Monthly Archives: August 2016

Make easy clips from longer videos – Vibby

Most instructors like to use video at some point or another in our courses.  Sometimes we watch the whole video, other times, we are only interested in one or two clips to highlight a point.  Sometimes there can be frustration with locating the right time, waiting for the video to buffer, and then trying to find the next clip.  Even when we plan ahead and get the video up, buffered ,and set to the right time, disaster can occur when we inadvertently close the window (ok disaster is an exaggeration, but this is frustrating, no?).

Additionally, if we would like to make these clips available to students, giving instructions on exactly where to start and stop the video can be cumbersome.  Vibby is a tool that allows users to create clips from longer videos and then you simply save your Vibby video.  No more searching for the right clips, losing the times that you wrote down just yesterday, or students frustrated with wondering if they watched the correct clip.

Vibby is a free service and is easy to use.  Vibby uses videos that are on the internet (you need to use a URL for the video). So if you are using a video that you created yourself, you will likley use your YouTube channel to house this. Next you highlight the selections of the video you wish to clip.  You can start and stop highlighting several times in the same video.  You can adjust the highlighting if you need to move where you started or stopped the clip. When you have selected your clips, you simply click save, select a category for your vib, and then you are given a URL and embed code to share your vib with others.  Once created, you can go back to edit your vib. This will bring up the original video so you can add/delete clips as needed.

The one weakness that I see right now is that for any vib you wish to create the clips can only come from one video.  You cannot create one vibby video from multiple videos on the Internet.  Additionally, the people that you do share the vib with do have the option of watching the full video, so if your intention of using Vibby is to remove violent or other questionable content so your students do not see it, this will not prevent them from being able to.

With this said, this can be just one way of easily creating and sharing video clips for your class.

How Ed Tech spent its summer vacation

Welcome back to another school year!  The students are back on campus, faculty are busy in their offices developing syllabi and planning their lessons. I hope everyone here had an enjoyable summer and a productive summer (however you define being productive). In this blog I wanted to share what has happened in Ed Tech this summer and to describe a bit my plans for the coming year.

This past summer was a busy one. I had several goals for the summer, most of which I met.  First, and perhaps the most significant was the creation of a formal training workshop for undergraduate faculty who will be teaching online courses.  In collaboration with Michelle Laughlin of the Center for Online Learning, we offered a 4 day training that blended both face-to-face and online components.  Using the Quality Matters rubric as a tool, these faculty began designing their online courses. This form of training will continue to be offered as more of our undergraduate faculty begin teaching online either in the summer or in the new Organizational Management program.

The second major accomplishment was the creation of a Moodle Bootcamp course.  I created this course as an Intro to Moodle.  It is a self-paced course that introduces you to the basic functions of Moodle including creating assignments and quizzes, creating resources such as files and folders, and how to set up a gradebook.  Participants who complete this course will receive a badge showing that they have completed this online training.  Any Morningside Moodle users has access to this Moodle Bootcamp, so if you are interested please check it out.

Another major goal of mine was to offer initial training on using the lesson building software SoftChalk Cloud.  In June those who were interested participated in a two-part webinar.  The ‘Getting Started with Softchalk’ webinar is 1-hour long and you can view the recording here. I do plan to offer some additional resources for those who are interested in learning more about this program.  Keep an eye out for emails from me announcing different webinars that are offered on different topics.  I may also make a few how-to videos myself to help fill in the gaps.  However, there are several video tutorials available from SoftChalk to get you started that are worth checking out.

Looking forward I have several goals for the upcoming school year.

  • Create a webpage for educational technology resources
  • Offer several faculty development workshops. Topics planned so far include
    • QM summer pilot panel
    • Using technology to discuss and engage
    • Developing student writing in online/blended courses
  • Explore the potential for a badging system for faculty professional development
  • Create a recognition system for faculty using technology in creative and innovative ways
  • Continue work on implementation of Quality Matters – attending QM conference in late October
  • Incorporate Ed Tech’s role in Academic Challenge initiative on campus

In addition to the bigger goals, I hope to increase my consultations with faculty and to continue to be proactive in discussing the role of ed tech with faculty and departments.  I look forward to working with all of you this upcoming year.  I welcome any feedback on the resources that I have created and ones that you feel are needed.  I hope everyone has an excellent school year!