Instructions
Here are some best practices to guide your use of video:
- Length
- Shorter is better.
- 3-5 minutes is optimum, no longer than 10 minutes when possible.
- If you must use a longer video, break it up into smaller, standalone chunks.
- Writing
- Write a script or at least an outline.
- Write in as conversational and as friendly a tone as you can.
- Use short sentences.
- Write for the ear – not for the eye (most people will only hear the video narration so you can be informal, use contractions, etc.).
- Read your script out loud (then you'll hear where you need to make changes).
- Recording
- Rehearse and practice before you press the "Record" button.
- When using a camera, do a test recording to make sure you are comfortable with all the controls.
- If you make a mistake or stumble over words, let the recording continue, pause for five seconds, then pick up again where you left off. You can edit out the bad portions later.
- Formats
- MP4 video can be played by most media players and mobile media devices.
- Flash video (.swf) – free Flash player and browser plug-in.
- Captioning
- You should either caption your video or offer a text transcript of the audio.
- For more information about appropriate and reasonable accommodations for students with special needs, contact the Student Disability Resource Center.
- Using in your course
- Options include:
- Use Video Note to create
- Upload or embed video files directly into eLearning
- Link to the videos from a course
- Upload to YouTube (15 minute per file limit)
- Use the Library's streaming server
- Options include:
- Copyright Considerations: Be sure you have the right to use any videos that you want to add to your courses. If you're unclear about what those rights are and what your responsibilities include, please review these resources:
- Copyright Crash Course
- Fair Use & Copyright (Center for Social Media at American University)
Video Resources
Camtasia Tutorials - ATC has a copy of Camtasia available for faculty in our media lab. Contact ATC staff to schedule a time to come in and use Camtasia.
Embedding a video from Google Drive into eLearning
conversion of narrated PowerPoint file into .swf movie; can upload directly to Webcourses; integrated navigation bar. Free client software needs to be installed. No time limit.
iSpring Free - Free
conversion of narrated PowerPoint file into .swf movie; can upload directly to Webcourses; integrated navigation bar. Free client software needs to be installed. No time limit. Easier file integration than AuthorPoint Lite. Also allows for YouTube embed in "regular" PPT presentations
Jing - Free
five minute time limit; download output in .swf
Here are some additional recommended tools:
Videos creation | Video editing | Video hosting | Video enhancement | Embedding video |
Camtasia | Camtasia | YouTube | VideoNot.es | Embedly |
Jing | After Effects | Google Drive | Zaption | |
Screencast-o-matic | Premiere | |||
| Powtoons | YouTube | |||
VideoScribe | iMovie | |||
Moovly |
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Movenote |
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Tools for creating video presentations:
Jing and Screencast-o-matic are screen recording tools. They are easy to use and free.
Powtoon and Moovly are free online tools that make animating easy. VideoScribe is a great whiteboard animation tool that works on the desktop.
Movenote is an online platform for narrated slides (PowerPoint) presentations. Sign in with your UWF gmail account, and then all you need to do is upload your presentation, and record your voice (or webcam and voice).
Video editing tools:
Camtasia is not only an excellent tool for recording your presentation, it is also a great video editing tool.
Adobe Premiere and After Effects are powerful editing software. With power comes a higher learning curve. Both of these software are available at ATC for faculty.
iMovie is a Mac video editing application that is preinstalled on every Mac.
Movie Maker is a Windows video editing tool that comes with every window machine.
YouTube has a built-in video editor that you can use once you upload your video.
Hosting a video:
Once you made your video presentation, your next step is to share it. To do that you will need to put it out there on the web. Two easy and free option are YouTube and Google Drive. Once you have uploaded your video, these two platforms will make an embed code available which can be used to bring the video into eLearning.
Embedding tools:
Embedly is a free online tool that creates embed codes for your videos.
Other tools:
VideoNot.es is a simple and easy online video annotation tool. It integrates with Google Drive.
Zaption adds interactivity to your video. For example, quiz questions could be added to your video.