Becoming a Millennial

224. Lecture Capture: When "Good Enough" Can be Just Right

Robert Capps wrote an intriguing article, The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple is Just Fine (Wired Magazine, Aug. 24, 2009), where he cites examples in the market place where consumers are choosing the "good enough" over higher-quality alternatives.  Consider the popularity of MP3, YouTube, Skype, Flip video camera, and Google Apps. 

How does this relate to education?  Lecture capture has been generating a lot of buzz as online programs seek to deliver content via the web.  Sophisticated (and expensive) systems are on the market that record everything that a professor delivers in the classroom.  High-end video editing tools can produce an impressive end product.

For Taylor's online program we have experimented with high-quality lecture videos, setting up studio conditions and investing hours of time filming and editing.  What we're discovering, however, is that a simple webcam and tools such as Camtasia (inexpensive) and Movie Maker (free) might just be "good enough".  Such low-budget videos are:  1) quick to produce, and instructors can do much of the work on their own,  2) ideal for a 6-10 minute mini lesson*, 3) small in size and easy on bandwidth,  4) of sufficient quality to satisfy the YouTube generation (as long as audio is clear and slides can be read), and 5) easy to update in courses that require semester to semester tweaking.  

*We need to get away from the idea of posting 50-minute lectures online.  Students have difficulty engaging in an hour long face-to-face classroom lecture.  How long do you suppose they will sit in front of their computer watching a long lecture before their cell phone comes out and they open up Facebook?  (How many of us watch an hour-long online webinar without checking our email?)

187. Webcam and Movie Maker

Until recently I have not done anything with video, except watch over someone else's shoulder as they have worked with Premier or Final Cut.

Take a look at the video I created yesterday with a Logitech webcam and Windows Movie Maker.  These are inexpensive tools ($75 and free, respectively), are easy to use, and work well. 

I see great potential for faculty.  These are tools a person with average tech skills can learn to use to create short video clips to supplement what they do in the classroom.

159. Medieval Tech Support

This video has been making the rounds. If you need a good laugh click here. 

150. TU's Technology Promotional Video

Wired to Take You Into the Future is Taylor University's promotional video released over a year ago. This was also filmed and edited by Steve Curtis, ETC Operations Manager and Media Specialist. 

What Taylor offers in academic technology is second to none, and we're just trying to get that word out.   

149. Winning: Beyond the Final Score

Check out Taylor University's new athletic promotional video, Winning: Beyond the Final Score.  Steve Curtis, ETC Operations Manager and Media Specialist, worked nearly two years filming and editing this video. 

On a personal side Mike and Arlene Parsons, my son-in-law and daughter, are featured in the video.  Mike is pictured here on the DVD cover.

136. Math Projects Get Interesting

Some interesting emails were circulating around our math department this week related to two YouTube videos:
1.  Manelbrot Set by Jonathan Coulter (Fractals)
2.  Twin Primes Conjecture Song performed by Rob Morsberger (Number theory)

As educators we talk about engaging our students.  Why not assign projects using their favorite medium -- video?  Freshmen at TU get a video-editing experience in the COS 104 computer literacy course (required for nearly all our students).  Each year a greater number of incoming students come with video-editing skills.  Our Educational Technology Center (ETC) is a "campus Kinkos" kind of a place with 12 editing suites that can facilitate these types of projects.  With this support in place why not let students push the envelope with video? 

Written papers are necessary.  PowerPoint allows for creativity and presentation practice (but can become a bit "ho-hum").  Video assignments could generate a whole new level of classroom buzz.  Students would be sharing their learning using their medium of choice, and the process would stretch them in new ways with the technology. 

Imagine a class of 30 students ... divided into ten teams of three ... each team completes a 3-5 minute video illustrating a particular concept ... a day or two of class time is used to play and evaluate the videos ... the videos are posted on YouTube (or a campus server) ... the students then create a class web-page* with links to the videos and descriptions of their projects for presentation to a wider audience.

Just for fun -- here's a student-made video that illustrates lack of engagement in a classroom:  The Substitute by Katie McDowell & friends.

* This could be nicely facilitated in Blackboard using the Learning Objects' Team building block that is essentially a wiki enabling students to collaborate in building a webpage.

128. Record Streaming Video

Replay A/V is a utility that will record streaming video, or for that matter any video playing on your computer. 

Back in June I featured Freecorder, its sister product that records any audio playing on your PC. 

What this means is that any audio or video that is playing on your PC (in Windows Media Player, Real Player, Quick Time, PowerDVD, WinAmp, iTunes, etc.) can be recorded using one of these two tools.  This can be useful in grabbing a segment of a longer recording, or capturing streaming media into a file that you can save to  your hard drive.

Note that tools like this provide the capability, but not the permission, to record any media that plays on your PC.  You will need to be aware of copyright restrictions.