Using video

Clips from camcorders with desktop editing

With the availability of high-quality digital videocameras, cheap recording and storage media and consumer-level software capable of quality editing on the desktop, video has become an affordable option for enhancing e-learning material. Enthusiastic individual trainers can achieve good results, or development teams can prepare quality content on a budget.

Adding video to your e-learning materials can really make them engaging and provide an alternative to the "sit and read this…" model that is used so often. Video meets the preferences of those students with a predominantly auditory and visual learning style. A quick minute or two minute video segment can get across as much information as several screens of text.

If you are going to use video make sure it is worth it. Just having a 'talking head' may not be the most appropriate use of the technology. Demonstrations and active scenes make best use of the medium.

One of the main problems of including video, or movie media in your resources is the size of the files and the time they take to download. There are, however, a few ways you can overcome the download problem.

Converting video to Flash

Converting video and digital movies to Flash formatted files reduces their size and allows them to download at the same time as you are viewing them. This is called progressive download.

Video to Flash conversion programs

There are a number of programs that you can use to convert video from a range of formats to Flash format. Flash videos can exist in two formats:

Shockwave Flash (swf)
Flash Video (flv).

Videos in swf format need to be downloaded completely before they can be viewed. Flv files can be progressively downloaded and viewed when only a small part of the file has been downloaded. Producing a swf video file is very simple. Creating and adding a FLV file requires some editing of the web page to indicate which flv file the flash player is to present to the student.

When you have recorded your video on your digital video camera, you need to download it to your computer using the software that came with the camera. To convert the video to Flash, you need to use a conversion program such as one of the ones listed below. During the conversion process you will be able to select an appropriate video size and quality. If you make the size or quality too high you will end up with large files that take a long time to down load.

If you have large video files you may consider converting them to Flash Video (flv) format. FLV video files can be played as progressivly downloaded files. This means you start viewing the file when a small part has downloaded. You don’t need to wait for the whole file to download. FLV videos need to be played from a flash player embedded in a web page in your learning resource.

Hosting videos on a streaming video server

Another way to provide video in your materials is to link to the video file that is located on a streaming server. Streaming video services are provided by such sites as YouTube and TeacherTube. These services provide you with an html tag that allows you to embed the video in you own web pages.

TeacherTube http://www.teachertube.com
TeacherTube provides an online community for sharing instructional videos. Community members in TeacherTube can:

Upload, tag and share videos worldwide.
Upload support files to attach your educational actvities, assessments, lesson plans, notes, and other file formats to your video.
Browse hundreds of videos uploaded by community members.
Find, join and create video groups to connect with people who have similar interests.
Customize the experience by subscribing to member videos, saving favorites, and creating playlists.
Integrate TeacherTube videos on websites using video embeds or APIs.
Make videos public or private - users can elect to broadcast their videos publicly or share them privately with those they invite.

You can copy the tag for your video and paste it into your own web page.

YouTube http://www.youtube.com
YouTube is very similar to teacherTube but more widely used by non-educational users.

Both YouTube and TeacherTube provide a tag that you can copy and paste into your own web page. This will embed the video in you page so your students can see the video from the web page you create. Here is an example html tag for embedding video from a streaming server in you web page.

<object width="425"  height="355">

  <param name="movie"  value="http://www.youtube.com/YOUR FILE NAME HERE"></param>

  <param name="wmode"  value="transparent"></param>

  <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/ YOUR  FILE NAME HERE " type="application/x-shockwave-flash"  wmode="transparent" width="425"  height="355"></embed>

  </object>

You can add other content to the web page in which you have embedded the video to provide a context for the video or set tasks for students to complete when they have viewed the video.

Google Video http://video.google.com.au/
Google only provides you with a link to the Google web page which displays the video and not an embedding link to place the video in your own web page.

Resources

Riva FLV Player http://www.rivavx.com/
Riva converts most common movie files into a Flash Video (flv) format. FLV files are small and play almost as soon as they start downloading. At present you can convert the following video formats: AVI, MPEG, Quicktime, WMV. Riva has a number of preset settings to make conversion very simple. Riva also allows you to crop areas out of your video and to extract still images from your video.
To play a FLV movie you will need to place in it a Flash Shockwave File (swf) based player. You can download a copy of a Flash Movie player here.
Video to Flash Converter http://www.geovid.com/Video_to_Flash_Converter/
Video to Flash Converter is an easy to use program for converting your AVI digital video to SWF Flash format. Video to Flash Converter provide SWF files ready for the web or ready to be streamed across internet connections. You have full control over the converted Flash Video: video quality, frame rate, size, duration and other parameters. You do not need any special programs or plugins to create SWF video file, simply select and convert Video to swf Flash file. As you save the swf file you can select to create an html file at the same time with the flash file embedded in it. You can then open this page using a HTML editor and add other content around the video presentation.