Lesson 1.1 ..... is Completed....

I have just now completed Lesson 1.1
... which will be the very FIRST LESSON that my students will, normally, experience.

Earlier in my blog I explained that I wanted to do the lessons for Unit 3 first.... Because the subject matter was Newton's First Law... which has relatively little MOTION involved. (Half of it is objects at rest STAYING at rest..... and the other half is objects in motion moving at constant velocity....) So the lecture diagrams would be easier to execute. Also, I knew that my first attempt at creating online lessons would be... a bit..... rough.

In short: I could get away with having a sub-par Unit 3 Lecture....

Now that I have completed Lesson 1.1 and can compare it to Lesson 3.1.... I think I have improved a bit on my diagrams and presentation/animation/motion of objects. I think Lesson 1.1 has a bit more "production value" than did Unit 3.1

WWII Bomber Sketch - This is a snapshot of 1 video screen of rough Camastia Studio
video. I was live recording myself using InterWrite software and a Bamboo Digital Pen to
sketch a WWII Bomber on a "fake chalkboard."

Lesson 1.1 Screen-Shot (live drawing of WWII bomber)

Lesson 1.1 Screen-Shot (Animation of Earth Frame of Reference of bomb drop)

FIRST IMAGE: The first image (above) is a small snapshot from the rough video of me drawing on a black background within InterWrite. This is what the source video looks like. Then I import it into Adobe Premiere, edit and time-shift the video, slide it over to Adobe After Effect to use a "luma" filter on the whole thing, which turns all of the "black background" into "alpha channel", or, "invisible".... Then I finalize it in Adobe Premiere (add in sound effects, final timing, and Flash Cue Points) and then load it onto my web page.

SECOND IMAGE: After the video U1_13.flv is created and uploaded onto the website I go into Adobe Flash Professional where I have a copy of my customized video player in ActionScript 3.0/Flash. Then I make some edits to have the player download the U1_13.flv file at the correct time (when it gets to page 3/7 during the lecture). The chalkboard background is actually a higher resolution, permanently fixed backdrop on my video player. The .flv video then plays ON TOP of the blackboard, with all of the Alpha Channel invisible, to show the blackboard underneath. The second image is one screen shot of the final result.

THIRD IMAGE: A moment later I show a side view of a WWII bomber dropping it's bomb.

Here is a link to the completed Lesson 1.1 (the password at the time of this blog entry is "cupcakes")
If you try out the lecture: Whenever you get a "Video Loading" icon you just have to wait about 10 seconds, HOVER your mouse pointer over the screen, and click the PLAY button at the bottom-left corner to get the video to play. (The Video Loading icon is sometimes misleading)


Time involved for Lesson 1.1

Writing the script - 230 min
Recording voice over - 90 min
Editing/Cleaning voice over - 60 min
Rough video off InterWrite - 780 min
Edit/Finish video - 805 min
Flash programming/web page update - 120 min

total: 35.5 hrs


Since last entry, 36.5 hrs (1 hour to install and learn Algodoo program for Physics)