How can Pace create professional video of diverse teaching, learning, and research activities for students on both campuses and online? One strategy could be developing our tools for remote production.
This diagram shows a basic overview of how we can use the tools we already have (laptops, phones, and PTZ cameras) to streamline on-demand broadcasting. 4K cameras can broadcast high-quality (and well-positioned) images while personal laptops and phones broadcast presentations. A remote operator can “live produce” the materials, or the outputs can be automated for regular events.
I recently attended NewTek’s “Enrich Flex/Hybrid Learning” event on emerging broadcasting possibilities powered by AV-over-IP technology. The event covered the following:
Learn how the IP-based lecture capture and micro-broadcasting services connect any room on campus or any meeting room in the business to anywhere in the world. Easy to implement and fully autonomous, CaptureCast a ground-breaking multi-input, multi-room recording and live streaming technology drives active participation, engagement, and experience for remote and hybrid learning.
We currently use NewTek’s TriCaster system in the OLC for capturing, recording, and broadcasting events to Zoom. But NewTek offers other equipment and software (e.g., CaptureCast) that can go further, and help us expand video services to the Pleasantville campus (and beyond!) in interesting ways.
A highlight of the session for me was reflecting on ways that “networked video production” (NVP… my coinage?) is different from other software-driven solutions. Zoom, for example, is organized around the idea of the host running the show. An NVP environment allows much more flexibility for live production with multiple streams.
The end result can be a single stream of content or multiple resources (e.g., different camera views, audio tracks, etc.). NVP can be made incredibly efficient or very sophisticated, and inspires me to think about different ways to package course content for different audiences.
What kind of materials could we create if we had multi-camera set-ups in Pace classrooms? How can a video-driven asynchronous experience be different than the live one?
So, you’re making an instructional video, and you want to make it more visually interesting. A great way to add information and visual appeal to your video starts with using a green screen. In this post, I walk through a couple different ways to think about using one.
Creating Compositions
A great way to approach any instructional video is by thinking about the ways a student may watch and re-watch a video. How big will their screen be? Will they be on a laptop or a phone? Will they be willing to spend 20 straight minutes watching your video, or will they watch it 5 minutes at a time?
Like a traditional movie or show, instructional video should be clear and compelling. Even with lower production values (e.g., fewer explosions, chase scenes, or comedic mishaps), a lecture can be exciting when delivered with enthusiasm. But no amount of enthusiasm will help if the details are confusing.
Consider the design elements that impact your communication, and create a visual composition that orients your audience to your message.
Pace Professor David Dorfman discusses the work of paralegals. In this video, the composition includes a simple (blue) background, the Pace logo, presentation slides, and the speaker.
Take-aways:
• Branding and titling your content reinforces the purpose and intention of a student’s learning goals. While it may seem boring, it does more work than you think!
• Presentation slides should be clear. If you are putting content on your slide, take time to address it. If your slides are wordy, unpack them.
• Page numbers are less important for videos, as you may refer to video timecode later on. But if you want students to refer back to the presentation, – especially if it’s longer than 5 minutes – use page numbers.
Once you’ve established this “master” composition, you can certainly switch to other “scenes” (e.g., presentation-only, speaker-only, or related media). But while editing with cuts can help hold a viewer’s attention, it can be disorienting. I suggest using cuts much more judiciously with instructional video, if at all.
No cuts!? Just one long video?? While it seems counterintuitive to what we often hear about video (i.e, “make it shorter” “no one watches onion video for very long”), students have many tools to watch a long video in a way that works for them. For example, some students may change the playback speed to better match their needs, or have turned on closed captioning. Other students might watch your video a few minutes at a time, and bookmark points to come back to later. These software-driven playback options mean that a simple, great composition can be the best creative option.
Plates and Lighting Effects
Another approach to using a green screen is by using a meaningful background. While one-color backgrounds are easy, they can also be unmemorable. What background sets the scene for your topic? What background would be more memorable or meaningful to your students?
This approach takes a little more planning. Creating a background for a “keyed” shot (i.e., a shot with the green screen successfully removed with software) offers a lot of creative flexibility. In addition to a high-quality image, you want to create a background that works well for your composition. But pay attention to your lighting! Importantly, you will need to light the speaker in the studio in a way that approximates the look of the plate (in this context, the background image is called a “plate”).
Pace Professor Sophie Kaufman created a series of videos on mindfulness. While it was more convenient to shoot her script in the OLC studio, she wanted the video to look like it was shot in her home studio. She used her iPhone to take multiple photographs of her space with different lighting, and OLC staff selected and manipulated an image to create this plate.
Proper lighting in the studio will give you the image you need to composite your plate with your speaker video in postproduction. While it requires some tweaking (and attention to detail), the process is fairly easy to learn and execute.
• 21.5 hours of consultations with faculty in Dyson, Health, and Pace Online.
• 61 videos (650 minutes total) produced and edited for courses in Accounting, Law, and Pace Online.
Updates and Highlights
Summer is a great time to tackle bigger projects. Maybe you want to create new media for a course, or kickstart a production that will evolve over time. This month over a dozen faculty have come to the OLC with new projects in mind, and many productions have already started to take shape.
Professor Sophie Kaufman is creating a series of videos on mindfulness for the College of Health Professions. Her goal is for all Pace students and staff to have access to resources for bringing “mindfulness practice” into our lives.Professor David Dorfman is creating the first resources for Pace’s forthcoming Paralegal Certificate Program. Multiple faculty from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law will ultimately contribute to this new online (asynchronous) program that will support a students and professionals seeking to expand their work in the field of law.
Whether you’re teaching a course for the first time or the twentieth, it’s a great idea to create fresh videos that support your learning goals. And with the support of the Online Learning Center, it’s easy!
Short videos keep students engaged, both online and in person. Here are some common approaches to creating video for courses:
• Introducing topics
• Capturing multimedia presentations
• Live demonstrations (with a screen, whiteboard, or software)
• Editing existing videos
Professor Cohen introduces a chapter on international management for his Summer 2022 course.
An example of our work: OLC staff worked with Professor Marty Cohen to create 15 short videos (5-10 minutes each) for his asynchronous summer course. To accomplish this, Professor Cohen prepared by creating notes on each “chapter” module of his course, and spoke extemporaneously to introduce each chapter in an informal and engaging way. In total, recording these videos took 3 hours in the studio, and then the files were uploaded to his course.
Ready to plan your project? Book studio time or request a studio tour by emailing OLC staff at olc@pace.edu. Use our online calendar to check availability for upcoming dates.
• 27.5 hours of consultations with faculty in Dyson, Education, Health, and Pace Online.
• 55 videos (940 minutes total) produced and edited for courses (Accounting, Education, Management) and special events (Pace Online Graduation).
Updates and highlights
• The Higher Education Administration and Student Affairs (HEASA) Capstone event was hosted in the OLC with a live audience and live broadcast.
• Pace Online Graduation was produced by and broadcast from the OLC.
• Planning is underway to develop video series for the Fall ’22 semester, including courses in Accounting, Biology, Computer Science, Film Studies, Finance, and Health.
A screenshot from “Pace Online Graduation 2022” event produced at the OLC.Recording a professional collaboration for the College of Health Professions.
I started working in the Online Learning Center at the beginning of the spring semester during my sophomore year at Pace. I wanted to work here because it fell under the umbrella of my major, Film and Screen Studies, along with my minor, Digital Media Studies, because it involves filming, creating digital media for informational purposes, and editing videos or content optimized for faculty and promoting the OLC.
Working here allowed me to expand my knowledge in all areas of production: pre-production, live production, and post production. I learned how to properly prepare and setup for shoots by creating a checklist, a shot-list, and going through a few rehearsals before I hear the word “rolling.” I even learned the basics and fundamentals of the TriCaster which is like the systems that the News and Talk Shows use when recording. During live-production, I learned how to transition smoothly and wait for proper cue signals and body language when recording someone live. I also learned how to maneuver with the controls and set up a shoot in the system with its proper content and added graphics and animations. There is not as much post-production involved as there is pre and live, but when there is, I mainly use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit and export Ads made to display outside of the OLC. We have made a few Ads the past few months, some being strictly digital and some where we had our finest actors of the OLC,showcase in front of the camera, what goes on when preparing for a shoot!
When the studio is not occupied, myself and other OLC staff do our best to improve the studio such as recording tutorials for future faculty. For example, I would spend time learning and mastering how to use the green screen on three different applications; Zoom, iMovie, and OBS, and then made personalized tutorials for when faculty may need a hand. I recorded three different tutorials for each application going step by step and featured it on the OLC blog where faculty can easily access it if in need of help. There are many transferable skills that I have learned while working at the OLC and cannot wait for what more is to come next semester in the fall!
• 25 hours of consultations with faculty in Dyson, Seidenberg, Health, Law, and Pace Online.
• 19 videos (272 minutes total) produced for courses (Biology, Education, Finance), programs (Health), and special events (Pace Online Graduation).
Updates and Highlights
• Brian developed the AV design and specifications of a new “Selfshot” video production station. The goal is to test possibilities for future OLC studio spaces located on the Pleasantville campus.
• Professor Joanne Singleton and her team from the College of Health Professions (and beyond) were in the OLC all day shooting a series of interviews with a variety of healthcare professionals. They used the OLC teleprompter to stay on script, and relied on “Pawfessor Spirit” to maintain a serious-but-fun atmosphere.
On the calm-yet-energetic College of Health Professions set.Editing Suite C became a make-up studio.Editing Suite D became a hair studio.
The OLC’s primary goal is to integrate multimedia learning effectively into Pace’s curriculum. With the ongoing COVD-19 pandemic, learning online has become a new normal. This blog post will detail the best ways to keep students attentive and engaged while attending classes online.
A 2003 study by Mayer, R. E., & Moreno R shows that humans learn more deeply from combining words and pictures than from words alone. Multimedia instruction is therefore defined as “presenting words and pictures that are intended to foster learning” (Mayer, 2009). The cognitive theory of multimedia learning makes three assumptions about how the mind works: there are two separate channels (auditory and visual) for processing information; channel capacity is minimal and can hold very little information for short periods; and that learning is an active process of filtering, selecting, organizing, and integrating information.
Multimedia content that doesn’t directly contribute to learning can overload and exceed the processing capacity of the cognitive system; this is known as cognitive overload (Sweller, 1988).
To support learning with video, you should be intentional about your design to reduce extraneous processing and manage the necessary processing of the material.
Listed below are methods that reduce the chances of cognitive overload in multimedia learning.
In conclusion, multimedia learning can significantly benefit students if done correctly.
Key takeaways: balance the two separate channels (auditory and visual) by using exciting graphics, music, and sharing helpful information.
Avoid overloading with unessential information that will lull students’ interest/ be easily forgotten.
OLC student assistants greet Pawfessor Spirit, assisting with video preproduction for Pace’s College of Health Professions.Drew and Lara working on developing graphics for Pace Online graduation livestreams.
Curious about recording your screen while you talk? In this tutorial, OLC staff member Drew shows how to Screencast while using OBS:
For making live recordings of your online syllabus and materials, OBS is a fantastic tool that can help both teachers and students alike!
With OBS, you can record yourself speaking and click as you show your slides/ syllabus on screen. You can then upload that footage straight into Classes.
Here I am creating “scenes” in OBS.Here’s my recorded screencast.
