Video and Other Helper Tutorials

Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Video Tutorials --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/ 
I recommend that users download the Windows Media File wmf versions of these files.

Video Tutorials for Excel and MS Access --- http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/ExcelMain.htm

Video and audio capturing at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm

How can you capture and send streaming media?
Answer --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#StreamingMedia

MIT's Video Lecture Search Engine: Watch the video at --- http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/
Researchers at MIT have released a video and audio search tool that solves one of the most challenging problems in the field: how to break up a lengthy academic lecture into manageable chunks, pinpoint the location of keywords, and direct the user to them. Announced last month, the MIT Lecture Browser website gives the general public detailed access to more than 200 lectures publicly available though the university's OpenCourseWare initiative. The search engine leverages decades' worth of speech-recognition research at MIT and other institutions to convert audio into text and make it searchable.
Kate Greene, MIT's Technology Review, November 26, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/?nlid=686&a=f
Once again, the Lecture Browser link (with video) is at http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/
Bob Jensen's search helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm

Find free video lectures from free universities at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

 

For other help with Excel, Kate Mooney likes this site:

http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/ExcelMain.htm


(Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm )

Question
Should you share your knowledge on YouTube?

"Thanks to YouTube, Professors Are Finding New Audiences," Jeffrey R. Young, Inside Higher Ed, January 9, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/free/2008/01/1159n.htm

One Web site that opened this week, Big Think,  hopes to be "a YouTube for ideas." The site offers interviews with academics, authors, politicians, and other thinkers. Most of the subjects are filmed in front of a plain white background, and the interviews are chopped into bite-sized pieces of just a few minutes each. The short clips could have been served up as text quotes, but Victoria R. M. Brown, co-founder of Big Think, says video is more engaging. "People like to learn and be informed of things by looking and watching and learning," she says.

YouTube itself wants to be a venue for academe. In the past few months, several colleges have signed agreements with the site to set up official "channels." The University of California at Berkeley was the first, and the University of Southern California, the University of New South Wales, in Australia, and Vanderbilt University soon followed.

It remains an open question just how large the audience for talking eggheads is, though. After all, in the early days of television, many academics hoped to use the medium to beam courses to living rooms, with series like CBS's Sunrise Semester. which began in 1957. Those efforts are now a distant memory.

Things may be different now, though, since the Internet offers a chance to connect people with the professors and topics that most interest them.

Even YouTube was surprised by how popular the colleges' content has been, according to Adam Hochman, a product manager at Berkeley's Learning Systems Group. Lectures are long, after all, while most popular YouTube videos run just a few minutes. (Lonelygirl, the diary of a teenage girl, had episodes that finished in well under a minute. Many other popular shorts involve cute animals or juvenile stunts). Yet some lectures on Berkeley's channel scored 100,000 viewers each, and people were sitting through the whole talks. "Professors in a sense are rock stars," Mr. Hochman concludes. "We're getting as many hits as you would find with some of the big media players."

YouTube officials insist that they weren't surprised by the buzz, and they say that more colleges are coming forward. "We expect that education will be a vibrant category on YouTube," said Obadiah Greenberg, strategic partner manager at YouTube, in an e-mail interview. "Everybody loves to learn."

To set up an official channel on YouTube, colleges must sign an agreement with the company, though no money changes hands. That allows the colleges to brand their section of the site, by including a logo or school colors, and to upload longer videos than typical users are allowed.

The company hasn't exactly made it easy to find the academic offerings, though. Clicking on the education category shows a mix of videos, including ones with babes posing in lingerie and others on the lectures of Socrates. But that could change if the company begins to sign up more colleges and pay more attention to whether videos are appearing in the correct subject areas, says Dan Colman, director and associate dean of Stanford University's continuing-studies program, who runs a blog tracking podcasts and videos made by colleges and professors.

In many cases, the colleges were already offering the videos they are putting on YouTube on their own Web sites, or on Apple's iTunes U, an educational section of the iTunes Store. But college officials say that teaming up with YouTube is greatly expanding their audiences because so many people are poking around the service already.

Continued in article

UC Berkeley and other major universities now offer hundreds of courses on YouTube --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Question
If you want to go on YouTube, how should you make your videos?

Jensen Answer
I recommend featuring computer screens that you narrate using Camtasia --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm

However, you can also get a digital video camera. I suggest that professors consult their media departments on campus.

General Video Tutorials --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/Tutorials/ 

·        English Tutorials (included "Ask-a-Teacher option)
UsingEnglish.com --- http://www.usingenglish.com/

            Writing Center Resources from Princeton University --- 
             http://webware.princeton.edu/sites/writing/Writing_Center/WCWritingResources.htm

             Writing Center Resources from Purdue University  ---
              http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

        Bob Jensen's writing helpers are at
        http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries

Flash Quizzing using Camtasia 4 (Link forwarded by Richard Campbell)
This is a blog entry by Brooks Andrus - the chief Flash developer for Techsmith

http://www.brooksandrus.com/blog_assets/camtasiastudio4/quizfeatures/index.html 

 

  •  I prepared a Camtasia video on how I record Camtasia avi files and how I "produce" a copy of the file as a rm RealMedia file that will play on most computers without having to download the Camtasia Player.  You can read about Camtasia and download a free Camtasia player from http://www.techsmith.com/ 
    (If you can play the rm RealMedia version, you do not need the player to view the videos.)

    Note that if you want to record audio as well as video in Camtasia, it is best to have the microphone on a stand or clipped to your shirt.  You will probably need both hands free for use of the keyboard.

    Also note that you should set up a hot key to toggle between "Record" and "Pause" (I assigned the F9 key for this purpose).  It is common while you are recording to have to do something (such as taking time to bring up another file or refresh you memory on how to perform a task) that you do not want in the video.  To pause the recording process, I simply click on F9.  When I am ready to commence once again, I click on F9 to renew the recording process.  I also assign the F10 key to end the recording process.  You can assign these "HotKeys" in the Camtasia Recorder menu choices (Options, Preferences, Hotkeys).

    Camtasia has panning and zooming options even though the video is not being captured in a "camera."  Panning effects are created by moving  the "camera" (usually from side to side) while keeping the subject in the viewfinder.  Zooming entails making the image more or less magnified.  Camtasia offers panning and zooming effects even though the video is taken automatically from screen captures, and there is no actual camera used in capturing the videos.

    Flesh in PowerPoint, Excel, or other presentations with video and audio.  Camtasia works great for both capturing dynamic computer screen presentations in video accompanied by your audio explanations.  Your video files may take up more space that you are allowed on your Web server.  However, you can save them to CD-R or CD-RW disks that can be sold to students for around $1.00 per disk. You can learn more about Camtasia from http://www.techsmith.com/ .  You can make CDs by simply dragging files to a blank CD using Windows Explorer if you first install Easy CD (http://www.roxio.com/en/products/ecdc/ ).


  • I created a video tutorial for XBRL.  You can download the xbrldemos.wmv file from the following path
    http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/windowsmedia/

Review of video streaming software --- http://www.homeofficereports.com/streaming video.htm
 Scroll down to the table of software options and ratings

Learning Basic Financial Accounting at Brigham Young University (BYU) From Homegrown Videos
Developer and Instructor:  Norman Nemrow [nemrow@byu.edu] 
Title of Package of Eight CDs:  Introduction to Accounting:  The Language of Business
Textbook:  I think this package can be used along with virtually any basic accounting textbook
Pedagogy:  Students learn from video lesson modules before each class.  The video lessons display 
                  the course instructor in video as well as accompanying PowerPoint displays that are auto-
                  matically sequenced with the video.  Students have nifty options to both replay the previous
                  five minutes and to play the videos a double (2x) speed that is an outstanding option
                  for reviewing previously-learned material.
Classes:  Classes are more inspirational than perspirational (e.g., frequent use of visiting speakers)
Outcomes:  Purportedly students perform better vis-à-vis previous lecture pedagogy without video. 
                   See the following evaluation of learning:

 "Variable Speed Playback of Digitally Recorded Lectures: Evaluating Learner Feedback," by Joel D. Galbraith
(joel_galbraith@byu.edu ) and Steven G. Spencer --- http://www.enounce.com/docs/BYUPaper020319.pdf 

Basic accounting students At BYU have great success learning accounting from special videos --- http://www.accountingcds.com/index.html

Contact Information: 
Cameron Earl 801-836-5649 cameronearl@byu.edu
Norm Nemrow 801-422-3029 nemrow@byu.edu 

Update message on November 3, 2005

Bob has posted our new website in an earlier post, but the new URL to our new website describing our accounting tools is www.accountingcds.com

We have a demo of VSP (the technology that speeds up the video and audio) technology here: http://www.accountingcds.com/learn/links/vspdemo.htm 

Cameron Earl

BYU

Also see David Cottrell's approach at BYU --- http://www.business.uconn.edu/users/adunbar/AAA-CPE/AAA2003Cottrell.pdf 

Master Educators Who Deliver Exceptional Courses or Entire Programs
But Have Little Contact With Individual Students

Before reading this section, you should be familiar with the document at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#Teaching

Master educators can also be outstanding researchers, although research is certainly not a requisite to being a master educator. Many master educators are administrators of exceptional accounting education programs. They're administrative duties typically leave little time for research, although they may write about education and learning. Some master educators are not even tenure track faculty.

What I've noticed in recent years is how technology can make a huge difference. Nearly every college these days has some courses in selected disciplines because they are utilizing some type exciting technology. Today I returned from a trip to Jackson, Mississippi where I conduced a day-long CPE session on education technology for accounting educators in Mississippi (what great southern hospitality by the way). So the audience would not have to listen to me the entire day, I invited Cameron Earl from Brigham Young University to make a presentation that ran for about 90 minutes. I learned some things about top educators at BYU, which by the way is one of the most respected universities in the world. If you factor out a required religion course on the Book of Mormon, the most popular courses on the BYU campus are the two basic accounting courses. By popular I mean in terms of thousands of students who elect to take these courses even if they have no intention of majoring in business or economics where these two courses are required. Nearly all humanities and science students on campus try to sign up for these two accounting courses.

After students take these two courses, capacity constraints restrict the numbers of successful students in these courses who are then allowed to become accounting majors at BYU. I mean I'm talking about a very, very small percentage who are allowed to become accounting students. Students admitted to the accounting program generally have over 3.7 minimum campus-wide grade averages.

This begs the question of what makes the two basic accounting courses so exceptionally popular in such a large and prestigious university?

  • These two basic accounting courses are not sought out for easy grades. In fact they are among the hardest courses for high grades at BYU. I think that this is probably true in most business schools in the nation.
     
  • These two BYU courses are not sought out for face-to-face contact with the instructor. The courses have thousands of students each term such that most students do not see the instructor outside of class even though he's available over ten hours per week for those who seek him out. Each course only meets in live classes eight times per semester. Most of the speakers in those eight classes are outstanding visiting speakers who add a great deal to the popularity of the course. This is often one difference between a course run by a master educator versus a master teacher. A master educator often brings in top talent to inspire and educate students.
     
  • The courses undoubtedly benefit from the the shortage of accounting graduates in colleges nationwide and the exceptional career opportunities for students who want careers in accounting, taxation, law, business management, government, criminal justice, and other organizations. But these accountancy advantages exist for every college that has an accounting education program. Most all colleges do not have two basic accounting courses that are sought out by every student in the entire university. That makes BYU's two basic accounting courses truly exceptional.
     
  • Some courses in every college are popular these days because they are doing something exceptional with technology. These two BYU courses increased in popularity when a self-made young man became a multimillionaire and decided to devote his life to being a master educator in these two accountancy courses at BYU. His name is Norman Nemrow. He runs these courses full time without salary at BYU and is neither a tenure track faculty member or a noted researcher at BYU. I think he qualifies, however, as an education researcher even if he does not publish his findings in academic journals. The video disks are available to anyone in the world for a relatively small fee that goes to BYU, but BYU is not doing this for purposes of making great profits. You can read more about how to get the course disks at the following links:

     

Basic accounting students At BYU have great success learning accounting from special videos --- http://www.accountingcds.com/index.html 

Contact Information:  Cameron Earl 801-836-5649 cameronearl@byu.edu 

Norm Nemrow 801-422-3029 nemrow@byu.edu  

Also see David Cottrell's approach at BYU --- http://www.business.uconn.edu/users/adunbar/AAA-CPE/AAA2003Cottrell.pdf  

·        
 

  • The students in these two courses learn the technical aspects of from variable-speed video disks that were produced by Norman and a team of video and learning experts. Cameron Earl is a recent graduate of BYU who is part of the technical team that delivers these two courses on video. Formal studies of Nemrow's video courses indicate that students generally prefer to learn from the video relative to live lectures. The course has computer labs run by teaching assistants who can give live tutorials to individual students, but most students who have the video disks for their own computers do not seek out the labs.

Trivia Question
At BYU most students on campus elect to take Norman Nemrow's two basic accounting courses. In the distant past, what exceptional accounting professor managed to get his basic accounting courses required at a renowned university while he was teaching these courses?

Trivia Answer
Bill Paton is one of the all-time great accounting professors in history. His home campus was the University of Michigan, and for a period of time virtually all students at his university had to take basic accounting (or at least so I was told by several of Paton's former doctoral students). Bill Paton was one of the first to be inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame.

As an aside, I might mention that I favor requiring two basic accounting courses for every student admitted to a college or university, including colleges who do not even have business education programs.

But the "required accounting courses" would not, in my viewpoint, be a traditional basic accounting courses. About two thirds or more of these courses should be devoted to personal finance, investing, business law, tax planning. The remainder of the courses should touch on accounting basics for keeping score of business firms and budgeting for every organization in society.

At the moment, the majority of college graduates do not have a clue about the time value of money and the basics of finance and accounting that they will face the rest of their lives.

 

There are other ways of being "mastery educators" without being master teachers in a traditional sense. Three professors of accounting at the University of Virginia developed and taught a year-long intermediate accounting case where students virtually had to teach themselves in a manner that they found painful and frustrating. But there are metacognitive reasons where the end result made this year-long active learning task one of the most meaningful and memorable experiences in their entire education --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm
They often painfully grumbled with such comments as "everything I'm learned in this course I'm having to learn by myself."

You can read about mastery learning and all its frustrations at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#Teaching 

Camtasia Studio Versus Camtasia --- http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/comparison.asp 
November 2002

I am a fond user of Camtasia.  This is probably the most useful education content software ever developed!  I might note that I rarely use PowerPoint because PowerPoint’s designed more for in-class lecturing.  Camtasia is designed for teaching outside the classroom where students can learn at their own paces and repeat segments as needed.  Camtasia is one of the easiest software packages to learn that I ever encountered.  

Note that you can now add flash videos to your Web documents in the easiest manner that I can imagine.  However, I still prefer the compressed video.

How does your current version of Camtasia compare to the new Camtasia Studio available from TechSmith? Use this chart to find out what's new!

Features Added

Camtasia Studio

Camtasia 3.0

Macromedia Flash (.SWF) Output

X

QuickTime .MOV Output

X

X

Launchpad

X

Add A Second Audio Track

X

Audio Editing Built-In

X

Add Annotations After Recording

X

Camtasia MenuMaker

X

Windows XP support

X

X

Add Text Notes While Recording

X

X

TSCC Codec Built Into Camtasia Player

X

ScreenDraw

X

X

Video and Audio Recording for Classrooms

September 8, 2005 message from Glen Gray [glen.gray@CSUN.EDU]

Does anybody have any experience with Microsoft’s OneNote? What caught my eye was the mention in an article that you can use OneNote to record audio (e.g., during a meeting) on your computer (like a tape recorder). I was looking at the program on the Microsoft site and see that OneNote is software for organizing stuff (note, files, graphics, etc.).

Any thoughts for comments on OneNote? Any comments on other programs that I could use to record audio? I particularly want to record during meetings. I know that there are stand alone recorders, but it is one more thing to take to the meeting.

Glen L. Gray, PhD, CPA
Dept. of Accounting & Information Systems
College of Business & Economics
California State University, Northridge
Northridge, CA 91330-8372
818.677.3948
http://www.csun.edu/~vcact00f 

September 9, 2005 reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Glen,

There is a highly favorable review (that does not go far into the audio features) at http://wordprocessing.about.com/od/choosingsoftware/a/onenoterev.htm 
I suspect Richard Campbell will weigh in on this with better suggestions.

I would think there is a problem with audio hardware much the same as I have a problem with my video camera at meetings. Unless I sit in the front row, it is difficult to pick up the speaker’s voice. If there is audience/class discussion throughout a room, it is very difficult to capture individual speakers.

The FBI probably has better audio capturing hardware than we can put on our laptops, but I would not expect OneNote software to magically allow us to get quality recordings at many meetings.

That does not mean that we should not download the free trial offer just to test out OneNote for all the many features claimed in the review above. It would seem that it will work optimally with a Tablet PC.

Bob Jensen

September 8, 2005 reply from Amy Dunbar

I don’t have experience with OneNote, but capturing audio is always a struggle for me. Camtasia is wonderful for screen capture video with audio, but to just record audio has presented more problems for me. I used to use the Microsoft Sound Recorder (under Accessories in Windows) and convert the wav file to an .rm file using Real Producer. Now that I have left the Real world (;-)), I am recording in Screenblaster and rendering the file as an MP3 file. I find it annoying, however, to have a music program, like ITunes, open it. I just want it to immediately play when the student clicks the link. If anyone has a better solution for converting wav files to a better format, I would love to hear about it. A UConn ITS person recommended CDEX

http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/ , which is open source freeware.

Back to what you were asking, Glen. How would you capture everyone’s voices unless they had mics? I know audio conference tools can capture everyone, but in that case, each person is speaking into a mic at his/her computer.

And speaking of audio conferencing, does anyone know how many people can be in a Skype audio conference? I have only experienced three at a time. I am teaching a small PhD class, and I have asked my students to download Skype ( www.skype.com ) so we can easily find each other because all of us work at home a lot (which is a good thing in these times of skyrocketing gas prices). When a California colleague’s cell phone connection was to weak to have a conversation, we switched to Skype, and it worked like a charm.

Amy at UCon

September 9, 2005 reply from Jim Richards [J.Richards@MURDOCH.EDU.AU]

Hi Amy,

My recollection with Skype is that the maximum is 5.

Cheers,
Jim Richards
Murdoch Business School
Murdoch University South Street
MURDOCH WA
Australia

September 9, 2005 reply from Jim Richards [J.Richards@MURDOCH.EDU.AU]

Hi Glen
You may find that to record using your laptop might need a good quality omni-directional microphone to pick up a sufficiently loud signal.

Some open source software that can be used to record and export mp3 files is Audacity ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net ).

We use it at my local Church to record all of our ministry. You need to also download and install LAME to be able to export to mp3.

Cheers.

Jim Richards
Murdoch Business School
Murdoch University South Street
MURDOCH WA 6150 Phone: 61-8-9360-2706 Fax: 61-8-9310-5004

September 8, 2005 reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Amy,

I can’t help with you’re SKYPE question.

But I want to add that the new version of Camtasia allows for camcorder input so that the image is no longer just confined to computer screen images. Even though digital video takes up massive amounts of space, Camtasia videos do not have to be space hogging full screens and the videos can be compressed in the final production.

The big problem with video capturing at meetings is that the video is often less interesting than the audio unless the speaker is using visual aids. Capturing video of a talking head is a total waste of space digitally speaking. I still use an analog camera and space is no problem since video tapes are cheap ways to store lots of video.

My problem of course is that my hundreds of video tapes will soon be as obsolete as my withering 8-track audio tapes. Soon we won’t be able to buy new machines that will play video tapes, so take good care of the old players in your house or office. And consider putting them to DVD in the near future.

Bob Jensen

Converting Home Videos to DVDs

Q: Are there services that will take home video and burn it to a DVD that can be played anywhere? I know I can do this on my PC, but it takes too much time and I keep running into problems when I try it.

A: There are such services. One that I have tested and found to be good is called YesVideo (yesvideo.com). You bring your videos into a store that works with YesVideo -- including CVS, Walgreen, Best Buy and Target -- and they send the tapes to YesVideo, which converts them to a very nice DVD. You also can get the same service online, at Sony's ImageStation site ( www.imagestation.com ). Sony calls its service Video2DVD, but it really is just the YesVideo service. My full review of the service is at: ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20040128.html. Because YesVideo works through retailers, prices vary, but are usually around $25-$35 for a two-hour video. Each DVD is divided into chapters based on a YesVideo process that tries to detect scene changes in your videos. At the end, there are three 60-second music videos made from scenes on your videos. The company also will put your prints, slides and even old film onto DVD, but this costs more and is handled by fewer retailers. Details are at the YesVideo Web site.
Walter Mossberg, "Converting Home Videos to DVDs," The Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2005; Page B3 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112492084317722331,00.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace

At last there will be a way to efficiently store digital video
But this is no ordinary recording process. The disc has more than 60 times the storage capacity of a standard DVD, while the drive writes about 10 times faster than a conventional DVD burner. That means the disc can store up to 128 hours of video content--almost twice enough for the full nine seasons of Seinfeld--and records it all in less than three hours.
Holographic Memory
By Gregory T. Huang , "Holographic Memory," MIT's Technology Review, September 2005 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/09/issue/feature_memory.asp?trk=nl

Convert AVI to WMV, BMP, JPG, etc. - OSS Video Decompiler 4.0 --- http://www.tomdownload.com/multimedia_design/video/oss_video_decompiler.htm

Powerful Video Decompiler that supports decompiling video files to extract the individual image frames. Supports AVI to WMV, AVI to GIF, AVI to (PNG, JPEG, JPG, EMF, WMV, BMP, and more). Video Decompiling (Supported formats AVI to GIF, AVI to PNG (Portable Network Graphics), AVI to JPEG, AVI to TIFF, AVI to EMF, AVI to WMV). Convert multiple video files at once (Batch Conversion). Many modern features were added to the latest versions. Now you can save and load video conversion and effects settings using XML.

 

I created a video tutorial for XBRL.  You can download the xbrldemos.wmv file from the following path
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/windowsmedia/

Message from Richard Campbell on on July 1, 2002

Attached is a link to a downloadable Demoshield CD browser which can be used as a front end for Camtasia videos. I have implemented a "silent install" of the Techsmith codec to facilitate the playing of the videos. If you do have the Techsmith codec already installed, it will not install again on your computer.

Since on my own computer I do have the codec already installed, I can not test whether it it installs correctly. I would appreciate feedback on whether it installs properly on non-Camtasia equipped computers. If the movie does not play properly, it is not installed. On a CD, I could include an autorun.

This is a single-file-executable and is 3.8 megs.

http:/216.247.124.69/public/vpdemo4.exe  

Thanks. 
Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU] 

Some Camtasia questions from Rick Johnson accompanied by off-the-wall answers from Bob Jensen

Johnson
Here are the specific questions I have. Below that, I briefly describe some of the things regarding the videos that I am thinking about. Finally, I provide a link to a math prof at Michigan State that has a number of videos (downloadable and streaming) that you may want to check out... Thanks!

1. Has your enthusiasm regarding the use of Camtasia type videos in accounting increased, decreased, or shifted over time? 

Jensen
My enthusiasm has not diminished, but my students did run into problems with the sad state of audio on most of our lab computers. Students have to check out earphones, and the audio does not work properly about half the time.

I am hoping that the lab situation will be fixed up this summer.

Johnson
2. Do you still have a strong preference for the Real Media format over AVI? 


Jensen
Our students cannot install the Camtasia reader or any other software on lab machines on campus. These machines get :rebuilt so often that we cannot rely upon the installed Camtasia reader being there when students need to use the files. The lab machines can always play RealMedia, so that is a real RM plus.

Also RM files take up much less space on the server.

Johnson
3. I noticed that you don't use streaming videos on your site (yet?)... Are you interested in them for the future or do you feel that downloadable/distributable cdrom files are more reasonable for education? 

Jensen
Yes, I would like that but Trinity is a long way from serving up streaming media. I do not recommend running your own server for any files that students depend upon. Serious servers need constant backup and maintenance, which is something that accounting professors should not be doing. 

Johnson
4. What has the student reaction/perception to your videos been so far?

They don't particularly like them in class. They do like them outside class, especially my videos on MS Access.

Johnson
5. Are there lingering technical problems that hinder the use of production and distribution of the videos?

Jensen
The process is a bit slow and takes some practice. The files also take quite a lot of server capacity. This is not a good alternative if your university is stingy with server space.

Audio can be a pain in the tail, especially since Camtasia will only capture microphone audio and not from pre-recorded audio. For example, suppose you want to capture a video/audio segment that is on a file inside your computer. The only thing you can do is turn your speakers up full blast and hold the microphone if front of the speakers. Even then, I can barely hear anything in my Camtasia recording.  (In a subsequent message, Rick Johnson said he has had luck with a trick wire connecting the Audio Out and Microphone In ports on the back of the computer when capturing computer audio.)

Johnson
6. Have you gravitated toward specific frame rate captures or screen resolution?

Nine frames per second.

Johnson
Here are a couple of the things that I am currently testing regarding the videos:

1. I'm testing the use of screen shot captures from ebook versions of texts using the actual end of chapter problems in the videos. Frequently, my students don't understand what the question/problem is asking so this might allow me to highlight passages or sections and explain. My concept is to video capture a horizontally split Windows screen with the Question displayed on top and an Excel spreadsheet on the bottom in which I can develop the solution. Hopefully, when necessary and appropriate, I can toggle full screen on either section and back again. [Jensen, Robert]

Jensen
That should work OK unless there is audio in your eBook.

Johnson
2. I'm testing the incorporation of the animated characters from Microsoft called Agents to narrate parts of the videos through the use of a program called VoxProxy www.voxproxy.com  . This approach would require some editing with the Camtasia Producer. I'm not sure if it will be worth it. So far, I've noticed a big increase in file size. Maybe in the end, I'll learn that the no-edit approach is the most reasonable? 

Jensen
RM file size may save you space.

Johnson
Finally, here is the Michigan State University Math Professor's website with Camtasia videos - http://www.math.msu.edu/~winter/106/avifiles/lecture13.avi 

Thanks in advance for your reply (if possible),

Rick Johnson
Richard A. Johnson [rjohnson@mail.frostburg.edu] 

Video and Other Helper Tutorials

Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Video Tutorials --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/ 
I recommend that users download the Windows Media File wmf versions of these files.


(Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm )

General Video Tutorials --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/Tutorials/ 

  • Camtasia Recording and Producing --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/Tutorials/ 

    I prepared a Camtasia video on how I record Camtasia avi files and how I "produce" a copy of the file as a rm RealMedia file that will play on most computers without having to download the Camtasia Player.  You can read about Camtasia and download a free Camtasia player from http://www.techsmith.com/ 
    (If you can play the rm RealMedia version, you do not need the player to view the videos.)

    Note that if you want to record audio as well as video in Camtasia, it is best to have the microphone on a stand or clipped to your shirt.  You will probably need both hands free for use of the keyboard.

    Also note that you should set up a hot key to toggle between "Record" and "Pause" (I assigned the F9 key for this purpose).  It is common while you are recording to have to do something (such as taking time to bring up another file or refresh you memory on how to perform a task) that you do not want in the video.  To pause the recording process, I simply click on F9.  When I am ready to commence once again, I click on F9 to renew the recording process.  I also assign the F10 key to end the recording process.  You can assign these "HotKeys" in the Camtasia Recorder menu choices (Options, Preferences, Hotkeys).

    Camtasia has panning and zooming options even though the video is not being captured in a "camera."  Panning effects are created by moving  the "camera" (usually from side to side) while keeping the subject in the viewfinder.  Zooming entails making the image more or less magnified.  Camtasia offers panning and zooming effects even though the video is taken automatically from screen captures, and there is no actual camera used in capturing the videos.

    Flesh in PowerPoint, Excel, or other presentations with video and audio.  Camtasia works great for both capturing dynamic computer screen presentations in video accompanied by your audio explanations.  Your video files may take up more space that you are allowed on your Web server.  However, you can save them to CD-R or CD-RW disks that can be sold to students for around $1.00 per disk. You can learn more about Camtasia from http://www.techsmith.com/ .  You can make CDs by simply dragging files to a blank CD using Windows Explorer if you first install Easy CD (http://www.roxio.com/en/products/ecdc/ ).


  • I created a video tutorial for XBRL.  You can download the xbrldemos.wmv file from the following path
    http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/windowsmedia/

Camtasia Studio Versus Camtasia --- http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/comparison.asp 
November 2002

I am a fond user of Camtasia.  This is probably the most useful education content software ever developed!  I might note that I rarely use PowerPoint because PowerPoint’s designed more for in-class lecturing.  Camtasia is designed for teaching outside the classroom where students can learn at their own paces and repeat segments as needed.  Camtasia is one of the easiest software packages to learn that I ever encountered.  

Note that you can now add flash videos to your Web documents in the easiest manner that I can imagine.  However, I still prefer the compressed video.

How does your current version of Camtasia compare to the new Camtasia Studio available from TechSmith? Use this chart to find out what's new!

Features Added

Camtasia Studio

Camtasia 3.0

Macromedia Flash (.SWF) Output

X

QuickTime .MOV Output

X

X

Launchpad

X

Add A Second Audio Track

X

Audio Editing Built-In

X

Add Annotations After Recording

X

Camtasia MenuMaker

X

Windows XP support

X

X

Add Text Notes While Recording

X

X

TSCC Codec Built Into Camtasia Player

X

ScreenDraw

X

X

Message from Richard Campbell on on July 1, 2002

Attached is a link to a downloadable Demoshield CD browser which can be used as a front end for Camtasia videos. I have implemented a "silent install" of the Techsmith codec to facilitate the playing of the videos. If you do have the Techsmith codec already installed, it will not install again on your computer.

Since on my own computer I do have the codec already installed, I can not test whether it it installs correctly. I would appreciate feedback on whether it installs properly on non-Camtasia equipped computers. If the movie does not play properly, it is not installed. On a CD, I could include an autorun.

This is a single-file-executable and is 3.8 megs.

http:/216.247.124.69/public/vpdemo4.exe  

Thanks. 
Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU] 

Some Camtasia questions from Rick John son accompanied by off-the-wall answers from Bob Jensen

John son
Here are the specific questions I have. Below that, I briefly describe some of the things regarding the videos that I am thinking about. Finally, I provide a link to a math prof at Michigan State that has a number of videos (downloadable and streaming) that you may want to check out... Thanks!

1. Has your enthusiasm regarding the use of Camtasia type videos in accounting increased, decreased, or shifted over time? 

Jensen
My enthusiasm has not diminished, but my students did run into problems with the sad state of audio on most of our lab computers. Students have to check out earphones, and the audio does not work properly about half the time.

I am hoping that the lab situation will be fixed up this summer.

John son
2. Do you still have a strong preference for the Real Media format over AVI? 


Jensen
Our students cannot install the Camtasia reader or any other software on lab machines on campus. These machines get :rebuilt so often that we cannot rely upon the installed Camtasia reader being there when students need to use the files. The lab machines can always play RealMedia, so that is a real RM plus.

Also RM files take up much less space on the server.

John son
3. I noticed that you don't use streaming videos on your site (yet?)... Are you interested in them for the future or do you feel that downloadable/distributable cdrom files are more reasonable for education? 

Jensen
Yes, I would like that but Trinity is a long way from serving up streaming media. I do not recommend running your own server for any files that students depend upon. Serious servers need constant backup and maintenance, which is something that accounting professors should not be doing. 

John son
4. What has the student reaction/perception to your videos been so far?

They don't particularly like them in class. They do like them outside class, especially my videos on MS Access.

John son
5. Are there lingering technical problems that hinder the use of production and distribution of the videos?

Jensen
The process is a bit slow and takes some practice. The files also take quite a lot of server capacity. This is not a good alternative if your university is stingy with server space.

Audio can be a pain in the tail, especially since Camtasia will only capture microphone audio and not from pre-recorded audio. For example, suppose you want to capture a video/audio segment that is on a file inside your computer. The only thing you can do is turn your speakers up full blast and hold the microphone if front of the speakers. Even then, I can barely hear anything in my Camtasia recording.  (In a subsequent message, Rick John son said he has had luck with a trick wire connecting the Audio Out and Microphone In ports on the back of the computer when capturing computer audio.)

John son
6. Have you gravitated toward specific frame rate captures or screen resolution?

Nine frames per second.

John son
Here are a couple of the things that I am currently testing regarding the videos:

1. I'm testing the use of screen shot captures from ebook versions of texts using the actual end of chapter problems in the videos. Frequently, my students don't understand what the question/problem is asking so this might allow me to highlight passages or sections and explain. My concept is to video capture a horizontally split Windows screen with the Question displayed on top and an Excel spreadsheet on the bottom in which I can develop the solution. Hopefully, when necessary and appropriate, I can toggle full screen on either section and back again. [ Jensen, Robert ]

Jensen
That should work OK unless there is audio in your eBook.

John son
2. I'm testing the incorporation of the animated characters from Microsoft called Agents to narrate parts of the videos through the use of a program called VoxProxy www.voxproxy.com  . This approach would require some editing with the Camtasia Producer. I'm not sure if it will be worth it. So far, I've noticed a big increase in file size. Maybe in the end, I'll learn that the no-edit approach is the most reasonable? 

Jensen
RM file size may save you space.

John son
Finally, here is the Michigan State University Math Professor's website with Camtasia videos - http://www.math.msu.edu/~winter/106/avifiles/lecture13.avi 

Thanks in advance for your reply (if possible),

Rick John son
Richard A. John son [rjohnson@mail.frostburg.edu] 

Advanced Video Technology
Amy Dunbar developed the following links for all participants in her workshop in Hawaii.  She also gave me permission to share it with readers of New Bookmarks.  Thanks to Amy and her other team members for sharing their presentation materials ---  http://www.business.uconn.edu/users/adunbar/AAA-CPE/agenda.htm 

Learning Basic Financial Accounting at Brigham Young University (BYU) From Homegrown Videos
Developer and Instructor:  Norman Nemrow [nemrow@byu.edu] 
Title of Package of Eight CDs:  Introduction to Accounting:  The Language of Business
Textbook:  I think this package can be used along with virtually any basic accounting textbook
Pedagogy:  Students learn from video lesson modules before each class.  The video lessons display 
                  the course instructor in video as well as accompanying PowerPoint displays that are auto-
                  matically sequenced with the video.  Students have nifty options to both replay the previous
                  five minutes and to play the videos a double (2x) speed that is an outstanding option
                  for reviewing previously-learned material.
Classes:  Classes are more inspirational than perspirational (e.g., frequent use of visiting speakers)
Outcomes:  Purportedly students perform better vis-à-vis previous lecture pedagogy without video. 
                   See the following evaluation of learning:

 "Variable Speed Playback of Digitally Recorded Lectures: Evaluating Learner Feedback," by Joel D. Galbraith (joel_galbraith@byu.edu ) and Steven G. Spencer --- http://www.enounce.com/docs/BYUPaper020319.pdf 

Cost:

  1. Student purchase of CD set for around $45.  Colleges can negotiate pricing with BYU.
  2. $19.99 for download and installation of the Enounce 2xAV video plug-in --- http://www.enounce.com/ 

Bob Jensen's Bottom-Line Conclusion:  
Bravo Norm!  This is a tremendous pedagogy for all levels of accounting education

Bob Jensen's Recommendations for Improvements:

  1. Flash video is restricted to video of PowerPoint slides accompanying a talking head.  I 
    prefer a Camtasia video development that allows an instructor to easily make video and 
    audio lesson modules from other software such as MS Excel, MS Access, accounting software
    like Intuit, tax software, simulation software, etc.  

     
  2. The product could be greatly improved if instructors could customize lessons by adding their own
    video modules.  This is especially exciting for instructors using Camtasia.  
    See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm#Video 
  3. The 2xAV plug-in allows students to make use of the tremendous double speed advantage when
    there are a lot of video modules to learn and re-learn.  However, this is a pain for campus 
    computing labs that have to install such a plug-in all lab computers.  I recommend an option that
    will allow video playback on computers that do not have the 2xAV plug-in.
  4. There is also a minor glich for Windows XP operating systems.  I got the video lessons to work
    wonderfully on my old computer having a Windows NT operating system.  The lessons did not
    work initially on my new computer running under Windows XP

October 8 message from Cameron Earl [byu@burgoyne.com] 

Bob,

I know exactly what your problem is. We have identified a problem with Windows XP and our CDs due to a legal dispute between Sun Microsystems and Microsoft. I have attached a small document, which will fix your problem. Four files are needed for the fix. Unfortunately, they are too big for me to send with my current internet connection. I will go to campus soon and send them. Please call me anytime (even after normal business hours) if you have any questions. 801-836-5649

Cameron Earl

Find out more about ordering options from Cameron at 801-836-5649 or by email at Cameron Earl [byu@burgoyne.com] 
A Website for this product is still under development at the Marriott School of Business at BYU.

A video about how to navigate Bob Jensen's Website --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/Tutorials/
If your computer can playback Windows Media Files (WMF) video and you have some troubles navigating my Website, you may want to view JensenWebsiteOverview.wmf

Message for My Trinity University Students

Although you cannot access Drive J off campus, I want to point out that you can access my course  video tutorials from anywhere in the world.  The link is http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/  

You will find avi, rm, and wmf versions of most every video.  I recommend that you choose the wmf version that will play in the Windows Media player that should be on your home computer.  

If you have speakers on your home computer, there is an advantage of running these videos at home.  On campus in the computer labs, you must first check out earphones from IMS and then hope the ear phones will work in a particular lab computer.  It is a lot less hassle to run my tutorial videos on your home computer.

Understanding Bandwidth and Streaming Media Production 

Understanding bandwidth is really quite simple, and it is necessary to have a fundamental grasp of what bandwidth is if you are creating streaming media files such as WMV, ASF or CAMV etc. --- http://www.techsmith.com/products/camtasia/fow/bandwidth.asp 

The purpose of this document is to provide an easy to understand, general explanation of what bandwidth means, and how it relates to video production of screen recordings and content delivery. It is not a technical dissertation, and will therefore, for reasons of simplicity of explanation, use approximation and rounding in most calculations.

  • What is Bandwidth? 
  • File Size, Bit Rate, Bandwidth and Data Transmission 
  • Bandwidth and Streaming Media File Transmission 
  • Video Compression and Key Frames 
  • Frame Rate and Bandwidth 
  • Network Congestion, Bandwidth Spikes and Buffering 
  • Audio and Bandwidth

Microsoft Access Video Tutorials --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5342/ 

  •  Camtasia avi files require a downloaded free Camtasia Player from http://www.techsmith.com/ 
    (Since these files are nearly twice a long as the rm RealMedia versions, I don't recommend downloading the avi versions that must be played after the Camtasia Player is installed.)
  • The RealMedia rm versions should play on most computers that have audio capabilities.  If not, you can download the free RealPlayer from http://www.real.com/ 
  • The MS Access video tutorial file names nearly all begin with PQQ since they relate to "Possible Quiz Questions" in my ACCT 5342 Accounting Information Systems course. See http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5342/ 
  • Bob Jensen's Microsoft Access helpers are located at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5342/helpers1.htm 

Microsoft Excel Video Tutorials --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5342/ 
(Note both the Excel videos and the Pivot tutorials.)

Related Links
Bob Jensen's Microsoft Excel helpers are located at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 
Bob Jensen's Microsoft Excel illustrations are located at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/Excel/ 
Book Recommendation from the AccountingWeb on January 21, 2003

Book Recommendation: Excel Charts, by John Walkenbach

This book is intended for intermediate to advanced users who want to master Excel's charting feature. The book starts with the basics of chart making, and ends up with extensive coverage of creating charts with VBA. In the process, you'll find hundreds of useful examples, and learn insider tips and techniques that will enable you to make Excel do things you may not have thought possible. More than 150 example workbooks, an electronic (PDF) version of the book; a gallery of more than 250 charts (in the form of GIF files); four add-ins written by the author and "Bonus material" are included. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764517643/accountingweb

 

Accounting Theory Video Tutorials --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5341/ 
(Watch for more of these videos during Spring Semester 2002)

  •  Accounting Theory in General
    (Watch for more of these video tutorials during Spring Semester 2002)
  • Accounting for Derivative Financial Instruments (FAS 133, FAS 138, and IAS 39)
    (Watch for more of these videos during Spring Semester 2002)
  • Accounting Theory Documents --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory.htm 
  • Accounting for Derivative Financial Instruments (FAS 133, FAS 138, and IAS 39) Documents --- 
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm     

JavaScript Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 

Miscellaneous Helpers

HTML Tutorial
April 25, 2003 message from Dan [dan@htmlcodetutorial.com]

I saw your link to hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/ on your webpage http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/booknew.htm and thought that our site www.HTMLCodeTutorial.com may be of help to your visitors. Our users commonly comment that HTML Code Tutorial is one of the best on the web; and we recently added a Help Forum, which you can click on from the home page and get personalized help. We would be grateful for a link to our site from your site.

Email me if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Dan