Reflections on A/V posting

First I found making good PPT with images very time consuming. I wish there were a way to copy the URL or source information at the same time you copy the picture. Having to copy two things slows down the work. Then, if you are doing a good job like NC did on her Earth show, the source should be included on the slide. More time.

I learned more about the A/V capability of my Mac. Turns out it has a built in microphone which can be used to voice over a slide show. Not quite a screencast, but useful. I think the most useful screencasting tool would be if I had an ActivBoard again or what I imagine the more familiar (to you but not me) SmartBoard. It could record what was being said while actively changing the image on the board, like say writing in data or drawing a circle around something important. There isn't that much that can be done with a screen and powerpoint, unless you want to hide something, then bring it out again.

Getting the voice over to upload was another learning process. I learned that Wikis don't store files, so the file has to go somewhere. The Mac takes the slide show with voice and makes it into a movie, storing it as Quick Time. The voice over greatly increased its size, making it go from a 10 MB ppt to 150 MB. I don't know if it were just the voice or the file type.

Teacher Tube is a bit frustrating because your video isn't available to embed for up to 24 hours and has a limit of 100MB

Uploading video and audio files is very time consuming from home. Maybe this is an advantage of doing it through a web site because the sound is already there. Something else for me to try.

I found the class comments about how different PPT holders differed in what they did to the slide or what they didn't allow to be interesting.

As a tool, I can't see using the web as a repository for slide shows that I would need. They all seem enough of a hassle that if I wanted the slide show, I would just carry it on a flash drive. Maybe posting it has a place for collaborative work, but the upload, download time needs to be considered. I wish the voice over program I used had an edit function so misspeaks could be removed without doing the whole show over. Perhaps it exists somewhere but I am too inexperienced to know it.

I don't think I would do voice over slide shows much for my class because while I might use the visuals, I would rather talk to the class, judging their reactions as cues for what I have to say next, than to talk to the computer.

I had an interesting experience with the Wiki this week that is worth remembering if using a wiki for real time class interaction. I was editing and someone else logged on. The wiki gave me some options, but when I followed what I thought was the best one, it deleted everything I wrote and kept the other person's work. I can see students getting very frustrated if they were all trying to write in something, and some or all the comments were lost because only one at a time could be recorded.