Adjust Chromebook Mic Levels using Canvas Media Recorder

[QC99_tsilvius]

Hello Admins. I was wondering if anyone has found a way to adjust Chromebook mic levels when using the Canvas record media tool in the RCE without needing to access the Alsa Mixer through shell in dev mode? It seems crazy for students to be submitting videos in Canvas without the ability to adjust their Chromebook mic input level, but being new to Chromebooks maybe this is just the crazy way they are. I'm thinking that I'm just overlooking something though. When students record, their mic levels by default must be set to extreme input because their audio is so garbled and loud on their recordings. Is there something in place to prevent the audio from recording at such a high level and lighting up red. I'm hopeing someone might be able to point me in the right direction (without having to download a different video recording app like Screencastify if possible). It would be great to use the Canvas video record tool directly with a Chromebook, not record elsewhere.  Context: My sixth grade band students are submitting their playing assessments using the Canvas Assignment Tool Text Tab's RCE media recorder. Our 1:1 program provides Chromebooks to our sixth graders. Thanks for any tips to help with this.

[taverett · Accepted solution]

Deborah,

Unfortunately that was the issue faculty at our University are running into.  Every time they want to do a quick recording they are having to go in and fiddle with the Flash player settings. 

Has anyone heard if Instructure is planning on replacing the dated Flash based player?  

[taverett]

Todd - I've also had faculty experiencing this issue with a traditional Windows 10 computer and the Record/Upload Media tool in the RCE.  However, this issue seems to be isolated only to this tool, as I have had them try using Flash to record a VoiceThread (another 3rd party tool that is still using Flash in our instance) and the audio sounds fantastic.  I'm eager to see if anyone else has found a solution.  

[bogardde]

QC99.tsilvius and  @taverett    So sorry I missed seeing this question for so long! Here's what you need to do to adjust the (ridiculously high) microphone sensitivity on Chromebooks in the Canvas media tool:

1. Right click in the media window itself

2. In the menu that appears, go to Settings

3. Click on the microphone icon

4. Use the volume slider to adjust microphone sensitivity. You'll probably need to slide it pretty far down to improve the recording quality. You can also select a "Reduce Echo" box.

The settings are not sticky, unfortunately; thus, students will need to perform this task with each new assignment.

Hope this helps!

[taverett · Accepted solution]

Deborah,

Unfortunately that was the issue faculty at our University are running into.  Every time they want to do a quick recording they are having to go in and fiddle with the Flash player settings. 

Has anyone heard if Instructure is planning on replacing the dated Flash based player?  

[bogardde]

From Production Release notes 11/18/17: "Using the camera and microphone to record media content within the Canvas Rich Content Editor currently still relies on Flash and is being addressed by Canvas engineers."

[Robbie_Grant · Accepted solution]

QC99.tsilvius,

We are giving the Canvas Admins area a little bit of love and just want to check in with you.  This will also bring this question new attention. 

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment.  Also, if this question has been answered by one of the previous replies, please feel free to mark that answer as correct.

Robbie

[QC99_tsilvius]

Hi  @Robbie_Grant ‌

Thanks for following up here. I continue to use Screencastify, a third-party screen and webcam recorder that syncs with our students' GoogleApps nicely. It would be really, REALLY great if Canvas devs would consider escalating this concern due to the higher value teachers place on video and web cam media. Younger students in the primary grades using Canvas rely on video and web cam-based learning evidence as their typing skills are still developing. As flash-based tech continues to switch to HTML5-based tech, I'm sure that this step would go a long way for K-12 teachers. Again, thanks for checking in.

Todd