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Technical Tips For online courses with Oncourse

Preparing  a  presentation  for  an  online  class    

1. Script  your  presentation.  Prepare  Slides  in  Power  Point  or  other  program.  Record  narrative  in  small  snippets  –  where  each  file  with  a  piece  of  narrative  corresponds  to  each  visual  (or  slide).  I  usually  script  narrative,  then  create  each  slide  with  a  corresponding  narrative  one  by  one.  It  is  productive  to  save  files  with  sound  in  the  same  folder  and  use  meaningful  titles,  like  narrative1.  So  that  each  number  corresponds  to  the  slide  with  the  same  number.      

2. Save  slides  as  JPEG  images.    File  >  Save  as  >  JPEG;  Choose  to  save  the  whole  presentation  in  a  separate  folder,  where  each  slide  will  become  an  image.    Note  down  where  you  saved  the  folder.    

Preparing  a  presentation  for  an  online  class      

3. Open  Movie  Maker.  This  should  be  standard  on  your  computer  running  Windows  (for  the  Mac  machine,  use  iMovie  –  the  process  of  using  iMovie  is  very  similar  to  Movie  Maker).  

 4. Add  the  images  of  the  slides  to  the  new  project.  Click  “Add  videos  and  

Photos”,  and  browse  for  the  files  you  saved  (the  images  from  the  Power  Point  slides).  You  should  see  the  images  lining  up  on  the  editing  pane.  You  can  preview  your  movie  if  you  click  on  the  PLAY  arrow  in  the  viewing  pane.  The  standard  play  time  for  every  image  is  7  seconds.        

Preparing  a  presentation  for  an  online  class      

5. To  add  the  files  with  narrative,  click  on  “add  Music”,  find  the  file  and  fine  the  file  and  open  it.  This  is  what  you  will  get.      Most  likely  the  playtime  for  each  image  (standard  preset  7  sec)  will  be  shorter  than  your  narrative  or  the  narrative  will  be  longer  than  the  slide.  You  need  to  adjust  the  time  for  both  the  image  and  the  voice  file.      6. To  adjust  the  voice  file,  double  click  on  the  green  strip  that  shows  the  voice  file.  (It  may  be  of  different  color).        Modify  the  start  time  (=  this  is  where  the  file  starts  playing  in  relation  to  the  presentation).  The  first  file  will  start  at  0.00,  the  next  starts  at  10  or  50  depending  on  the  length  of  the  first  slide.      Adjust  start  point  (this  is  where  it  starts  playing  in  relation  to  itself),  this  should  0.00,  or  more  if  you  want  to  snip  off  a  few  seconds  from  the  beginning.      Adjust  end  point  (this  is  where  the  file  stops  playing  in  relation  to  itself),  this  should  be  as  long  as  you  need,  and  this  time  will  correspond  to  the  length  of  your  narrative.  My  suggestion  will  ne  not  to  go  over  60  seconds;  20-­‐50  seems  to  be  the  best.      Optionally,  you  can  change  volume  or  add  fading  effects.    Touch  ENTER-­‐key  after  every  manipulation.            

Preparing  a  presentation  for  an  online  class        

7. Next  adjust  the  length  of  the  image  playtime.  Double  click  on  the  image,  and  modify  duration.  If  the  voice  file  is  10  sec  long,  then  the  playtime  for  the  image  is  10  sec  too.    

Preparing  a  presentation  for  an  online  class        

8. Add  the  next  voice  file  following  the  same  steps.  On  this  illustration,  I  added  “Tape  Delay”  voice  file.  It  is  too  long  and  needs  adjustment.  The  image  playtime  needs  changing  as  well.  You  can  see  how  it  will  look  after  the  adjustment.    

9. Add  titles  and  captions.  You  can  preview  the  changes  on  the  bigger  screen  to  the  left  of  the  editing  pane.    

10. When  you  are  done,  Save  the  project  File  >  Save  as.    11.  When  you  are  confident  with  changes  send  it  to  Youtube.  Click  on  the  Youtube  button  right  in  the  program.                

Manage Email Emai l can dramatically increase your efficiency because it makes sending information, documents, or files to people who need them so easy and quick. Bul many people can find themselves buried by the avalanche of text messages and email messages that pour into their electronic in·boxes each day. If you miss a day of work, the next day you may find yourself overwhelmed by the emai l that you need to respond to.

Set aside a specific time of tbe day to clJeck email. Unless it's pan of your job to imme­diately respond 10 email messages, use the principle of hatching tasks that we men­tioned earlier. For example, check your emai l fLrst thing in the morning, at noon, and an hour before the end of you r work day; or find some lime frame for checking email that is compatible with the work cycle where you're employed. We don't recommend setting your email program to notify you every time you receive an email; you may be tempted to see who just sent you a message rather than more effi ciently processing your emai l in batches.

Use tbe two-m;,,,,te ntle. The emai l twO minute rule is this: If you can't respond to an email message in rwo minutes or less, wait to respond fO it when you're responding to sev­eral email messages at the sa mc time. t I You can work more efficiently if you are work­ing on the same kind of task (such as responding to email) than if you're checking email, deleting some messages, and then spending more than two minutes responding to others.

Create actiOlI files. If it takes more than tWO minutes to respond to or make a decision about what to do with an email message, create action files-files in your email syStem where you store messages to review later. At first it may sound as though we're encour­aging procrastination, but what we're actually encouraging is more efficient management of your responses to messages. The simplest files fO create arc for action, for waiting, and for lengthy messages that sim ply need to be read. The action file can include all email messages that need more than two minutes in which to write a response. The waiting file is for email messages that don't need an immediate response but that you don't want to delete. Finally, the read file is for email that will take you longer than two minutes to read. By filing and batching your email, you'll work more efficiently.

Uploading  and  sharing  a  voice  file  via  SoundCloud  

Step  1:  Upload  the  voice  file  to  SoundCloud  1. Start  with  Opening  an  account  at  

SoundCloud.com  (www.soundcloud.com)      

2. Record  a  voice  file  using  a  voice  recorder,  phone,  or  directly  in  soundcloud.  For  this  example,  I  used  iPhone  voice  memo  function,  and  saved  the  file  on  the  computer.    

 3. Click  on  Upload  and  Share  button  in  Sound  

Cloud,  and  then  Choose  Files.      

4. Browse  for  the  file  saved  on  the  computer.  Change  the  title,  if  necessary;  and  Save  changes.    

5. To  see  the  track  you  uploaded,  click  on  Dashboard.                  

Uploading  and  sharing  a  voice  file  via  SoundCloud  

Step  2:  Embed  the  player  into  a  post  in  a  forum    

1. To  copy  non-­‐HTML  code:  a. Click  on  Share,  see  the  green  box  b. Uncheck  the  box  next  to  “Use  the  HTML5  

widget”,  see  the  red  arrow  c.  Copy  the  embed  code,  which  starts  with  

“object”,  see  the  highlighted  area    

2. To  embed  the  player:  a. Click  on  Source  button  in  the  text  editor  

and  paste  the  code  in  the  text  box    

 b.  When  you  click  on  Source  again  or  Save  the  post,  the  code  will  look  like  a  green  puzzle  piece.