Friday 5 April 2013

Digital Video - EDED20491 Week 4 Post #3

Digital Video

Engagement Task 7: Digital Video

You can create digital video from sound files and digital images. You can also add video files.
One of the easiest ways to record video is with an iPod ir iPad, or mobile phone. But most digital still cameras have a video function as well.
There are a number of video editing programmes, some very expensive. Most digital video recorders come with a software package for your use. If you have a favourite programme, such as Pinnacle, you are welcome to use it.
Windows MovieMaker - free with Windows OS (or iMovie in Macs) is a great alternative. It allows you to use still images, photographs, video snippets, music and voice over to make your own movies. You can add credits, titles and annotations on each image or slide. The source of images is entirely up to you. For instance, you can save each slide of a PowerPoint presentation as an image, and then import them into your movie.
Be careful with Moviemaker.The Windows 7 version is Live Moviemaker. It has a number of key functions stripped from it. Best to download and install Moviemaker 2.6 from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=34 .
Go to your Start menu, select Programs, and look for MovieMaker. Open it.
The following instructions will give you a basic overview of MovieMaker. Be sure to create your movie, do not just save it in the traditional way (this will keep your movie as a working draft). When you save it, be sure to use Video for Broadband, 512 Kbps as the format. This will be small enough to upload.
Add a couple of images to a movie, add a voice-over or music, and make your movie. Publish it into one of your folders so you can retrieve it later.
Upload your movie to your blog. and reflect on the ease of this. You can also embed your movie into your Wiki, or Weebly, or even into Glogster. 
Think out of the box - how can you ask your students to use video to create, present, communicate, summarize, evaluate? Here is a tutorial for stop-motion animation using Moviemaker.

In November last year I chose to buy myself an iPhone. This decision was strongly influenced by the quality of the camera and video camera that is built into the iPhone 5. The camera is easy to use and provides a really clear image. So to do this engagement task I turned to my iPhone and the four months of images and videos that I had created to see what I could use to complete this activity.

The video below was created using Moviemaker. It is made up of several still shots of my daughter on a Flying Fox that have been animated and a musical track overlaid on it. This created a short (29 sec) video that is less than 800 KB in size hence is small enough to upload and play on this blog.


(Source: photos are my own. The music is a free sample that came with my computer)

I must admit that the creation and uploading of this video took much longer than I thought, more than 6 hours in total. My first thought was to use a 15 sec, 31.5 MB video I took on the iPhone. I intended to edit it, save it to a smaller size and then upload it into my blog. I was not able to do this because I couldn't find a software application that would open the video and allow me to edit it. I think that this is because my computer is a PC and the movie format for the iPhone videos is not compatible. Then I chose to learn to use Moviemaker and create a video from still photos. It took a couple hours to learn how to use Moviemaker and create my first video. It was a straightforward process to save the video in a small size suitable to upload. But...

Though the help pages on Blogger indicated that I could upload my own video if it was only 800KB size the reality was that the Blogger took over an hour to "process" the video before I terminated the upload and looked for alternatives.  More searching on the Internet found that I could upload the video into YouTube and then embed the video. Basically using the same technique that I had used on this blog for several other videos. But getting a YouTube account proved tricky. When I went to YouTube through Google Chrome it kept sending me to my Google profile to upload the video. I did successfully upload it to the video into my Google Profile but then couldn't find the code to embed it in my blog.

Finally in desperation I logged onto YouTube using Internet Explorer which did NOT connect me with my Google account and I was able to create a YouTube channel, upload the video and then copy the code to embed it into my blog.

All in all a VERY frustrating experience and in total it took 12 times longer to complete than Wendy's estimate for this activity which was 30 minutes. Part of the problem is that I have to use wireless broadband and it is slower and less reliable than ADSL broadband (not to mention more expensive too!).

So what have I learnt? If I am going to use video in my teaching by creating resources for my students then I must allow plenty of time for creation, editing and processing the video. If I am going to use video as a medium for my students to create artefacts in a manner that stimulates them to use higher order thinking skills then I need to set aside MANY hours if not DAYS of time to teach the students the skills they will need to create, edit and upload videos.

The following is a SWOT analysis of using video in teaching materials.
Strengths
Weaknesses
The use of video is a great way to cater for Visual and Auditory learners.
With microphones and videos built into many mobile devices it is relatively easy to record videos and sound. 
Need to allow plenty of time for preparation, recording, editing and processing of any resource  involving video.  
To record in the classroom would mean finding a space that is quiet and has a non-distracting background. 
Owing to the time it takes if the students were recording images for stop-motion animation then part of the classroom would have to be set up for days if not weeks while the students work on their projects.
If the students are recording in a public space then care would need to be taken about who is filmed and to ensure that parental permission is granted to allow them to be recorded
Need to use editing software to improve the quality of the recordings.

Opportunities
Threats
There are many opportunities for using video in teaching. They can be materials created by the teacher, materials that are sourced elsewhere such as YouTube or they can be artefacts created by the students.
If you were teaching students by distance education the addition of a short video of the teacher talking about the subject would be a way to make your presence felt even at a distance.


Must ensure that myself as the teacher and the students use only vision, sounds and music that we created ourselves or were free to use. Always model safe, legal and ethical practice.
Childrens' images and voices should not be identified.
As in my reflection above anything to do with creating videos has the potential to take much longer than you estimate. Always prepare well for these activities and allow plenty of time.

Other applications to assist in using video files:

I just worked with the iMovie (iPhone) and Moviemaker (PC based) but there are many other free applications for video. Such as:


Most of the latest mobile devices have inbuilt video cameras and microphones so the technology to create videos is readily available.Though I have to take into account Gary Holmes' advice NOT to use my own equipment so to be able to record video in class I would have to source suitable equipment from the school. Must always ask permission first BEFORE recording people on video.

Reflection on using video in eLearning

As the Multiple Intelligences testing and Learning Styles questionnaire in Week 1 showed that I was heavily skewed to being a visual learner the use of videos in the classroom as teaching resources and artefacts to be created by students really appeals to me and I can see many applications. There is a wealth of material freely available on the Internet that could be used in the classroom. Sites such as:

Before using any of the video materials available on the web you need to ensure that you have the right to use them. For example, if you want to embed a video from iTunes in your blog, wiki or website then you need to ensure this does not breach copyright. If the creator of a video expressly forbids embedding you can take a screen capture of the video and use the snip tool to create an image that you can paste into your blog/wiki/ website. Then select the picture, copy the web address (URL) of the video and create a clickable picture hyperlink using the link function.

I have linked to or embedded many videos into my blog and wiki. I found that easy to do and adds value to the page. I wasn't able to embed a video in my website as Weebly only allows that for paying customers. But you can add a picture and a hyperlink to the Weebly using the technique described in the previous paragraph.

Need to remember too that there are more options than just using digital video cameras to create digital videos. Videos can also be made using still photographs, audio overlay, and/or the inclusion of video.

Wendy recommended reading a research study by Kearney & Shuck (2006) who described how digital video has a range of common usages in schools, in particular for communciation, observation, analysis and reflection. As a communication tool digital video facilitates students' communication of messages, ideas or information. Digital video is also used as an observation and analysis tool, enhancing students' observations of phenomena, experiments or performances. Finally, it is used as a reflection tool to support student reflections on their own learning.

Whilst digital video is a sound support of student capacity, and outcomes described (Kearney and Shuck), caution is urged in ensuring that conceptual development related to curriculum outcomes is maintained as a core focus.

Pedagogy of teaching with video 

The implications for my learners is that approximately 65% of people are visual learners so the use of video will be something designed to cater for their needs. Auditory and kinesthetic learners will also be able to use video materials, especially if the students are encouraged to create their own videos. An interesting, well-made video has the ability to convey complex materials simply. The novelty of creating their won videos should be interesting to students in my teaching areas of Technology and Mathematics.

In the context of teaching the Technology subject I envisage using videos to explain how some technologies work. A video animation or taking apart and seeing inside a piece of equipment will illustrate how these tools work. I can see classes where the Technology students are asked to create a multi-media artefact as part of their assessment. The outcomes of students producing videos include affective, metacognitive, higher order thinking, communication and presentation, literacy, creativity, organisational and teamwork and moviemaking skill development (Fasso).

When teaching mathematics there are numerous video resources that are freely available, for example the Khan Academy has more than 50 videos on Algebra alone. I can see how getting the students to create a stop-motion animation of some mathematical concept would help to bring the topic alive.

Of course videos created by the students could be uploaded onto sharing sites such as YouTube to gain a wider audience or to solicit evaluation and feedback comments. Video can also be vodcast as streaming media from blogs and other sites (eg blogger). If you choose to do this you need to be aware of the safe, legal and ethical implications (see next section).

Examples of using stop motion video  from Wendy Fasso:



 In class Gary Holmes showed us some work created by children in his primary school. There were examples of stop motion animation to create videos of environmental messages using the story of the Fitzroy River turtle (aka the “bum breathing turtle”). He also showed us a video created by students when they were on a camp on North Keppel Island. In both these examples Gary showed us how simple use of the technology allowed the students to create some wonderful materials. He also described how much the students learnt, how confident they became and they made it fun.

 Wendy also recommended reading:
http://aaalab.stanford.edu/papers/Designed_Video_for_Learning.pdf. The image on Page 7 gives you a sound overview of the range of learning outcomes possible through well-designed learning with video.

Safe, Legal and Ethical
As with audio recordings you nee to be careful when using music in videos as the use of any third party materials is a breach of copyright breach. However, if the learning materials are behind a firewall that is password -protected and the music is duly attributed they the students should be ok to use music. Be very careful when filming students or allowing students to film other students. If the materials are only to be used and displayed in the classroom you should be fine. But if the videos are going to be played in public or uploaded to the web then written parental consent needs to be obtained before the video can be played or the students faces need to be blurred out.

 If a video is going to be uploaded onto a public site on the web then never have any names displayed or anything else that may identify the children.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

***Tasks to complete at a later time

Engagement Task 8: Digital Video - optional extras

Other video options can be found in YouTube which also supports video editing. Uploading video to YouTube is very easy, and a YouTube video can then be embedded in your web page, glogster, blog or wiki. A YouTube account is easy to create. Once you upload your videos, you have the option to make them public, or private, or share them with anyone to whom you have provided the link. Many educational authorities (eg Education Queensland) have their own YouTube-type facility.
You will also find a number of excellent teaching video resources, both for your professional learning, and for use in your classrooms at TeacherTube.


Math Video - Students film themselves delivering a math lesson and edit it with Movie Maker for sharing with the class. Upload the movies to a class website for the whole class to use as study tools.

Instructions for making their own movies http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/lessonplans/technology/moviemaking.html
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)