I found PowerISO, NeroVision4, Windows DVD Maker and InterVideo WinDVD for Vaio. Feeling overwhelmed, I went with NeroVision4, simply because it looked straightforward: simple icons, simple features, drop and drag and it promises to make a DVD out of my photos. Seems simple enough for me! As I mouse over icons, text pops up to inform me exactly what each icon does. This is very helpful. For example, I moused over a photo frame, and Nero informed me to “drag and drop pictures here from above or from Explorer”.
I selected an entire photo file from a recent trip to China. Nero had no problem uploading all of the images from Explorer to the DVD project. Over thirty photos were uploaded in a matter of seconds. I then played with the “effects” menu and accidently embossed all of the shots. Usually, I would get frustrated at myself, but I found the “back” arrow, which is nice, big and blue, and fixed everything in a short time.
Narration was a little bit difficult. I could not figure out how to narrate each photo, so instead I did one narration for the entire move. Thankfully, my “movie” is only five minutes long, so it wasn’t that bad! However, the narration loops, so I get to hear myself talk a little bit too much! I wanted to add a soundtrack, but I couldn’t figure out how to upload a music file from iTunes to Nero…I’m not sure if you can. I saved the movie then exported it as a file. I’m not sure exactly what that meant, but I thought I should try both avenues to learn more about the process.
How intensive was this process? It was not too intensive to play with the effects or to upload the photos. I found the narration to be time intensive, simply because I could not upload music easily. In addition I could not add text to my images. I wanted to add comments and record the exact location of each photo. I also tried to edit my narration, but it was difficult to do so. It was easier to simply re-record myself. All in all, I spent about two hours creating a five minute production that is, honestly, an amateur effort. I will “play” with Nero more and try out my other DVD authoring tools to gain a better understanding of how to use the tools. I’m definitely happy I tried Nero. My past experiences with DVD authoring have not led to successful burned DVDs.
I spent today re-reading some posts from past modules. I felt motivated to do so because I’m getting “deeper” into my LMS Moodle course design, and I can see all of the pieces fitting together. In our Module 2 discussion, we had to give advice to a community educator who was responding to the needs for an ESL population concerned with diabetes prevention and care. The community educator wants to create a DVD to help members of the population because their understanding of spoken English is great, but they find it difficult to recall important information from workshops.
My initial reaction was not to suggest a DVD due to the time, the cost and the lack of flexibility the format affords. However, through participating in discussion threads (I admit, I lurk more than I post) I realized that the population would benefit from a DVD. Simply because we have the Internet doesn’t mean it is the best choice. I overlooked the fact that a DVD covers all of the basic needs. It delivers the workshop in spoken English, subtitles could be added and it could be repeated several times to clarify understanding. In addition, if members had questions, they could note the time and segment of the DVD (depending on design) and reference it to the community educator. Just because there are bells and whistles with presentation software and formats doesn’t mean we need to use them! This reminded me of Bates & Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS, where student needs and ease of use are emphasised as part of a framework for selecting educational technology tools.
Below is my original post. You can see how far I’ve come!
Anju’s need: To create a learning material that ESL students with fluent oral understanding and poor written understanding can use to help memorize one-hour workshop material.
Discussion:
I would not recommend a DVD for Anju. I would have suggested that Anju use PowerPoint (PP) presentations on a blog/website (or a similar OS application) instead of investing in a video camera and laptop to produce DVDs. See Annette Smith’s post (May 31) on taping lectures, which inspired my thinking.
This way, students could access the presentations online, and choose the ones that relate to their concerns without the risk or cost of losing or damaging a DVD. Anju could link her site to other resources on diabetes management, online dictionaries and to diabetes information in other languages. I am assuming Anju is not trained in media design or instructional design. Creating a simple website/blog would allow the community to access her materials and Anju would not need a great deal of “catch-up” in a WYSIWYG editor. Michael Haworth has posted four reasons to avoid creating a DVD in this case: time management, video creation issues, inflexibility of DVDs and being locked into a platform for the duration of her project. See his June 1 post for details.
If Anju asked me for advice, I would suggest that she create a series of short (10 minute) clips that incorporate the main aspects of a given topic related to the overall workshop into a simple viewing program (powerpoint,for one). If the topic of a workshop was on daily exercise, 10 minutes about why exercise is important, followed by 10 minutes on how to do key exercises and 10 minutes on issues one may come across when exercising (elevated heart rate, excessive thirst…etc). This is to keep students interested and to lessen the risk of overwhelming them with new vocabulary and information. I assume Anju knows her audience, but a preliminary survey may be required to meet student needs and assess unique ESL issues (simplified vocabulary).
I have never authored a DVD, and I ventured into the 565 Toolkit for help with this activity. To create a DVD, Anju would need her lesson plan (divided into 10 minute sections), her multimedia organized, her multimedia fully produced, her information in a folder hierarchy and DVD-R- because DVD+R may not work on older players (ETEC 565 Toolkit, DVD). She will need to learn her video camera’s functions, and how to upload her video for editing in her DVD authoring program. Whew!
According to ww.signvideo.com, she would have to author the video and audio into a structure like menus and chapters, and then burn her DVD. She would then have to know how many copies in total, and burn that number of DVDs. Her total number may be very high, rising the project’s cost, and the entire process sounds time consuming! She is also assuming that students would have a DVD player or access to one. This is a large assumption, and she should have surveyed students before purchasing a video camera and taking this route!
Estimated time: I have never attempted to create a DVD as a learning resource. Including the time it would take to learn to use the video camera, laptop DVD program and design the materials, my best guess is two months for an amateur/beginner’s effort. I came up with this answer assuming that she would spend 3 weeks planning the learning materials for a unit (based on my teaching experience), 1 week recording various data, and the remainder of the time mastering her DVD authoring tool.
Resources:
Hudson, B. (2002). DVD authoring part 1. Retrieved June 1, 2009, from http://www.signvideo.com/d-athr_pt1.htm
ETEC 565 Learning Toolkit: DVD. Retrieved June 1, 2009, from https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/urw/lc5116011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct
ETEC 565 Diabetes DVD Discussion Thread
Wikipedia (2009). DVD authoring. Retrieved June 1, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_authoring
