Video Syllabus

A New Syllabus!

I recently received a license for Camtasia and wanted to try it out.  So, what I decided to do is to create a video syllabus for my students and parents so that I don't have to bore the students on day 1.  Most of my videos from last year were made on Showme, so I was excited to try out Camtasia.  Here's the link if you want to check it out!

Here are a few items/tips on using Camtasia that I picked up while making my first video!

• Create a powerpoint first (or use an old one!)
• Think about what you want to say on each slide
• If you mess up, just pause, say "take two" and continue on.  This will make it much easier to edit out the mistakes once you are done recording.
• Use features like the zoom and call out features within Camtasia
• Use Twitter!  The first video that I made cut off the top of my head, so I tweeted @camtasia to get help and within 5 minutes I had a fix!  I also asked my PLN to help with what I should focus on in class.  Within 10 minutes I had several response!

My plan is to mail this video out to parents BEFORE the school year starts.  Then, I will show it to students on Day 1 and use it to model how I want them to watch the rest of my content videos.  It is only 10 minutes, so I have the rest of the block to engage students in better Day 1 activities such as a Problem Based Activity on Solving Social Security.

I plan to compile some data on the future of social security and ask students to determine how they could convince the government to make a change and then how the government would actually go about changing this policy.  This will introduce them to the idea of collaboration our classroom as well as the fact that many of the issues we will tackle will NOT have answers!  Plus, it leads into the first video on the public policy making system!