It is likely
that this is your first visit to my BLOG about flipping the classroom.
Here is an
excerpt from an email I received today:
“One thing I
would really like to do is post online lectures; however, I have never done
this before. I was wondering if you are aware of any hardware/software
that can be easily purchased/used to create/record online lectures in which I can
write notes and record audio concurrently (similar to Khan Academy, but it
doesn't have to be fancy).”
I am
expecting to get more inquiries like this in the future. (For example: My
school principal recently asked if I would like to present some of my ‘project’
to the staff at my school.) Because of
this I would like to have a spot to send fellow educators, like yourself, with
a quick, introductory reply to this question... "How can I create/record online lectures?"
SHORT
ANSWER: This is a two-part process: (1) First you need presentation software to create/deliver your lectures to the computer screen. In our school district we our lucky enough to have access to eInstruction Workspace which is included with our classroom Mobi. You could also use some combination of PowerPoint, MS Paint, Word, etc. (2) Then you need to record it and get it online. Something that I have found promising is a program called "Camtasia Studio" by TechSmith. It costs about $190 with the educator’s discount. It
seems to be a worthwhile, all-around solution in a single package. With this
software you can live record all or part of your computer screen with (or
without) simultaneous voice recording. It also has video and voice editing
software, with transitions and the ability to highlight/point to parts of the
screen. It can also access your webcam, import PowerPoints, and produce a final
product that can be uploaded to the Internet. Also, the teacher can insert QUIZ
QUESTIONS within their videos that the student will answer ONLINE. It can be
set up to have the answers EMAILED BACK to the teacher for grading. I am
currently recommending this software for any teacher who wishes to live-record
their lectures and post them online in the form of a video. Both Camtasia Studio and eInstruction Workspace are available as a 1-month free trial.
LONG ANSWER:
At the time
of this blog entry I HAVE LITTLE EXPERIENCE WITH THE ENTIRE CAMTASIA
STUDIO PROGRAM. At the moment, the ONLY reason I use Camtasia is for LIVE VIDEO RECORDING of my computer screen (with NO voice.)
The final product
that I am putting online requires a relatively long and arduous production
process that MOST TEACHERS would not find suitable for their own purposes. I
want my MAIN lectures to be of the sort that I have posted so far: with
interactive content, animations, high quality voice-overs, and a green-screen
Alpha background that can play on a virtual chalkboard. These are taking
roughly one hour of production time per one minute of actual video lecture.
They require the use of a somewhat sophisticated set of tools (Adobe CreativeCloud) as well as some knowledge of programming and web-page creation. You can
see that I have already spent hundreds of hours and almost a thousand dollars
developing my online program for my Physics class and yet I have hardly
completed the process. I have many months to go and probably thousands of hours
of work. (For more details, please feel free to peruse the rest of my blog).
However, what
I have seen of Camtasia Studeo is very promising AND I do PLAN on using that
program to its full extent IN THE FUTURE. After I complete my MAIN set of
lectures I will want to create SUPPLEMENTAL lectures/tutorials to post online. These
will be shorter videos that might not be seen by all of my students and, as
such, I will not want to put as much time into creating them. Camtasia Studio seems like a
very realistic and workable solution for most teachers. At this time, however,
since I have not yet used Camtasia Studio to its full extent, I am unable to
provide any instruction or clarification on its use.
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