iSean

This year, I added video tutorials and video segments to my online classes as a way to add extra value to online teaching. These clips are often similar in style to what you might find at atomic learning. Other video clips I made present lecture segments with visual aides, etc. That being said, I want to discuss how I do this in this blog entry since I haven’t addressed this here yet. I am making my tenure portfolio right now and this is actually a little segment I am am working on for the portfolio, which should be more polished than my blog entry (it’s a paperless e-portfolio, btw).

Creating the video clips for my classes is not easy. First, I had to explore many different tools. I even tried taking my miniDV camera and pointing it at my screen, which was less than ideal. Finally, I found a screen capturing with video tool called Snapz Pro X (link to their website). This is a tool that only works on the Macintosh platform, but that’s fine with me. This tool allows me to capture my screen and what I am doing on it (here’s a demo of screen movie-capturing from the Ambrosia website).

I also needed to add audio. I purchased a professional quality microphone. I had to buy a USB adapter so that it would work with my computer. The first time I tried it, the audio was extremely low to the point that I could only hear it muffled if I turned my volume on my computer all the way up. I finally figured out that I needed an amplifier (that’s what professional mics need, I suppose). I bought an amplifier and hooked it all up and my audio woes were over.

When I record myself on film, I am no longer using Snapz Pro X because I am not on my computer screen; I am sitting in front of it. To do this, I use my iSight camera and an application called iMovie. When just recording podcasts, I use an application called GarageBand. For what it’s worth, a podcast is just an audio file (e.g., a recorded lecture, but the link explains much more — from wikipedia) that a person makes — in this case, me.

When I get all of my movies made, they are in a Quicktime format. Quicktime is a common video format, but not everybody has the Quicktime plugins installed. So, I convert my video to Flash using an application called Sorenson Squeeze Pro. Flash allows me to compress the file size and also to compress the image size displayed, which also helps conserve file size. Flash uses less bandwidth and that makes for a better end-user experience. Further, Flash is already installed on every major browser that you will find these days, so students do not have to do anything special in order to view the files.

Your suggestions are welcomed. ;~)

I did try using Tegrity, which is a service offered by my university. I enjoyed the experience, but I had reasons for sticking to my video solution. Mainly, the Tegrity sessions were a bit more formal. By that I mean that I felt that I had to be on my game as I had a audience of IT folks who were there to help me . . . so I really didn’t want to mess up. And, the Tegrity sessions have to be scheduled. I often divide my days up into various tasks and I don’t stick to any one task longer than an hour if I can help it. So, when I hit time for a break from one activity, I like being able to jump into podcasting for a bit and then table things for later. I can’t do this with Tegrity. Anyway, I used PowerPoint slides with my Tegrity session and this worked just swell, but much of what I do with my video is demonstrating various applications and talking about some of the classroom uses of these various technology solutions without touching PowerPoint. And, PP is ideal for Tegrity. But, the bottom line is that it’s just easier for me to sit at home and record when I had time rather than scheduling time to use the university’s equipment. I may have to work a bit harder, but this trade-off is worth it. I know that a few students had trouble viewing the Tegrity sessions, but I just referred them to IT, which is not a luxury I have when students have issues with the videos I create. Then again, the only complaint has come from dial-up users and it wasn’t that the videos didn’t work (Flash video); rather, it was just the download time. I strongly encourage my students to use a campus computer or to find broadband before viewing video segments of any particular session containing them.