VideoGuys Guides

Grassroots video is all the rage and even identified as one of the higher education trends “on the horizon” by the EDUCAUSE/New Media Consortium Horizons 2009 report. If you’re interested in serious (or even hobby) videography, the following information on storage for video capture and editing will be useful.

http://www.videoguys.com/techstorage.htm

While we’re talking about video, check out the new JCCC YouTube video channel at http://www.youtube.com/jcccvideo . You’ll find Board reports, Kansas Tour video, Athletics, interviews and more.

If you want more information on YouTube EDU ("a gateway to educational video content") check out the article at http://tinyurl.com/mlgo5e.

Summer Institute on Distance Learning & Instructional Technology

For the tenth year in a row, Johnson County Community College will co-sponsor a 2-day free conference (the Summer Institute on Distance Learning & Instructional Technology or SIDLIT, pronounced sidelight) to be held in the Regnier Center on campus on July 30-31, 2009. The regional conference draws 250-300 participants primarily from KS and MO, but is open to anyone (in the past we’ve had a smattering of attendees from the coasts and a number of states in-between). The two-day institute includes presentations, topic-oriented special interest discussion groups, hands-on workshops, and demonstrations.

For more detail, check out www.sidlit.org . Registration is now open and available at http://www.sidlit.org/user/register .

A sample of SIDLIT 2009 sessions includes: "Choosing an ePortfolio Tool" by Benito Berardo, "Relax and Enjoy a Taste of MERLOT" (the Learning Object Repository) by Heather Seitz, "Delivering High Stakes Assessments in a Computerized Testing Center" by Philip Wilhauk, "Spanish: Reality Online" by Nellie Modaress, "The Open Education Resource Phenomenon: Free Educational Resources for All" by Gloria Creed-Dikeogu, "Digital Storytelling: How to Bring Your Stories to Life" by Tracy Newman and "Effective Video Storytelling" by Bob Epp.

For a listing of all sessions visit http://sidlit.org/sessions/all or to see a tentative schedule of sessions, visit http://sidlit.org/sessions/matrix .

SoftChalk Version 5 Now Available

SoftChalk LessonBuilder version 5 is now available (we license it at JCCC for use by all our faculty and staff). "With SoftChalk LessonBuilder you can...." (verbage from their web site)

• "Create interactive web pages for your e-learning courses. It's easy, quick, and your lessons will look like a professional designer created them.
• "Engage your students with lessons that include pop-up text annotations, self-assessment quizzes, and interactive learning games.
• "Package your lessons for delivery via CD-ROM, Intranet, Internet, or integrate with your LMS (Learning Management System).

"If you can use a word-processing program, you can use LessonBuilder. Designed for teachers and content-experts who don't have time to learn complex software, LessonBuilder is simple, yet powerful, with only the features you need to create exciting, interactive, content for your online course."

Demos and training are offered by SoftChalk on LessonBuilder 5. Check out http://www.softchalk.com for details.

Royalty Free Clip Media

At JCCC, we periodically have faculty members ask about clip media that can be used in handouts, in class or online without concern for copyright infringement. There is a good blog posting at http://weblogs.about.com/od/startingablog/tp/FreePhotoSites.htm that discusses 6 different web sites that have (potentially) royalty free images available. Be sure to carefully ready any restrictions associated with a specific image (the blog discusses sites such as Stock Xchange, Flickr, Morguefile, Dreamstime, FreeFoto and Picapp).

Keep in mind, you can also use clip media from Microsoft’s clipart site, if you or your campus has a license agreement with Microsoft; e.g., you have purchased or licensed Microsoft Office (see http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx ).