Add closed captioning to your videos with Amara!

Amara is a free transcription tool that allows you to easily create closed captions for videos.  Just open the software, log in to your account, add your URL.  In three easy steps you can playback your video, add captions, set the timing and publish the output.





Instructors should know that laws exist for Americans with Disability Act (ADA); Section 508 ensures that all learning materials are ADA compliant, and Section 504 requires accommodations for those who have a disability. The ID team’s focus is Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 using the WCAG 2.1 Principles as our benchmark.  

For videos, this means you need to have closed captioning or a typed transcript file available.

The functionality of this platform is relatively simple.  You log in to your account, add the URL of your video to the platform.  Once inside, you can listen to the playback of your video while you periodically pause and add the subtitles (closed captioning). You can back up and play again to make sure you don't miss everything.  Once you get all the text listed, you can "sync" the video recording with the subtitles.  You then can playback and align all the text with the appropriate video section.  Once complete you save and can share the end result.

Create animation videos using Moovly

Moovly is an animation video/presenter tool loaded with images, infographics, clips, templates, and animations capable of providing the user with an easy way to create a digital story.




There is a free basic version, but it is a limited trial before one needs to upgrade to the paid version. However, there is an educational version that allows access to a lot of the usable content, for free, no time limit and unlimited downloads of the finished projects.

Instructional Strategy: Concept Formation
Bloom's Levels: Remembering, Understanding, and Applying

• Categorize learning (help students group content based on certain characteristics)
• Explore ideas by making connections
• See relationships between items of information
• Classify objects, events, or ideas
• Compare items of information
• Present a cause & effect relationship
• Sequence items of information

Recording videos inside Canvas - now HTML5

In a recent Canvas update, recording video in the Announcements area, Discussions, or gradebook, no longer require an update/allowing of Adobe Flash.  The video recording tool now works on HTML5 and Flash no longer needs to be addressed.





This is real important as Flash cannot meet the demands of an ever increasing mobile world.  Flash has not been possible on iOS mobile devices for a long time and YouTube is shifting away from Flash toward HTML5.  Frankly Adobe plans on "killing" Flash by the end of 2020 anyway! All things considered, HTML5 operates with great audio and video capabilities and greater coordination with LTIs (Learning Tools Interoperability).

So if you are someone who wants to create an announcement, record some content to place in a discussion thread, or use the video recording to provide a unique form of feedback to your students, HTML5 will be used from this point on, in the Canvas platform. At this point BigBlueButton still requires the use of Flash - though I am hoping that changes at some point!

FlipGrid - a free video discussion platform

FlipGrid is a free web-based video discussion platform which allows instructors to produce a video prompt and allow students to respond in kind.

Microsoft recently acquired FlipGrid which now allows unlimited free access to this web 2.0 too.  This works on Macs and PCs as well as mobile devices with the appropriate app.  Instructors create a free account to create, store and manage the grids and topics for discussion.  Students do not need any downloads or accounts as they access the content from the link and unique access code created at the time of the grid/topic creation.




FlipGrid allows instructors and students to record and share short videos with each other in a private environment with a unique access code for each instance. Lots of different uses come to mind when thinking about using this tool!

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES: Reflection, Digital Storytelling, Express an opinion, Justify your position, Virtual meet/greet

Bloom's Level 3-6 (Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, Creating)

-Flipped Classroom
-Blended Learning
-Formative Assessment
-Maker Movement
-Creativity
-Didactic Questioning

Video recording (Webcam capture) with 123 Apps!

Since YouTube webcam recording and Blackboard's Video Everywhere has stopped working, we need a "workaround" for those who still wish to utilize a personalized video capture for class.

123Apps.com is a free site that contains a number of tools for video recording, audio recording, video converting and many other things.  In this tutorial, you can learn how to create a video recording using your computer and webcam with no additional software needed.

Instructional Strategy: Lecture

Blooms Levels= 1-2 without activity (knowledge, comprehension)

  3-4 with activity (application, analysis)

• Stimulate reflection
• Challenge the imagination
• Develop curiosity and sense of inquiry
• Push content
• Introduce topic/content, followed by a discussion to support the concepts covered in the lecture
• Lecture method should include the types of experiences students will be afforded and the kinds of learning outcomes expected
• Teacher-centered (unless activity is involved)
• Incorporating an activity can help to enforce learning as the attention span of students may be limited
• Lecture should not repeat the textbook but should provide additional information and examples
• Provides the instructor the opportunity to apply the concepts from the book and course to real-world experiences

Can also be used to provide weekly feedback, or periodic feedback like on a large paper/project where students turn in items as drafts to get input.

Recording webcam videos: Video Everywhere no longer works; YouTube no longer works - MAC options

It happens . . . . a company changes something on its website or some technical configuration and stuff you used to be able to do you either can't anymore, or you need a new plan!

Somewhere around Sunday, December 13, 2015, Video Everywhere, a Blackboard webcam video capture tool stopped working with no easy fix in sight.  The culprit is this tool links with your YouTube account to store your completed videos.  This is something that stopped working on April 20, 2015 and wasn't available again until about October.  

Unfortunately, plan B was to do a webcam video recording directly in YouTube.  On the YouTube site there is information to say this will no longer be available on January 16, 2016.  However, I have found it is no longer available NOW!

So, we needed a plan C.  This is a tutorial on how to do this on a Mac.  If you use a Windows PC, there is another tutorial on how to do this!

Instructional Strategy: Lecture

Blooms Levels= 1-2 without activity (knowledge, comprehension)

  3-4 with activity (application, analysis)

• Stimulate reflection
• Challenge the imagination
• Develop curiosity and sense of inquiry
• Push content
• Introduce topic/content, followed by a discussion to support the concepts covered in the lecture
• Lecture method should include the types of experiences students will be afforded and the kinds of learning outcomes expected
• Teacher-centered (unless activity is involved)
• Incorporating an activity can help to enforce learning as the attention span of students may be limited
• Lecture should not repeat the textbook but should provide additional information and examples
• Provides the instructor the opportunity to apply the concepts from the book and course to real-world experiences

Can also be used to provide weekly feedback, or periodic feedback like on a large paper/project where students turn in items as drafts to get input.

Recording Webcam Videos: YouTube no longer works; Video Everywhere no longer works - Windows PC option

It happens . . . . a company changes something on its website or some technical configuration and stuff you used to be able to do you either can't anymore, or you need a new plan!

Somewhere around Sunday, December 13, 2015, Video Everywhere, a Blackboard webcam video capture tool stopped working with no easy fix in sight.  The culprit is this tool links with your YouTube account to store your completed videos.  This is something that stopped working on April 20, 2015 and wasn't available again until about October.  

Unfortunately, plan B was to do a webcam video recording directly in YouTube.  On the YouTube site there is information to say this will no longer be available on January 16, 2016.  However, I have found it is no longer available NOW!

So, we needed a plan C.  This is a tutorial on how to do this on a Windows PC.  If you use a Mac, there is another tutorial on how to do this!





So, if you are interested in using your webcam to capture video on your computer, for things like lectures, explanations, storytelling and video feedback, this tutorial will show you a new option for doing this.

Instructional Strategy: Lecture

Blooms Levels= 1-2 without activity (knowledge, comprehension)

  3-4 with activity (application, analysis)

• Stimulate reflection
• Challenge the imagination
• Develop curiosity and sense of inquiry
• Push content
• Introduce topic/content, followed by a discussion to support the concepts covered in the lecture
• Lecture method should include the types of experiences students will be afforded and the kinds of learning outcomes expected
• Teacher-centered (unless activity is involved)
• Incorporating an activity can help to enforce learning as the attention span of students may be limited
• Lecture should not repeat the textbook but should provide additional information and examples
• Provides the instructor the opportunity to apply the concepts from the book and course to real-world experiences

Can also be used to provide weekly feedback, or periodic feedback like on a large paper/project where students turn in items as drafts to get input.