HELP

This page lists frequently asked questions (FAQ) addressing some technical issues you may encounter while using this web site.

For questions of a non-technical nature, please see the "About" section of the project site.

Technical Support FAQ

1. Why can't I see the images projected on the screen during the lecture videos?
2. In some lectures, the professors refer to materials available on a Classes*v2 course site. How can I get a password to access Classes*v2?
3. Where can I get the course packet/reading materials for the class I am watching?
4. Why can't I play the videos on the site?
5. Why does my video stream look choppy or keep pausing?
6. The audio file of the lecture is not playing. What can I do?
7. Why can't I open some of the resources?
8. Why did I get the error message "File not found" or "This page cannot be found"?
9. Why doesn't the project site work properly in my browser?
10. How do I change the font size on the project web site?
11. How do I view the closed captions on the videos?

1. Why can't I see the images projected on the screen during the lecture videos?

   In some cases, third-party materials incorporated into Yale College lectures have been excluded from Open Yale Courses because of strict copyright licensing terms that prevent us from reproducing or displaying the content freely. The amount of protected material in some courses has been significant enough to prevent us from capturing on video all presentations projected during the class lectures. In other courses, protected material has been edited out of the media files and transcripts. We hope to be able to capture and display more of this content in future courses.

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2. In some lectures, the professors refer to materials available on a Classes*v2 course site. How can I get a password to access Classes*v2?

   Classes*v2 is an on-campus website available only to Yale students and members of the Yale community. Class handouts and other materials mentioned in the course lectures are posted in the "Resources" section of Open Yale Courses "session" pages. On occasion, materials have to be deleted or edited because of copyright restrictions.

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3. Where can I get the course packet/reading materials for the class I am watching?

   Due to copyright restrictions, we are unable to provide copies of the course packets used on campus. However, some of the same materials may be available at your local library, on websites such as Google Scholar, from book retailers, or in academic journals. Bibliographic references for course packet materials and other reading assignments can be found in the "Texts" section on the "Syllabus" page and/or in the "Reading assignment" section on the "session" page.

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4. Why can't I play the videos on the site?

   Open Yale Courses offers three formats for lecture videos. Two of these require Apple's QuickTime player (version 7.2 or higher), and the third requires Adobe's Flash Player. These three formats are best suited to different internet connection speeds (bandwidth), as noted on the course session pages.

   Clicking the link for a video will launch a new popup window. Please disable popup blockers in your browser settings before attempting to play the video files.

   Choosing one of the higher bandwidth video files will allow you to view higher quality videos. The higher the quality, the larger the file size will be. After you launch the video popup window, the video file will begin downloading to your computer and you may experience a delay before the video player controls will respond.

   To view the QuickTime files, you must have the QuickTime player version 7.2 or iTunes installed. Both are available at no charge through Apple at http://www.apple.com/downloads/.

   The Flash player is a standard plug-in for most recent browsers. To check if you have it installed, visit http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about. If necessary, you may download or upgrade the Flash player from the Player Download Center linked from that page.

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5. Why does my video stream look choppy or keep pausing?

   The quality of your viewing experience will be affected by your internet connection speed. Connection speed can vary at different times of the day; you may have better performance if you avoid high-traffic periods in your time zone. For optimal viewing of video files, you should use a high-speed connection such as DSL, cable modem or an on-campus connection.

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6. The audio file of the lecture is not playing. What can I do?

   When you click on a link to an audio file, a new popup window will launch: please check that your browser is not blocking popups.

   Audio files on Open Yale Courses are offered in .mp3 format. If you have QuickTime installed, the audio file should begin downloading immediately. Depending on your connection speed, you may experience a slight delay once the audio popup launches, while the file begins to download.

   If you do not have QuickTime installed, your browser may download the audio file to your computer and ask you to choose an application to open the file.

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7. Why can't I open some of the resources?

   Supplementary resources are offered in several formats, some of which may require an application not currently installed on your computer. Free applications are available for each format.

   PDF documents may be opened with the Adobe Reader plug-in. Visit http://www.adobe.com and click on the "Get Adobe Reader" button to download and install the application. There are many other applications that can also open PDF files (e.g., Preview, which comes standard with recent versions of the Macintosh operating system). Your computer may ask you to select from a number of recommended applications to open a downloaded PDF.

   Text documents in .rtf or .doc format can be opened with various applications. Windows users who do not have Microsoft Word may download Word Viewer. Other users may wish to try Sun Microsystem's Open Office, which can be downloaded free of charge at http://download.openoffice.org/index.html; or Google Docs & Spreadsheets, which allows you to read and edit .doc and .rtf files without installing special software.

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8. Why did I get the error message "File not found" or "This page cannot be found"?

   These error messages indicate a faulty link to a file or page. Please contact us specifying where the error occurs, and it will be fixed promptly.

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9. Why doesn't the project site work properly in my browser?

   Open Yale Courses is best viewed using the following browsers:

   Operating system	Recommended browsers
   Windows	Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer (version 6 and above)
   Macintosh	Mozilla Firefox, Safari
   Unix, Linux	Mozilla Firefox

    

   Although many of the project materials will be viewable in other browsers (Netscape, Opera) or older versions than we recommend, we cannot take responsibility for display or functional inconsistencies you may encounter.

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10. How do I change the font size on the project web site?

    You can change the displayed font size using your browser's "View" menu.

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11. How do I view the closed captions on the videos?

    Closed captioning is available on the high-bandwidth QuickTime files located on the session pages within a course. To activate the closed captions, click the CC icon in the bottom right corner of the player; click the CC icon again to turn off the captions. To view full-screen versions of the videos that include closed captions, please download the high-bandwidth QuickTime files from the "Downloads" page on any course.

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