DIY Multimedia Study Group
Sue Watling
The Cloudscape for DIY multimedia study group is here http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloudscape/view/2743
Video and Audio production is closely related to digital literacies so if these are your primary interest please feel free to join here too - 'lurking' can be useful :-) The aim is to produce a help guide for staff in terms of what software to use, how to use it and hints and tips for production of short video clips/podcasts with appropriate beginnings and endings - using as much as possible existing freely available open educational resources and software.
The next step is to contact everyone who has expressed interest in DIY multimedia and try to bring you all into the same place. If you would like to know more please visit the cloudscape and get in touch; if you could cc my work email swat...@lincoln.ac.uk this would be useful.
Background information
At Lincoln, staff adopt a DIY approach to content creation of audio/video materials to enhance their teaching and learning. This can be highly successful but many projects don’t get beyond the planning stage or remain half completed and abandoned; most often due to time restraints and technical difficulties in particular with content quality and production. My role is supporting the pedagogical development of online resources but inevitably the technology barriers dominate. At Lincoln there is no central content production unit or access to network supported software for audio/video. I show staff how to run Audacity from a datastick. For Video I recommend looking at free software like MovieMaker, Screenr and Jing and suggest Camtasia as a worthwhile ‘one stop shop’ expense for screen capture etc. Multimedia production is integral to digital literacies; digital cameras and hosting services like YouTube make it possible to produce content outside of the professional studio and with appropriate guidance and support plus application of the principles of learning design, DIY multimedia production can not only enhance T&L quality but also support individual confidence and competence with digital ways of working.