Category: CUNY ITunes U

CUNY IT Conference 2008 Presentation

From CUNY Academic Commons

On December 5, 2008 participants in CUNY’s “Teaching & Learning with Rich Media” project gave a presentation at the 7th Annual CUNY IT Conference at John Jay College. The extract from the conference program (below) describes the presentations and the affiliations of the presenters.

The Document Repository section below contains audio as well as PDF files of the Powerpoints that were presented.

Teaching & Learning with Rich Media: Podcasting & iTunes U

A look at this ongoing University-wide effort to build a collaborative academic community for enriching teaching and learning with rich media. The session introduces the project (open to all CUNY campuses) and the Web 2.0 tools that facilitate cross-campus sharing. Blackboard and iTunes U integration will be demonstrated; faculty resources and training opportunities will be discussed. Faculty presenters will demonstrate audio and video content and pedagogical strategies designed to capitalize on podcasting’s possibilities for improving student learning.

  • William R. Bauer, Assistant Professor, Department of Performing & Creative Arts, College of Staten Island
  • Giulia Guarnieri, Associate Professor, Department of Modern Languages, Bronx Community College
  • Stephen Landau, Business Process Manager, CUNY Computing and Information Services – Project Management Office
  • Albert Robinson, Instructional Technology Coordinator, Office of Instructional Technology, Bronx Community college
  • Ellen Smiley, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, City College, Academic Directior CUNY Online Baccalaureate
  • Howard Wach, Director, Office of Instructional Technology, Bronx Community College, Consortial Faculty, CUNY Online Baccalaureate

PDF Respository

  1. Dr. Howard Wach, Introduction CUNY_IT,  Introduction
  2. Stephen Landau, Project Overview CUNY_IT,  The Project – Teaching and Learning with Rich Media
  3. Albert Robinson, Role of Instructional Technology CUNY_IT, 2008. Instructional Technology and iTunes U
  4. Dr. William Bauer, Music in American Life CUNY_IT 2008. Weaving Audio Production into an Academic Setting
  5. Dr. Ellen Smiley, Online Courses-Reusable Learning Objects CUNY_IT 2008. Rich Media Podcasting in Online Courses.pdf
  6. Dr. Giulia Guarnieri, Intermediate Italian CUNY_IT 2008. Podcasting in the Foreign Language Classroom


ITunes U Site Administration

From CUNY Academic Commons

Contents

Subject Matter Coordinators

1. S. Landau, CIS Project Management Office

Introduction

Collect information pertaining to information concerning the university, college, and school iTunes U site administration here. To pose questions in Apple’s System Administration forum go here, create an account and pose your question. Please return here to record and share information that would benefit CUNY iTunes U site administrators.

Commentary

Site Admin Guide

Please make sure you have read through and understand the iTunes U Site Admin guide

Resources

Apple iTunes U Announcements for Site Administrators

  • iTunes U Update Aug 18, 2008 – Introduction of Apple ID Based Site Administration, Introduction of Advanced and Basic Access Control, Subcategories for iTunes U in the iTunes Store, Additional Criteria for Smart Groups, Top Downloads for Welcome Pages, User Identity Information Display Change

Software Tools

  • Woolamaloo for Windows PCs: Here’s a handle application for sending credentials to your iTunes U site. It is very useful for sending Adminitrator, Instructor, Student and just about any other (including) custom credentials that you might be interested in creating. You can download the Windows application and documentation here. A word of caution, you must download the .exe and .dll files to a local drive on your PC (it will not work from a network drive). See also http://itunes.uic.edu/windows/Woolamaloo.zip and http://itunes.uic.edu/windows/Woolamaloo%20for%20Windows.pdf
  • Woolamaloo for MACs and associated documentation can be downloaded here.

Selected Site Administration Topics
iTunes U Group Access Labels for Drop Box and Shared Tabs

Classroom Lecture-Capture Technology – Characteristics and Costs

From CUNY Academic Commons

Contents

iPod with Microphone (Audio only)

Image:IPod-with-mic.jpg

Some iPods can record your voice if you connect a microphone to the docking port (not the Shuffle, and not the most recent generation). A really effective microphone is made by Belkin called TuneTalk.

Pros:
  • Really simple to use/record – wear it in a breast pocket or on an armband while you teach
  • Produces high quality recordings in .WAV format
  • Relatively inexpensive – (~$250)
  • iPod nano 2nd Gen (~$180)
  • Belkin Microphone (~$70)

Cons:
  • Recordings are limited to the length of iPod battery life with microphone attached – usually about an hour
  • The Belkin only works with the 4th gen iPod Video and 2nd Gen iPod-nano (last year’s models)
  • Captures voice only – however, after class audio can be synchronized with images, PowerPoint slides, etc. using a product like Camtasia (an additional ~$200)
  • No automation – file transfers, output file creation, XML file must all be done manually

Marantz PMD660 Digital Recorder + wireless microphone (Audio only)

Image:Marantz.jpg

Pros:
  • Easy to Use
  • Very high quality recordings
  • Uses inexpensive Flash Memory – larger means more hours of recording
  • If an outlet is not available it can operate for 4 hrs on 4-AA batteries
  • Built-in condenser mic – but a wired or wireless mic will produce much better results
  • Has Two XLR mic connections with +48v phantom power
  • Built-in USB port for transferring recordings to your computer or just move the memory card to the computer if it has a reader

Cons:
  • Expensive (~$700)
  • Marantz PMD660 (~$500)
  • Flash Memory Card (2GB ~$30)
  • Wireless Lavalier Microphone (~$200)
  • Captures voice only – however, after class audio can be synchronized with images, PowerPoint slides, etc. using a product like Camtasia (an additional ~$200)
  • No automation – file transfers, output file creation, XML file must all be done manually

Bluetooth Microphone with Camtasia

Image:Bluetooth.jpg

Pros:
  • Records both audio and images, PowerPoint slides, etc. – fully synchronized
  • Audio Quality OK but not great

Cons:
  • Can be tricky to set up and use
  • Moderately expensive (~$400)
  • Camtasia Studio (~$200)
  • Bluetooth Microphone (~$170)
  • Bluetooth Receiver (~$30)
  • No automation – file transfers, output file creation, XML file must all be done manually

Mediasite

Image:Mediasite.jpg

Pros:
  • Broadcasts Live on the Internet
  • Records both video, audio, and images, PowerPoint slides, etc. – fully synchronized
    * Maintains archived recordings – you need a Windows Media streaming server – automatically
  • Provides a full user interface for accessing archived recordings
  • Rack mount and portable versions exist

Cons:
  • Very Expensive (~$18,000 installed + yearly maintenance + Windows Streaming Server)
  • Doesn’t scale easily to multiple simultaneous classrooms
  • Windows Media format only – you will have to convert manually for iTunesU
  • Very limited editing of recordings
  • Tricky to get working for live broadcast – mostly network issues

Echo360

(formerly Apreso Anystream + Lectopia) – http://www.echo360.com/

Pros:
  • Scalable
  • Capture can be fully automated (scheduled) if you wish, or partly automated
  • Multiple output formats – H.264 raw video format

Cons:
  • Expensive
    o For the hardware version you need a server, a capture license & a capture appliance – plus the multimedia equipment in the classroom – computer, projector, etc)
    o For the software version you need a server, a capture license (~$1,500 per year per room) – plus the multimedia equipment in the classroom – computer, projector, etc)
    + Echo360 capture license (~$2,250 per room per year)
    + Hardware capture appliance (~$2000 per room)
    + Installation (~$1,000)
    + Server Hardware (~$2,000-$5,000)
  • Limited editing – removal of contents only – cannot add

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Technologies for Rich Media

From CUNY Academic Commons

Contents

Subject Matter Coordinators

Introduction

On this and related pages, we’ll explore various technolologies that can be used to create, edit and publish audio, video and hybrid rich media. The emphasis here will be on practical considerations and be based on the experiences of faculty, students, course designers, technologists and others who have worked with various MAC, Windows or other platform technologies.

Resources

Image Manipulation

You can use several free online Web 2.0 resources to resize and edit images for use in rich media presentations:

For a more robust set of options, the Gimp is a free, open source image editing and manipulation program. It’s a great alternative to the expensive Photoshop, and can work wonders if you need to edit images in almost any conceivable manner. You can download the application at the link below.

The GNU Image Manipulation Program (image editing software): http://www.gimp.org/

Screen Capture, Podcasting & Other useful applications

  • Free online Teleprompter, useful if you are recording from a “script”
  • Podcasting a Powerpoint Presentation with Camtasia (a video webinar)
  • Jing – A free screen capture and markup application from Techsmith (the maker of Camtasia) that allows you to capture screen content and activity for sharing on the WWW. Captured files are in Macromedia Flash Movie (SWF) format. A great application, not only for teaching & learning in the classroom, but also for training and information sharing. There’s also a Pro version that costs $14.95/year that usies the MPEG-4 format that can be uploaded to iTunes U courses or YouTube (HD). the Pro version also eliminates Jing logos that appear at the beginning and end of the videos created with free Jing. Be sure to read Mac and PC system requirements and other limitations placed on the free version.

Video & Audio File Format Conversion

  • Quick Media Converter (Windows (All): With this FREE converter you can convert between most audio and video formats, including AVI, DVD, Quicktime, Flash, Xvid, DivX, MPEG, MP3, WMA, MP4, 3GP and many others. You can convert multiple files (of different formats) in a single process and optionally customize the output settings in Expert Mode.
  • Jodix Free iPod Video Converter enables you to convert popular video formats to iPod video. It provides a simple and easy to use interface, just select the file(s) to convert and click a button. You can optionally change output quality and video size as well. The program supports AVI, MPEG, WMV, RM, RMVB, DivX, ASF, and VOB formats.
  • Quick Media Converter enables you to convert between most audio and video formats, including AVI, DVD, Quicktime, Flash, Xvid, DivX, MPEG, MP3, WMA, MP4, 3GP and many others. You can convert multiple files (of different formats) in a single process and optionally customize the output settings in Expert Mode. In addition to media conversion, the program also includes CamStudio, which allows you to record desktop acxtivity to video, as well as a WebCam capture feature that enables you to record video directly from your webcam device.


ITunes U at Other Institutions

From CUNY Academic Commons

Contents

Subject Matter Coordinators

Stephen Landau, CIS, Project Management Office

Introduction

Commentary

Resources

For a directory of college and university web pages linking to iTunes U, as well as support pages (where available), see the iTunes wiki.

Here is a sample of publicly available descriptions of iTunes U projects conducted at other colleges and universities. Read these for the lessons learned, best practices, and how others have addressed various issues at these institutions:


ITunes U Technology FAQ

From CUNY Academic Commons

What file protocols does iTunes U support?

For video use mpeg4 with H.264 video compression. For audio use either AAC (Advanced Audio Coding, mpeg 4 audio) or mp3. AAC has some advantages in that it results in higher file compression ratios and higher fidelity than mp3, particularly for large files. AAC also supports enhanced podcasts so that data such as images or a URL can be timed to appear visually at a certain point in time in what otherwise might be an audio-only file. MP3 is more universally supported on mp3 players other than iPods. These standards, in addition to the Portable Document File standard (PDF) are supported on iTunes for MAC and PC Desktops. While all except PDF can be downloaded to iPods. Note: Check with the manufacturer data sheets for other brands of mp3 players for compatibility with the mpeg4 audio (m4a) and mpeg4 video standards. See Apple’s iTunes U documentation for a fuller explanation of protocols and related information.


How much storage will my Apple iTunes U site have?

Each college will be alloted 500GB of storage to be allocated between a college’s public and private (teaching & learning, academic) iTunes U sites.


What will happen if I exceed the storage limit?

Apple reserves the right to take reasonable measures to reduce an excessive resources utilized by a college, including removing content and denying access to the iTunes U site. Should this ever happen, apple is obligated to use all reasonable efforts within 10 days of taking such action.
But I need more than 500GB of storage. What can I do?

Review that content that is already stored on your iTunes U site(s). Remove any stale, outdated content. Note too that from within your iTunes U pages, you can create links to rich media content that is stored on servers at the college. Storing audio and video on college servers is another way to increase available content.
How many audio and video files can be stored on 500GB?

That’s difficult to say, since much depends on the length of audio and video content, the mix of audio and video (since video files are larger) as well as compression algorithms used and other factors. This spreadsheet models sotrage utilization based on audo-video mix and other factors: Rich Media Storage Calc.xls.
Where can I get support from the iTunes U Community?

The iTunes U community has grown by leaps and bounds, and has grown into an excellent support resource. Here are some links for various online communities. I encourage you to become active in these forums and use them as your first line of defense!

iTunes U Support for Site Admins

iTunes U Support for Course Managers

iTunes U Support for Content Creators

iTunes U Content Users

Assessment: Gauging Outcomes

From CUNY Academic Commons

Subject Matter Coordinators

Introduction

Commentary

Resources

  • The iTunes U Assessment Support Project provides assistance to universities and colleges using iTunes U on their campus. The project provides a set of online resources to assist institutions better understand and enhance their implementation of iTunes U. These resources include: a student survey, a faculty survey, resources, advice and discussion