Instructional Technology Newsletter 17

The Instructional Technology Studio

George Guba, Instructional Designer

December 2015

The Instructional Production Studio, located in Wenger 403, is a space devoted to faculty for producing digital materials and content for their courses. The studio offers a variety of options in terms of media creation and has a suite of software and hardware tools.

Video in the studio

One of the key ingredients in the mix is the video studio. The studio is established to allow for the creation of high quality video production. There is a high resolution video camera, wireless audio, and professional lighting. There are three backgrounds to choose from. Gray or brown backgrounds can be chosen based on which would make the better “pop” and prevent the speaker from blending in. The third option is a green screen. This allows for using chroma key to replace the background with graphics or video. Click here for a quickly produced example of a video using green screen/chroma keying.

The studio can also be configured to conduct and record interviews. This might be helpful if you have a guest lecturer or visiting scholar that you wish to interview or discuss topics and use the materials in your campus and online courses.

Images, Graphics, and More!

Also available in the studio is a suite of Adobe Products. This includes Adobe Premiere which is our primary production and video editing suite. However it also includes Photoshop and Illustrator for images, Dreamweaver for web design, Flash and Fireworks for interactive design, and more.

Screen Capture

Camtasia allows you to create videos with screen capture techniques to which you can also add audio, video, notes and callouts, and more. Camtasia also allows you to edit the videos you have created.

SmartBoard

There is a SMART Board in the studio, integrated with a PC and a high quality microphone. You can display and “mark up” the SMART Board just as you do in the classroom, and record your voice and whatever is displayed on the board.

Voice Over PowerPoint and MORE!

We also have high quality audio equipment to help you narrate your PowerPoint presentations.

Come to work. Come to play. You can also just book some time to experiment as well. George Guba, Instructional Designer at Mary Baldwin can help you learn how to use the studio and can help with production questions. George also books the studio. Contact him at gguba@marybaldwin.edu.

Here are some comments from faculty and staff that have used the resources available in the studio:

Louise Freeman

I was able to record a narrated and annotated Powerpoint lecture on the Smartboard for my Psych 101 class to view when I was away at a conference. I also have been able to record a talk I did for Psi Chi on post-traumatic stress disorder in the Hunger Games (in celebration of the premiere of the last Mockingjay movie) and make it available not only for students who could not come to the on-campus talk, but also to people outside the college through several young adult literature blogs.

Steve Grande

I had the ambitious and way too lofty plan of using the summer to convert many of my power point presentations in my History and Theories of Leadership course to dynamic videos that students would view out of class to free up class time for discussion and activities. While I did not come anywhere close to achieving my plan, I do feel good about the video I created and hope to do more in the future. My goal was to make the information that I presented somewhat didactically in class more dynamic in a video that students could watch at their own pace. I had no need to be seen in the video. Instead, I wanted to be able to show students material that was on the PowerPoint, Blackboard and in other places on the web. That’s why I selected Camtasia which is a screen capture program. Basically it records whatever you are showing on your desktop while you provide a voice over. It also allows you to add some graphics, like arrows, highlighting and other accents. What I didn’t account for was that this takes planning time. When I showed up in the recording studio, I discovered that things took a bit longer than I had imagined. While that was frustrating, it also pushed me to be more creative and thoughtful about how I wanted to introduce the content. Another challenge is making a video that is cohesive and that students will actually watch. I wanted to limit my video to small key points and juicy nuggets. I’m not sure i accomplished that, but that is still my goal.

Anaya Jones

I particularly enjoy the quality of the sound recording equipment available in the studio. It is much better than the audio recorded on my webcam, and so I usually record audio for the library videos in the studio. I’m looking forward to using the studio to create podcasts and other lectures for students.

Maria Craig

This is a good example of how the studio can be used to highlight work that students are performing with faculty on projects in their field of study. This type of video can be used to tell audiences, such as prospective students or prospective donors, about projects that students are involved in. We plan to post the video on the Mary Baldwin chemistry web site. In addition, Celine Brooks ’16 will send it with a report to the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for her Undergraduate Research Award that provided funds for the project this past summer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpW1XtlXzVA

About the Committee:The Instructional Technology Committee at Mary Baldwin University is a faculty committee made up of representatives from the faculty and the Instructional Technology staff at Mary Baldwin. The Current Committee is:

Pam Bailey
Carol Creager
Doris Dodson
Krissy Egan, Chair
Kari Frenz
George Guba
Ben Herz
Chandra Mason
Reid Oechslin
Beverly Riddell
Laura van Assendelft

The charter of the committee is to:

  • Provide a forum for input to the Instructional Technology staff on the relative value of technological improvements from a pedagogical perspective.
  • Be a champion and example for technology enhanced teaching within their schools
  • Try out new technologies that seem promising
  • Develop and share best practices & rubrics for technology enhanced teaching
  • Recommend equipment and management for mixed use (instructional and non-instructional) space
  • This committee meets as necessary.

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