Teaching with video has been important for a long time, but we have come a long way from wheeling a TV cart or projector into the classroom to the sound of cheers from students. In recent years many professors have shifted from videos produced by others to self-recorded segments in support of a flipped classroom model or other alternative teaching formats reliant on students viewing content outside the classroom. This process can be time consuming and frustrating.
Two new developments on our campus are having a positive impact on video and are attractive enough they may convert even the most technically challenged faculty member.
- Kaltura for uploading and/or recording videos.
- Video Captioning is available now for all faculty members at no cost.
Kaltura for uploading and/or recording videos
Kaltura has been part of the suite of campus programs for seve
ral years, but a recent renegotiation is providing us with increased functionality that makes using video in your courses easier. It is a Blackboard integrated hosting space for your video content, meaning you can upload a video and share it to as many classes as you would like. It is advertisement free and you have maximum control over the privacy settings. There are also analytical capacities to let you track video views and usage far exceeding our abilities with YouTube or Vimeo. Overall it is an easier way to manage your video content for your courses and make sure you have access in future semesters without publishing it on the open internet. Kaltura also has a feature which transitions to the second development, auto-caption.
Video Captioning is available now for all faculty members at no cost
AutomaticSync is a new program for our campus and it works with Kaltura beautifully. AutomaticSync allows the Office of Accessible Technology and Services to provide you with captions for any video; it works especially well with Kaltura, but they can make almost any video work. The service is free of charge to you and brings accessibility to your courses in a way that benefits all students, not just those with audio impairments. The turnaround time is quick at 72 hours and the reliability is very high. A new video player which should roll out to campus soon will provide even more features including searchable transcripts that sync with video. There is no excuse not to get captions done.
Individually these are marvelous developments that open up different options in your courses. Together, they make high quality accessible videos a reality for the first time on our campus.
- If you want to get started using Kaltura contact the Technology and Learning Program.
- If you have videos you want captioned, whether they are in Kaltura or not, contact the Office of Accessible Technology and Services. Or fill out a Request Ticket.
- If you are looking for people to thank, seek out David Rowe from Distributed Learning Technologies who brought this new and improved version of Kaltura to campus, and Jeremy Olguin from the Office of Accessible Technology and Services who championed AutomaticSync to Student and Academic Affairs for funding and leads up captioning efforts on our campus.
The CELT Conference preliminary program and registration link are now available. See you on October 6-7!
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