Paul Riismandel » streaming media

Conference Video: Making Effective Online Video for Education

Paul — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:39:29 +0000

I moderated a panel on educational video at the Streaming Media West conference this past November, and video of that session is now up for viewing online at ScribeMedia.org. I was very impressed by the panelists, each of them bringing a unique perspective on the question of what makes effective online video for education. I already knew John Tubbs, who also works at the University of Illinois. I invited him to participate because of his passion for good quality audio and video. Beyond aesthetics, John has been researching the physiological reasons why good audio matters and why bad audio might impair comprehension and retention. He brings up some of his research in this session. I shared a panel last year with Richard Bloom, who is the coursecast administrator for the excellent Webcast site at the University of California - Berkeley. I was glad Richard could make it because Berkeley is really emphasizing the value of publicly sharing their videos along with using as many open source tools as possible. I met Chuck Allen from CSU San Marcos and Scott Szczurek from the CME Group in Chicago for the first time the evening before the panel. Chuck has the distinct privilege of having built the media capture and distribution infrastructure at San Marcos, since the university is less than twenty years old. He shares some choice wisdom based upon his experience there. I was glad to have Scott on board for the panel to bring us the perspective of someone producing video for internal training and education, demonstrating that educators of all stripes share a lot of the same challenges and can benefit from sharing solutions.

Course-Capture Is Poised To Blow Up In ‘08

admin — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:41:39 +0000

I think 2008 is going to be a big year in educational video, where more forward-looking universities and colleges will be devising and implementing campus-wide media strategies. Key to such strategies are production and ingest, and commercial course-capture systems are one way to simplify this.

The downside to course-capture systems, like Echo360, Tegrity, Mediasite and Accordent (to name just four) is cost. Depending on which system one chooses there can be a pretty signficant initial capital outlay on equipment and software, followed by annual license costs. However, compared to sending out an army of undergraduates armed with camcorders across a campus, course capture systems are a cleaner, often more scalable solution.

Where even just two years ago online video was seen as something mostly in the domain of distance education, increasingly it’s being used to supplement and enhance traditional in-class, brick and mortar instruction. Today’s NY Times has an article on the rising use of these systems to provide in-class course lecture videos to students as streams or podcast, focusing on big universities like Perdue and Kansas State, in addition to commuter schools like El Centro College in Texas.

Like smart clasrooms and learning management systems, the time is very near where students and faculty will come to regard course-capture as an expectation rather than a nicety. Being able to review course lectures will be a factor in choosing a college or university for an increasing number of top students.

Many top-tier institutions would like to think that course-capture is mostly for lazy students who want to cut class or for lower-achieving students who need all the help they can get. On the former, I think they’re wrong. My experience is that the students who will cut class because they think they can make it up by watching the video are inclined to cut class anyway. These are the students who jam my department’s servers the night before an exam thinking they can somehow watch and digest a half-semester of biology in one night.

In fact, what I think we’re finding is that it’s the motivated student who benefits most from being able to review course-lectures, since they allow her to check the accuracy of her own notes by going right to the source. The student already prepared to do well will only further excel when given additional tools and resources. The student who is struggling but wants to do well will also benefit by using videos as a virtual tutor and a way to jog her memory.

Now, course-capture is not suited to every sort of course. Small enrollment classes that focus heavily on discussion and interaction with the instructor may not prove as valuable on video. But large lecture courses with a dominant lecture component are ripe.

There are a lot of ways to go about course-capture. But I think the university or college that doesn’t start working on a strategy now is going to find itself struggling as peer institutions charge ahead.

The Future of Educational Video? or The Blair Witch Podcast

Paul — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:32:20 +0000

My latest education column for Streaming Media Magazine is now online:

You’re watching an online video. The scene is dimly lit. There’s just a single harsh light on our subject’s face in extreme close-up. The sound, while understandable, is full of popped Ps and distorted peaks.

Is this a sequel to the Blair Witch Project, or a video podcast for Political Science 101? Or is this the future of educational video?

The do-it-yourself approach to video has taken the internet by storm, and more instructors and students are taking up the call to use digital media to enhance learning. As both a media producer and educator I think this is a great trend. Yet, like a weary English teacher at a slam poetry competition, I can’t help but think that the quality could be a lot better with some attention to the basics.

Read more at StreamingMedia.com…

What Does BitTorrent Think of Comcast Now?

Paul — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:18:44 +0000

I’m in San Jose, CA for Streaming Media West, an online media conference, which begins tomorrow. I’m very interested in hearing tomorrow’s keynote by Ashwin Navin, President & Co-Founder of BitTorrent, who is talking about how a commercial P2P network can be used to distribute legal audio and video content. I hope he’ll address the recent revelation about Comcast interfering with its customers BitTorrent traffic and how that might be affecting his company’s business model. I can’t imagine he can ignore the issue — otherwise it’ll be the 900 pound gorilla in the room (and I’ll ask the question myself). My experience in the online media industry is that network neutrality is the issue nobody wants to talk about too much, both because regulation is rarely a popular issue, and because there is the real hope that it isn’t needed. Unfortunately, Comcast’s interference with BitTorrent traffic–regardless of whether the shared content is permitted to be shared or not–is the single most clear example of a non-neutral network in action. So I’m very curious what BitTorrent thinks about Net Neutrality now. I’ll be sure to blog this keynote the best I can (delayed a few moments due to the fact there’s no wifi in the presentation rooms themselves).