On websites such as SlidesCarnival and SlidesGo, you can create colorful and vibrant themes for your presentations.
These slides are compatible with Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Canva (if you aren’t familiar with Canva we have a blog post about how it operates).
Each theme comes with fonts, images, graph templates, icons, and more.
Here is how it looks once I have opened the theme above into Google Slides
First, you must make a copy of the document, and then you are free to edit however you please.
There are even have tutorials on how to use their software within different apps!
There are hundreds of free themes and additionally, there are subscriptions that give you access to more slides.
I had the good fortune of virtually attending SXSW EDU events this week, including sessions on lessons learned from pandemic education, the hybrid university, the science of learning, and accessibility & inclusion. All of these areas touch on the value and possibility of instructional multimedia.
The online “channel.”
The Live Stream
One of the more interesting aspects of attending the conference online was seeing how they used their website(s) to organize, broadcast, and network content. And in what ways they failed.
The image above shows the web-based “channel” view of the conference, and I understand they also published live video and VOD (“videos on demand”) to TV apps (e.g. Amazon Fire, Roku, Apple TV, etc).
Online, they dedicated space on the right for “Chat” and “Q&A,” although in the 6 live sessions I attended, there was not much interaction. In fact, it was mostly used as a space to bring technical issues to the attention of the event staff (and I am certainly guilty of this!), such as:
– Looping ads and schedule issues (running late?)
– No or low audio.
Despite there being ample SXSW website presence, there was no other “channel” for solving these problems. Other attendees reported no response form the virtual Helpdesk.
Virtual Networking
Crickets. A total dud. For most of the week, the “Social Networking” link on any event brought you to a centralized networking website with a searchable A-Z directory. The plug-in that tied this app into the video platform was evidently broken until the last day of the conference. But it’s hard to know if it was used. Here’s an effort I made to say hi to a presenter:
No response.
The Schedule
Overall I found the web experience confusing, with an unclear relationship between the pre-event website and the paid/login-only “SXSW EDU SCHEDULE” platform. However, the web-based tool to create my own conference schedule by “favoriting” sessions was helpful, as it became my go-to starting point each day.
Each event was coded (see below), but it was not always clear how or when a session would be accessible via video (or not):
“Live” events are live-streamed, and also available as video-on-demand (“VOD”).
I still am not sure what “online” means, because nothing about a session with only that code was online except the description. And it was not clear when “VOD” sessions would be made available, or for how long.
Final Thoughts
While claims of “moonshots” and “radical transformations” abounded, the main takeaway from many sessions was that the COVID-19 pandemic caused educators to use increasingly mixed modalities to support student learning outcomes, and that this was a good thing. As a recent meta-analysis shows, adding video elements to any kind of course can enhance learning outcomes.
At the OLC, I love to create new ads with fun graphics and texts using the graphic design software known as Canva. I learned about Canva back in January making social media digital promotional videos for the company Boosted, where I have an internship.
With Canva, I learned that you can make all different kinds of graphics, thumbnails, advertisements, instagram posts, and even presentations. Its variety of options range from making a corporate professional ad all the way to calm or silly videos. It’s even great for creating professional backgrounds for green screen users.
I was lucky to have access to the pro version, and I’ve used it to make advertisements for the OLC, videos for social media, as well as fun animated titles (and intertitle) cards.
My Canva homepage!
Canva has the ability to let me pick and choose what kind of format I would like, whether it be an ad, a background, or an instagram post, and will let me adjust the size of it. Then:
– Under the templates tab is where I search for a themed template, or I can create one on my own.
– Under the elements tab, I can pull fun animated or standstill graphics and can choose from a variety of graphic options.
– Under the Uploads tab, is where I can upload any media of my own that I would like to use such as images and videos.
– Under the audio tab is where I can upload any music of my choice and incorporate it into the video anywhere of my liking.
– Under the Logo tab, is where I can upload any company logos and add animations to them if I wanted.
A Canva canvas, with stock animations on the left.
If this software sounds helpful, I highly recommend it! You can try it for free, as Pace does not currently have a subscription. It has definitely come in handy for whenever I needed any easy way to create and animate animations, advertisements, and fun videos.
Pace Sophomore Lara Gedeon has come aboard the Online Learning Center team for the Spring 2022 semester. Get to know Lara in this video she produced with Open Broadcaster Software and Adobe Premiere on an iMac here in the OLC.
Explain Everything is a powerful (and subscription-based) application for creating multimedia video tutorials. Here’s an elevator pitch that caught my attention for our work here in the OLC:
A professor of mathematics at Pace brought her recent work with this app to my attention today. Over the past two years, she has recorded hundreds of “explainer” videos featuring math problems. Very cool!
Though it does not yet support adding live video to a workspace, it does record live audio, so you can talk while you work. Here’s what a blank canvas looks like:
When you see a canvas this blank, you know you have some production work ahead.
Once you’ve recorded a session, you can use the editing tools within the app to make changes. This is very handy, and a good opportunity to add details to your presentation. Here’s a quick overview by a co-founder of the company:
Visual elements like backgrounds and gifs can make recordings fun, and also help demarcate content sections for re-watching ease.
Here in the OLC, you can create similar content by using our Wacom One and Open Broadcaster Software.
Have ideas for creating media like this? Contact us to set up a consultation or book studio time!
Joe Seijo and I (Brian Hughes) just delivered a Zoom webinar for faculty called “Create Engaging Videos for Classes.” Here is the recording (which, for all of my emphasis on creating layered video, iconically doesn’t include my talking head overlay on my slides due to a heretofore unknown limitation in Zoom).
A screenshot from the Q&A sesh.
This session focused on strategies for creating videos as course content using Pace’s Online Learning Center. Whether the goal is a presentation, demonstration, or another format, we covered basic steps, creative options, and best practices for producing engaging videos. We provided an overview of the center’s technology and capacities, and also provided tips and best practices for those who record videos from home.
38 faculty members attended, and about again as many expressed interest in the recorded webinar to view at a later time.
When the subject of a video is poorly lit for the camera, resolution and color is lost. In general, more light is better (low lighting can be great, but the camera has to be up to the task!). We’re always working against the inverse square law of light, so keep this in mind when calculating the power and placement of your lighting.
Source: Unknown.
To better light our subjects and sets, we’ve acquired a new set of lights:
Our new GVM LED “Bi-Color Soft 1200D” studio lighting.
Do you ever want to write, draw, or annotate text on screen during a live recording? The OLC has a Wacom One Pen Tablet that can allow you to record your drawings and annotations clearly for students to see. The image below is an example of recording in OBS while using the green screen, using the Wacom tablet to write in a painting app.
Screenshot from annotation video
To record the Wacom, the OBS is set up as in the screenshot below. Make sure you have your green screen setup and your Chroma Key and Color correction Key already setup. Also, it is important to have the paint app open and displaying on the Wacom monitor before you record (or broadcast) it. Proceed to add in your Display Capture effect and select the Wacom Monitor. Once this is activated, layer your iMac Cam 2 and Monitor 2 accordingly, and you will have successfully setup to stream and annotate in OBS!
SS of OBS setup
The Wacom Tablet is a mini iPad-like device normally used for drawing/graphic design purposes on softwares such as Paint and Photoshop. Below is an example of a professor using the Wacom Tablet to write and show examples of math problems while streaming it to his students, making it easier and clear for them to see.
For presentations that require basic editing, iMovie might be the right tool to use. With iMovie, you can make simple cuts and transitions, and add audio elements (a soundtrack!). Curious if this is right for you? In this 5-minute tutorial, OLC staff member Lara shows how to create a presentation video in a iMovie using a green screen.
For a more simple approach with only one “scene” (a slideshow presentation), see Lara’s tutorial on using Zoom.
