R. Craig Collins > Common> Training Home Page> YouTube Creation

YouTube Creation © R. Craig Collins, 2014/5

First, you might want to look over a few of my thoughts on what makes a good YouTube video

Step 1 Create your video (details below)
Step 2 Optional, edit your video (details below)
Step 3 Upload to YouTube (below)

Step 1 Create your video

You can use your phone, a camcorder, or computer... anything that can create a digital file.
If using your computer, you could
use PowerPoint and embed audio narration as your starting point (or narrate later),
use your web cam as a starting point, or
use CamStudio (free) or a more feature rich program such as Camtasia to record your screen and mic.
Camtasia can even edit your video, including titles, callouts, audio adjustment, and closed captioning.

Step 2 Optional, edit your video

Many phones have built in editing tools, or you can download an app.
On a Mac, you have access to the free iMovie,
on Windows you can get Live Movie Maker free from Microsoft, if not already on your computer.

The basic editing options are to split your video into separate scenes... then you can delete unneeded scenes, reorder scenes, add still images between scenes, add video effects, and add titles to the beginning or end.

If using Camtasia, you can also close caption the video, and even export the captions to a separate file.

Some Camtasia tutorials https://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-camtasia-8.html
Some YouTube tutorials on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAE2241F1FF27BECB

Step 3 Upload to YouTube

You will need to set up an account on YouTube first, if you have a GMail account, you may use that.
When uploading your file , you will be prompted for a category, a description, and keywords that users might search for.
You can make the video private (access only via URL that you distribute) or public, and control licensing.

After uploaded, if you did not create captions earlier, you can use the Closed Caption tool to create a base line set of captions that you could then edit for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. (Occasionally, the Camtasia captions don't upload properly, I just import the previously saved captions file.)

Note, until you have uploaded a set number of videos, you may be limited to 15 minute uploads. However, I strongly recommend videos that run from 3-7 minutes; chunk longer videos into smaller items that focus on the salient ideas.

You can share your videos in class by emailing them the YouTube url, or in D2L you can actually insert the video.
See https://community.brightspace.com/resources/videos/videos/instructor_html_editor_insert_stuff

I have made a YouTube video on the whole process... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hxdoir0Bns

The Use of YouTube for Educational Purposes, a very brief and unscientific opinion.

Overview:
I)            Pros and Cons of Lecture capture
II)           Time investment
III)          Striking a balance
IV)          What’s required for a YouTube lecture capture
                Closed captioning
V)           Examples of the two most common ways to video capture
VI)          How I do my YouTube videos

I) There are many valid reasons for trying to capture a class lecture:

• not all students learn well just by reading the material; by appealing to more learning modalities there is a higher chance of successfully imparting information, especially in an Online setting.
• In a traditional class, lecture capture allows students who missed a class to still cover the material, and perhaps avoiding falling behind
• In a traditional class, lecture capture allows all students to review key points, on demand; repetition is one of the keys to retaining information

But there is also a tipping point: simply capturing a lecture that rehashes student reading is not beneficial. A good lecture is about give and take with students, and this is not what lecture capture does; a bad lecture captured does not reinforce key points; often it simply unduly adds to the time a student needs to invest in a class… part of the so-called class and a half syndrome, and even worse, the boring talking head syndrome.

II) So, after considering if you should make a video, the next consideration will be the time investment.
As before, there are two sides to every story. I personally consider the time spent an investment that pays many dividends over the years, including saving time down the road. (I don’t need to answer as many questions, and even when a question come up, often I can save myself time by referring students to a video.) But a good, reusable video that includes audio MUST be closed captioned, and that takes time. I am not going to debate the closed caption argument, it’s the law; if you use video with audio, it must be accessible.

So, the time required to do a good video on a topic that may have a limited shelf life, or a video on a topic that may never be used again, is probably a poor use of time.

III) The key is to strike a balance between the benefits a lecture capture can provide, and the costs, especially in time.

IV) What is required to do a YouTube lecture capture?

• Either a video camera and mic to record your lecture, or a computer with a mic and a screen capture tool. CamStudio is a free tool that can record your screen and mic, and save as an avi file. Camtasia is a great option with more options.
• Video editing software. iMovie or Windows Movie Maker can do the basics for free. Camtasia is a great option with more options, including help with closed captioning.
• A YouTube (gMail) account. Included in the account is a tool for closed captioning, after the file has been uploaded. It is automatic, but the results are poor. These automatically created files need to be edited. (Not as useful as Camtasia, but functional. )
  For closed captioning, both YouTube and Camtasia, and tools such as Dragon, start by running speech to text, and generating a starting point. Depending on how clearly you speak, your accent, and the terms used in your lecture, results will vary… but don’t expect much more than 80% accuracy… because even if all the text was correctly detected, none of the tools can handle basic sentence structure… you will always have to add capitalization, punctuation, etc. This is the single largest obstacle to using lecture capture… the time needed to close caption your lecture. Typically, it takes me 3 times as long as the lecture time to close caption. However, there is actually one or two brilliant techniques that can drop this time dramatically, which I’ll cover shortly.

V) Examples of the two most common ways to video capture

VI) How I do my YouTube Videos, the details

I actually do not record my class lecture. 
I start with detailed notes, created before each lecture on what I plan to cover. (I actually give my student a copy of the notes, using D2L.)
 After the lecture, I determine if anything was added to the lecture that needs to be included in my notes.
Then, I determine what the key points were made, especially that students would benefit by seeing again.
I edit my notes and PowerPoints to focus on those items.
If needed, I will use a web cam or freely distributed video to demonstrate something, and save that video.
I rehearse my presentation.

When I am satisfied with my delivery and content, I close my door, turn off the phone, and turn on Camtasia.
As I go through the presentation, taking advantage of images and snippets of text in the presentation, I switch to my desktop to display concepts, or play the previously created video clip(s). My face is NEVER a part of the presentation.

Then I start editing the file.
The first thing I do is cut out any flubs, or long periods of silence.
I optimize the sound by getting rid of background noise.
I then add emphasis as needed, using call outs to point at items, or zoom in on things.
I save this project, and then run the speech to text tool.
I then go through correcting spellings, punctuation, etc. Since I have detailed notes, many times I can simply copy and paste the correct item in, replacing the detected text. This saves me a ton of time. If you stick to your script, you are practically done with the captioning.

Some Camtasia tutorials https://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-camtasia-8.html
Some YouTube tutorials on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAE2241F1FF27BECB

Save the project.
Camtasia supports directly uploading to your account, so all that is needed verify the captions are being uploaded, and to add a title, keywords, and choose the type of video… mine are always Education.

YouTube then gives me a URL that I can distribute to my students.
IF the captions did not make the trip, Camtasia can save just the captions, and they can be uploaded separately into YouTube. You can also create or edit the captions in YouTube, so if you detect an issue, it can be fixed in place.