Week 1 Project Guide

Digital Multimedia Project - Introduce Yourself video

When working in online contexts, establishing a social presence is important for your students will not have the same access to you online as they would in a face-to-face setting. In a face-to-face class, one typically spends a little time introducing themselves to the class and then throughout the rest of the semester you continue to share a little more about yourself. Creating a short screencast that introduces you to your students is a great start.

This video was made with SOM [free] using my skull candy earbuds with a mic, completed in one take using Webcam and Prezi.com.

 

This video was made with SOM [free] using my Bob Marley earbuds with a mic, completed in one take using Webcam and Google Slides.

Appropriate Level of Challenge

If you are new to screencasting, then this seemingly simple task will give you practice you need to create your 3-5 minute long lesson in Week 2. You will find that the start up costs are slightly greater than one thinks it should be, so give yourself plenty of time to explore and play this week. We are not looking for perfection but for progress along the way.

Checklist

Go to the Gearing Up page for “How to” guides to get everything set up:

  • Install Screencast-o-matic
  • Create Youtube account
  • Create Playposit account

Maker Space

Here are all the products that you will need to complete the "Introduce Yourself" screencast:

  • Storyboard 4-5 slide Introduction to You that sketches out what is on the slide and script of what you will say for each slide [20-30 seconds per slide]
  • Presentation slide deck - 4-5 slides
  • Use SOM to create a solid draft of “Introduce Yourself” [2-2:30 minutes]
  • Upload your completed screencast to YouTube
  • Add a Multiple Choice and an Open Ended question within Playposit.com
  • Upload finished draft to your Group Discussion Board in Canvas

Step by Step

Step 1: Storyboard [Estimated time: 30 minutes]

When producing any digital multimedia content, storyboarding is the process that helps you map out what the slides should include as well as what you will actually say. Most of the UT faculty who created MOOCs on edX went through a similar process for keeping videos clear and concise requires more than “winging it.” We all have a tendency to ramble when we present information, so scripts, storyboards, and time limits are constraints that help us help students learn.

  1. Begin by thinking about what would help your students connect with you and your passion for your course that you will be teaching online or hybrid.
    1. What drew you into your field? What do you find exciting about it?
    2. What learning experience did you have as an undergraduate that really helped you learn?
    3. How does this course fit into the grand scheme of things? Why does it matter? How will it help me [the student] in my life or career?
    4. What do you do for fun>
  2. Print out the Storyboard template. 
    1. StoryBoard Template - Script it Out [PDF]
    2. Example: Mike's Storyboard for his video  [PDF]
  3. Map those ideas onto a 4-5 slide sequence.
    1. Beginning - how can grab their attention or set up the problem/mystery to be solve
    2. Middle - Build on the hook or unpack the steps to resolve the conflict
    3. Ending - pull it all together so folks feel closure
  4. Sketch out what should be on the slide [simply do the best you can - use stick figures and basic shapes]
  5. Write out what you want to say for that slide. Continue along until you have your 4 or 5 slide sequence completed. We are striving for 20-30 seconds per slide.
    1. We know many folks including ourselves enjoy the 
  6. Test drive it by speaking through each slide and then time it out. How close are you to 2 minutes? If you are running long then you need to figure out what to cut out [that is the hard part].

Step 2: Build out the Presentation [Estimated time: 30 minutes]

Find some good images that will help you tell your story. If it is a great image then don’t worry about adding descriptive text on the slide… simply let the image speak for itself for you will be providing the context in what you say while the image is present. Use whatever tool you are used to using like PowerPoint, Keynote, Google slides, or prezi.com

Step 3: Create a Crummy draft [Estimated time: 15 minutes]

Fire up Screencast-o-matic [SOM] and find your earbuds with a microphone that came with your smartphone.

Watch the SOM overview video Links to an external site. [Start at the 30 second mark].  Plug in your earbuds with mic to have better sound quality. Learn More about setting up an external mic to use in SOM.

 

The first time, simply start with recording a couple of slides so that you get the feel of the process.  Watch it back and make changes to your script especially if you were way over a minute. Don’t worry about the mistakes you make.

  • Overall, how did it go?
  • What do you need to change to make it clearer and more concise?

The challenge is going from start to finish without making a huge mistake. We have found that small mistakes [a few “ummms,”pauses, etc.] do not disrupt the learning. The free version of SOM only allows you to crop the start or the end.

We use the exact same set up that you are using to create our materials, so we do understand the challenge. We do this as well to show you what is possible using limitations of free tools, which is why we also look at whether the pro-version is reasonably priced and worth it.

Step 4: Produce a Solid Draft [Estimated Time: 1-2 hours]

Go back through the script you have written and look for ways to remove a point or shorten a sentence. Practice reading through it while going through the presentation without recording it. When you feel comfortable, crank up SOM and record it. After a few takes [it took me [Mike] about 4 complete takes and several more starts and stops to complete my welcome video], save your video to your computer. We will upload it to YouTube manually in the next step.

Step 5: Upload to YouTube [Estimated Time: 5 minutes]

If you have not set up a YouTube account then please go to Canvas and complete Gear Up.

Step 6: Use Playposit to add a couple of questions [Estimated Time: 15-30 minutes]

Once you have your video loaded into YouTube.

      1. The next step is to sign into playposit.com and access your video. Watch the following video to learn how:

      2. Find the spot in your video where you would like to add a question.
      3. Select "Add Question" button
      4. Select either a Multiple Choice or Free Response question type
      5. Follow the steps found below:

         Write a Question in PlayPosit.png

When you upload it to the Group Discussion then others will view it and answer the questions so you can check out the analytics.

Step 7: Add Video to the Discussion Board [Estimated time: 5-10 minutes]

You are nearly done! We have created groups within the Summer Institute in order to provide a more manageable experience for everyone. Throughout the Institute, you will be posting what you have accomplished within this Discussion Board so that your fellow classmates can review and provide feedback as well as the OHI team. We have found that having people review and answer those questions embedded within the video provides you an opportunity to evaluate the tool we are using and whether they are a fit for your situation.

The process describes how to embed a YouTube video into a Discussion Board.  The process is very similar for embedding a Playposit video.  Here are the steps for getting the embed code within PlayPosit:

  1. Log into Playposit Links to an external site.
  2. Within the "Dash" view, scroll down to "Recent Bulbs" and find the video you want to embed into Canvas.

    Share Playposit Bulb.png

  3. Selecting "Share" will open the following window Embed Code for Playposit Bulb.png
  4. Follow the rest of the steps within the video to add it to the Discussion Board.