Top Seven Tips for Multimedia Storytelling – What really works!

 

Classroom teachers don’t have time to mess around with technology that doesn’t work. If multimedia is going to become a powerful learning tool in our classrooms we need to use the tools and techniques that will provide fast and efficient work flow.

 

Tip #1 Dump the Tapes

 

Shoot with a camera or camcorder that uses flash memory. Dump the tapes and mini-disks! You will save hours of time and headaches. Flash memory can be directly transferred to your computer and moved into an editing program.  Besides time, you will also save money by not buying consumable recording media.

 

Tip #2 Shoot Smart – No editing

 

Digital editing is creative, but it sucks time out of your busy life! Try to capture video in one long take – no editing required. While there is no question that editing improves the quality of a video, what you really want to do is share creative content. You will be able to do more of that if you don’t have to take the time to edit.

 

Tip #3 Storyboard Your Shooting Sequences

 

If you are going to edit, carefully plan your shots. Take the time to create a storyboard and plan a logical shooting sequence. You will save a ton of time editing your work later.

 

Tip #4 Buy Software That Works

 

While it is possible to produce impressive projects with free software, there is usually a reason that it is free. If you are serious about producing regular multimedia content then purchase industry standard software that efficiently does the job.  If you are using a PC try Adobe Premiere Elements or on a Mac look at Final Cut Express. These programs work, have lots of great features and provide a stepping stone to more advanced tools.

 

Tip #5 Use a Powerful PC

 

Video editing takes computing power! You will need a newer machine with enough ram memory. Nothing frustrates the creative impulse as much as a constantly crashing computer when you are trying to piece together your video masterpiece.

 

Tip #6 Come Prepared

 

Plan before you shoot.  Time is always limited, so when you do get your 30 minute period to produce a video make sure you have all the materials that you need.

 

Tip #7 TeacherTube

 

Avoid using your own website to host the video. Mount your video on a site like TeacherTube or Vimeo then put a link on your own website or blog. This saves both time and money as you will be charged extra if your site’s traffic exceeds the specified limit.

 

Telling multimedia stories is about creating efficient work flow. You want to focus your energy on telling stories and sharing content, not getting bogged down with inefficient tools and techniques.

Publishing to the World

We all want to be heard; to publish our work validates our efforts in creating it. The Internet provides a simple and inexpensive way to share work with hundreds or maybe even thousands of others. Over the next few posts I will sketch out how Cayoosh Kidz  www.cayooshkidz.net has created a web presence with 70 thousand hits per year. Our hits come from dozens of countries around the world.

Webpage

Our webpage is the locus of our new media enterprise. A webpage doesn’t need to be complicated. The webpage is where people come to find the location of our digital content. The simplest way to manage content is to produce and store it on a third party website such as Flickr. Once you have the content in place you post the links to that content on your webpage. For example, we keep our videos on TeacherTube and our pictures on Flickr. It is much easier and it provides a better looking product to do this, unless you have the skills to build and manage a sophisticated webpage.

Four Media Types

There are four media types: video, audio, image and text. You can simplify your web presence by just creating a media rich blog with all the media types. I will explore easy ways to develop content of all types in the next post.

The last word on Assessment for Learning

Well actually the last word for assessment on this particular blog. There is a great resource at www.sd70.bc.ca/_Teach/Cameron_Rubric.doc . You will find a wide range of useful Word templates that can be customized for your needs.

Ken