Tutorial #6: Create Classroom Videos for YouTube"
[Back to Technology Page]Making videos for use in your classroom or on your class website take a little bit of time, but can be a good way to reach out to your students outside of the normal school day. I have recorded myself teaching a difficult math lesson so that my students could go home, watch the video with their parents, and get in some additional exposure to that concept.
This lesson is geared towards Mac users, but the concept can be copied quite easily on a PC. There is more information for PC users at the bottom of this tutorial.
Most Mac's have a built in video camera and microphone, but if not you can pick one up at any electronics store for under $20. Once you have your microphone and video connected and operational, open the iMovie program.
If you are not familiar with the iMovie application, it is very simple to operate. A finished movie is a combination of movie "clips" that you will record, titles, and music (both optional). To begin recording your first clip, click on the camcorder icon and select your video source.
For Mac's with a built in webcam, choose "Built-in iSight". If you have decided to use an external webcam or microphone, as long as you have installed it correctly, this should be available from this list as well. I have also used a digital camcorder to record to iMovie, which is much higher quality video and sound.
You should see yourself on the screen now, and you can begin recording by pressing the "Record with iSight" button on the video screen. When you are finished recording the clip, click on the button again to end recording. The clip you created should be added to the "clip list" on the right side of the screen. You can then drag these clips down to the the project list at the bottom of the iMovie screen.
Once you have finished recording all of the clips for your movie, you can add some special effects by choosing the tabs underneath the clip window. By choosing the "Media" tab, you can add music or pictures to your movie. These will appear on your timeline with the clips you have added. You can play around with the timing and have them fade in during your titles, and out while their is speech in your video.
Click the "Editing" tab to add titles to your movie. You can also add chapters to your movie if you wish to record to DVD. Of course if you prefer to choose the "easy way", you can click on the "Themes" tab and choose from some very amazing automated backgrounds to give your video some pizzaz.
Once you are done adding these details to your movie, choose the "Export" command from the "File" menu.
Choose to compress your movie for Quicktime as a "web streaming" video. Once you click "ok" this could take a VERY long time to complete. Make sure you don't have any other programs open on your computer to slow down the processing speed.
Now that your movie is saved, you can upload it to YouTube for anyone to watch. If you are new to the world of YouTube, you will need to click here to create an account.
Once you have created your account, go to "My Account" and click "New" --> "Upload New Video".
They will give you some quick suggestions for video quality. Click the "Upload Video" button, find your movie on your computer, and then upload it to YouTube. Usually it takes 15-60 minutes for your video to appear online for viewing. Once it does, click on the "Embed" video code, copy, and paste it to your website!
I know this was a loaded lesson, but if you have any questions, don't hesitate to e-mail me. For PC users, there are a number of video editing programs that you can download on your computer to make videos for YouTube as well. Check out this article from PC Magazine that reviews different video editing software.
For more detailed information about using iMovie, check out Apple's Official iMovie Page.