This guide is intended primarily for students who have been asked to record a video for an assignment, but is general enough that faculty members should be able to benefit as well. This is not an in-depth tutorial for recording and editing video as that is too vast a topic for a single support document, but does provide some guidelines and approaches that can help point you in the right direction as you begin to create your content.
Students generally do not have access to the same content creation tools as faculty do, so many of the suggestions below are based around either built-in tools that are common on most computers or mobile devices, or in the case of Powerpoint, software the students have access to through a campus license.
What kind of video are you making?
Before you record a video, you will need to plan out what the end result will look like. Different types of videos will benefit from different recording styles and tools. For certain types of videos, having a script or an outline will help determine how the recording will go and what tools you'll need to use.
- Introduce yourself, reflection, performance, or speech style videos
- Individual presentations with a slide deck
- Group presentations
"Introduce yourself", "reflection", performance, or speech style assignments
Many faculty members will have students post a video to a forum introducing yourself to your classmates. This is the "easiest" type of video to create and can be done using a variety of tools. This type of video is usually "selfie" style where you are the main focus of the video being recorded rather than a slide deck.
Using a mobile device
This style of video can be done with a mobile device. All smartphones and tablets running iOS or Android have a built-in camera application that can be used for this style of video. For best results, you want to record your video horizontally (iLearn video sometimes has trouble with vertical videos), and you'll want to pay special attention to how your phone is oriented. For iPhones in particular, when using the front camera you want to make sure the bottom of the phone is on the left side. When using the rear camera, you want to make sure the bottom of the phone is on the right.
Using a webcam on a computer
Most laptops come with a webcam built in and an application that allows for recording of video with the webcam and built-in microphone. On a mac, Quicktime will be your software of choice. On a Windows PC, the Camera app will be what you use. On a Chromebook, the Camera app can be used for this purpose.
Note: For speech or performance style videos, a tripod or external webcam is recommended over simply holding a mobile device for a cleaner picture.
Individual presentations with a slide deck or visuals
This type of assignment is one where you are presenting something with the aid of visuals, such as a Powerpoint slide deck or other images.
(mac only) Using Quicktime
Quicktime also provides a way of doing a screen recording. Load up your presentation, open quicktime, and begin recording.
Using PowerPoint itself
PowerPoint allows you to record audio directly to your slides one by one and then export the slide deck as a whole as a video file. While this is not the most optimal way of doing a recording, it can work when your presentation is primarily slide based.
Using Zoom
While Zoom is intended primarily as a video conferencing tool, it can be used to do a screen recording in a pinch.
- Download and open the Zoom software on your computer
- Log in to the Zoom software
- Start a meeting
- Click the green share screen button
- Select what you want to share. If using Powerpoint, select Screen
- Start your recording by selecting More and then Record on this computer from the Zoom toolbar
- (optional) If using Powerpoint, start your slideshow
- Present
- To finish your recording, select More and choose Stop recording from the menu
- End the zoom session by selecting More and End
The resulting zoom_0.mp4 is what you'll want to upload to your assignment.
Group presentations
Zoom is the tool you will want to use to record your presentation when you have more than one presenter. Follow the instructions above to record your group presentation with Zoom. Note that you will want to designate one group member to be the host of the meeting and record the session. The person with the fastest internet should do the recording as it will be easiest for them to upload the results to the assignment.
Editing your video
Once you have your video recorded, you may want to edit. If you recorded on Quicktime, the easiest way to edit is using the built-in editing tools found in the Edit menu. For more advanced editing, you may want to bring your video file into a more dedicated video editor on your computer.
Further reading
For more information on the subject of video, view the following support documents:
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