directed to the Customer Service Team.
Feedback is welcomed through Site Feedback button at bottom of every page.

To watch a video detailing the new features, see: http://ittraining.iu.edu/lynda

The lynda.com app [free!] available in the iTunes Store now works with the IU login method.

Using it is very easy:
1. Install the free lynda.com app on your iOS device.
2. Open the free lynda.com app, and push the “login” button.
3. In the login screen, flick toward the bottom, so you see the “web portal access” button, and push it.
4. In the URL field, enter the URL for the IU lynda.com training portal:
https://shib.lynda.com/Shibboleth.sso/InCommon?providerId=urn:mace:incommon:iu.edu&target=https://shib.lynda.com/InCommon
and be certain the “Remember this URL” switch is ON, then push the blue Go button.

You’ll be prompted for your CAS Authentication information (your IU username and passphrase), and once you type that in properly, you’ll be whisked away into the lynda.com training library!

So enjoy the content, and we’ll have more information soon.

You can access the content here:

http://ittraining.iu.edu/lynda

So please keep using the service and let us know how it works for you!

Check out http://ittraining.iu.edu/lynda for more information and to log in.

Now, we must say here that everyone who works with Photoshop should know how to work with Levels and Curves to correct color and contrast, because they are the very best tools for the most challenging jobs. IT Training & Education offers three STEPS workshops that show you how to use these amazing tools. First, sign up for Photoshop: The Basics, then take Photoshop: Restoration and Retouching. Armed with all that knowledge, you’ll thank us for your skills.

With that very important public service message out of the way, we would like to offer some more nourishing knowledge for the advanced Photoshop user. With blend modes, you can quickly improve areas of an image that have faulty contrast or color without even messing with Levels and Curves.  Michael Ninness, through his lynda.com workshop, “Photoshop CS4: Blend Mode Magic,” can show you how to do a very thorough and speedy job of correcting brightness and contrast using various Photoshop blend modes. (He will include a lot of art, too.)

 To find the course, log into lynda.com. In the Software field, search for “Photoshop CS4,” or in the Author field, search for “Ninness, Michael.” You can also use the type-in search field for “Blend Mode Magic.”

 Indiana University users may log into lynda.com with their network username and password by going to http://ittraining.iu.edu/lynda, and clicking “Go to Lynda.com.”

This workshop is for beginners and intermediate users alike. Using a surfing theme throughout, Mordy begins by explaining elements that make up vector graphics—paths, strokes, and fills—and shows how to use each of Illustrator’s drawing tools. Then, he demonstrates how to combine and clean up paths, and organize them into groups and layers. Mordy also covers text editing, working with color, expressive brush drawing, creating compound shapes and complex strokes, adding 3-D effects, and much more. You must be logged into lynda.com before you click the link to “Adobe Illustrator CS4: The Basics”: http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=718

Do you have a specific project in mind to which Illustrator would be suited? Go to lynda.com, and in the Software search field, search for Illustrator CS4. There, among a list of offerings, you’ll find links to courses that show you how to design a newsletter, design a magazine layout, design an event Poster, and use Illustrator for the Web.

(Indiana University users may use their IU network usernames to log into lynda.com. Click the “Go to Lynda.com” link at http://ittraining.iu.edu/lynda.)