Collaboration & Communication

Assessment

Teaching with Laptops

Building Digital Content

Video

Digital Video at Wentworth

Incorporating video content into your class materials, and presentations can reinforce class themes and is a great way to understand course content from a different perspective. LTS, OIT and the Davis Center make it easy to incorporate video content into your course material, whether it be helping you video tape a lecture, document student work, create a QuickTime video to be posted on your server space, or burning a DVD from material you have videotaped so that you can archive it.

The Office of Information Technology has many Digital Video and traditional video cameras that can be signed-out by faculty for use in their classes or course work. Also available are tripods and lighting kits to help create a more polished look to your video.

The Davis Center has many resources available to faculty for video editing, production, and duplication. You can turn your old video tapes into DVDs with the push of a button, digitize any existing type of analog video and edit it, create your own videos with music, voice-overs or static images added and burn it all to DVD or save it as a QuickTime movie for publication to the web or your Course Management System (CMS).

LTS can show you how to use all of this equipment from putting a camera on a tripod to compressing your finished video for publication on the web, on a CD or a DVD. LTS can also help you plan where and when video content can augment classroom material. Topics include: Introduction to Digital Video Cameras, iMovie – Macintosh Video Editing application, VHS Video to DVD duplication, Creating QuickTime files from popular applications like iMovie, PowerPoint, VectorWorks, or Macromedia Flash and much more!

Video in the Classroom

"Now more than ever, filmmaking in the classroom can play a strategic role in engaging student learning ..."
- Nikos Theodosakis in Technology & Learning, April 2004

The integration of digital video into classroom teaching could play upon the student's inherent interest in technology. Which would you rather choose? Writing a problem solution paper with your team or actually presenting the results in front of a video camera?

The use of a digital video camera also offers different opportunities for learning outcomes. If the results are presented not only to the teacher, but also to a public audience, the quality will most likely increase.

Real-world skills could be utilized: problem solving, rhetoric and communication, presentation of contents, body language, creativity in visualizing and narrating and constructive criticism for other team's project.

Using video in the classroom effectively can go beyond watching a video clip which showcases class content; it can actively draw students into the course in a different way.

Possible ways of integrating video into the classroom could be the taping of field trips, documenting project works, interviewing outside experts, recording student presentations, brainstorming sessions, research of on-the-street-opinions and much more.

Podcasting

What is Podcasting?

Think of it as radio on demand. A podcast is a media file that is distributed over the Internet for playback on personal computers or on mp3 players such as iPods. It is usually a sound file but video podcasts are becoming more common. Just as the word “television” refers to a medium (entertainment, news, commercials, etc.) and a way of delivering that medium (broadcasting), the term “podcasting” encompasses a final product and sometimes its method of delivery. More professional podcasts are published regularly, sometimes weekly or even daily. These are often radio programs or compilations from networks or print media. NPR Shuffle is a sampler of stories from their news shows podcasted daily. The New York Times has twenty-seven different podcasts available (NYTimes Front Page Stories is updated daily; most of the others, such as Science Times and Tech Talk, are updated once a week).

Professional and amateur podcasts come in all flavors: news and talk shows, lectures, speeches, satire and gossip shows, foreign language, technology, arts, business, health, sports, even vintage radio programs have been reborn into podcasts. Almost anything that you can think of can be a podcast, if it isn’t already.

Like the Internet itself, podcasts have empowered individuals to create media content instead of simply consuming it. According to Apple computers there are now 266 million podcasts in existence on the Internet. How can we sort them all out?

If you just want to get your feet wet, you can go to the Podcasts section of the iTunes store. They have some of the most popular podcasts available there for download.

Podcasting can be be used for a tour anywhere off-campus: a building, museum, or any engineering or construction site. You can record a podcast using a small portable mp3 recorder (about the size of a deck of cards), or by recording directly onto your computer using a USB microphone or a built-in microphone. Any editing, if needed, can be done on your computer. If you have a Mac you already have all the software you need (the GarageBand program is all it takes). If you have a PC, the software is available for free. The finished product is then uploaded onto your myweb.wit.edu account so that your students can use it.

Please contact LTS to find out more about making or acccessing podcasts.

PowerPoint

Broadcasting your PowerPoint Presentation

PowerPoint 2000 and up versions have an integrated broadcasting feature, which allows you to enhance your Power Point presentation with video or audio narration. You can even choose different delivery methods:
a) live broadcast
b) recording for your students to reinforce and follow-up class.

Why is it helpful?
This is helpful, because the students can look at the presentation at different times and places. The recorded broadcast is a very straightforward presentation. There will be no interaction between students and instructor in a recorded broadcast and therefore it will not replace traditional face-to-face lectures. Furthermore it can be used as a tool that supports and reinforces the learning of materials and topics covered in class.

What do I need?
Audio: Most computers already come with a sound card that will be compatible with Windows. However, you may also need a microphone to improve your presentation sound quality.
Video: Purchase a web cam and connect it to your computer. You may wish to place it on top of your monitor. That way you will be able see the slides on the screen while you explain the content.

How can students access it?
These presentations can be saved in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and published to your server space at public.wit.edu. Create also a link on your My- Courses page in Lconnect and your students will be able to view the presentations online.

Where is the feature in PPT?
To locate the feature, open PowerPoint and click on the Slide Show button on the main toolbar. Select Online Broadcasting and choose Set Up and Schedule. This is the first step you need to do. After you completed this process, you will be able to choose Begin Broadcast in the same menu.

Please feel free to contact LTS, if you are interested in exploring this feature in PowerPoint.

Karina Assiter – Multimedia in the Classroom

Anthony Kurneta – Teaching with Digital Images

Elaine Slater – Using Digital Images

Sam Montague – Teaching Flash

Mike Carter – Teaching History

David A. Brothers – Integrating ARTstor into Your Instruction

Marilyn Stern – The Magic of Theatre–Experienced

Cynthia Fowler – Educational Podcasting

Course Redesign Planning Resources

Mind Over Matter: Transforming Course Management Systems into Effective Resources