Creating high-quality videos was once a cumbersome process – big, expensive, heavy-duty cameras, audio mics, editing teams and lots of storage space. With technology advancement, creating a video has become a breeze. Almost every social media application now supports video, to create, edit or just share them.

Video provides a visual experience generating more interest than traditional printed material. This compensates for that missing link by combining audio, image and text. There are countless ways to incorporate videos in the classroom. Here’s a clever example of a how teacher used video in the classroom.

Here are my top 5 different ways to use them:

1. Introduction video: A great way you to introduce yourself to the class. You can include an intro, credentials, hobbies and a walk through to the topic all in one video! The best place to add this would be the “Topic Welcome block” in your FLO topic. Here are a few suggestions to include, when creating an intro video:
   • Who are you?
   • Where are you from?
   • What do you do?
   • What are your interests?
   • What is your educational background?
   • What is your teaching philosophy (briefly)?
2. Video assignments: Give students video assignments to keep them motivated. Limiting it to 5 min videos can really make them think out of the box and hopefully inspire them to create creative content.
3. How-to videos: How-to videos are the best way to demonstrate lab experiments, assignment instructions or just giving directions for a day you know you will be away.
4. Feedback videos: A great way to start a two-way communication with your students, giving them feedback on assignments, projects or quiz results.
5. Topic trailers: Making a video as a sneak peak or for key topic concepts will surely entice the student’s curiosity, provided it’s created innovatively. This leads us to the next step on how to make a video? Is it difficult? time-consuming? Do I need to hire actors? Do I need expensive gadgets?. The answer to all those questions is a simple no!

So how do you create a video?

1. Create a storyboard: Planning your video is vital so take time doing this; it could be as simple as writing down your ideas. Things you would like to say to your class. For example showing a step-by-step lab safety procedure.
2. The camera: Could be any device with recording capability. You don’t have to be an expert or technical person to record a video. You can use your smartphone (iPhone, Samsung or any phone with a camera), tablet, webcam or your laptop. Initiate the camera and you are good to go.
   On your smartphone and tablet, use the default camera app to record videos. On your laptop, Snagit can record videos if you have a webcam or inbuilt camera.
   Here is a manual to record a video using webcam and Snagit.
3. Editing the captured video: By default, iPad and Mac have the iMovie app with user-friendly interface to record and edit your video. For iPhone, there are numerous free and paid video editing apps in the App Store. Same goes with the Samsung or an android smartphone; you can view and download any video editing app from the Play store or Google Play. On your Flinders computer, you can use Snagit or Camtasia to edit your videos, add music, text, images, screen grabs and save the final video.

Tariq’s top 5 recommended video editing Apps	Apple (iOS) iPhone and iPad	Samsung (Android) phone and tablet
	iMovie	PowerDirector
	Quik	KineMaster
	Splice	Quik
	Adobe Premiere Clip	Adobe Premiere Clip
	FiLMiC Pro *	FilmoraGo

*Paid App

4. Storing/Uploading the video: Once you have created the video it is time to share it. In your FLO topic, upload it to My Media, where it is stored as a private video. It becomes public once you publish it to the Media Vault and embed it in your FLO topic. It is important to consider file size when uploading video as this can cause issues with playback. Here is the Help Guide for your online video platform. For more information, contact your eLearning FLO support team.

Workshop – An introduction to creating educational videos with Camtasia, is being run on the 19th July.

Tip: Not comfortable in front of a camera? Give VOKI.com a go. You can create a talking avatar and record your voice in a few simple steps.

Contributed by Tariq Mohammad Abdul