QuickClips

I have translated one of my plans into something concrete. I know of some people in the College who have a similar idea but, as usual, have failed to move beyond plans and chatter. Well, it is a bit understandable considering that an effort like this requires time, hard work and perseverance, especially if one will work on it almost single-handedly.

I am talking about my project aimed at producing video clips showing Math problems being solved. Although this is not something new (a lot of similar clips can be found in the Internet), I believe that a well-produced collection of such clips specifically targeting a particular set of students would help a lot in a teacher's task of facilitating learning. I have produced more than 20 clips for ALGEB-X and BMAT2-X and am targeting to produce more. Producing this initial batch is very important for me because I will now have something to show my colleagues in order to convince them that it can be done.

What do I have to show? Well, I already have a prototype of a CD which I can distribute to my students. They can have the CD copied, bring the copy home, insert it in their CD drive, and start watching clips of their teacher demonstrating solutions to problems which they discussed earlier or will discuss later.

If I can convince other teachers to create more clips, the collection will expand and might even afford the student the luxury of choosing which teacher he or she wants to see and hear explain a particular solution. Now, if no teacher signs up, I can always ask my students to produce the clips given my guidance. Let's do the Math: 5 clips per group and 8 groups of 5 students in a class of 40 is 40 clips per class. Since I have 6 different classes this coming term, wouldn't that translate to 240 clips (or at least 120 good ones)?

That is why this effort of producing an initial batch is so important because I have the chance to convince teachers and students alike that it is something beneficial to them. If they find it useful, I will have an easier time convincing them to produce more for sharing with others.

Aside from the CD as a distribution medium, here's another possibility (again, I just I have to show that something like this works and I will probably be able to convince one or two others; "Doc Zaldi, how did you do it?"):



I will talk to Odie and Caloi about sharing my experiences regarding this and other similar efforts with my Math co-teachers. Yan muna.

Will Hit The Ground Running

This is the last weekend of my service leave. Classes for Term 2 will start on Wednesday and I will hit the ground running. In fact, I was not really inactive during my service leave. I am happy I was able to accomplish a lot. I was able to do what I set to do and a lot more.

Since my last post, I did the following:

• Install Windows XP in our MacBook via Boot Camp. I was already running a Windows XP virtual machine via VMWare Fusion. But I needed something that runs natively and not virtualized. I need Windows XP to fully utilize the power of the Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the 1 GB RAM. Anyway, Fusion detects the Boot Camp partition and I can still run Windows XP via Fusion on Mac. But when I need to do, for example, heavy video editing, I run Windows XP via Boot Camp.
• Work on my video clips project. This consisted of the following subtasks:
• Setting up our EGI outer room as a "studio" for the video shoot, which means buying and installing a whiteboard, buying markers and eraser and buying and installing additional lighting fixtures;
• Shooting clips using our Sony Handycam;
• Transferring the clips to the computer;
• Doing video editing, which includes assembling the clips, reducing the noise, adding captions and transitions; and
  
• Encoding the "movie" in SWF and WMV formats
• Wrapping up my work on my instructional materials. I did a lot of work on this area. Here are what I have completed:
  
• Handouts for 5 Math subjects: ALGEB-X, BMAT2-X, ELEMSTA, DS-MATH and TRIGONO
• Problem sets (about 7-9 per subject)
• Pair quizzes (about 4 per subject)
• Online quizzes (about 4 per subject; 15-25 items in each quiz; 1 hour and 1.5 hour setups are available; offline versions were also prepared, in case no computer laboratory is available)
  
• Slide presentations (for 3 out of the 5 subjects)

It was a lot of work and I learned some new things. I will share these with my fellow Math teachers if they are interested. Offhand, I can think of three topics for sharing already:

• Preparing instructional materials with Math elements using OpenOffice.org (main focus is on the use of OpenOffice.org Math constructs; probably branding also)
  
• Creating Math quizzes in Moodle (main focus is on LaTeX constructs; showing also how to reuse what were typed in OpenOffice.org)
• Producing video clips for use in Math subjects (will give a walkthrough from shooting to packaging)

As I said, I will likely hit the ground running. I just hope some people will run with me.