no audition required! video tutorials in the 24/7 age

7/29/2019 No audition required! Video tutorials in the 24/7 age.

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Daren Mansfield,Academic Subject Librarian

University of Lincoln Tel: 01522 886094

Email:[email protected]

NO AUDITION REQUIRED!

USING VIDEO TUTORIALS IN

THE 24/7 AGE

Are video tutorials the futureof information literacydelivery? Certainly they offerinexpensive flexibility theburgeoning 24/7 university

culture demands, particularlywith the relentless advance of distance learning courses andassociative off campussupport. Indeed, takingteaching outside of theclassroom suits theincreasingly important mediumof web-based delivery. Inaddition to offering an ‘out of hours’ service, video tutorials

can supplement multipleinductions where staff constraints across subjectareas prevent them fromphysically attending everysession.

Subsequently at the Universityof Lincoln the library piloted afree trial from thescreencasting software Jing(http://www.jingproject.com)enabling us to record

information tutorials onscreenand narrate navigationalinstructions. Alternative videotutorial softwarerecommendations to Jing,

though great for beginners,include the editable Camtasia(www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp), and the free web-basedScreenToaster(www.screentoaster.com),which doesn’t require installa-tion. If you’re interested inediting it’s also worthinvestigating the free audioediting software, Audacity(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/).

Deciding Jing was user-friendlywe purchased several userlicences (costing around £10per PC). After overcomingseveral technical glitches, thesoftware was installed on PCs,with users set up with unique

username and passwords,allowing us to create folders,share recordings, and store ona central hosting account withextra bandwidth as generatinghits requires more memory. Jing allowed us to record at ourdesks with a set of headphones and a microphoneor in a quiet room (thefavoured option) without

distractions. Colleaguesinitially favoured Jing demos toproblem-solve phone callenquiries, for instance finding journal articles or depositingan article into the institutionalrepository, simply by recordinga concise two-minute clip (viaa URL) and emailing it to theenquirer. The finished product

is an Mp4 file or URL availableto share on You Tube, blogs,

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http://www.jingproject.com/

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/


http://www.jingproject.com/





websites, virtual learningenvironments and intranetsites, or even Twitter.Screencasting is assuredlymore sophisticated than simply

reproducing an emailcomposed numerous timesbefore, and succinct enough toconvey the message. As ourconfidence grew we found ituseful to upload links on theuniversity’s intranet explaininghow to use individualdatabases or the Inter LibraryLoan system. As it is so easy torecord a demo it wasunnecessary to edit (thisfunction is more expensive), sowe discarded unwantedrecordings and producedothers, making us feel morecomfortable about therecording process. We arecurrently developing a set of video tutorials that deal withfrequently asked questions.

Many of us were apprehensiveabout recording our voices forbroadcast, but slowing ourvoices down, using fewerwords, pacing ourselves, andadjusting the microphonevolume to suit our level,worked well. Producing videotutorials generated somediscussion insisting upon an

apposite ‘radio voice’ but weconcluded that acting naturallyremoves several alienatingbarriers. As someonepossessing a strong accent Inaturally believe regionalaccents are a positiveaffirmation of character! Inmost cases, it usually took afew recording attempts for

colleagues to be whollysatisfied with the finished

product, but Schnall, Jankowski& St. Anna (2005: 80) advise to“strive for ‘good enough’, notfor perfection” as “most likelythe video will need to be

rerecorded a month later tokeep up with changinginterfaces and content”.Besides being personable andremoving barriers, Leeder(2009) recognises to ‘providethe most essential informationas clearly and simply as possi-ble’ and recommends that ‘if we provide too much informa-tion at once, we cause cogni-tive overload, at which pointour students shut down, loseinterest, or otherwise simplystop learning’. A weakness of video tutorials is the need toconstantly update material(Silver & Nickel, 2007) asdatabase interfaces change,for example. AlternativelyReece (2007) recognises that

because of the succinct natureof web-based tutorials thescript minimises library jargonand avoids ‘cognitive overload’(Leeder, 2009). Meer (2000)criticised early, albeitpioneering, web-basedtutorials as being too lengthy,reading from a preordainedscript and making the commonmistake of overloading the

student with too muchinformation - offering smallcomponents alleviates stressand confusion. Further benefitsof computer-assistedinstruction require ‘intensiveresource commitment in itscreation’ but have the ‘abilityto reach more students withfewer instructors’ (Reece,

2007: 487), a flexible methodof anytime, anywhere delivery

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that facilitates an out-of-hoursservice.

Reece (2007) argues that asingle information literacy

tutorial is inadequate to caterfor today’s student needs. There’s nothing to lose eitheras Beile & Boote’s (2005)research found that webtutorials were as effective asface-to-face instruction, withstudents preferring to use themedium for referencepurposes. Somoza-Fernandez& Abadal (2009: 130)recognise that web-basedtutorials are at an ‘early stageof development’ and have notreached the critical maturestage where high-qualityinformation literacy tutorialscombine training objectives,exercises and other teachingelements. However,sometimes such a pedagogical

dogmatism misses the point of providing a responsive videotutorial service to ‘developelements that favour usabilityand accessibility’ (Somoza-Fernandez & Abadal, 2009:130). When producing a videotutorial, Leeder (2009)recommends that it is crucialto identify the audience;determine goal (s) and break

down the task into basic ele-ments. Leeder (2009)elaborates that it’s helpful toannounce the goals at thestart, and reaffirm them at theend; measures that ensureMayer and Moreno’s ambitionof “deep understanding of thematerial, which includesattending to important aspects

of the presented material,mentally organizing it into

a coherent cognitive structure,and integrating it with relevantexisting knowledge” (Leeder,2009).

Screencasting needn’t be anovercomplicated task. Theobvious danger is uploading abewildering amount of clipswhen judicious selection is thebest approach. It is not aboutbecoming virtual librarians,disappearing into the web, butabout catering for modernneeds in a flexibleenvironment whereaccessibility to resources isparamount to the changingculture of libraries. Videotutorials should be used aspart of a wider portfolio of teaching methods, not as adisassociation from theclassroom, but extendingresource awareness beyondthe limitations of traditional

classrooms and lecturetheatres; broadening the scopeof librarianship bydemocratising information inthe digital age in thecontinuing shift fromtraditional pedagogy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beile, Penny M & Boote, DavidN. (2005). Does the mediummatter? A comparison of aWeb-based tutorial with face-to-face library instruction oneducation students self-efficacy levels and learningoutcomes. ResearchStrategies. Issue 20: 57-68.

Charnigo, Laurie. (2009).Lights! Camera! Action!

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Producing Library InstructionVideo Tutorials Using CamtasiaStudio. Journal of Library &Information Services inDistance Learning. Issue 3: 23-

30.

Forys, Marsha. (1999). Libraryexplorer: a voyage toward self-directed learning. The Internetand Higher Education. Vol. 2(1): 5-9.

Leeder, Kim. (2009). Learningto teach through video. In theLibrary with the Lead Pipe. 14th

October. Located at:http://inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2009/learning-to-teach-through-video/ [Accessed 12th

January 2010].

Meer, Patricia Fravel Vander.(2000). Pushing the limits:creative web use in librariesrelated to instruction.

Research Strategies. Issue 17:237-256.

Murley, Diane. (2007). Toolsfor creating video tutorials.Law Library Journal. Vol. 99,Iss. 4: 857-861.

Reece, Gwendolyn J. (2007).Critical thinking and cognitivetransfer: Implications for the

development of onlineinformation literacy tutorials.Research Strategies. Issue 20:482-493.

Schnall, J.G.; Jankowski, T.A. &Leillani, A. St Anna. (2005).Using Camtasia to EnhanceWeb Instruction Pages and Tutorials. Journal of Hospital

Librarianship. Issue 5: 80

Silver, Susan L. & Nickel, Lisa T. (2007). Research Strategies.Issue 20: 389-396.

Somoza-Fernandez, Marta &

Abadal, Ernest. (2009).Analysis of web-based tutorialscreated by academic libraries. The Journal of AcademicLibrarianship. Vol. 35, Iss. 2:126-131.

Wikipedia (2010).Screencasting. Located at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screencast [Accessed 20th January].

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screencast




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