Video for dummies

Creating your own video for teaching is much easier than you might think.  Whilst a mere 10 years ago you would need a good camcorder and microphone or even the extensive professional kit, as shown in this week's picture, today's video can be achieved with a smartphone, a tripod and an external mic.

FILMING A CASE STUDY - PICTURE BY FIERY RED

Although smartphone video technology has advanced in recent years the key rules for making acceptable video have not changed.

• Background - choose a background that supports your message, does not distract and does not have obvious flaws such as people walking by and staring at the camera.  Greenscreen offers many possibilities but needs a lot of post-production effort.
• Lighting - typical smartphones take care of this automatically but do avoid stark lighting.  If you do have additional lights, bounce them off the ceiling to give a diffused effect.
• Sound quality - an external mic is best but do make sure that it has the power to amplify the voice and cut out the background noise.  Even the quietest scene will pick up traffic, the hum of computers and lights and loud voices in the vicinity.
• Focus - this is the one thing that cannot be fixed in the editing suite.  Learn how your smartphone can focus on a subject (normally by holding a finger on the screen at the position you want to focus on) and then keep the camera still.

Now all you need is some killer material to capture....  

Playing games

Higher Education has been slow to embrace a technique and concept used extensively by corporate educators, many employers, social media and sport - gamification. (click on the link to provide a full explanation in the context of the undergraduate degree).

PICTURE COURTESY OF COOLDESIGN AT FREEDIGITALPHOTOS.NET

Key concepts in gamification are:

• The sense of competition - we love to win;
• Risk and Uncertainty - the unknown - not everything can be controlled by an algorithm;
• Opportunity to put lessons to use (feedback plus repetition)
• Complexity - just like real life, and
• Reward - Normally the warm glow of a job well done...but virtual badges and icons seem to work reasonably well too.

Oh, and another vital couple of ingredients:

• Imagination from the tutor and the students, and
• Risk (again) - but this time on the part of the tutor, it's so much easier to conform to traditional lecture and seminar formats.

So, what's stopping you?

Podcasts - some Do's and some definitely Don'ts

Those benefitting from the success of Apple Inc must be in a similar (but wealthier) mood to those of Hoover in the last century.

PICTURES FROM SURARCHI AND FRANKIE242 AT FREEDIGITALPHOTOS.NET

The PODCAST has become synonymous with the provision of a digital audio or video file (VODCAST) made available on the Internet for downloading or streaming to a computer or mobile device.  It was just the same for Hoover - a name for many vacuum cleaners made by many alternative manufacturers.

But to achieve a watchable and useful podcast/vodcast we must bear some key points in mind.

1. Keep it short - as long as it needs to be but no longer.  Nothing to do with the attention threshold of the average student but the power of the message.  Just ask PechaKucha fans whether they can get their message across best in a set of 20, 20-second slides or a 2-hour lecture.
2. Use pictures, diagrams or charts rather than words.  Your voice provides the words.
3. Speak faster than you normally would.  You'll need to rehearse this aspect but it does sound surprisingly natural when played back.
4. Focus on ONE thing - this helps you to do number 5.
5. Keep it short.

That's about it.

Basic software packages to record and edit your PODCAST/VODCAST abound - so there's no need to get put off by the technology.

Go on, give it a go and see how that 2-hour lecture can actually boil down to 10 or 15 minutes of powerful input.  Then put your feet up and wonder what you can do with the rest of the time you have saved...