UAF eLearning Media Production Studio
UAF eLearning jointly manages a production studio located at 375a Rasmuson Library. This facility is available to faculty teaching eLearning-supported courses who are interested in increasing their course production values and their own presence as instructors. The effectiveness of including rich media products into online courses has been demonstrated in the recent research and is something that online students are coming to expect.
Studio Productions
Productions in the media studio fall broadly into three categories: Learning Glass, Talking Head, or Greenscreen. There is some overlap between the categories, depending on what the needs are for the production.
Learning Glass
Learning Glass, or lightboard, is a novel amalgam of existing technologies that allows one to present written content while still facing the audience. For more on this tool, visit the Learning Glass resource page on iTeachU.
Talking Head
This is the simplest type of studio production: Face the camera and talk. Many instructors create videos like this for their simplicity and ease to produce. For example, UAF Professor of Justice Frank Boldt produced videos in this format for an online course in Spring 2017.
Greenscreen
Greenscreen, or chromakey, allows a presenter to be superimposed over another image or video. Your background can be keyed live, or recorded and done later in editing. Either way, shooting on a greenscreen allows enormous flexibility in terms of placing a presenter into a place or a graphic.
Types of Educational Video
The twelve videos in the taxonomy at right represent the broad range of video types that eLearning is able to help produce for an online course. It’s important to note that the boundaries can be fuzzy. A Talking Head video might also have been done on greenscreen, as in the example here. The Text Overlay video is also greenscreen video and contains basic animation, for example. The Live video is really much a talking head video, but with three participants, and broadcast in realtime without editing. These videos represent a range of possibilities in terms of production, not set categories or limitations.
This taxonomy was inspired by and builds off of the Hansch et al. 2015 review of video in online learning. All videos included are listed in the drop-down at right:
Video List
- Talking Head: Introduction to ABUS 263: Public Relations
- Picture-in-Picture: BIOL F193: Narrated Elevated Plus Maze
- Text Overlay: Linguistics 101 Online
- Live Field Broadcast: In the Alaska Garden with Heidi Rader.
- Screencast: iTeach: Collaboration in the Google World
- Animation: Alaska’s Spending & Revenue Model
- Interview/Discussion: BA F491: An Interview with Geoff Welch
- Live Video: Virtual iTeach+: What the Research Says: Video Assessment
- DIY Webcam Capture: BIOL F193: Behavioral Results after Fluvoxamine Treatment
- Learning Glass: Photosynthesis – The Big Picture
- On Location: Gary Copus: Introduction to Justice 110
- Greenscreen: Arctic & Earth SIGNs – Earth System Poster Assignment 2
Using the Studio
The eLearning Media Studio is a managed space. UAF instructional designers work one on one with faculty members to produce video content after identifying their needs and developing a production plan.
To reserve time in the studio or receive assistance in producing media content for an eLearning-supported course, contact Studio Media Production Designer Joe Jackson at jdjackson5@alaska.edu or fill out and submit the web form to the right.
Media Studio Request Form
Complete this form to request assistance in planning, shooting or editing media content for your course.
UAF Instructional Designers
This page has been authored collectively by the experts on the UAF Instructional Design Team. Let us know if you have suggestions or corrections!
uaf-elearning-design@alaska.edu