Teaching, Learning & Technology in Higher Education : Recording & Podcasting

Recording Audio and Ink – Livescribe coming soon...

jgvanides — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:04:00 GMT

As I’ve mentioned in my Tablet PC Tip #4, MS One Note makes it easy to record audio in sync with hand-written ink. Livescribe’s “smartpen” makes it even easier...

Based on Anoto’s "dot paper" technology, Livescribe will be selling a simple pen that records audio and digitizes handwriting while you write on the special paper that includes “invisible” digitization patterns. What they show in their cartoon-styled product demos is that it is very simple – you can take notes and record audio with ease, without a computer.

I've seen other products based on the Anoto digitization technology, but this is the first time I've seen the digitization technology combined with audio. Of course they fail to mention is that audio is notoriously difficult to record when you sit far away at the back of a lecture hall, even if you have a really expensive shot-gun microphone. Who knows - maybe they've found a clever way to overcome this! Ah, details, details...

Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Program Manager - Worldwide Higher Education Philanthropy
Hewlett-Packard

For information about the HP Technology for Teaching philanthropy initiative in higher education, visit www.hp.com/go/hpteach-hied

Tablet PC Tip #5 – Record an Explanation with Camtasia

jgvanides — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:24:00 GMT

“So, how are you making all these Tablet PC tips?” Glad you asked! Tablet PC Tip #5 shows you how Techsmith’s Camtasia software makes it easy…

Camtasia is screen capture software that lets you record, edit, and share movies that are composed of everything that’s visible on your screen plus everything you say. A tablet pc plus an external mic makes a simple recording studio. Use a blue-tooth mic, like Professor Elkhaim at the University of California Santa Cruz, and you have even more freedom to “talk and sketch” (plus, let’s be honest, a blue-tooth mic has a much higher “cool” factor).

While Tablet PC tips #1, #2, #3, and #4 were recorded using Camtasia, I haven’t figured out how to show you Camtasia by using Camtasia. It’s not recording while you are configuring it, and it hides while you record. So, let me walk you through the steps using screen shots.

Camtasia has a lot of features and capabilities. I’m going to skip all the complexities and show you the fast and simple approach that I’m using to share quick explanations on my blog:

Step 1 – Open Camtasia Recorder and set the recording parameters.

You only need to do this once, as it will remember the settings for next time. The two settings are the Video format for capturing, and selecting the Audio source (so it uses your external mic instead of the mic built in to your tablet)

For the video format, I have been recording directly to AVI because YouTube likes AVI files. If you plan to do any editing in Camtasia Studio or if you want to output different formats later, use the native camrec format.

Step 2 – press F9 to start recording

The Camtasia Recorder applet will disappear, becoming a red/green flashing icon in the lower right hand corner of your screen, off camera)

Step 3 – Show, talk, annotate, whatever it is you want to share

Step 4 – Press F9 to pause recording; press stop to finish

Step 5 – Watch the preview; save it if you like it

Step 6 – If you want to produce another format, run select a post-save option and launch Camtasia Studio (I’m not going to walk you through this. Feel free to try mess around with it if you’d like – it’s really pretty easy)

Step 7 – Upload your AVI to YouTube; share the URL

You may also want to consider using Techsmith’s Screencast.com hosting service, if you want higher quality streaming or more control over who can access your content.

There are other tools available for doing screen cast recordings. If you have some experience using them, please post a comment with your recommendations!

The most interesting question, of course, is not how to MAKE recordings, but how to USE them instructionally (can lectures really become pre-reading, so class-time is discussion time instead?)

I look forward to your comments...

Enjoy!

Tablet PC Training for Students – Camtasia Makes it Easy!

jgvanides — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:53:00 GMT

My short “Tablet PC Tips” videos have generated some wonderful email! I found this note from Ryan Allen, E-Learning Specialist at the University of Dayton, to be a great example of how to train students who have just received their Tablet PCs …

Ryan writes,

We've found short camtasia videos (5 minutes or less) to be a great resource for students and faculty. We created a simple but effective training program for incoming students that purchased a Tablet PC this summer. On move-in day this fall students were directed to one of five introductory training sessions after they picked up their Tablet PCs. Students, along with their parents and siblings, came and learned over 45 minutes how to use their Tablet PC and why it's such a great educational tool.

We began with the basics such as stylus calibration and screen rotation and moved onto more advanced uses like annotation in MS Office applications and the use of Journal and OneNote. It was a great way to get students acclimated to their Tablet PCs and demonstrate the endless possibilities.

We supplemented this training with a new web site where students and faculty can review best practices and video how to's. The web site address is http://tabletpc.udayton.edu . I thought you might want to check it out as you continue to add new content to your site.

Thanks for sharing, Ryan!

Does anyone else do something similar?

Free Webtools: “Screencast-o-Matic” and “Google Co-op” custom web search

jgvanides — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:26:00 GMT

While I’m not prone to do product reviews, I can’t help but mention intriguing software, especially when it’s free, easy (web-based), and potentially helpful to educators. There are two that caught my eye while attending a DyKnow user group workshop.

The idea of recording short presentations, “how-to” software instructions, or “problem solutions with ink and audio” is not new. What is new (at least to me!) is the ability to quickly and easily do this for free at www.screencast-o-matic.com. For whatever you may think of the name, the service is fascinating:

“Screencast-o-matic is a free online tool which lets you create recordings of your desktop with audio and then upload them to share or export them to Quicktime all from your browser for free!”

I haven’t tried it yet – but the teacher who showed it to us uses it all the time. If you get a chance to try, please post a comment and let us all know what you think!

The other gem is a beta service called Google Co-op (www.google.com/coop). With a Google login, you can create a custom search URL that focuses the search on areas you (and your colleagues who have expertise in your discipline) find to be most relevant. The URL is then available to anyone you choose (even without a Google login), and can be referenced in your own webpages.

I think this could be a lot of fun and VERY useful. Imagine a “community of practice” (all of us?) developing focused search criteria that we can use to build a very focused (and much more useful) Google search. I’ve given it a try, if you want to check it out:

http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=012628080825146186684%3Awglzpy8b1do is a custom websearch that focuses on the webpages that have been created by HP Technology for Teaching grant recipients. If you’d like to help me “build out” the list of URLs it includes in the search, go ahead and sign up to collaborate with me!

If you have any experience with these two software solutions, please post a comment and let us know what you think. Web 2.0 is getting very exciting. I suspect this is only just the beginning…

Jim Vanides, M.Ed.
Program Manager - Worldwide Higher Education Philanthropy
Hewlett-Packard

For information about the HP Technology for Teaching philanthropy initiative in higher education, visit www.hp.com/go/hpteach-hied

Right Side Up? – Turning Lectures into Pre-Reading

jgvanides — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 14:20:00 GMT

I'm beginning to think that we've got this business of Lecturing + Homework all upside down. In previous postings, I’ve shared some examples and thoughts about recording lectures - “Surprising Consequences” (Oct 06) & “From Lectures to Learning Objects” (July 06). I am intrigued that the practice is increasing, and I’m very excited that we’re beginning to hear some early results on how this impacts student learning. Is the practice of recording lectures and using them as pre-reading turning things right side up?

The latest example came from a posting by Laura Blankenship (feb 8, 2007) on the Academic Commons blog sponsored by the Center of Inquiry in Liberal Arts at Wabash College. She reports:

Three Bryn Mawr professors in the sciences began experimenting with podcasting last year… Michelle Francl began podcasting in the Fall of 2005 ….Now that she has made an initial collection of lectures for this class, she hopes to assign the lectures to be listened to before class. She explained her reason for this as purely pedagogical: "I used to do the easy case in class and then send the students home to work on the hard case. That's just the opposite of what you should do. Now they can listen to the easy case before class and we can work in class on the hard case."

In addition to the positive response she received from students, Francl also received recognition from outside Bryn Mawr College. She had created a course blog on which she posted the link to her podcasts and which enabled her to generate the RSS feed that allows for automatic distribution of new files (see box above). She also submitted that feed to iTunes and, after a few weeks, found herself in the top ten educational podcasts. She received email from several of her "fans," who were students without access to higher education, retired professors keeping up with the field, and students who were supplementing their studies at other institutions with her lectures. She was thrilled to see that there was an audience beyond her classroom for her work.

The implications are fascinating, as it opens up new questions. It makes me want to unpack the REASONS that student feedback was so positive, and raises the age-old question, “If they like it better, do they learn better?” I suspect in this case, the answer would be yes, as it changed what she was able to cover during the in-class discussions. But is anyone studying this in more detail?

It also points out the value of the content that professors own – and the missed opportunity when fantastic expositors go un-recorded, and their voice and style is lost with their passing.

If you know of other examples of how educators are using recorded lectures as “pre-reading”, please post a comment and let us know if you think the practice is a passing fad or a breakthrough of significance…

I look forward to hearing from you!

Recording Lectures – Surprising Consequences

jgvanides — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 00:35:00 GMT

It seems so simple – the idea of recording a lecture – that at first it was hard for me to see the benefit. Now I’ve heard enough examples that I think it’s time we study the impact that recorded lectures is having on student behavior. One more college is starting to explore this effect…

There are many ways to record a lecture in real time, but one of the simplest (and arguably more useful) is not video. Instead, several faculty from various campuses are using their Tablet PC, combined with an external Bluetooth and screen capture software, to create an audio annotated movie of everything that’s being projected from their Tablet. Camtasia is one software product that makes this easy – but that’s not what I find the most interesting. I want to know, “How does this affect students?”

The latest example is from Babson College (Massachusetts, USA), where professor David Kopsco is using Camtasia and his Tablet to record his courses. The recordings are posted online for the convenience of students who miss the lecture because they are on business travel – a common challenge when a majority of MBA students are working professionals.

But what impact does this have on the students who are present in class? Early indications at Babson are that student note-taking is starting to shift from a focus on “transcribing” to more focus on the content and participation in the discussion. The experiment has only started this year, so the evidence being collected over the next several months will be interesting to review.

I wonder what impact it will have on attendance, too. Other campuses report that recording lectures does NOT result in a significant shift in attendance. I suspect it depends on how interesting the lectures are in the first place, and how much time is spent in dialog between students and with the instructor.

With this technology at hand, one professor from the 2006 WIPTE conference (http://www.itap.purdue.edu/tlt/conference/wipte/) suggested that ALL lectures should be pre-recorded and viewed as homework, so that the “lecture time” could be converted into time focused on discussion and experimentation. Has anyone actually tried this yet?

If you have any experience with recording lectures, please post a comment and let us all know what you’re doing – and what the (unintended) consequences have been on your students!

Recording with Tablet PCs – from Lectures to Learning Objects

jgvanides — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 16:48:00 GMT

Now that I’ve using my HP Tablet PC (a TC4200 convertible) to record interviews, I can now see why some faculty are excited about using their tablets as a recording platform.

Perhaps because of the direct manipulation of pen-on-screen at a reasonable price, it is finally practical to talk, show, and annotate while recording. This is not really something new – it’s just easier. Some of the interesting scenarios of use I’m hearing about include:

Recording lectures while presenting - to create archived reference movies that can be used for studying, for review by students who were out sick, and for reinforcement for students with learning disabilities
Pre-recording lectures - for viewing online, as preparation for a discussion section, prior to attending a lab session, or to support an online course. A professor I met at the 2006 WIPTE conference (http://www.itap.purdue.edu/tlt/conference/wipte/) even suggested that ALL lectures should be done this way, where students view the lecture as homework so that the face-to-face time is about dialog, answering questions, or hands-on experience.
Pre-recording demonstrations or “how to” instructions
Student responses - allowing students to record their “answers” so you can see and hear what they are thinking while they solve problems (e.g., to support “think aloud” assessment protocols)

Below is a list of 6 different ways to do this. I’m sure there are MORE ways to accomplish the task, so I look forward to your comments. Have you tried any of these techniques – or something you think works even better? How has this been helpful to you and your students?

I look forward to your comments!

Here’s the list of software tools I’ve compiled (so far) for turning your Tablet PC into a recording device:

Software	Stroke by Stroke Ink Replay?	Simultaneous Audio recording?	Simultaneous Video Recording?	Commercial ($) or Free?
Camtasia	Yes	Yes	Yes	$
DyKnow Vision	Yes	(coming)	No	$
LectureScribe	Yes	Yes	No
MS OneNote	No	Yes	Yes	$
MS PowerPoint	No	Yes	No	$
Windows Media Encoder	Yes	Yes	Yes

Camtasia

I’ve talked to many professors who are using Camtasia to capture on-screen images along with audio. The nice thing about Camtasia is that it captures ANYTHING that is visible on-screen, so you’re not limited to PowerPoint slides. The resulting AVI file is edit-able, and can be converted into numerous formats, depending on how you plan to deliver it. See http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp for more information.

Gabriel H. Elkaim, Assistant Professor in Computer Engineering at the University of California Santa Cruz, describes how he uses Camtasia and a Bluetooth headset/microphone in an article available online at http://ic.ucsc.edu/CTE/pdf_files/FF_F05.pdf. The HP Technology for Teaching project at UCSC is described in more detail at http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/tablets/.

DyKnow

Let me begin by saying that DyKnow Vision software does a lot more than record presentations. It is really a full-featured classroom collaboration and note-taking package. DyKnow allows you to annotate while you present, and the recordings can be replayed stroke-by-stroke. This is important if what you’re describing is a multi-step solution. What’s particularly interesting about DyKnow is the ability for student notes/annotations to be created and replayed alongside the presenter’s notes. More information is available at http://www.dyknow.com/products/vision/.

LectureScribe

I learned about LectureScribe while attending the WIPTE conference (Workshop on the Impact of Pen Technology on Education, Purdue, January 2006). Brian Dean, an assistant professor at Clemson University, described his software as a simple whiteboard application that captures ink and audio – and converts it to Flash format for sharing on the web. Brian’s WIPTE paper is described at http://www.cs.clemson.edu/~bcdean/paper3.html. More information about LectureScribe, plus a link to the download, is available at http://dcit.clemson.edu/resources/articles/LectureScribe_FDS06.php. Brian has kindly offered his software as a free download for use by other faculty.

Microsoft OneNote

On the surface, OneNote looks like an electronic binder, with tabs, sections, and an infinite amount of “paper” to write on. The feature that people are just discovering is the ability to record audio and/or video simultaneously with your inking – and the audio/video is time-stamped along with the ink! So if you want to fast-forward to the part of the recording where you drew that crazy formula but you can’t remember why, you can click on the ink and play the recording that was captured at that point in time.

I’ve used this for recording interviews, so I can easily return to the audio and refer to the precise “quote” that I couldn’t write fast enough to be accurate. I use an external, USB condenser microphone so I can capture a tabletop discussion with 2 to 10 people. But there’s no reason that students couldn’t capture audio while they’re taking notes – or for faculty to do presentations directly from OneNote and capture their audio.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Many instructors are using PowerPoint, but few are using the built-in annotation feature. You don’t need a tablet pc to mark-up your slides while you talk – but I’ve yet to see someone who is mouse-proficient enough to draw while mousing. So unless you have some sort of external pen pad like a Wacom device, a Tablet PC makes it VERY easy to draw while you talk.

To use this feature, put your slide deck in “show” mode. Then, float your pen (or mouse) over the lower-left corner of the screen. Some “ghost” buttons appear:

Select the pen, and start to draw! When you hit “escape” to end the show, you have the choice of saving your annotations with your slide-deck, or not. Some faculty who do this also save a “master copy” (un-annotated) first, so they can easily start with a clean copy.

The other best-kept secret for annotating PowerPoint is the ability to record ink annotations and AUDIO while you talk. To do this, don’t put the slidedeck in SHOW mode directly. Instead, go to the Slide Show menu and select Record Narration. This works best with a high quality external microphone, or at least a USB microphone of some sort.

If you record audio with the PowerPoint “narration” feature, the files can get large. (Someone mentioned to me that there’s a PowerPoint to Flash conversion utility somewhere – does anyone have more info on this?)

Windows Media Encoder

During a visit to Georgia Perimeter College, I was introduced to Windows Media Encoder. They described being able to do live screen capture in a similar way as Camtasia (not quite as flexible) but free. I have not personally tried this solution, but I’m intrigued. If you have tried this, please post a comment and tell us more! Information is available from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx.