Viewing Lessons Online

[gafields]

In our middle school, each grade level has a weekly Parent's Math Night Out session where parents see what their children will be learning the next week. Our 8th grade teachers would like to prepare lesson using the recording feature and put it on a teacher's blog for parents (and possibly students) to view online.

Several questions: Can this be done? Will viewers need the Active Viewer to see it? If exported in another format, will the recoding feature still work? Bottom line, is a "best" way to accomplish this?

Thanks.

Gary Fields
7th Grade Math
Garrett Middle School
Cobb County Schools

[Rosie MacAlpine]

Hi Gary,
I find using the Full Screen Recorder (the second option when you click the Flipchart Recorder button) is best for this. It will record it as an AVI file which means it can be played back in Windows Media Player - the parents won't need the software installed to view it.
The only downside is that AVI files are huge. I've tried converting it to another format in the past using online converters, but haven't had much luck. (file doesn't reduce much in size, but quality does!)
If you have some conversion software though, you won't have these probs.
Another option is to distribute it on CD ROM instead so the file size doesn't need reduced.

Cheers,
Rosie

[karenadams]

Rosie is correct that the Full Screen or Area Screen Recorder will save your video as an AVI file which can be viewed in most Media Players. No ActivStudio is needed at all - unless you choose the Flipchart Recorder option - this will save it as a flipchart - you don't want this option.

AVI files can be large. I used to record parts of lessons and post them to my teacher website. Here, students could review material on the website that we did in class that day (to assist with homework). Works great if you are a math teacher to review how problems are solved.

I think this is a great option for parents to view what is going on in class via the web.

Good Luck!
Karen :)