How to use audio-visual presentations for study and research – Part 1

From creating a narrated slideshow, interviewing an expert or making a mini-documentary, to producing an ongoing video or audio series, audio-visual formats can be used to bring your assignments and research to life.  What kind of tasks might you be set and how can you create an engaging style and format to effectively present your work?  In this extract from Studying and Researching with Social Media, Megan Poore discusses the use of audio-visual formats in higher education, and shares one of the activities from her book on analysing an AV format. 

This post comes in 2 parts – this first part introduces types of AV presentations and typical tasks you may be set; the second part, discussing style and format plus the activity, will follow next week.

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WHAT ARE AUDIO-VISUAL (AV) PRESENTATIONS?

There are many forms of AV presentation, with slideshows, videos, and podcasts being the most common formats used when you undertake some kind of AV task.

Slideshows

Most students and researchers will be familiar with the slideshow format as an essential part of lectures, seminars, demonstrations, and tutorials. Slide­show software such as PowerPoint (for PC) or Keynote (for Mac) is typically installed directly on your computer desktop or tablet device, but an increasing number of users are choosing to create, store, and share their slideshows ‘in the cloud’, that is, on the web via a service such as Google Drive’s ‘Presenta­tion’.

Other services such as Slideshare.net and Voicethread.com will convert an uploaded slideshow to a flash-type ‘movie’ that permits viewers to easily click through the presentation and even to download it. But you don’t have to be restricted to the sequential arrangements intrinsic to more traditional presentation software: many lecturers and students are using sites such as Prezi.com to design a dynamic, less ‘linear’ visual environment for their oral presentations.

Audio

Audio presentations can be recorded via a number of devices equipped for the task: computer, laptop, smartphone, ‘dumb’ phone, hand-held digital voice recorder, tablet, or stand-alone digital recorder and mixer. Once you have a recording, you can edit it on your desktop using simple sound editing soft­ware such as Audacity (which is free, downloadable from Sourceforge.net, and suitable for both PC and Mac) or GarageBand (which normally comes free as part of the software already installed on a Mac). More powerful soft­ware is available, but it can be expensive. There are also free, online audio recorders and editors available.

Audio presentations can be hosted on websites such as PodBean.com and PodcastDirectory.com; many are put into iTunes as part of an ongoing podcast series. As with most social media, listeners can like, share, and comment on your audio.

Video

Video recording is an almost banal affair these days, with even the most basic mobile phones being equipped with a video camera. Of course, you can also film material using a dedicated, high-definition video recorder, just about any digital camera, a webcam, or a camera built-in to your computer or laptop. But the trick is turning your recording into a ‘movie’, which involves a knowledge of editing and file formats. You will probably have little control over the recording software you use, as it will already be loaded onto your recording device, but you will be able to find editing software that suits you: the most popular desktop software is probably Windows Movie Maker for PC, and iMovie for Mac. There are many more available both free for use on the web, for down­load to your desktop, or for purchase from a computer store.

Once you have recorded and edited your video, you can host it on one of the many videosharing sites on the web. YouTube is clearly the most ubiquitous videosharing site online, but Vimeo and Blip.tv are others (photosharing sites such as Flickr often also allow videos to be uploaded, but file size and running time are normally quite limited).

Other forms of visual media used in higher education: ü  Photosharing ü  Videosharing ü  Animation ü  Comic strips ü  Multimedia/mashups ü  Virtual worlds.

AV PRESENTATIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Lecturers have been assessing various kinds of student presentation for a long time now; usually, such presentations have taken the form of a talk given in class either by individuals or by small groups. But digital media and computer software such as PowerPoint now give lecturers the option of hav­ing you complete oral work without your actually having to be in the room to present it.

Typical AV tasks set by lecturers

Creating a narrated slideshow

·         You should already be familiar with how to create a slide­show using software such as PowerPoint, but you may not have added a voice-over track before. Once you have created your narrated slideshow you may be asked to upload it to your class site or a site such as Slideshare so that other students can view and com­ment on it

Interviewing an expert

·         Recording an audio or video interview with a subject expert can be a terrific experience. In some instances you will be asked to find your own expert (in which case sites such as ExpertGuide.com.au are useful); in others, potential interviewees may already be lined up for you by your lecturer

Making a mini-documentary

·         Some lecturers will require you to put together a video or audio documentary or one-off ‘radio’ (audio) or ‘television’ (video) show. You may be given a format to follow or you may have to develop your own, in which case you could con­sider including interviews, narration, music and/or sound effects, tips, vox pops, reports, etc.

Producing an ongoing video or audio series

·         This kind of task is, clearly, a semester- or even year-long proposition and requires you to use a variety of skills. Firstly, you will have to con­ceptualise your series, develop a format for it, script individual ‘episodes’, record material, edit it, and distribute or publish it.

Check the blog next week for Part 2! 

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Text extracted from Studying and Researching with Social Media by Megan Poore.