  Chris O'Hagan Consultant in Educational Development for FHE |
New video software Chris
O'Hagan |
|
A few months back I commented that putting the power to create video programmes in the hands of teachers themselves was important for establishing and embedding video as a ubiquitous medium with various qualities and student uses, like the print medium. I invented the VESOL system in 1993 as a way of beginning to enable this, and I always thought it would truly come of age with a digital rather than analogue version. I had a vision of a desktop VESOL that would combine something of the powers of Authorware, Premiere, and VESOL - that is the power to bring together digital teacher produced video (talking head etc) and other resources, with non-linear editing of those resources, and the creation of a full multimedia tutorial with graphics etc. I had the vision but not the resources to do it.... It has happened! Some of you may already be aware of this kind of software, but it is new to me following a demo of Serious Magic's (a US company) Visual Communicator suite of software options. Together with ULTRA and DV Rack Serious Video has enabled the production of programmes/tutorials of a range of qualities and sophistication by amateurs, semi-pro and pro video producers. This is a lot closer to the idea of video/multimedia offering s similar range of options that we use in education with print/paper. There are demos but this didn't work very well over my 56K link! The issue of delivery of the resources once created - whether download, streaming or CDROM - all have their pluses and minuses. I know the software is available in the UK from I CAN USE: Practical Solutions. I have no connection with either of these companies, but if I was still at Derby I would have a version under test in the E-learning Unit. If anyone has experience of this software I think I and others might be interested in hearing about it In my view, the simpler versions of Visual Communicator could be used to create learning resources without a lot of practice by most teachers. Visual Communicator Studio, ULTRA Professional chroma key/virtual set, and DV Rack - DV monitoring, evaluation and recording, are tools that professional video producers should investigate. The cost of the software to education ranges from £108 to £422 per copy, depending on the version - hardly pricey. ICANUSE offers on site training for £395 a day for up to 5 delegates - extremely reasonable as anyone who has tried to get on site training for multimedia software will know!. VAT extra.
|
|
|
This document was prepared for the DIVERSE newsletter March 2005 - ref: www.diverse-net.org/diversenl0305coh1.htm |