Google Video in the Classroom [Produced by the DCMP and Mathtrain.TV for Google]
If a picture speaks a thousand words, then, surely, video transcends language. As teachers know, video is an integral component in the differentiated instruction framework, allowing them to tailor the curriculum to suit each student’s individual learning style. Of course, as we all know, kids derive a great deal of their information and cultural awareness from television, movies, and the Internet, and using video to supplement classroom instruction can make almost any subject matter more interesting and compelling for today’s visual learners. Increasingly, educational book publishers and video producers have begun streaming their videos over the Internet in addition to, or even in place of, traditional physical media such as VHS tape and DVD. These high quality productions are made available at the click of a button (or rather, hyperlink) for use in a classroom setting, or for viewing at home as an adjunct to classroom teaching. In addition to the professionally produced videos most often used by teachers in the classroom, there are many user-generated educational videos available for free on video hosting sites such as Google Video, TeacherTube, and LearnHub. Almost all of the videos hosted on these sites can be downloaded in a portable file format (e.g., .mp4 or .flv) for viewing on a laptop or portable device using a media player such as iTunes or Miro. The vast majority of videos available on the Internet today, however, do not include captions for the deaf and hard of hearing. According to the Described and Captioned Media Program's (DCMP) Caption it Yourself™, or CIY, Web site: "Captioning is essential for children who are deaf and hard of hearing, can be very beneficial to those learning English as a second language, can help those with reading and literacy problems, and can help those who are learning to read." In addition to the obvious accessibility benefits, captioning also provides a searchable and linkable* text transcript which can be fully indexed by search engines to provide far more accurate search results than with keyword tagging alone. [*After clicking on the link to visit the Google Video page, it may be necessary to select the List View button. Click on the "Start playing at search term" link to jump directly to the corresponding dialogue in the video.] Of course, while no single-click method exists for creating captions, Google Video makes the process quite simple. As we will discover in the following tutorial, creating, uploading, and captioning your videos can be both entertaining and educational!
The Creative Process Producing videos in the classroom is a wonderful way to spark your student's imaginations and draw out their creativity. By uploading your videos to the Internet for others to enjoy, both you and your students will be able share your knowledge and creativity with your peers from around the world!
To get started, you will need to borrow or purchase a video camera for recording live presentations and lectures, and/or a drawing tablet for creating “whiteboard” sessions on a computer. You will also need to download and install recording and editing software from the Internet. With the proper setup, you will be able to: Record student presentations, such as those given during a book report or history lesson. Record classroom lectures and "smartboard" lessons. Use “screencasting” software, such as: Camtasia Studio (Windows), Screenflow (Mac), or Screencast-O-Matic* (Web-based), to record and animate lessons using a laptop or desktop computer as a virtual whiteboard. [*Note: It will be necessary to first export the final screencast video as a .mp4 or .mov file before uploading it to Google Video.] Google Certified math teacher, Eric Marcos, will walk through the process of uploading and captioning a math lesson created by one of his math students using a tablet pc. [Note: If you would like to try this yourself, but do not have access to a tablet pc, simply search online for a low-cost "pen tablet" which can be used with any existing laptop or desktop computer to draw on the computer screen.]
Uploading Your Video Login on the Google Video Web site. [Note: If you do not already have a Google account, you can create one using your existing e-mail address, or by creating a Google “@gmail.com” e-mail account.] After logging in, upload your video to Google’s server using the Upload Video link.
Image 1: Select the Upload Video button to begin the upload process.
Browse for your video file, and then fill in the appropriate fields on the Web-based Uploader screen (see Image 2 below). [Note: Google Video recommends that you upload the original video in the MPEG4 format for the highest video quality during playback.] If your video file is over 100MB, you will need to install the standalone desktop loader application, which is available for the Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.
Image 2: Fill in the appropriate fields and upload your video.
After uploading your video, select the Live tab to see the video details. You will need to copy your video’s unique URL (the text shown in your browser’s address bar) to the clipboard for use during the captioning process. To capture your video’s URL select the View link to open your live video in a new window, then highlight and right-click (control-click on a Mac) the URL and select Copy. [You will paste the URL in to the “Video URL Dialog” box in Step 6 below.]
Image 3: Select View to see the Live video.
Captioning Your Video Open a plain text document editor (e.g., Notepad or TextEdit) in one window and your web browser with your “live” Google video in another window. Click the Play button (right arrow) to begin playing the video in your browser. Listen to the first few seconds of audio and then hit the Space bar on your keyboard to pause the video. Hit the Alt+Tab keys (Command+Alt on a Mac) to bring Notepad to the front of your open windows. Transcribe the audio exactly as you heard it, including all spoken dialogue, as well as any other relevant sounds or information (e.g., musical and off-screen sounds, speaker identification). [Note: For a quick overview of the proper techniques involved in captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing, visit www.dcmp.org/ciy.] Press the Alt+Tab keys to return to the browser window and hit the Space bar again to play the next few seconds of video. Continue starting, pausing, and transcribing the video in this way until you have a complete audio transcript. After creating the transcript, review it for accuracy by reading it from beginning to end as you watch the
video. You will want to proof for spelling and punctuation errors at this point as well. [Tip: Invite your students to transcribe videos to improve their grammar and typing skills!]
Image 4: Transcribe the video using a text editor.
Now that you have a transcript of the sounds and dialogue contained in the video, the next step is to create a SRT subtitle file. [Note: The terms “caption” and “subtitle’ are nearly synonymous. By adding text to identify important sound elements, we are, in fact, creating Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, or SDH.] First, create an account on www.overstream.net. Overstream.net provides a very simple interface, called the Overstream Editor (see Image 5 below), which you can use to caption your video. This tool is free to use and runs in your Web browser as an Adobe® Flash® application. After logging in to Overstream, click on the create button.
Image 5: Click the create button to begin create a new Overstream caption file.
Paste the URL from your Google video into the Video URL dialog box and click OK.
Image 6: Copy and paste the URL of your “live� Google Video.
To create the Overstream caption file, simply copy and paste sections of text from your transcript in to the Subtitle Text box; and then select the appropriate Start Time and End Time values. When creating your captions, it will be necessary to pay close attention to the time value shown in the bottom left-hand side of the Overstream Library Manager window. You will need to be sure that the start and end times of the caption text directly match the spoken dialogue. You will typically enter one or two sentences for each line of subtitle text. The start and end times will likely be between one to three seconds long per line depending upon the amount and timed delivery of the audio. After pasting in one or two lines of caption text, press the Save button to save your overstream.
Image 7: Time the transcribed text with the actual dialogue.
Once you have captioned the entire video and saved your completed overstream, you will need to export the caption text as an .SRT file for use with the Google Video player. To do that, click on the Tools button in the Overstream Library Manager window and select Export Current Subtitles as SRT. Select Save to File, and save the .SRT file to your computer.
Image 8: Export the captions (subtitles) as a SRT file.
You can now log back in to your Google Video Uploaded Videos page and find your video under the Live Videos tab.
Image 9: Select Uploaded Videos to view your video.
Click the Captions/Subtitles: Add button.
Image 10: Click the Add button to upload your SRT file.
Choose your language, give the caption file a name in the Captions/Subtitles field, and select the Browse button to upload the .SRT file you saved from Overstream. Click the Add button to add the caption file to your live video. Now when you view the video you will see a CC button that can be used to turn the captions on or off at the viewer’s discretion. [Note: It may take a few minutes for the CC button to appear on the live video. If the CC button does not appear after 15 minutes, however, you may need to repair the SRT file text and upload it again.]
Image 11: Upload your SRT caption file and click Add.
Now your viewers will see a CC button, which they can then use to turn the captions on or off.
Image 12: A closed captioned screencast on Google Video.
You can embed the Google video player in your own Web site or blog for others to see when they visit your page by using the snippet of HTML code provided under the Embed video link on your live video’s web page.
Image 13: Cut and paste the html code to embed the vido on your Web site.
That’s it!
Image 14: Click on the image above to play the video. So, upload and caption your videos today and open your classroom to a whole new world of possibilities! To view guidelines and examples of proper captioning, as well as to learn more about providing “Equal Access in the Classroom”, please visit the Described and Captioned Media Program at http://www.dcmp.org/equalaccess. Also, visit www.mathtrain.tv to see more user-generated video lessons created by students and teachers!