New look website launched!
Today we have gone live with a new version of our website. This is now built on the fabulous WordPress platform, providing an integrated blog and improved search facilities. Please do take a look around and let us know what you think. If you encounter any problems please let us know.
The Casebook – University of Leeds
Seeking to promote the innovative teaching practices undertaken by staff at the University of Leeds, the Staff and Department Development Unit (SDDU) contracted Webducate to develop a searchable database of case studies, called the Casebook.
Developed using PHP and MySQL this web system allows university staff to submit a case study via an on-line form. A secure on-line administration area of the site allows SDDU staff to review, amend and publish submited case studies. The site delivers the portfolio of case studies via a search interface, and incorporates a page side bar which highlights the best, most recent case studies published, a tag cloud and the site generates a customised RSS new feed based on any search result. As with many Web2.0 type systems communication is facilitated by an open commenting facility linked to each case study, the admin system allowing comments to be manually screened before publishing.
This is a WPSimpleViewerGallery
Study Success at Sussex (S3) – University of Sussex
In the spring of 2009 Webducate became involved in an already established project to create an ambitious highly interactive website aimed at equipping new students with important key skills at the University of Sussex. Following a review of the development to date we advised a different approach be taken to improve site accessibility and ease the future maintenance and development site. This involved a re-build of the site from the ground up starting with a bespoke modular content management system to allow the enormous flexibility required in the page design and interactions while also allowing website edits to be made by administrative staff with minimal requirements for technical skills. Working closely with Sussex staff the project was completed on schedule and went live in Sept 2009.
Key features:
- Interactive page content (tabs ,accordians, hide and reveal, quizzes) developed with jQuery.
- Multimedia elements created with flash and dynamically populated from the content management system.
- Extensive use of videoed student interviews to give peer perspectives on appropriate pages.
View the University of Sussex S3 website…
This is a WPSimpleViewerGallery
Dragster & Articulate example – Know your europe
Another excellent piece of work from the team at the University of Leeds which demonstrates how a series of Dragster 3 activities can be delivered within an Articulate Presenter presentation. Particularly effective is the use of audio to introduce each of the drag and drop activities. (View the Know the European Union presentation).
LT@Leeds podcast
Check out the LT@Leeds podcast for an entertaining and informative insight into the use of learning technologies produced by the team at the University of Leeds. I’m obviously excited by the topic of episode 6, but I’m sure this podcast will cover many other interesting topics too!
How to create a video based Dragster activity using an FLV file
In the previous blog post instructions were provided on how to create dragster activities that used a youtube video as the dropzone. In this post a similar set of instructions and files are provided that demonstrate how to create a video based Dragster 3 drag and drop activity where you have the original video file available and can convert it into an FLV file.
Below is an example activity created using the approach described here:
1. Create your video file
A useful overview of creating digital video is provided by mediacollege.com
To make the most of the dropzone area of a dragster 3 activity you
should try to encode your video with dimensions of 600 by 450 pixels.
Other video sizes will work but these will be resized
within the activity dropzone. The activity will take place on the paused last frame of the video and so it should be edited with this in mind.
2. Publish/Convert your video file into FLV format
In order to display a video within a Dragster 3 activity it needs to be encoded in the flash compatible FLV video format. There are a variety of tools available for publishing into FLV format or converting from alternative formats (e.g. Adobe Flash, On2 Flix, Sorenson Squeeze, Riva FLV encoder).
Save this video file as video.flv
3. Download the FLV video dragster files
I have provided a set of 4 files to aid your creation of these video Dragster 3 activities.
Download a zip file containing these files
You will need to save these on to your PC and extract them (left click on the downloaded zip file and select Extract all…)
Now copy the video file (video.flv) into this extracted folder overwriting the example video file with the same name already in this folder.
4. Create a dropzone image of the paused video
Within this downloaded folder is a file called video.html Open this file in your web browser to view your video as it will be displayed within the Dragster activity. Play the video until it reaches the end frame and pauses. At this point you need to create a jpg image file to use as the dropzone image in your activity authoring.
As mentioned in the previous post, I have used two alternative methods to do this:
1. use screen capture software such as TechSmith SnagIt
2. press the PrtScrn button on your keyboard then open image editing software such as Photoshop or Fireworks and use Paste to place a copy of your entire screen into the working area. Then crop this image.
Ultimately you need to create a jpg image which is 600 by 450 pixels in size which just includes the flash file displaying your video. This means the edges of this image should be where the green background meets the edges of the video. Save this image as video.jpg
5. Author and publish the Dragster 3 activity
You should now login to your myWebducate account and author the activity in the usual way using the jpg image created in step 4 as the dropzone. When you are happy with this activity publish it and extract the published files in the usual way.
6. Copy the video related files into the activity folder
Copy your video files into the extracted activity folder (i.e. copy the files: video.flv, video.swf, SteelOverNoVol.swf, video.html into the activity folder).
7. Edit the Dragster 3 activity dragndrop.xml file
Nearly done now… Open the published activity dragndrop.xml file in a text editor such as Notepad and edit the line <target targetImage=”video.jpg“
/> replacing video.jpg with video.swf. Save the amended dragndrop.xml file.
8. Test the activity
You can now test this activity by opening the index.html file within the activity folder with your web browser.
Have fun using these two approaches to embed video in your activities. If/when you develop an activity you are proud of and are happy to share please do let me know!
