PrintSuppose you had 3 minutes of your local congressperson's time to share with them your message about climate change. What would you tell them?
For this project you will put together a 2-3 minute multimedia presentation that can be made available to the class to view, discuss and critique.
Activity
What does Project #3 involve?
Your multimedia presentation should involve text, images, and narration of some sort, but it must include video. How you put this together, which application(s) you decide to use or what assortment of information, media, or images that you use is entirely up to you.
This project must follow the following guidelines:
- It must not exceed 3 minutes.
- It must include video (either yours or someone else's) somewhere in the presentation.
- It must include your own narration or explanation.
- All sources used that are not in the public domain should be cited as part of the presentation.
How should you get started?
PLAN
- Think about the central theme(s) of the message you want to convey. Ideally, it would include aspects of each of the three "phases" of the course (i.e., the basic science and projections, impacts, adaptation, and mitigation).
- Write this down in as clear and concise manner as possible. (Consider an intro, body, and conclusion approach for this.)
- Make a list of the evidence (text, images, video) that you will use to support your message.
STORYBOARD
- Sketch out a simple progression for organizing your presentation. This storyboard form may help you organize the structure of your thoughts as you sketch things out.
- Include an introduction that will capture attention.
- Highlight the section where your central theme is presented.
- Add a concluding piece that reminds or summarizes your main point.
REQUIRED EQUIPMENT FOR CAPTURE
The equipment you will need depends on the application that you choose to build your presentation in.
Minimally, you will need a microphone to capture narration of your message. Most computers have microphones already installed. Headsets with microphones are inexpensive and are good for using with a number of different applications.
A video camera may be something else you may want to use. They come installed in a range of devices, including webcams and the movie mode on your digital camera or smartphone. Digital video recorders will provide the variety of options, whereas 'Flip' or phone cameras are very simple to use and the quality of the picture can be outstanding. However, if you are using a screen capture recording application, you will not need a video camera.
APPLICATIONS FOR BUILDING YOUR PRESENTATION
There are a number of applications that can be used to build your multimedia presentation. The application(s) that you use may depend on your experience and what software you have access to. There are a number of considerations you will need to entertain including:
- What equipment (cameras, microphones, etc.) will you need?
- What software do you have access to, and how difficult is the software to learn?
- How will my presentation be shared with others?
Below are some simple options for you to consider. You are not limited to using these applications. There has been an explosion of good, quick, cheap (or free) resources recently for capturing lectures or talks. Feel free to use any of these. The Quick Examples column on the right are links to simple examples intended to give you an idea of what each of these applications can do or additional resources:
| Resource | Learning Curve | Flexibility or Amount of Control | Notes | Quick Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prezi
http://prezi.com/ (link is external) |
Minimal - easy to grasp | Set themes that you modify | Web based application creates a zooming online presentation. You upload your media to your Prezi online. What you share: link to your online Prezi. |
How to create a great Prezi (link is external) Eight Steps to Climate-friendly Work (link is external) |
| VoiceThread
VoiceThread at Penn State (link is external) |
Minimal - easy to grasp | Depends on the media you include | Create a VoiceThread using Penn State's version of this web based application. An interactive online 'conversation' based on the media that you upload and your commentary of this media. What you share: link to your online VoiceThread. |
Global Warming (requires a login) |
| Kaltura
Kaltura - Education (link is external) |
Minimal - easy to grasp | Modification is up to the user | Penn State’s cloud-based media management platform for storing, publishing, and streaming videos, video collections, and other rich media such as audio recordings and images via your computer or mobile device. Kaltura can also embed quizzing functions within the media. | Penn State Media Commons - Kaltura |
| Glogster | Minimal - easy to grasp | Set themes that you modify | Web based application creates an interactive online poster. You upload your media to Glogster online. What you share: link to your online Glogster. | |
| Microsoft PowerPoint + Zoom | Minimal - easy to grasp | Modification is up to the user | Create a slide show in Microsoft PowerPoint (available online with your Penn State Access ID). Create a Zoom meeting by going to psu.zoom.us and hosting a meeting. Share your screen showing the slide show and record your voice-over with the slides. The resulting video can be uploaded to Kaltura or any number of video hosting sites (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). | |
| Movie (Mac) or MovieMaker (PC) | Time consuming if you have no experience | Modification is up to the user | Normally available on the machine you purchased. If you have never used this software before, it will take time to learn about using the application as well as sharing your result. However, you can customize what your message looks like, just as a film editor would. What you share: Quicktime or Windows Media movie file. |
IMPLEMENT YOUR PLAN - PLEASE NOTE:
Multimedia production using any of these applications is not difficult to figure out. It can, however, be TIME CONSUMING!
Do not leave this project until the last minute. Technology will usually conspire against you! It is also difficult to provide support during the last hour. Plan your message out ahead of time. Explore and play with your equipment ahead of time in order to make sure that you do not minimally complete this assignment but, instead, use your media to get across a powerful message!
Use Free-to-Use images in your Presentation
Images are often protected by copyright. That means you cannot simply Google for images and use what you find. Instead, you must search for images that photographers have made openly available. You can find sources for such images below:
- Wikimedia. Be sure to read the Reusing Content Outside Wikimedia before reusing any images.
- Jamendo - great place to find free-to-use music.
- Free Media Resources - published and maintained as a part of the Media Commons initiative at Penn State.
- Flickr Creative Commons. Images found in Flickr's creative commons gallery can literally be used for almost any project that is related to education, with nothing more than a credit to the original photographer. Be sure to read over the photographer's rules before reusing images and cite the license in your work.
Submitting your work
- Upload your file to YouTube or Vimeo and also post the link to your video in the Project #3 assignment in Canvas by the due date.
Grading Rubric
- The instructor will use the general grading rubric for the problem sets to grade this project. (Downloadable PDF version)