Educators, Prepare With This Supply List for Teaching With Video

The most frequent question teachers ask of the video expert in their midst is what tools to use for making their own educational videos. Fortunately, a wealth of excellent tools is readily available. Here is my minimal-cost, starter-kit shopping list for teaching with video. 从这个, you can invest in improving your gear wherever shortcomings for your specific needs make themselves known.

•野外摄像机.他们说最好的相机是你随身携带的. The phone you carry around in your pocket almost certainly has at least one HD video camera in it. Develop a habit of using it to record inserts to include in your video lessons. If you see something that illustrates a concept in your discipline that you could show your students, 记录它.

•达芬奇的决心. The basic version of Blackmagic Design’s powerful postproduction software is free to download and works across most platforms. 下载最新版本的解决 and start trimming down the videos you shot with your smartphone into short clips you can teach with.

•高质量的网络摄像头. 很可能你已经有了, 但如果不是, the Logitech C920 or C922 can both be sourced for well under $100. These are solid webcams and include good onboard microphones to get a decent recording of your voice. The webcam should be mounted at eye level to provide students with a natural camera angle.

•额外照明. If you’re recording at your computer, your face will be lit with unflattering colors. You’ll need to drown out the computer screen’s light with brighter, cleaner light sources. It doesn’t need to be fancy: makeup lights or ordinary room lamps will work.

•声学控制.确保孩子和宠物有事可做, 没有风扇在吹, and that the ducts to the room you’re using as your recording studio are blocked off. The room needs to be very quiet if you aren’t using a professional microphone, 即使你是，也应该是. If there’s one thing that students have very little willingness to tolerate, it’s poor audio quality.

•OBS工作室. 开放广播软件工作室是令人印象深刻的多功能生产软件, which primarily built its reputation as the tool of choice for livestreaming video game performances and similar low-stakes event video. However, OBS Studio is also excellent for producing and recording educational videos. To do so, you would set up a variety of scenes to transition between while teaching. 其中一个场景可能是全画幅网络摄像头视频, 一个可能是你的ppt幻灯片, several others would be the inserts you shot with your phone and trimmed down with DaVinci 解决. Another could be a composited scene with your slides and webcam sources, picture-in-picture style. Using OBS Studio allows you to prepare exactly what you want your students to see and to get the video pieced together live instead of having to do so much editing in postproduction. OBS Studio allows you to guide student focus by deliberately changing scenes during the recording session. 研究 using eye-tracking software informs us that if the teacher’s face is on the video, the students’ eyeballs are on the face and not on less dynamic content. If you want students to look elsewhere, you’ll need to make other content dominate the frame. 当你把你的录音带进达芬奇决断室时, all you should need to do is trim the ends and cover any flubs with smooth transitions. Because OBS Studio is most frequently used for self-produced content production by YouTubers, you’ll find solutions to almost any problem you run into on that video platform.

•第二个监视器在扩展显示. Assuming that you’ll use a computer screen as a video source to show slides or software demonstrations, 您将需要第二个屏幕用于OBS Studio. 如果你手边没有的话, the secondhand market will readily supply a no-frills model at little expense.

[This article appears in the July/August 2018 issue of 流媒体杂志 为“学校录影带教学用品清单”."]