This is a video I posted to my online classes just as an introduction of myself. I’m somewhat shocked at myself for doing it. I’m shocked at myself for posting it here. It makes me want to throw up to think of putting myself in front of the camera and then posting it publicly.

I’m doing it anyway just to make a point to myself (and others if they are so inclined). Video is the thing. Video is easy to make and share now in online classes. That’s probably where I and others should be headed with lecture materials.

This video was made using a computer with a built-in web cam (purchased for faculty dev. projects thanks to the generous support of the Mississippi Arts Commission).

I just went to YouTube, logged into my account, hit Upload Video, and when it gave me a prompt to choose a file or record from web cam, I selected record from web cam. That’s all there is to that. YouTube walks you through the rest.

To share in Blackboard 9.1, you can put it in a content area by going to Build Content. From there you choose YouTube video under Mashups. Just copy and paste the url of your video into the search box, and hit go. It will pull up your video. Hit select. If you want the video to embed, change the little menu box that defaults to thumbnail over to embed. Hit submit. That’s it. You are video lecturing to your online classes.

Because this was just an introduction and not a lecture per se, I shared it on the discussion board instead. I just created a thread and clicked on the Mashup icon in the visual editor. The steps from there are the same as in a content area. Search. Select. Embed. Submit.

This is really very easy. The biggest hurdle is the emotional one over putting your face and not just your words on TV.