As I mentioned at the last meeting, my intention was to do screen recordings (with narration) of our PC-based classes and have them available in range of mobile formats. We only have one such class running at the moment (in Corel Draw) which is running on Fridays. Unfortunately, with other commitments on Fridays, I haven't been able to be there over the past three weeks to get this underway. So, in the end, I thought I'd just set it all up and leave the lecturer (Aileen) to it. I sat down with her last Thursday and gave her a tutorial on the software (CamStudio) and she recorded three demostrations in class the next day. I've converted them using Super to 3gp (for phone), mp4 (for iPod) and Quicktime movie (for PC). I've set up a bluetooth dongle on the PC and sent the file to a phone and put the mp4 on to my Palm (I don't have an iPod).
I'm generally pleased with the results although there's a few issues to attend to. Given the limitations of the mobile screen size, I had the software set to capture a relatively small window which tracks the cursor (ie. the cursor is always in the center of the window). This effectively shows close up detail of what she's doing and therefore makes best use of the small screen on a mobile. Unfortunately, Aileen changed the settings back to full screen! The results are still okay but they lack the detail required for it to be a truly useful resource on a small screen. However, full screen is probably better for reviewing the mov file on a PC.
The other issue was sound quality. I borrowed a microphone from the Marleston library and the quality was fairly ordinary - I had trouble getting the recording level high enough. I'll need to look into this - maybe we need to buy a decent quality mic. Anyway I'll do it again this Friday and see how it goes.
I also gave the lecturer an mLearning survey to hand out to the students which I'll hopefully have back over the next few days. I'll be there this Friday to do some bluetoothing/iPodding of the files to the students' devices and talk to them about this mLearning thing.
One thing that struck me was the ease and speed of the process. It took me just over an hour to convert all three files (albeit, there was only 11 minutes of total footage) to the three formats required. Potentially, the files could be avallable to the students before they leave for the day. At this stage, the distribution is only from a PC in the computer suite. Ultimately vodcasting is the way to go - I'm looking into it. A Podmo Free Zone at Marleston would also be nice.....
So far, so good.
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5 comments:
Thanks for all this - is there any chance of a demo at our next meeting?
Cheers
Peta
Yep. No worries.
Great work, Graeme!
Can you share your m-learning survey with us?? It might be something we'd like to use with our own students.
Hi Graham
You have an interesting challenge making your material adaptable for a range of mobile devices.
The other option would be to host the material on a site that then allowed your students to download them onto their type of mobile device.
Also worth checking and making sure that screencasts on what you want to show them have not already been created. For example, there is an excellent series of podcasts on using Abode Photoshop.
Audio is an interesting issue. If you are using in a classroom situation, with a large number of students, it can be distracting. Amazing what they can do with videos that have audio on mobile devices.
Good luck with your project.
Sue
Mobile Technology in TAFE
Hi Sue
Thank you for your comments. It's great to get feedback from someone who's further down the track with mLearning.
Yes, I think hosting the material is the way to go - I'm looking at utilising one of our on-line delivery platforms. It would be nice too have the material 'pushed' through RSS but it might be a bit optimistic at this stage.
Thanks for the Photoshop tip. We're mostly using Corel Draw and while there's a range of tutorials available, there's not much with a fashion illustration/drawing context.
I was interested to hear your comments about the audio because I've been wondering it's actually that necessary. The program I'm using has an annotation feature where you can overlay the video with text balloons, so I might have a play around with that.
Looks like you are doing some great things over there with mLearning. I was particularly fascinated by how your students are using PDA's in class. It's a great way present the information and engage the students.
Cheers
Graeme
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