Please update the required training material and test

[Mike Curtis]

I have attempted to take the Spotter Network training course and the required test, but since it has not been updated since 2011, many videos will not play due to unsupported plugins. I am using a current Android tablet with the latest OS. I cannot finish the test because it requires me to answer two questions based on videos that I am unable to watch. I have tried using both Chrome and the default Samsung web browsers, and neither offer support for the outdated video player plugins.

 

[Lou Ruh]

I just did the test in three different browsers on a Windows PC with no issues. Do you have a PC you can try? For some reason, Android has decided to not support Adobe Flash Player (this occurred a while ago) although there are ways to get it working. There are ways to get it working on Android, but, you may or may not want to do that.

But, yeah, they should update this to not use Flash at some point.

 

[Mike Curtis]

I'll give it a try on a computer tomorrow when I'm at work. Thanks for the response

 

[Mark Blue]

That may be a temporary work around, but with the proliferation of Android and iOS tablets and smartphones, plus the ever-changing video standards, this should be at the top of the priority list for anyone involved in maintaining SN. Please chime in @John Wetter as to any future plans SN may have to address these issues. Thanks in advance.

 

[John Wetter]

Agreed, they do need an update and we'd welcome any volunteers who would like to help find good materials as replacements so we can then seek the proper clearances!

 

[Frank Backitis]

Is there any update or news on this?? I'm trying to get through the one course listed available for me (Awareness, aka Thunderstorms - an introduction) but still no videos and I understand there are videos in the test as well. Am I just wasting my time trying to do these?

 

[James K]

I can fanagle flash to work on my system & had no issues back when I did the training/test .lol. (that was a 3 or 4 years ago though)

There was another thread related to this particular issue a couple years ago.. I kinda remember atleast a couple members were looking into / maybe working on it? (don't really remember, I'd have to find that thread). I'd just assumed it'd been fixed since then.

As an experiment I know I had downloaded almost all the flash videos, and converted them to MP4 video, which works without issue in modern browsers.
If one of the Spotter Network admins needs/wants & isn't working on another solution, I should still have those converted videos (would have to look, think I removed them from this computer due to lack of hardrive space, but should be on a backup or my other computer..)