Alec Couros has been modeling a method of instructing online that others should consider. Visit his site for the course - Computers in Classrooms. He has a list of sessions by invited speakers (a useful archive for future courses and profs from other institutions), tech/learning/education videos, tutorials, etc. He has been streaming the elluminate presentations in ustream, so non-class members can attend the lectures. My only suggestion: record the elluminate sessions with camtasia (for higher quality archives) and export to audio files for people who prefer to listen to podcasts instead of watching a screen. A great example of how to use technology to increase the effectiveness of student learning and to knock a few holes in the rigid concept of “a classroom”.
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I’ve considered that audio-only versions and should really experiment with that next. Thanks for reminding me.
I hadn’t considered Camtasia, partly because I use a Mac. When I’ve used earlier versions of Camtasia, the file sizes were incredibly large, even for a short duration. I don’t have experience with recording something 1 - 1.5 courses, mostly fullscreen. How usable would the Camtasia recordings be for longer recordings like this?
Hi Alec - when we did our online conferences last year, we recorded presentations in camtasia…and set up a podcasting link so people could subscribe to just the mp3s. The full recording of a session (~1 hour) worked quite well. It takes a bit of time rendering it…but it was worth having a decent recording to share with others who could not attend the event…
George
This is really awesome stuff. I know I’ll be coming back here when I teach the kinds of classes I do down here at Eastern Michigan U about technology and writing.
BTW, I’ve used a Mac software called iShowU with some success. It’s pretty cheap, too– I think less than about $25. They’ve got some other kinda cool Mac apps along these lines.