Welcome to "Levels at Streamflow Gaging Stations--A CD-ROM Based Training Class"

Contents

• Introduction
• General requirements
• Starting the presentation
• Narrations
• Navigating through the presentation
• Videos
•     Video Player
• Test

Introduction

This self-paced training class should take someone three or four hours to complete. It is listed at the National Training Center of the U. S. Geological Survey as Training Class SW1307. 

General Requirements

• This Macromedia⁽¹⁾ presentation runs only on a Windows-based computer. A sound card and speakers are required to take advantage of the narration and sound associated with video clips. Because of the presentation makes wide use of digital videos and voice narration it will run best on computers that have at least:
  • 400 MHz Pentium MMX processor
  • 8x or better CD-ROM drive
  • 128 MB of RAM
  • 1024 x 768 monitor with 32-bit color
  • Windows 98, 2000, or NT

• If videos run slowly, you may have to copy the presentation and all associated files to your hard drive. If you choose to copy files onto your hard drive,  you will need to copy all files on the CD-ROM to a single folder on your hard drive!
• The computer you are using must be connected to the internet to take advantage of links to on-line resources.
• The presentation is  a relatively large file and may take several minutes to load.
• The presentation was developed using Macromedia Director 8.5¹ . The presentation is in the form of the  executable file "Wri-4002.exe". 

Starting the Presentation

(Note: This is not a functioning window, this and images that follow are only sample screen shots to demonstrate what you should see on your own computer as you start "Levels at Streamflow Gaging Stations" ).

or by selecting "Run"  from the "Start" menu, and running the file "Wri-Levels.exe" (see below).

Narrations

• A spoken narration accompanies each slide. A short beep signals the end of each narration. 
• You can play or  stop,  the narration using the  buttons in the lower left-hand corner of the screen (see below)
• Progress of the narration is  shown by the progress bar (see below). A beep will sound when the narration is completed. 
• You can control the volume of narrations using the slider bar (see below)

• If you can not make use of the spoken narration, text of the narration accompanies each slide. You can view text  by clicking on the "Narration" menu in the menu bar at the top of each page (see below).  You should close the "Narration" window using the "Close" button when you are done reading the narration.  

Navigating through presentation

• You can use the "Next"    or  "Back"      buttons to navigate through the class (see below).

• You can navigate to various parts of the class using the pull-down syllabus located on the menu bar. Your location in the class will be indicated by a check mark (see below).

• You can quit the class at any time by going to the "File" menu on the menu bar at the top of each page and clicking on "Quit" (see below). 

Videos

• The presentation contains numerous MPEG videos. Videos can not be run at the same time as spoken narrations. Videos, therefore, appear on the screen independent of narrations. You can view the  video by pressing the play button on a screen shot of the video. This will start the video. The play button will be outlined in red when the video is ready to be played (see below). 

• Videos are controlled using the buttons  on the video frame. 

Video  Player

Videos were incorporated into the presentation file using VisibleLight's ⁽¹⁾ XTRA  for Macromedia Director⁽¹⁾ called SE XTRA. This XTRA uses any resident MPEG decoder installed on your system. Most systems will contain an MPEG decoder, but if not, you will have to install one on your system to view videos. Installing the free Windows Media Player⁽¹⁾ from Microsoft Corporation, may provide you with the necessary decoder. 

Test

This class is listed as Training Class SW1307 with the National Training Center of the U. S. Geological Survey. The test (see below), which  is at the end of the class, can be  used by supervisors to judge successful completion of the class. 

Supervisors can complete Training Form 182 showing that students have completed Training Class SW1307. Supervisors may require students to print a copy of the "Results" page that appears after students grade the test (see below) to show that students understand concepts presented in the class.