This article covers:

1. An overview of the Q-Review Presentation Editor
2. What you will need to edit your recording
3. Steps to edit your recording
4. A 4-minute video demonstration of the process
5. Trouble-shooting (Internet Explorer security warnings)

For Q-Review FAQs, please log into our Online Helpdesk at https://helpdesk.its.qmul.ac.uk. To submit a query, click the ‘Request’ button, then select ‘Q-Review-Lecture Capture’.

Overview

The Q-Review Presentation Editor offers a user-friendly interface and allows you to trim sections of the recording that you would like removed. The very basic editor eliminates the confusing features that come with more advanced video editing software, but this means that you won’t be able to do more advanced edits, such as adding in sections.

Most users find the tool meets their needs, as they generally just cut the beginning and the end of their recordings – perhaps where the audience is coming in or leaving the session. You can also remove sections from the middle – however this can become a bit tricky, especially if the recording includes video. By removing sections in the middle of the video, it can make the recording seem jerky to the viewer, especially if the speaker is moving around alot. We recommend that you only trim sections from the beginning and end, if possible.

Edits must be done within 14 days of the recording, and you can also restore edits within this timeframe. If the link has already been given to your audience (such as within a Blackboard course area), the link will automatically update with your edits once it has finished processing.

Below is a sample of the Presentation Editor. It allows you to view your slides (if you had any) and listen to the audio.

What you will need:

1. A computer with internet access and Flash installed.
2. Speakers or a headset (to hear audio).
3. Presenter access to a Q-Review recording that is less than 14 days old.
4. A username and password to access the Q-Review server.
   (You can request this by sending a query via our Online Helpdesk: https://helpdesk.its.qmul.ac.uk).

Steps to Edit:

1. First, log into the Q-Review server with your username and password at https://ess.q-review.qmul.ac.uk:8443
   (request login details via our Online Helpdesk).
2. Click on the link to the recording that you would like to edit.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the next page, and click on the green “Edit Media” button.
4. This will load the Presentation Editor.
5. Click the play button, and identify where you want to trim.
6. Move the markers to the section that you want to remove – the first marker should be at the start of the section you want to trim, and the second marker at the end of where you want to trim.
7. Click on the scissor icon.
8. The section will be greyed out, indicating that it has been removed.

Once you have made your edits following the above steps, you can click on the “Preview” tab to review your edits.

9. When finished, click on the “Publish” tab
10. Then click the “Save and Publish” button which will publish your edited recording.

Depending on how long the recording is, will depend on how long it will take to process the edited recording. As an estimate, the processing time is usually the same length as the recording (so if the recording is 60 minutes long, estimate 60 minutes to process).

After it has been processed, you can return to the link you originally received for the recording, and that link will be updated with the edited version.

Short Movie Demonstration:

You can view this 4-minute movie which demonstrates the steps in greater detail. If you have speakers then you can listen to the demonstration. Otherwise, I have added closed caption for the sections worth noting.

Please contact us by logging into our Online Helpdesk – https://helpdesk.its.qmul.ac.uk.  Submit your query by clicking on the ‘Request‘ button, then select ‘Q-Review – Lecture Capture‘ from the drop-down list.

Trouble-shooting:

If you are using Internet Explorer, you may receive a few security warnings similar to the ones below.

Click on the “Continue to this website” link if you receive a warning like this:

Click “No” if you receive a warning like the one below as you do not wish to view only the secure items. Clicking yes will result in the Presentation Editor not loading.

Photo Credit

SX-70 on Flickr

There are 3 main steps, and I have have created a short video (well, it’s 8 minutes long) describing these steps in more detail, as I thought it may be of interest to others.

Although the movie describes the steps to create only 2 assignments for only 2 sets of students, the same principle can be applied if you wanted to release several different assignments to several sets of students. You could also release other content in the same way, not only an assignment, but also a document or a quiz .

Here are the general steps to create 2 assignments to be released to 2 different sets of students:

1. First, you will need to identify in Blackboard your different sets of students.

   There are different ways to do this. For instance, you could set up different Groups via the Group Manager, and allocate your students to different groups. Or, you could create a column in the Grade Book, and identify your students that way. In my movie example, I’ve chosen to do the latter.

2. Then, create 2 different assignments (or other content) in Blackboard
3. Finally, set the Release Criteria so that one assignment will be released to one set of students, and the other assignment will be released to the other set.

Take a look at this short(ish) video of the steps to do this…if you have speakers or a headset, then you can listen to the audio, otherwise, I’ve also included some text so that you can follow along without the sound…

If the video above is too small, you can view an enlarged version here: http://www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/support/vle/selectivereleasemovie/

If you have any questions, please contact us via our online helpdesk and click on the Request button: https://helpdesk.its.qmul.ac.uk

Photo Credit

Michael Yat Kit Chung on Flickr

Overview: In this 30-minute webinar, you can observe how to create a basic multiple choice assessment in Blackboard and how to view submissions. You will receive other tips to get you started, as well as instructions of where to get further help.

Requirements: A basic understanding of Blackboard is recommended before participating in this session (for example, the difference between the Teach and Build tabs). You will need a computer with internet connection and speakers (or a headset).

To register, please complete the form below.  If you are unable to view the form below, please go to this webpage.

The online sessions available are:

1. Introduction to Blackboard
2. The Basics of Blackboard Assessments
3. Creating and Collecting Blackboard Assignments
4. Group Management in Blackboard
5. The Selective Release Tool

The purpose of these webinars is to give a general and succinct overview of a particular Blackboard tool and to allow viewers to observe from a convenient location – whether it be at one’s own desk, at home or anywhere with internet connection.

Upcoming BB Webinar:

The Basics of Blackboard Assessments will be held on Wednesday, 17^th November 2010, from 12Noon until 12:30pm.

Overview: In this 30-minute webinar, you can observe how to create a basic multiple choice assessment in Blackboard, and how to view submissions. You will receive other tips to get you started as well as instructions of where to get further help. If interested, please complete the form below.

Requirements: A basic understanding of Blackboard is recommended before participating in this session (for example, the difference between the Teach and Build tabs). You will need a computer with internet connection and speakers (or a headset).

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To register, please complete the form below.  If you are unable to view the form below, please go to this webpage.

You will need to get the Embed code from YouTube.

1. Log into YouTube
2. Click on your username and then My Videos
   (located at top right)
3. Click on your chosen video
4. Click on the Embed button (beneath the video)
5. Copy the code and then paste into your blog/website’s HTML code (or into Blackboard’s HTML code)

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(Note: You can also embed someone else’s videos using steps 4-5 above).

Embedding in Blackboard

For instructions on embedding into Blackboard please refer to the last part of the post on “Using the Flip Camera to make online videos in Blackboard“.

* An Unlisted YouTube video does not appear in YouTube’s public spaces, such as in searches, but can be viewed by anyone who knows the URL to the video.

In order for your users to find your podcast you must, as with any online resource, provide a link to it.

Look here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/kermode) to see some examples of different types of links to a podcast. On the right-handside you will see several links including RSS, iTunes and Zune.

Open up the link and hover your cursor over (don’t click) the different hyperlinks to the podcast. On the bottom left of your browser you will see the actual link. You can see that the first part changes from itpc to http to zune and so on.

Try that out before continuing to read this post.

As you can see there are several ways of doing this. We will cover two of the most generic here. These are:

1. Creating a special type of link which tells a computer to open iTunes and subscribe to the podcast
2. Linking directly to the file and allowing your computer to decide what to do with the file.

There are advantages to both.

The first, the ITPC link, has an obvious appeal in that it is much easier for your end-user. They don’t need to do anything more than click on a link and follow the on-screen instructions. However some websites (for example, wordpress.com) will not allow the use of the ITPC link. Also not all of your users will use iTunes.

The second, the HTTP link, is a normal weblink and carries no information about what it is linking to. Each computer setup will do something different with it. Firefox, for example, will open the full RSS feed in a useful and accessible way. Internet Explorer, on the other hand, will display the actual code of the RSS in a manner completely bewildering to most users. However, the HTTP link, does allow your user to choose what they want to do with the link. They could, for example, copy and paste the link into iTunes to suscribe.

We would suggest including both on your website. Though please note that including all the options included in the example BBC page is very easy and you would go through exactly the same process; just changing the first section of the link. For example “itpc://mypodcast.qmul.ac.uk/rss.xml” would change to “zune://subscribe/Put in the title of your podcast here=http://mypodcast.qmul.ac.uk/rss.xml”.

How do you do it?

Well, it’s exactly the same as any hyperlink. You enter some text or an image and wrap some HTML code around it. In the example below I am going to borrow the link to Mark Kermode’s film reviews on the BBC website (always a good listen) and use that as an example.

The RSS file is located here http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/kermode/rss.xml.

You can see me making a copy of a normal http link and turning it into a itpc link in the video below.

The HTML code I used for the normal HTTP link to the RSS feed is:
{a href=”http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/kermode/rss.xml” }This is a link to my podcast.

The HTML code I used for the ITPC link to the RSS feed is:
{a href=”itpc://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/kermode/rss.xml”}This is a link to my podcast using ITPC.

Hopefully that covers what you need to know but, if not, you can as always get in touch with your questions.

If you’re not sure what RSS is please read this post (http://www.esddelu.org.uk/introducing/what-is-rss/) before continuing here.

This is remarkably easy to do – even if the amount of XML will look intimidating at first.

What will you need?

So, in order to create your feed, you’ll need a few things:

• An mp3 file online already
• Access to some web space to save your files
• A basic knowledge of HTML
• An image to use for your podcast that is a JPEG sized at 300×300 pixels at 72dpi

Once you have those things then keep reading.

What will this post cover?

What we’ll cover here is:

1. A look at an empty RSS feed with no episodes in it
2. What you need to do to start off
3. An example of the XML to make a very basic podcast episode
4. That’s it!
5. A list of recommended links to read if you’re interested in continuing to podcast

A look at an empty RSS feed with no episodes in it>

Below you will see a lot of XML. It will look off-putting at first but remember that all you need to change is the text in capitals. (I have taken this example from a very helpful post here: http://homepage.mac.com/rfwilmut/notes/podcast.html)

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<rss xmlns:itunes=”http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd” version=”2.0″>

<channel>
<title>THE NAME OF YOUR PODCAST</title>
<link>THE URL OF THE WEB PAGE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST</link>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>YEAR, AND YOUR NAME (OPTIONAL)</copyright>
<itunes:subtitle>A SUBTITLE</itunes:subtitle>
<itunes:author>YOUR NAME</itunes:author>
<itunes:summary>A PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING THE SUBJECT OF YOUR PODCAST</itunes:summary>
<description>A BRIEF SENTENCE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST</description>
<itunes:owner>
<itunes:name>John Doe</itunes:name>
<itunes:email>AN EMAIL ADDRESS FOR VISITORS (OPTIONAL)</itunes:email>
</itunes:owner>
<itunes:image href=”URL OF AN IMAGE FOR THE PODCAST” />
<itunes:category text=”CHOOSE A CATEGORY FROM THE APPLE LIST (SEE BELOW)”>
<itunes:category text=”CHOOSE A SUB-CATEGORY”/>
</itunes:category>
<itunes:category text=”ANOTHER CATEGORY (OPTIONAL)”/>

<item>
<title>TITLE OF THE EPISODE</title>
<itunes:author>YOUR NAME</itunes:author>
<itunes:subtitle>A SUBTITLE FOR THE EPISODE</itunes:subtitle>
<itunes:summary>A DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTENTS OF YOUR EPISODE</itunes:summary>
<enclosure url=”THE FULL URL OF THE MEDIA FILE FOR THE EPISODE” length=”FILE SIZE IN BYTES” type=”FOR AN MP3 FILE – audio/mpeg” />
<guid>THE FULL URL OF THE MEDIA FILE FOR THE EPISODE</guid>
<pubDate>DATE, E.G. Wed, 15 Jun 2005 19:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<itunes:duration>DURATION H:MM:SS</itunes:duration>
<itunes:keywords>ENTER KEYWORDS FOR SEARCHING</itunes:keywords>
<itunes:explicit>yes IF CONTAINS ADULT MATERIAL, OTHERWISE no</itunes:explicit>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>

What you need to do to start off

Now we will move your mp3 file into a public folder and create the basic XML of your podcast.

1. The first thing you will to do is to put your mp3 file into a public folder. Upload it into a folder on your webiste called ‘podcasts’.
2. The XML will look like what’s below. I have included a copy of this file below for you to use in this exercise. Right-click here and save the file to your local computer. Open the file in Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac) to edit it.
   
   <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
   <rss xmlns:itunes=”http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd” version=”2.0″>
   <channel>
   <title>THE NAME OF YOUR PODCAST</title>
   <link>THE URL OF THE WEB PAGE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST</link>
   <language>en-us</language>
   <copyright>YEAR, AND YOUR NAME (OPTIONAL)</copyright>
   <itunes:subtitle>A SUBTITLE</itunes:subtitle>
   <itunes:author>YOUR NAME</itunes:author>
   <itunes:summary>A PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING THE SUBJECT OF YOUR PODCAST</itunes:summary>
   <description>A BRIEF SENTENCE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST</description>
   <itunes:owner>
   <itunes:name>John Doe</itunes:name>
   <itunes:email>AN EMAIL ADDRESS FOR VISITORS (OPTIONAL)</itunes:email>
   </itunes:owner>
   <itunes:image href=”URL OF AN IMAGE FOR THE PODCAST” />
   <itunes:category text=”CHOOSE A CATEGORY FROM THE APPLE LIST (SEE BELOW)”>
   <itunes:category text=”CHOOSE A SUB-CATEGORY”/>
   </itunes:category>
   <itunes:category text=”ANOTHER CATEGORY (OPTIONAL)”/>
   </channel>
   </rss>
   
3. Fill in the details of your podcast for title, link, copyright,subtitle, author, summary, name, email.
4. Now fill in the categories. Look here (http://www.feedforall.com/itune-tutorial-tags.htm#category) for a list of iTunes categories and sub-categories. Choose the ones you want your podcast to be a part of
5. For the image attribute, enter the URL of an image that you want to use as the ‘shop-front’ for your podcast.This image must be a JPEG sized at 300×300 pixels at 72dpi
6. Save your file onto your web folder with a name you will remember (no spaces or special characters). Make sure the file extension is .xml

Okay, now you’ve got your basic xml online and waiting for content.

An example of the XML to make a very basic podcast

Now you will make your first episode. The XML below needs to be copy-and-pasted before the line that says </channel> in your XML file.

1. So, paste in this code (leaving out the {}):
   {
   <item>
   <title>TITLE OF THE EPISODE</title>
   <itunes:author>YOUR NAME</itunes:author>
   <itunes:subtitle>A SUBTITLE FOR THE EPISODE</itunes:subtitle>
   <itunes:summary>A DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTENTS OF YOUR EPISODE</itunes:summary>
   <enclosure url="THE FULL URL OF THE MEDIA FILE FOR THE EPISODE" length="FILE SIZE IN BYTES" type="audio/mpeg" />
   <guid>THE FULL URL OF THE MEDIA FILE FOR THE EPISODE</guid>
   <pubDate>DATE, E.G. Wed, 15 Jun 2005 19:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
   <itunes:duration>DURATION H:MM:SS</itunes:duration>
   <itunes:keywords>ENTER KEYWORDS FOR SEARCHING</itunes:keywords>
   <itunes:explicit>yes IF CONTAINS ADULT MATERIAL, OTHERWISE  no</itunes:explicit>
   </item>

   }

2. Fill in the details of your podcast for title, author, subtitle, summary, the URL of your mp3 file in both places it is mentioned, the pubdate (publication date), duration, keywords, a note as to whether or not you consider the contents to be of an explicit nature.
3. Save your file
4. Note down the full URL to your XML file

That’s it!

That really is it.

Try opening your XML file in Firefox and seeing how it works.

Then go to iTunes and select ‘Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast’ and enter in the URL of your XML file.

When you have more episodes just copy-and-paste one of your earlier ones and enter in the new details.

A list of recommended links

Below are a list of the links that I have used to make this post and some further reading.

• How to make a podcast: http://homepage.mac.com/rfwilmut/notes/podcast.html
• A list of all the attributes that iTunes uses and what they mean: http://www.feedforall.com/itune-tutorial-tags.htm
• The full page from Apple about iTunes and how to make more complex RSS feeds: http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html
• A really useful page that breaks down all of the XML above into bite-size chunks with an explanation of each: http://www.danfergusdesign.com/classfiles/generalReference/rssFeedSample.html

1. An audio/video recorder – such as a Flip camera (available in the ELU)
2. Editing and Conversion software – such as iMovie and iSquint (available in the ELU) or jaycut.com (available online) *
3. A media host account – such as YouTube or Screencast (available online)
4. A Blackboard course area (available through the ELU) *

* Not required, but helpful

Step 1 – Record your Video

It is easy to record and get video using a Flip camera (which you can borrow from the ELU). The following steps were adapted from the Flip Camera’s website:

1. Turn it on and press the red button to start/stop recording.
2. Record.
3. Connect camera to computer (slide switch on the side of camera to pop the USB connector out). For PC users, navigate to ‘My Computer’; go to FlipVideo Drive, then DCIM folder to get video.

Step 2 – Edit your Video

This step is not required, but helpful.

Using iSquint and iMovie (both available in the E-Learning Studio) you can compress and edit your video. Compressing your video file in iSquint is very easy and makes your video iPod compatible. There are other options for editing videos, such as Jaycut.com which offers free online editing options. (You can read our article about Jaycut here).

1. Open iSquint and simply drag your movie file into the iSquint screen.
2. Click the Start button.
3. Depending on your video size, the conversion should take a few minutes.
4. In the example below, my video file was compressed and went from 54.3MB to 5MB

If you would like to make edits, you can open your video in iMovie (or jaycut.com) where you can remove sections of your video, as well as add text and/or animation.

Step 3 – Share your Video

Next, you will need to have a media hosting account – such as YouTube or Screencast (read our comparison blog here). Screencast allows you to set privacy and authentication rights to your recordings, and decide who you want to share your recordings with.

A basic Screencast account is free (2GB space). £7.50/month or £73.50/year gives 25GB of space.

1. Log into Screencast and click Upload Content (create a free account if you don’t have one)
2. Browse for your video recording and upload into Screencast
3. Once the upload is complete, click the Close button

Your video will be in the My Library root folder (you can move your videos into folders later)

1. Hover your mouse over the video for more options.
2. Click on the Share icon  to see options for how to share your video

You can copy and paste the first link into an e-mail and share with your students or, you can add the link into your Blackboard course.

Step 4 – Embedding your Recording into your Blackboard Course

The following shows a sample recording that was uploaded to Screencast then embedded onto a page within a Blackboard course. Follow these steps:

1. Within Screencast, copy the Embed on your page script (option 3 in image above)
2. Log into your Blackboard course area. From the Build tab, click Add File, then Create File
3. From the Create File page, give the page a Title, then click Enable HTML Creator button
4. Type an introduction, then click the Source View tab (see image below)
5. Paste the script from Screencast (see #1) within the <body> tags, after your introduction

1. Scroll to the bottom of the Create File page, click Save.
2. Click on the Student View tab, and click the File that you just created.
3. The embedded video should display, see an example below.

Here is my embedded video made with the Flip Camera:

This is a brief reminder about the College’s lecture capture project, Q-Review. If staff would like to make use of this service in the coming year, you are advised to make that requirement known to Room Bookings when submitting your room requests now. They will make every effort to prioritize requests from those who wish to use the technology.

What is it?

Q-Review (http://www.esddelu.org.uk/tag/q-review/) is a two-year pilot project instigated and managed by the E-Learning Unit. It is a service by which staff can automate the production of podcasts and online videos of lectures without any technical knowledge. Recordings can be scheduled, recorded, and distributed to students without any involvement from staff beyond the original request.

An example of it being used by Professor Nicholas O’Shaughnessy in the School of Business and Management can be see here http://tinyurl.com/y5h36o7

It has also been used in some departments to record special events (for example a lecture from Shami Chakrabarti can be heard as a podcast here: http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/podcast/index.html).

Where is it?

The system is currently installed in the Biology Lecture Theatre in the Fogg Building, the Perrin Lecture Theatre in the Blizzard Building and the Skeel lecture theatre in the People’s Palace. This summer five more installations will be going in around the College.

We (the E-Learning Unit) also have a portable installation on a laptop that can be borrowed for use by colleagues.

If any member of staff wishes to record either a one-off recording or, indeed, an entire semester of lectures, simply make that request known to Room Bookings as part of your room request.

What do I need to do?

If anyone has any questions at all about the system, its use, or comments about this type of technology please email Eoin McDonnell at e.mcdonnell@qmul.ac.uk. The E-Learning Unit are happy to provide demonstrations of its use and any training that you or your students may require.

If you would like to record your lectures in the coming year – just make this requirement known when requesting rooms from Room Bookings.

We’ll get hard copies at the E-Learning Unit which you can browse in the E-Learning Studio, but you can also access it online.

You can access the journal from www.informaworld.com. Click ‘Sign in’, then select ‘Athens SSO’ and sign in to Athens with your QM Teaching Service log-in. This will return you to the Infromaworld site, where you can search for “ALT-J’ and read recent and back editions with full texts of all articles. You can also follow this link.

It comes out three times a year and is the leading e-learning journal in the UK, so do delve in.