Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching

Transcription

1 Learning Development Services Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Anglia Learning and Teaching Inspiring Academic Excellence

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3 Using Personal Capture in your Teaching Contents What is Personal Capture? 2 Purpose of this booklet 2 How can I use Personal Capture in my Teaching? 3 What about my students? 3 Getting Started 4 What equipment do I need? 4 Setting up your Personal Capture Recording 5 Planning your video 5 Sorting out Practical issues 6 Preparing your Teaching Materials 6 Producing your Video 7 Stage 1 Creating your video 7 Stage 2 Editing your video 9 Stage 3 Publishing your video 11

4 What is Personal Capture? Personal Capture is a facility which enables you to record whatever is on your computer screen to a video file. You can include audio (a microphone is necessary) and also a video image of yourself if you want to (you will need a webcam). After recording, you can make any minor changes and then publish your video for your students to view via the VLE. Your students will see a screen similar to that below. They will be able to see your face (if you have used this option), hear your voice and view your presentation. They can play this video as many times they want and whenever they want. Purpose of this booklet Personal Capture (which is produced by Echo360) is available to all staff within Anglia Ruskin University. The booklet is to provide the information to interested staff on how to use this facility. Note: There is within Anglia Ruskin University - a separate facility called Lecture Capture (also by Echo360). This facility involves the production of a video of a live lecture within a lecture theatre. This has 3 data inputs - the videoing of a lecturer at the front of the lecture theatre by a fixed camera at the back of the room, the audio input within the vicinity of the microphone at the front of the room, and finally the screen content on the PC itself. Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 2

5 How can I use Personal Capture in my Teaching? There are a number of potential teaching scenarios in which you can incorporate a Personal Capture video in your teaching. There is no restriction as to the length of the video so videos can be anything from 5 minutes to an hour (or longer). For example, a short video of around 5 minutes could be used in the following scenarios: To produce a "welcome" message for your students, To provide a feedforward or a feedback resource for your students assignment, To supplement the formal face-to-face lectures with "mini-lectures" on complex topics, To provide a weekly briefing before the formal face-to-face lectures to enable your students to prepare beforehand. A longer video of around 40 minutes could be used for the following scenarios: To record a lecture in a classroom (if the Lecture Capture facility was not available see above) To provide teaching content as a mini-lecture thus freeing up some contact time for discussion or other learning activity. What about my students? At the beginning of the course, tell your students the purpose of your video(s) in relation to the course. Be aware of the impact of asking them to watch your videos in their own time, but remind them of the benefits (for example, reading material before the next lecture in a weekly briefing). Let them know whether they can get the content of the video in other ways. Show them how to access the videos on the VLE. If your videos are going to be weekly, then your students will also need to know when the videos are going to be available to them. Link the videos explicitly to the other elements of your course, for example, your lecture or seminars. For example, if you are going to produce videos which are minilectures, ask them specific questions about the content. Consider setting up a discussion online for your students to ask questions about the videos. Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 3

6 Getting Started What equipment do I need? You will need the following: 1. A Networked PC or MAC 2. A Webcam (if you want to include a moving image such as you talking) 3. A headphone set 4. The application software Echo Personal Capture installed on your PC (see separate document) Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 4

7 Setting up your Personal Capture Recording Planning your video Sorting out practical issues Preparing your teaching materials Planning your video Decide on the purpose of your video. Like a traditional lecture or seminar, planning for a web-based video teaching resource is still required even though the students are not there in the room with you. Decide whether you are going to use all three data types - audio, video and screen input (from your PC) - or a combination of two types (screen and audio, or video and audio). Will your students such as distance learners benefit from the personal touch offered by seeing a video of yourself? Is the video going to be used more than once? You may want to provide resources or literature references separately so that you can update them quickly without having to change the video itself. Is your video going to be formal or informal? A formal video (for example a presentation) may require more effort to produce, whereas your students may be happy with an informal talking head version. You could ask your students what they think. Consider using several smaller videos instead of one long video and upload them to the VLE as a set. Your students will then be able to quickly find a particular video clip to replay. Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 5

8 Sorting out Practical issues Allow sufficient time to record the video a rushed video would compromise the quality of your teaching. Is the room quiet? Turn off the phone. Shut any windows if necessary. Put a notice on the door to stop visitors! Test your microphone for the sound quality. Make sure it is stable and that it will not make a rustling noise. Try and have the microphone as far away from the computer as possible (to reduce the noise of the computer fan). Are you going to include a video headshot of yourself? If yes, then check to see that you have no bright lights behind you. If it helps, have a quiet clock in front of you! Do a practice run first. Put yourself in your student s shoes and view your test video. Preparing your Teaching Materials Be aware of any copyright issues. Think about the introduction for the video, so that your students can check that that they are looking at the right video. If you are using the screen option, then this could be a title slide within your presentation or a Word document. Alternatively, you can introduce the video with a few well-chosen words. Number or give a title to each presentation slide so that you can refer to the slide explicitly. Think about viewers who may be relying primarily on the audio output eg visually impaired students. Will you need a script in front of you to prompt you? You may need it the first few times until you get used to talking to a computer (and no students). Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 6

9 Producing your Video There are 3 stages in producing a video: 1. Creating your video 2. Editing your video 3. Publishing your video Stage 1 Creating your video 1. Start up Echo Personal Capture. This will produce the following screen: 2. Click on Start Recording. This will produce another screen: Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 7

10 3. Check your settings. The three settings see picture below - reflect whether you are using (in order): a. Audio input (using your microphone), b. Screen input (for your documents or a web browser) c. Video input (from your webcam) Tick the components that you wish to use. If required, check your settings by clicking on the Configure option. 4. If you are using the screen option, then get your teaching materials and/or resources displayed on the screen, in multiple windows if required. Close any redundant windows (eg ) to avoid any distractions. 5. Check your audio input. To the left of the Personal Capture screen, there is a green bar which reflects your microphone sound. 6. Make a quick note on how to end your recording. You can do this in one of two ways. You can use the keyboard shortcut key (ALT-F2). Alternatively, you can click on the recording icon in the System menu (bottom right hand corner), though the icon will not appear until you have started recording. 7. Start your recording! 8. When you have finished recording, it will ask for a Title see above the video screen. As well as a title for the video, you need to include the module code(s) exactly as it appears on your VLE sites. You can change this information at a later stage if necessary. 9. To view your recording, click on My Recordings. Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 8

11 Stage 2 Editing your video The software has a basic editing facility, so you can cut out one or more sections of the video. You will get a screen similar to that below. 1. The red triangular arrow on the blue ribbon (see below) will reflect your current playback position within the video. The yellow markers below the blue ribbon indicate the start and end of a selected clip within the video. 2. To play the video, click on the right arrow on the grey line (see above). To pause the video click on the square button next to it. 3. To delete a particular clip out of your video, you need to move both of the yellow markers along the blue ribbon to indicate the start and end of the redundant clip. You can drag the yellow markers yourself on the blue ribbon. Alternatively, use the play and pause buttons and then click on the yellow triangles: Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 9

12 4. If you want to change the beginning (or end) of the video itself, then look for the yellow markers to the side of the blue ribbon.. 5. Play your video to check the start and end of your selected clip, and then click on Apply Edits to confirm your action. You can make more than one edit. 6. If you change your mind, then the Clear Edits option will remove the edits. 7. When you have finished your edits, move on to the next stage publishing your video. Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 10

13 Stage 3 Publishing your video 1. Click on the button Publish Recording.. 2. A login screen will appear. This is asking you for your Anglia Ruskin username and password, so that you can publish your video onto the central ECHO server. Enter this data. 3. A list of your VLE modules will appear see below. Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 11

14 Choose which module(s) you want to link your video with. You can choose more than one module by using the Shift + Click method. Click on Next. 4. The next screen appears see below: Choose your options. Click on Next. 5. The next screen is about the title of your video. Check your title. Remember that the module codes must be reflected in the title. Click on Publish. 6. On your screen, it will show the progress status of publishing your video see below. This status bar is indicating the progress status of sending your video to the publishing queue on the central Echo server. 7. The Echo server will now process your video. It may take a while before your video is actually published on the Echo server and become available to view. This stage will depend on the length of the queue itself, and on the length of your own video. You should not assume an immediate response! 8. When your video is ready, you will get an . This will contain the URL of the published video. You can copy this URL and put this as a weblink in your VLE site. (Note: It is intended that this particular step will eventually be automated which would mean that you would not need to login into your VLE and manually copy the URL). Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 12

15 9. Your students will be able to view your video next time they login into the VLE. 10. On your computer screen, the screen will show similar to below, displaying all of your unpublished and published videos on your computer. Using Personal Capture in Your Teaching Page 13

16 Contact Anglia Learning and Teaching Call: Web: Author(s): Carol Everett Version: 1.3 (Sept 2011) Any part of this document may be reproduced without permission but with attribution to Anglia Learning and Teaching and the author(s) Anglia Learning and Teaching, 2011 CC-BY-SA (share alike with attribution)