Screen recorder

[ELJ]

Hello All,
I just thought I'd post something about the Screen Recorder as I just think it's brill! Now whereas it has probably always been brill it's uses have just come back to me after a training session yesterday.

So for those of you who have never used it - or like me haven't for a while perhaps give it a go for one of the following perhaps:
Handwriting - excellent for showing correct letter formation (without being in the way!)
Maths - so many uses!!! Great for modelling how a calculation should be done over and over and over for those who need reminding but you aren't available.

It's potential as almost an additional adult in the room is great!
Anybody else using it in different ways?
+wave+ +wave+ +wave+

For those aren't sure where it is. . .it can be found in Special Tools in Primary and is the Video Recorder that needs to be added to be added to your Toolbar in Studio.

[JanP]

I have seen it used to record children working through maths problems. It means the teacher has both a video recording of the process of the problem being worked out and an audio recording of the same process. Great for pinpointing where difficulties are happening!

Very simple and fast yet effective way of creating animations.

Janice

[Daniel Bunker]

Also useful where you as a teacher are working away from the board with a group and other pupils are at the board undertaking a task. Set the screen recorder active and you can review later how the pupils at the board group the problem, completed the task etc.

Dan

[Charlotte]

That is a fabulous idea Dan. [clap] [clap] [clap] [clap]
Charlotte

[brianksee]

I don't have an active slate or the other one, but I have used it to demonstrate a problem while I walk around the room and explain the problem.

I would also suggest that this could be used for students who are absent, and you can record the entire lesson.

Another way I just thought of while reading, is to have a student do the the problem in a class and explain it while doing it. Then play it back for other classes so they can here another way of teaching a lesson from a students point of view/thought process, or to show common errors.

[Peter Lambert]

Are we all talking about the video and audio screen capture tool or the Flipchart recorder? Both have their merits.

[wilcogirl]

They do, they do! I have just gotten into the video recorder I use it to store diferent problems that I can bring back in my lesson to refrence when I teach a new concept that relies on a previous concept. It is "Brill" and as an American, I am guessing it is Brilliant. :) :) :) :)

[Rosie MacAlpine]

Which one do you use to show handwriting, and how do you do it?

Cheers,
Wendy

[Daniel Bunker]

To record handwriting I'd use the area screen recorder.

Power Tools - Flipchart Recorder - Area Screen Recorder

Define the rectangular screen area to record.

Click the red record button when you are ready.

Give the recording a name.

Write neatly in the rectangle.

Press the stp button when you have finished.

Use the play button to review the clip you have created.

The clip by default will appear in the My Videos section of your personal library.

Dan

[Rosie MacAlpine]

Thanks Dan [clap] - I had no idea this sort of thing was possible! Very handy.


Cheers,
Wendy+wave+

[CPope]

I know that ActivPrimary users for the Mac are eagerly awaiting this functionality and hoping that it will be in the next revision. Am I right that it's not there or am I blind to its location?

Thanks,
Char

[ELJ]

Great isn't it! So many uses. . .[clap] [clap] [clap] [clap] [clap]

[Alison]

Can you record what's happening on screen with sound, so that you can explain what you are doing?

[Margaret Allen]

Absolutely.... sorry to state the obvious but you will need to get a microphone ;)

[markrobinson]

For MAC Activstudio users - podcasting or making DVDs is a doddle. (UK term for easy)

When your movie file saves - you will find it in the Movies folder ready for import into iMovie as a clip...

Drag it to the timeline - click export and there you go... small file size podcast ready to go online..

A couple of extra steps let you add titles or move it to Garagband to add a load of nice sound effects!

PC is not much harder - Windows Movie Maker will import the same capture files and let you edit and sound, titles, etc.

You can also record video or animations off the web with the video recorder.

File sizes can get big so play with the framerate settings to find a suitable compromise if you plan to use the function a lot.

[Charlotte]

...and a fantastic piece of open source software for recording and editing sounds is Audacity. Get it from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ and it is free! :D

[debs]

[clap] [clap] What a fantastic resource! Only just got V3 and have been quite intrigued by containers and sound recording already from threads from this forum!!!!! Have recorded my own children drawing items and explaining themselves, fantastic to listen to!!![clap]
Absolutely priceless, in a classroom what a fantastic way to record speaking and listening for a variety of themes! Especially the shy.... the rest of the class working and ... take your turn, go draw...... if you wish..... explain what is happening, this could be quite liberating
Thank you for this great resource.
Debs+wave+

[Margaret Allen]

Hi Char,

I apologise for the delay in updating Activprimary users for MAC. There will be a leap from V2 to V3 and you will find all sorts hidden in there and as far as I am aware all you want will be there!! [clap]

[tai_ann2003]

I was stepping out on a limb, trying to practice my Area Screen recorder. I am struggling with it. Not only is my my video not really recording (it keeps popping up to START recording - it never actually records, even though I've named it many times)... But also, if I try to pull up any of my videos from the "Recent Recording" selection on the recording tool bar, it says, "Can not access file from 'My Videos.'" I just switched out my drivers this morning from 3. something to the latest 4. something. I am wondering if my new driver is not installed properly - if that could be the problem, or if someone can tell me what I am doing wrong. It could very well be USER ERROR!!! :) ????

[markrobinson]

This is unlikely to be related to the driver.

I suggest you follow the procedure in the help files or in the manual for using the video recorder function in Activstudio/Activprimary.

If it still does not function correctly then I would suggest you contact support to see if is a technical problem.

[debs]

Hi, was just wondering how long is it possible to record a video clip? Does it run out after a certain length of time or can you record a full hour or so?

Debs:)

[Dug]

My kids were in for a rainy dinner playtime. When I got back to class they had unwittingly created a huge video file (about 40 minutes) which we then skimmed through at speed. It was fascinating to see what they'd all been up to on the board.
I'd say the only limit is probably how much memory your computer has got.

[debs]

Hi+wave+
Just tried to record my children problem solving and have encountered a problem :confused: :confused: The video recording works on the laptop but when we play it back it is showing a black screen on the IWB. Any ideas as to how I can get rid of this black screen, it looks like the hide screen has been pulled down:( .

Thanks Debs

[Alison]

:D The recording was completely fabulous! I've got two images of our school, one pre-fire and one from the summer, when it was almost complete (isn't google earth wonderful!) I've got them fading in to each other with a voiceover (which I'm going to get the Head to re-record!) and it's going to go on our website. Only thing is, when I try and view it in AP3, I get sound, but just a blank white screen. When I go through the long way, I can view it as a media file outside of AP3. Any ideas??

[debs]

I've just tried to open the recording through Media Player and it still won't work:(
???? I would really like to show the children their efforts.
Thanks Debs

[LisaD]

I was wondering if this could be an issue with your monitor settings is relation to the projector.

Sometimes with certain projectors (and with certain computers) I have to change my monitor settings so that the video will show up on the projected image.

On my PC, I think I press "Function" FN, then the funtion key labeled "CRT/LCD" until the settings toggle to something that works.

You MAY have to have it where the computer is blank but you can see the projected image instead of seeing both.

Just an idea.

Lisa

[Dug]

I solved a similar problem by installing the 'ensharpen decoder' codec which you can download from here:
http://www.techsmith.com/codecs/ensharpen/default.asp
Follow the link that says 'free download for mac or windows'. Download it, run it and it should help.
Good luck.

[Margaret Allen]

Hi

Not being an expert on this type of thing, I have asked someone who knows and this is a laptop/computer issue and so you might find a phone call to Tech Support might be your best route here. +wave+

[debs]

Thanks for your suggestions, I am at home at the moment so I will have to wait until tomorrow to try out a few of your ideas. I am just a very impatient person, I desperately wanted to see the children's faces when they saw the replay!!!Never mind there is always tomorrow:) .

Debs+wave+

[Marnie]

Just another idea to add here... I used the flipchart recorder as a writing starter. I prepared a file where I wrote some sentences up on the board. I put this onto a flipchart page and then clicked on it during class... it looked like a ghost writing up on the board and a great motivator for writing! ;)

[JanP]

Hi Debs,

I have had that problem before. To get round it just toggle your fn key and display key so that you only have the image projected on your whiteboard. Your computer screen should be black.

For some reason videos I have had will only play on one monitor. Therefore, you use your whiteboard as a gigantic computer monitor. It means that you can't go back to your computer to do anything you will just have to interact with your board.

Janice

[philblaylock]

I use the recorder for handwriting too. If you go into 'Backgrounds' and select paper, there are different variations of handwriting paper to choose from too.

[sdreyer]

Hi Debs,

I have had that problem before. To get round it just toggle your fn key and display key so that you only have the image projected on your whiteboard. Your computer screen should be black.

For some reason videos I have had will only play on one monitor. Therefore, you use your whiteboard as a gigantic computer monitor. It means that you can't go back to your computer to do anything you will just have to interact with your board.

Janice

Recently I was able to work around this problem on a laptop by changing the hardware acceleration.

Right-click your desktop wallpaper and choose Properties
Select the "Settings" tab
Click "Advanced..."
Select the "Troubleshoot" tab
Set the "Hardware Acceleration" tab to the middle position
Click "OK" to close all dialogs

When not projecting, you can switch the hardware acceleration settings back to full.

[karenadams]

Also great if you know you are going to have a substitute - you can now leave a CD with a recorded lesson for the sub to put on for the kids to view. It's like you never left!!

Good for homebound students (maybe they broke a leg or have been out sick). Burn them copies of lessons onto CDs and they can view them in Windows Media Player.

Enjoy!:p

[spencerp]

when you've created your recording of (for example) a letter formation, can you embed that avi file in an object?
i'm having trouble, but i am trying to do it on AS, while i'm used to AP!????

[DBarnwell]

You can absolutely do so.

-Drag the image/text/object/whatever (Except for an annotation) that you want to link to the video into your flipchart.
-Double click on the object.
-Click on properties (The white page with a red check mark).
-Select Actions.
-From the drop-down box, select Open embedded file (Or something to that effect- possibly link instead of open).
-Hit the set button, then navigate to the video you want to use.

And at that point you should have the video linked to that object on the page and embedded within the flipchart. Note that doing this saves the video into the flipchart so doing so repeatedly could make the .flp file rather large.

[Laura OHalloran]

Hi

I'm not sure if this is covered elsewhere - I've done a quick search on the forum but not found it - but is it possible to set the recording from the video on a loop? So, for example, if you've written up a word that you want children to copy several times they can see it played over and over while you walk around the room observing their handwriting style.

Thanks.

Laura +wave+

[davidlloyd]

Hi Laura

It's amazing what you learn when people post a query to Planet:D:D
When you play your recording, right click over the black area of recorder toolbar, choose options. You can then choose whether to play forever or play for a set number of times.

[CPope]

Hi Laura,

I happen to be on my Mac right at the moment and know that you can definitely set the video player to loop. I think you can do it on the PC side as well, but haven't tried it.

To set the player to loop on the Mac side, there is a small icon to the right of the slider bar that looks like two curved arrows in an oval shape. Click on that to toggle the loop on and off.

I'll try it on the PC later today and post to confirm.

Char

[Laura OHalloran]

Thank you so much David and Char for your replies.

I've tried it on the PC and can get it to work. It's great! [clap]
It would, perhaps, be easier to show people if there were a repeat button visible on the play back bar as a suggestion?

I can't try it on my MACs at the moment as they've all been upgraded to Leopard and so I cannot use any ACTIVsoftware which is most frustrating!

Laura +wave+

[Daniel Bunker]

In the PC version:

If you go for the video placeholdersetting then on the placeholder definer window there is a loop option check box.

In the video file link option, once the video is playing, right click on the player - select options and check repeat forever.

Dan

[Laura OHalloran]

Hi Dan

I don't see this option when making a screen recording?

Laura

[Daniel Bunker]

No - the option only becomes available after you've saved the video recording and then decided how you want to link to the avi file.

So in essence it's the same for any video link, whether you used the screen recorder or not.

Dan

[Laura OHalloran]

Ah of course!!

That makes perfect sense to me now - takes me a bit of time to understand at times!! :o

Cheers

Laura