MPICT 2014 Creating Online Video and ACA - Workshops

Creating and Distributing Video Lectures for Online Courses

with Sean Glumace, Digital Media Instructor at Golden West College
email: sglumace@gwc.cccd.edu | sean@glumace.com

2014 Winter ICT Educator Conference, January 5-6, 2014 in San Francisco Creating and Distributing Video Lectures for Online Courses and Adobe Certified Associate presentation presented by Sean Glumace.

Listed below are resources and guides to help you create and distribute video lectures for the course you teach. Many of these links go back to my websites/classes which I have been creating videos and capturing my lectures for the past 10 years. I teach Graphic Design and Web Design which can be difficult subjects for the student to grasp while I lecture. I have found by capturing the lectures in class and allowing my students to review and have access anywhere to them my retention rate has gone up. Questions have also gone down and it allows the student to have a resource when I am not available.

I hope that you will start creating videos, even if its just an introduction video for an online class, or your on ground class this semester! The one thing I stress is do it!! Create your first one and get it out there!

This is a question that comes up from instructors and students when creating video. Resources for CC are usually available from your Disabled Student Services department and they can guide you in the right direction with the law and what needs to be done. Currently I use YouTube which automatically will create CC based on the audio. It does a very good job, but check with your DSS department if you have questions.

One of the hosting options for videos is 3C Media Solutions which is partnered with California Community Colleges. They are working with Distance Education Captioning and Transcription, which funds educational captioning in the CCC, to establish a workflow for captioning video files. For now, you can request captions for your video when uploading to 3C. Please visit the DECT website for guidelines on educational captioning and its use. For more info go to – http://www.canyons.edu/Offices/Distance_Learning/Captioning/

On both the Mac and PC you have many choices of video capture software. All have positive and negatives, you may need to play with each to see what works best for your situation. I currently do all my recording on Mac’s at home and at school so I use IShowU HD which can record up to 5 hours and render immediately, no wait time for the video to be ready.

Don’t forget about your phone and digital cameras! You have devices that allow you to shoot video at anytime and with many of the hosting services like YouTube and Vimeo you can upload directly from the phone online. Be creative and use the tools that you have!

The quickest and free option available if you have QuickTime installed.

Google Hangouts OnAir – (Online) http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/onair.html

Free and available to anyone with a browser you can capture audio and what’s on the screen, and have other users interact. Schedule broadcasts and go live in HD on Google+, YouTube, and your website. It will be recorded and automatically saved on your YouTube channel which is a huge plus. Downside is you have to have an internet connection for this to work. Would work great for shorter videos like a class introduction.

Powerful, yet easy-to-use, Camtasia helps you create professional videos without having to be a video pro. Easily record your on-screen activity or import HD camera video, customize and edit content, and share your videos with viewers on nearly any device. $99 for either Mac or PC version.

Probably the best all around screen capture software for the Mac. It allows you to just record everything on the screen with audio and it renders a file quickly at the end. It also has advanced features and can save to a variety of formats. There is a cost of $59 but it is well worth it. I currently use this at home and in all my classes.

Another great utility that captures everything on your screen and audio. The downside is that it takes a long time to render the file after capturing. Quality wise, this is the best. $69

One-click screen capture recording on Windows or Mac computers with no install for FREE! There is also a download available for off line use.

Blackboad and other online classroom software usually have a limit on the size of files you can upload so you will want to host your videos on another site and embed them in your class. This will keep your IT department happy, and save you headaches!

Your number one choice for hosting and distributing videos online for free. Your institution may already have a YouTube channel that you can host with, check with your IT department or distance learning. Example – http://www.youtube.com/user/goldenwestcollege

Once you have an account that is verified YouTube does not have a limit on size or length.

Close captioning is automatic with YouTube (results may vary depending on quality of audio) and when described and tagged correctly will give you better search results for yourself.

Create a Google Account (you may already have one). I suggest a personal one for this, you want to build your authority online and for your classes/lectures. This may be an account just as an instructor.

Set up your YouTube Channel – https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1646861?hl=en

Upload your videos with a good title, description and tags. Put the information students will be looking for in this information.

How to upload to YouTube – https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/57924?hl=en
For more detailed info read up on meta tags and SEO from Google. http://www.youtube.com/yt/playbook/metadata.html

Edit the video if needed. You can do this in YouTube as well.
For more info go to http://www.youtube.com/editor

Once you have videos up, get them on your Blackboard course, website, even Google+ and Facebook accounts. You need to get them into the students hands.

For more info go to https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/171780?hl=en-gb

Here is a great overview of YouTube to get you started and get more out of your account

 Another video hosting service, and much like YouTube it allows you upload your videos and distribute them. It has a basic account available which has a cap of how many MB you can upload each week. There is also a paid service.

Sample channel – https://vimeo.com/glumace

Faculty and staff of the California Community Colleges system can now request and receive a 3C Media Solutions account. The account, like all services of 3C Media Solutions, is offered free to CCC personnel. 

Included in a 3C Media Solutions account is:

A private account with personalized login/ password

The ability to upload and house your videos to the 3C servers

The ability to integrate your videos that are already available on YouTube to 3C

The ability to create your own playlists (either for public sharing or for private use)

Choose from thousands of videos available from our video repository.

You can embed videos and playlists from 3C Media Solutions directly into your local Learning Management System. 3C Media accepts files in the following formats: mp4, m4v, mkv, flv, wmv, avi, mov, webm. Embed links are provided from within your 3C account. The server does not support https at this time.

Google Drive is a cloud based system where you can share files and documents to indivduals or the world. Original video files can be large and with your Google Account you have 15gb of free storage. For $5 a month you get 100gb of storage. Google Drive also has a desktop application that creates a folder on your local computer to save files and sync to Google with. You can also access your drive from mobile devices.
Sample Class using Google Drive – http://goo.gl/VSdxe9

Part of iTunes and available as a stand alone application for the iOS it is a course creation system. More than just video, you can build an entire course in the app and distribute is.

There are many different ways to edit your video. Sometimes its adding an opening and titles or just cutting out extra information. Editing can take up a whole other lecture, so here is a list of software and resources. IMPORTANT! Don’t let editing be the stumbling block. If you do not know how to edit, still get your videos out there. One or two mistakes will be overlooked by the students if you make them when recording.

YouTube Video Editor (Free)  – Online

Microsoft Movie Maker (Free) – PC

IMovie (Free) – Mac

FinalCut ($299+) – Mac

Adobe Premiere (Subscription per month $19-$49 with Adobe CC Suite) – Mac and PC

WeVideo (Free) – Online

Magisto (Free) – Online

1. Create! You need content, so get to it. Don’t be scared, you have the tools and the computer so do an introduction for you online class or a how to. Getting going is the #1 obstacle! You may think your video does not look “professional” but you need to start somewhere, and you videos will start looking better over time. Keep most videos 3-5 minutes, unless they are whole classes or something that needs to be longer. Break up longer ones into parts, small bites.

2. Edit. You may need to edit your videos, add openings or other images/slides. YouTube has an online editor or you can use video editing software like

3. Upload. Deciding where you want to host your videos is important. I prefer YouTube and Vimeo and upload my videos to both as backups. Organize these videos into channels/classes. Keeping things clean and organized at the beginning makes life easier down the road.

I also share out the original movie files and any other project files in my Google Drive to the students. This keeps the load off Blackboard or other systems you use to store your online class, and its easy for the students to access on a phone, tablet or PC.

4. Distribute and Promote! Now that you have your videos online embed them in your class, share them to the students, get them posted on your social media and websites.