Principles of Demonstrative Instructional Video Peyton R. Glore Assistant Professor School of Information Technology Macon State College October 17, 2007 Doctoral Candidate School of Education Instructional Design for Online Learning Capella University

Why use video?  Show information quickly and concisely  Add a sense of realism  Teach concepts too dangerous or expensive for users to experience personally  Show places, people, animals or events that the user may never have the opportunity to see

Why use video? (con’t)  Emphasizing recording video from your desktop:  Works great for demonstrating software (Teaching or training)  Demonstrate a method or technique  Walk the user through the steps  Demonstrate the final product

 Determine your audience  What is their skill level?  How will they view the movie? CD/DVD Streaming Download Who is the video for?

Is file size a concern?  Yes!  There is always a limitation on storage, either media or hard drive  Size should be considered if the video is to be streamed or downloaded  You don’t want to tie up the users connection all day to download a 2 minute movie

File size (con’t)  Resolution, or movie size, plays a big part in the file size  How much space do you need to demonstrate your point?  What size screen will it be played back on?

Resolution  Are you using a window?  Are you going to use you entire desktop?  If so, what is your current resolution?  You may want to change your screen resolution in order to capture the entire desktop

Resolution  Consider your audience when choosing your capture size  Smaller movies can be played on larger screens without significant loss  Not the other way round

Is audio necessary?  No, but it is nice  Benefits the user to hear the instructions while watching the actions  This is called reinforcement  Make sure you have a microphone  Set your input level (for the mic)  Turn your speakers down to reduce feedback

What are you going to cover?  Regardless of the subject matter, you will forget something  Write notes or a script!  This will ensure that you cover key points  If you normally talk fast, reading the script will slow you down

What are you going to cover? (con’t)  Break the information into small segments  Shoot for 5 to 10 minutes if possible  Benefits Recording shorter segments means you are less likely to make mistakes Shorter segments are easier for the user to remember

Tips for recording  Try to limit the background noise; it’s distracting to the user  Check your microphone recording level; make sure it is loud enough  Relax  Be prepared to make mistakes  No big deal

Windows Media Encoder Download the most recent version from Microsoft.com

Windows Media Encoder  Use the Wizard to create “profile”

WME set up Click New Session

Choose the type of video you want to make and walk through the wizard

You need to save the profile before you can continue Choose the type of screen capture: the entire screen or just part

Modifying the profile  After you create the basic profile through the wizard, you can modify it to ensure the desired output

Change the location for saving the file

Modify the compression methods to make the files smaller

Forcing the compression into 123 Kb per second for storage. This works well for streaming as well. This is the method I use for recording class lectures.

Select audio parameters Select video parameters

My application  Real-time development  Record lectures live in class  Insert anecdotes  Students ask questions  Online & traditional students watch lectures

File size compared to movie length  19 MB - 40 mins  15.5 MB – 46 mins  35 MB – 57 mins  25 MB – 60 mins  32 MB -56 mins  25.5 MB -74 mins  21 MB – 52 mins  Average 16 MB – 41 mins  Total 292 MB – 736 mins (nearly 12.5 hours!)

What is in those movies?  Content varies based on subject  Longer, smaller movies with audio over slides  Shorter, larger movies audio over application  Movies with lots of color and “actions” increase file size

Benefits  Students see exactly what is discussed “in class”  Fewer questions – since the students can remediate on their own

Questions?