CREATING VIDEO FOR YOUR ONLINE COURSE

An effective component to transforming your online course into a dynamic learning community is creating and embedding personalized audiovideo content. There are many methods and tools available for audiovideo production, as well as services to store and deliver your content. This webpage presents general information related to video production at NCTC, including camera options, lighting, sound, and online hosting services.

Camera

Instructors often want to record video for an introductory message to their students, briefly summarize a topic, or demonstrate a particular skill. To support such productions, the NCTC eLearning Department has Kodak ZI8 High Definition Pocket Digital Video Cameras available for faculty checkout on the Gainesville and Corinth campuses. The department offers various accessories for checkout as well, including clip-on microphones, wide angle lenses, and mini tripods. Related training at the individual and group levels is also available. Please contact the eLearning Department to reserve any of these items or schedule training.

Lighting & Sound

Light has different characteristics. Hard light is direct and creates sharp shadows, like the sun on a clear day. Soft light is indirect and results in few shadows, like classroom fluorescents. Quality and placement of light is more important than amount of light. The most common lighting model diffuses light from three different angles to a single point, i.e., instructor, student, etc. Indirect natural light can be very useful as well. Recording whiteboard-based instruction is tricky as these surfaces easily reflect light back into the lens. Contact eLearning Department staff to schedule recording time if you want to produce a whiteboard-based video.

Whenever possible use either a clip-on or handheld microphone to record sound. Use one clip-on microphone per person. If recording multiple people simultaneously, provide each their own clip-on microphone. Place both the clip-on microphone and/or handheld microphone relatively close to the speaker's mouth. Make sure the top of the microphone is unobstructed and not touching anything.

Editing

The eLearning Department supports general video editing for faculty, such as trimming, adding text, and basic effects like fade and filters. Department editing projects are conducted using either Apple iMovie or Adobe Premier Pro. Contact eLearning Department staff for more information on these services. See the Additional Resources section below as well.

Hosting & Streaming

A secure hosting service is needed to stream video within ANGEL. Such services allow users to upload content to video servers and in turn provide their users with the embed code to deliver (i.e., stream) that content elsewhere on the Web (e.g., ANGEL). Faculty may either independently use an appropriate secure video hosting service (e.g., YouTube), or use the secure video hosting service that the eLearning Department uses, SproutVideo. Click here for directions on the second option. Please DO NOT store any video files within ANGEL, as this results in rapid degradation of server space needed for critical system tasks.