Skip to content | Change text size
Monash University Lectures Online

Lectures for:
 

Frequently asked questions

  1. I would like to know when lectures are put online?
     
  2. Why isn't the lecture listed on the MULO Unit page?
     
  3. When I play the lecture I cannot hear anything?
     
  4. Why is the sound sometimes hard to hear?
     
  5. How large are the files I am downloading?
     
  6. What does Network Congestion on Real Player mean?
     
  7. Why does Real Player spend several seconds Buffering before playing?
     
  8. Why can't I see any overheads or video?
  1. I would like to know when lectures are put online?
    MP3 file downloads, including podcast MP3 files will not be available until 2 hours after the scheduled conclusion of a lecture. Audio streamed recordings are normally available immediately after a lecture has finished.

    Lecture recordings which finish after 5pm on any particular day will not be checked by online lectures staff until the following morning. It is sometimes possible that a blank recording inadvertantly becomes available for download on the evening of a scheduled late afternoon lecture, if for example the lecture did not actually take place, or the lecturer forgot to switch on the microphone. It would be beneficial to check a small bit of the audio streamed version of these if you were concerned about the possiblity of downloading an entire blank MP3 file.

  1. Why isn't the lecture listed on the MULO Unit page
    If there is a problem with the recording, or there is a network problem, it may take up to a day or so for the lecture to appear. If for whatever reason no recording can be made available at all, a link to a brief explanation should appear as soon as possible in the hours after the lecture was scheduled to finish. In some instances it may take a day or so to determine what happened, or whether the lecture actually took place at all. If there is no listing for a recent lecture on the Unit page, and it has been several days since the lecture was given, please use the online form to report a problem.
  1. When I play the lecture I cannot hear anything?
    Check that the volume is turned up on both your computer and media player. Also check that speakers, headphones etc are connected. The first few minutes of a recording may be silent. Fast forward a few minutes to find the start. If you still can't hear anything then it is possible the lecture did not take place, the lecturer did not turn the microphone on, or there was an equipment failure.
  1. Why is the sound sometimes hard to hear?
    A number of factors affect sound quality.  This can include the lecturer's handling of the radio/lapel microphone, i.e. whether they have turned the microphone on, or worn the microphone properly. If the radio microphone has not been turned on, the lecturer's voice may be picked up by the lectern microphone in some theatres, but they may be standing too far away from the microphone for it to pick up a strong signal. If any of the above appear to be occurring it would be useful to mention it to the lecturer. We try to monitor all audio recordings but cannot attend venues to see what is actually happening. If there is an obvious problem with equipment we encourage the lecturer to contact theatre support staff. Equipment problems do sometimes occur and staff from both theatre support, and the online lectures operation will do their best to fix any problems as soon as possible. In some instances access to equipment and fault diagnosis can be delayed so we ask for your patience. For any low volume recordings we recommend you use headphones and turn your computer and media player playback volume up as high as possible.
  1. How large are the files I am downloading?
    For a standard 1 hour MULO recording the MP3 file size is 28Mb. The encoding rate for MP3 recordings is 64Kbps. Listening to 1 hour of an audio streamed Real Media file would for most users download approximately 14Mb of data at a streaming rate of 32 Kbps. For a small number of users with a lower performance computer/modem setup the streaming rate may default to 16Kbps. In this case approximately 7 Mb of data would be downloaded over a 1 hour period.
  1. What does Network Congestion on Real Player mean?
    The Network Congestion message indicates that there is heavy traffic on the network connection between the RealAudio server and your modem. This can sometimes affect the quality of the audio and interrupt the smooth playback of the recording. When faced with network congestion it is best to try the service again at another time, possibly when you think usage might be less busy. The Monash University Lectures Online service is available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. If your audio stream is frequently interrupted with a "rebufferring" message it might also be best to try at a time when you think that internet traffic through your ISP is less busy. Other possible causes of this might be that your computer or modem has insufficient speed or capacity (see our Help page for advice), or there may be actual problems with your computer's connection to your ISP (check with your ISP Help desk).
  1. Why does Real Player spend several seconds buffering before playing?
    This is a feature of file streaming and it cannot be be avoided.
  1. Why can't I see any overheads or video?
    No overheads, PowerPoint presentations, video or any other forms of visual content are available. The recordings are in audio format only.