Research Thing 20: Making and sharing podcasts and videos

Here is a Ted Talk I found interesting with Bill Gates discussing a program to bring teacher feedback into the classroom. Australia does better then the US with giving teacher feedback, but it is an informative video on how to get feedback in teaching.  Research on effective teacher feedback is a valuable tool for improving education.

I also listen to a range of podcasts in my personal time, mostly on health related topics of interest, but also about life coaching, spirituality and technology. I can see how podcasts and videos can be valuable data and also to communicate to the world research output. They are becoming more popular and great for visual and auditory learners.

Research Thing 19 : Screen capture tools

I have used Adobe Captivate fairly ofen as part of creating demo videos for information literacy instruction.

My top 5 tips are:

1. Create a storyboard or script of what you would like to include;
2. Run through the tasks that will be demonstrated before recording;
3. Use a clear voice and a good quality podcasting microphone for the audio explanations;
4. Keep the videos bite sized and short so it is not too overwhelming for viewers;
5. Make sure all videos are consistent and professional looking if going on a website (eg. consistent branding, layout, fonts etc.)