ONLINE ADJUNCT FACULTY TIP #24 - Creating custom videos to help students navigate the online classroom

Online student: 11:33 PM, Saturday Night, logged into the online classroom and pecking at the keyboard - hunting for the elusive Learning Team that you've assigned him to...

"Ugh, if I could have someone show me where to go...that's all I need..."

Never fear, David's here - with a plan that will work and your wallet remains snug in the back pocket of your faded 501s.

Freeware's the online adjunct professor's best friend! (It can be, trust me!). If you don't have CNET's http://www.download.com/ bookmarked, then that's step #1 in this post. Next, there a number of quality FREE, yeah, I said "FREE" simple software programs you'll find at http://www.download.com/ that can make your teaching experiences more efficient and effective. I recently downloaded a free program called CAMSTUDIO that allows me to record a section of my computer screen while narrating with my external microphone. The 40-second video below was recorded with CAMSTUDIO. As CAMSTUDIO's only output modes are AVI and Flash Video, I also downloaded a free program called ANY VIDEO CONVERTER which makes it a snap to trim video clips and then convert them to the less bandwidth hungry MPEG 1 format. This entire 40-second video requires less than 4 MB of space. Granted, I have the quality settings pushed down a bit to save on recording space - but the video certainly is effective in guiding my students to their assigned learning teams on Blackboard 8.

I also uploaded this video to YouTube - I have students access the YouTube link - which I post in the ANNOUNCEMENTS section of my course. I make a unique video for each class - so students are able to view their actual class shell and see their authentic learning teams. I've had more than one student thank me for making these brief video navigation guides. Students who aren't experienced with technology tell me that it was easy to click on the link that took them to the YouTube video. There is a pitfall - as most school browsers will block YouTube. Thus, another suggestion is to post this brief video clip in a GOOGLE docs file and then have the URL connect to it - also works very well. Keep the file small as some students (and my father) still use dial up!

I think the videos also create a context for the classroom - the student hears the instructor's voice and it's a touch more personal than reading text off a monitor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPjGRQw3beA