VideoNote is a tool included with MyLO. It allows you to capture short videos of up to three (3) minutes using a webcam and microphone*. The tool is available anywhere that you can see the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor in MyLO, including: HTML pages; Discussion descriptions and posts; Quiz questions answer options and feedback; the Announcements, Assignment Submission Folder General Feedback field; and more. To learn how to use VideoNote, refer to the How to section below or download this PDF from the MyLO Support Team. The PDF also includes instructions showing how to locate and embed an existing VideoNote.

FAQs

• What is VideoNote best used for?
  VideoNote is best for one-take, short videos, such as module introductions, short explanations/stories to illustrate concepts, and provide video feedback to students.
• Can I capture my screen activity with VideoNote?
  No. VideoNote only captures webcam video. If you’d like to capture activity on your monitor (e.g. a PowerPoint presentation), use Echo360 ALP Personal Capture.
• Can students download a VideoNote video?
  No. VideoNote videos are streamed, meaning they must be viewed online. This is generally OK, as the videos are quite short. Videos uploaded to Echo360 ALP can be downloaded or viewed online.
• Can I edit a VideoNote recording?
  No. VideoNote is designed for short, one-take videos. If you wish to create videos that will need editing, use Echo360 ALP Personal Capture.

How to

NOTE: You must use a device with a recent version of Adobe Flash Player enabled in order to record VideoNotes at this time. This generally means that you will not be able to create a VideoNote

You can use VideoNote anywhere you see the WYSIWYG editor (usually when you are creating something for the first time or editing it). Specifically, you will need to see the Insert Stuff tool. It will be the first tool on the left hand side, and will look like this:

The Insert Stuff window will open. Choose the Video Note option from the side menu.

You will see a preview of your webcam video appear on screen. NOTE: You may be prompted to Allow something at this point. If so, check the Allow option. When you’re ready to record, click on the New Recording button to start recording. The recording will start straight away.

As you’re recording, you will see the time count down towards the bottom right of the window. When you’re ready to stop, click on the Stop Recording button. Note that the recording will end automatically at 3:00 duration.

As soon as you click Stop Recording, a preview of the video will play. If you’re not happy with it and would like to record again, click the New Recording button. If you’re happy with the video, click on the Next button that appears to the bottom left of the screen.

You will be prompted to add a Title and a Description. IMPORTANT: Make note of the title, as it can be very useful when searching for your existing VideoNotes in the future. The Description is shown to users who cannot see the video due to browser limitations.

Click the Next button. You should now see a preview of your video. You may not see the preview immediately, as it can take a while for the video to process. If you see a screen like this…

and you want to see a preview, wait a few moments and click Refresh Preview. If you’re happy to continue, click the Insert button that appears towards the bottom left of the window.

Your video (or the ‘processing’ message) should now appear in the page/description/post/field that you are editing. Once you have finished editing, click Save/Save and Close/Publish.

*Most webcams include a microphone, however, these microphones are not very useful for recording in environments with a lot of background noise (e.g. a shared office). They also tend to have a limited range, so are not very good if you tend move away from your computer (e.g. where the web cam is positioned). Using a USB headset is a good alternative to a webcam microphone, and tends to capture higher quality audio without the background noise. Consult your local IT Hub to ask about acquiring a USB headset.

Short, narrated lectures and videos can be used to introduce students to important theories and concepts in a discipline. They often feature examples or stories to help illustrate what a concept means, or to demonstrate how a theory might apply to different situations.  They can be used to add meaning to another piece of content. For example, you might get your students to read a short chapter or article about a particular concept. You might then provide them with a video telling a short story to illustrate how that concept was applied in a real-life setting. We strongly recommend keeping these videos to 15 minutes or less in length. Removing references to particular semesters, course codes, weeks, modules and assessment tasks helps make these videos reusable in the long term. Furthermore, addressing a single idea, theory or case in a video will avoid the need to edit videos in future. When a range of concepts, cases or ideas are combined in a video, editing is often required in the future to remove outdated sections, or items that are no longer relevant.

Videos are sometimes used to welcome students to a unit or topic, to provide feedback or encouragement to a class, or to demonstrate the use of software or MyLO. These videos often feature a talking head or activity on a computer screen. They are generally produced for single use, however, well-planned and executed videos may be reusable in future.

When considering the use of narrated lectures and videos, ask yourself these questions:

• Can I share this message, idea or story in a different way (e.g. through a reading)?
• Is video the best way to share this message, idea or story?
  While video can be engaging, over-reliance on video can have the opposite impact!
• Are there existing resources (e.g. on YouTube) that I can use to share this message, idea or story in a similarly engaging way?
• Is video worth the opportunity cost?
  Consider production time, resources and effort versus re-usability and engagement.
• Is video accessible to all my students?
  Students in China cannot access YouTube due to enforced internet restrictions. Students in remote areas may not be able to view streamed videos, or will have to wait a significant time to download video files. Some video formats do not work on mobile devices. Students with visual or hearing impediments may not be able to interpret your video if a transcript or closed captioning is not provided.

So you want to create a video?

You will need to consider:

• Optimising learning potential
  Mayer’s Multimedia Learning Principles help us design videos and narrated PowerPoints that enhance learning and reduce cognitive load.
  • This well structured video from Michael Kennedy explains each of Mayer’s 12 principles, and provides examples of the principles in action.
  • This PDF from Harvard University summarises Mayer’s Multimedia Learning Principles.
  • If you’re keen to know more, you may wish to view this collection of snippets from a guest lecture delivered by Richard Mayer at Harvard University.
• Copyright and Consent
  Do you intend to use images, video or text that may be subject to copyright? If your video features people other than you, you will need to gain their consent to be filmed. You can use the form provided on this page to obtain consent.
• Production method
  This is the method used to create the video. This can range from simply filming yourself using a webcam, to engaging a full production crew and actors.
• Hosting method
  This is the method used to make a video available to viewers online. The most common hosting method at UTAS is MyMedia, which is also used to host recordings of face to face lectures. The videos hosted in this system can be view online (streamed) or download for offline viewing.

This table compares production and hosting combinations, to help you identify a method that will suit you, your time frame, your purpose and your learners. For further information, please contact the TSBE Flexible Education Team. If you prefer, you can download a printable version here.

Dr Michael Wesch, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Lecturer at Kansas State University (USA), presents an interesting perspective on the traditional lecture environment and its suitability for modern students in this TED talk.

The original video of students in a lecture theatre (that Dr Wesch mentions in the video) is included below.

What do you think? Comment below.

Do you use PowerPoint to create learning resources? This great slideshow presents a range of tips to boost your productivity with PowerPoint.

Our favourite tip from the slides is to hold down CTRL + SHIFT on your keyboard as you click and drag an object: this will duplicate the object and place the new object in perfect alignment with the original object!

Obtaining and using images and videos to enliven your unit content can be frustrating and a copyright minefield!

However, searching for images and videos with Creative Commons licences can make the hunt for useable content easier. Creative Commons (CC) licenses are designed to make the rules around re-use of content very clear to everyday people – not just to lawyers.

Here’s an introduction to the concept of Creative Commons.

Understanding CC Licences and attribution of content

What kind of licence should you look for if you want to use images, video or even sounds in your unit? Generally, any Creative Commons licence allows us to share content for non-commercial purposes, like education, through vehicles like our MyLO sites. However, some CC licences require you to attribute the content to the original creator, share alike any content that you have created using the original content, or show the CC licence under which the item is used. Other licences prohibit any derivatives of the original work (in other words, you can’t change the original content in any way).

• For a brief summary of the different CC licences, click here.
• Click here for more information about attributing Creative Commons licensed content.

Finding CC licenced content

There are so many images and videos out there on the web: how do you find the ones that carry Creative Commons licences?

• You can use Creative Commons’ simple search function to search for CC licensed content.
• This brief article, from Fractus Learning, details five tools that students can use to find images with Creative Commons licenses. We think teaching staff might find them useful too!

Do I have to provide attributions for…?

Videos (or other multimedia) that I find online?
When someone uploads a video to YouTube or similar video sites, they can switch off the ability to ’embed’ the video in other websites. If embedding is enabled, the creator is usually happy for their video to be shared on other sites, or at least linked to. However – use caution! Don’t embed or link to videos that have obviously been uploaded  without the original author’s permission. For example, when I look up a music video called The Salmon Dance (a song by the Chemical Brothers) on YouTube, I find several versions of the video. One has been uploaded by emimusic, another has been uploaded by ChemicalBrothersTV, and other versions have been uploaded by users with names like  ReyMysterio1254 and cheree4life. I should use the version from emimusic (the band’s label) or ChemicalBrothersTV (the band’s official YouTube channel), as these are most likely channels run by the owners of the music video content.

Common sources of videos and multimedia include:

• Youtube. Millions of videos of varying quality are available here. Some channels are more reputable than others. A particularly good channel is TED, which features short talks on a wide variety of big ideas and issues from across the world. Be mindful that students cannot download these videos, so can only watch them whilst online. Also, many Youtube videos will commence with a short advertisement, which you will not be able to switch off. Students in China can not access YouTube videos due to enforced internet restrictions.
• Vimeo. Similar to YouTube, you can search for and embed/link to videos. Here is an example of a tutorial video on Vimeo. The same warnings apply as per YouTube, however, there are no ads. Yay!
• Merlot. This database contains annotated links to open educational resources, and organises them into categories. Alternatively, you can search for key words.  Resources may include videos or interactives.
• Publishers may be willing to share videos, either online or as part of an embeddable object. Check that these do not require students to use a username and password, as some may be behind paywalls.

Music and sounds
In most cases, you will need to obtain permission from the creator/copyright owner to use music or sounds. It is OK to link to songs that the creator has made available online themselves (you’ll find plenty of these on SoundCloud), but incorporating sounds into a video or multimedia object is different. There are some open source sound and musics sites where you can seek out audio for inclusion in PowerPoints and Videos, but check the Copyright conditions first. At a minimum you will be required to acknowledge the creator. Useful sites include Freesound (for sound bites), Free Music Archive (for music), and DigccMixter (for music).

Hyperlinks to webpages?
There is no need to attribute a link to a website, as a visitor is taken straight to the source of the content when they click on the hyperlink.

Images embedded in your site (originating from another site)?
When I embed an image in a page, it is ‘linked’ from a page on the web and appears as an image on my own site. For example, here is an image of Dr Stuart Crispin (from the TSBE website) that I have ’embedded’ in this page.
Technically, the creator has made the image publicly available on their own website (in this case, the image belongs to the university, so I can use it!). However, without an attribution, the image could be easily misconstrued as my own creation. Even with an attribution, I may not have permission to ‘bring in’ the image, even though it is coming from another website. So, when in doubt, check with the owner of the image first, and provide an attribution with the image once you have obtained permission. Searching for a Creative Commons licensed image will take some of the guess-work out of how to use an image.If you’re looking for a clip-art type image, check out OpenClipArt.

When in doubt…

Visit the UTAS Copyright website

http://www.utas.edu.au/copyright

or contact the Copyright Officer by email to utas.copyright@utas.edu.au

With a web cam and our TSBE YouTube channel, you can create quick video introductions, explanations or summaries and embed them in MyLO content. YouTube videos can be embedded in News Items, in Files, and even in Module descriptions.

These instructions will help you capture, upload and embed a YouTube video:

1. HOW TO: Record a short video
2. HOW TO: Upload a video to to the TSBE YouTube channel
3. HOW TO: Include images or YouTube videos in discussion posts – with embed instructions (see Part C for instructions about how to embed a YouTube video).

Ms Wendy Fleet, a Launceston-based Lecturer and Teaching Fellow, has developed a video that models the process of analysing an accounting essay question.  The video has been included in a series called Thinking like an Accountant, part of the Accounting Communication Matters website. The video was embedded in one of the first year units in the Masters of Professional Accounting, a program with a high proportion of international students. The video was produced by Kevin Lyall and Beverly Goldfarb from the TSBE, together with Richard Barker from the Faculty of Arts.

Peta Statham interviewed Wendy to find out more about the video project and to ask her advice about creating videos for teaching purposes.

A lack of disciplinary vocabulary can be a significant set-back for students as they  listen to lectures, complete readings and construct assessment tasks. Here are some activities that could help students become familiar with the language of your discipline.

OPTION 1: Pop quiz

• Get students to complete a MyLO Quiz at the end of a recorded lecture or reading activity. Include automated feedback. While a quiz must be associated with a score, the score itself does not have to be recorded as a Grade Item, meaning that these sorts of tasks can be used for formative feedback.
• Quickly and easily create vocabulary lessons with Quizlet. It allows students to learn vocabulary in a variety of ways, including electronic flip cards, drag and drop matching games and more. You will need to provide students with a link to the Quizlet quiz.

OPTION 2: Flip cards, fill-in-the-blanks, crosswords and more

H5P is an opensource interactivity development tool. You can sign up for free and create a range of interactive activities, including dialog cards, drag-the-words, fill-in-the-blanks, mark-the-words and memory activities. Once you have created an activity, you can link to it or embed it within a MyLO HTML Page. Note that the results WILL NOT be recorded in MyLO Grades, nor will a record of completion. See the example below.

Hot Potatoes, developed by the University of Victoria (Canada) Humanities, Computing and Media Centre, is a free application that generates crosswords (see image on right), quizzes, cloze passages and more. Packages created with Hot Potatoes can be uploaded to MyLO for completion by students. The graphics are a little dated, but it still functions OK in Google Chrome browser. May not work on mobile devices. Note that the results WILL NOT be recorded in MyLO Grades, nor will a record of completion.

OPTION 3: Word of the week

Include a Word of the week in your weekly introduction (video or presentation), perhaps in an Announcement on MyLO.

OPTION 4: Glossary

You can create a glossary of discipline specific terms. Though MyLO has a Glassary tool, we do not feel that it contains sufficient functionality. Instead, we recommend creating an HTML page with a list of Glossary terms. You don’t have to make up all the definitions yourself. Instead, provide  links to  definitions on the web.

For more information about these options, contact your local blended learning/online learning team.