Module 8: Final

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Here it is, my final video. This has been a very challenging project. If I could change one thing it would have been to use pro software like Adobe Premier. Microsoft's free software is great for throwing together a quick movie, but for a big production like this it was not nearly powerful enough. If it uploads (knock on wood) I'll be able to post it before 1am. Yay!

My final video includes pictures, music, a screen recording, voice overs, a PowerPoint animation, video downloaded from YouTube and actual real video of myself from the Flip camera. The software that I used was Windows Live Movie Maker, Screenr, Audacity, and MP4Cam2AVI. All of the media was public domain, Creative Commons, Fair Use or used with permission.

The multimedia principles that I tried to comply with most closely were coherence principle and sensory modalities principle. The coherence principle suggests that the multimedia should not have any extraneous information, so as not to increase cognitive load. Sensory modalities I thought was a good way to organize the presentation and keep it simple. For example, voice instead of text when showing pictures.Sometimes it would have been much easier to use text instead of creating audio, but it would have encouraged me to violate sensory modalities principle.

Module 7: The Intervention (Part II)

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Ok, here it is.  Getting the flow right is really hard. I hope that I don't have to redo parts I and II when working on part III. In this video I used PowerPoint to create an animation and recorded it with Screenr. That was new to me but actually worked pretty well. The hardest part was editing the audio to make it sound like the audio from my wife's laptop was actually coming out of her laptop. Anyway, the question I'd like to pose for this blog post is: Would you like to attend these workshops? If so, in person or on iMEET?

Module 7: Late :(

I'm having computer problems, including overheating and memory problems. Making videos is very taxing on my machine... Also, my mic just stopped working! I'm just uploading what I have at this point. The official blog post will come with the official video.

Removing background hum from voice recording in Audacity

Before:

After:

Audacity.sourceforge.net
Tutorial for noise removal with steps

Screencast for Scott (how to replace video with images in WMM)

 

This video is not part of any module. Just a screencast in response to something Scott asked me last weekend.

Module 6: The Problem (Part I)

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This video attempts to define the problem in my CE, that grad students are often busy and have limited time in their schedules to learn something new, but they have to confront the huge task of formatting a large document to precise specifications. I don't think that this video follows any research based guidelines, accept in that I tried my best to keep it simple and not introduce more information than is needed.

Credits in the final video will roll with the following:

• Photos of a mock training used with permission by the student employees and the STC coordinator.
• Stock photos of the family and the traffic are from Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
• Music used was a segment of the song "And Then We Take Them Down Again" by DoKashiteru, Creative Commons license (Digg CC Mixter)

My question to everyone is, if you recorded your voice, have you tried to remove background hums and white noise? I used Audacity to do this and it did wonders! If anyone is interested I'll make a screencast about getting and using the software.

Face-to-face (Saturday): Final Project Storyboard

• Part I: The problem
• Purpose: To introduce the audience to the root problem
• Images
• Still: Traffic; night sky; person at work; family at home
• Moving: Classroom workshop instructor
• Words
• Audio: "Students are busy people, especially graduate students who often split time between work, school, and family. Many university services cannot be taken advantage of without sacrificing valuable time. For this reason, new modes of instruction delivery that match students' lives are needed."
• Part II: Significance of the problem
• Purpose: To provide context for the research
• Images
• Moving: Screencast of document format requirements; screencast of formatting in Word, 
• Words
• Audio: "Graduate students have to format their documents to match a very strict requirements, something that is not easily accomplished without using Word's advanced formatting features. The workshops that are the subject of this research teach these skills to graduate students. Many students do not have the flexibility in their schedules to attend workshops that are offered in person.
• Part III: Conclusion
• Purpose: To describe the proposed intervention: webinar workshops
• Images
• Still: Student at home or work on computer watching workshop
• Moving: Video of in person training fades to video of student watching training on their computer
• Words
• Audio: "The intervention proposed for this research project is live, online and interactive workshops for graduate students. Being able to learn skills from home, work, or anywhere with an internet connection frees them to learn unhindered by geographical limitations. This intervention is technically possible and a part of the 21st century educational landscape, but is it effective? That is the question that this proposal seeks to answer."