Guest posting to voced-coord email list.
Item 4 of 15:

Date:
To: voced-coord@owl.qut.edu.au
From: Gary Stephenson (Stevo)
Subject: Re: VocEd:Gary Stephenson(Introduction-ONLINE)

Ros Rangott wrote:

" Hello Gary I'm quite impressed with your site -well done!. I'll have a chance next month to give many ACT teachers time to use the internet, and your site will be one we'll look at- you've set a high standard! One technical question please: how do you put on the video clips? Just a short description is needed, enough for our ISP to understand. Your site must be very appealing to students- it has all the features that they like."

[Gary:]
Thanks for the input Ros.
Your ISP should be able to tell you more than I can. I'm only a hammer & nails teacher.

Anyway you have to use streaming technology and it is becoming more and more common (& better quality at reduced prices as is usual in computers.

Get a video clip and convert it to an AVI file through a Video capture card (many available approx $400) We used Real Audio streaming because it worked well, there are others.

Our video clips will improve in time as I practice with the software's capabilities. 1 minute video comes in at 100 megabytes, Real Audio converts it to 100 kilobytes (approx) which is easily streamed down twisted pair cabling. This is where loss of quality comes in. There are many tricks to use, reduce background clutter or video on white background etc.

Students go straight to the video footage as they get a short kind of clear idea of what happens in the subject area. From there they tend to have a look at the content of the courses. It's just like the corner shops having the bread and milk at the back of the shop, so when you get your daily items you have to walk past other items that you just might pick up and buy.

I also am hoping other coordinators have better video footage than i do, because I would love to put better clips on the site . We are currently trying to get employers to speak about their industry eg. working hours, future prospects, courses available, pay etc. This would be an audio file only, to give students and parents yet another resource for subject selection time.

We also are going to have a newsdesk not for text and pictures but for audio and video. Everyone is welcome to submit articles and i will put them on the site. This is all about sharing resources to give the student and parents information on just what field to pursue.

Gary