Technology Tools for Teaching and Learning

In some circumstances, faculty may wish to make video available to students outside of the classroom. As with in-class viewing, the options for setting up out-of-class viewing opportunities have increased considerably in the past few years. Making video available by placing VHS videotape(s) on reserve has several drawbacks, including damage to the videotape from repeated viewing and difficulties in allowing access to the material at different times. Multiple students, unless they begin viewing the video together, are not able to watch from the same source. Furthermore, if the material to be viewed is only a segment of a larger video, cueing the tape for each viewing is also a problem. For these reasons, digitizing the video may be a better option.

The related links below describe the procedure and Yale facilities for digitizing video and the options for making it available to students outside of class. Digital video files, even when compressed, can be quite large. Special considerations for making long video clips available via the Internet are also discussed.

The availability of inexpensive digital video cameras offers a whole new set of opportunities for combining video and higher education. Faculty can now tape classroom lectures or student presentations for later viewing. At present, Yale cannot supply faculty with digital video cameras for the source taping; however, the facilities needed for editing and compressing the video, as well as making it available to students, are the same as those needed when the source is coming off of a videotape or a DVD.