Essential Tips for Instructors
Using Videostreaming
Use Large Text: Videostreams
appear to students at the screen resolution of 320x240. In general it is a good
idea to write with fairly large letters so that text can be read by students
watching the videostream. If you are using a document with your presentation
and are showing it from the computer it may be difficult for students to read
if the text in the document is very small. Consider posting the document in
WebCT or on the Class Videos page prior to the class so that students watching
via video stream can access the document while you're discussing it.
Less Movement is Better: Try to limit motion as much
as possible. Rapid movement will appear very choppy on a videostream especially
for a videoconference class since the video is optimized for sharpest quality.
This means that text will appear sharper, but motion will be blurry. This is
normally not a problem since most of the time professors will be speaking or
writing from the same position. However, it is worth noting that using videos
as an illustration may not be a good idea if they contain lots of movement.
This especially applies if there are students watching the videostream who have
a 56 Kbps Dial-Up connection.
20-30 Second Delay: If
you are using chat rooms to facilitate student answers, keep in mind that there
is a 20-30 second delay between the time you ask a question and the time when
the videostreaming student actually hears it. We advise either waiting 20-30
seconds for responses from all students, or continuing with lecture and stop to
respond to questions in the chat room as they are asked.
Linking to Videostream Files: Use
the index page, Class Videos
Page, for links to live and archived streams.
Do not link directly to your own course’s videostream page. This
minimizes the work you will have to do if your own course’s videostream page
changes location.
If you would like to link from
your own web pages, keep in mind that Netscape will not support direct links to
videostreaming servers. To make your links compliant with all browsers, you
will have to create "ram" or "asx" files, depending upon the media type that
you are using.
Complete Guidelines for Teaching via Videostreaming
Download more about teaching via videostreaming in Microsoft Word format.
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