| Software | |
Teachers who wish to record streaming video from web sites, record radio programs on their computer and prepare short multimedia clips will find the following software packages useful. Some lucky teachers will be operating in schools that have licenses for much more powerful programs that do a better job than the packages listed below.
Acro Tools provides a list of open source and hence free multimedia programs. Teachers with limited budgets will find these tools useful.
Audacity is an open source sound-editing program that is free. This
program will allow you to record sound files over the Internet, save these
files to your hard disk and edit them. It is also easy to use. The only
issue with audacity is making sure you download the Lame plug in. Available
from the Audacity site.
Install the lame plug in the Audacity folder. The Audacity folder is in
the programs folder on your main disk.
When you export a sound file, as an MP3 for the first time Audacity will
ask you to locate the plug in. Simply select it using the Audacity pop
up dialog box.
There are many more sophisticated sound editors on the market but usually
they are expensive. This one is adequate for the purpose of the activities
shown here.
>Download Audacity from SourceForge.net
>Audacity Lame Plug in Windows
If you wish to record a segment of the ABC news or other television
programs online, you will need special programs to do it. There are many
such programs on the market and students often have a very good knowledge
of these. WMrecorder costs about $45 AUD and is easy to use.
Please note few schools have networks that are fast enough for students
to record streaming media files in class. It is best that you record them
and then store them in a folder on your schools intranet.
Running WMRecorder on a school network requires knowledge of your networks
settings. You will need to get this information of your network administrator
if you choose to record at school. Do your recording at school when most
students have left and your network will be a lot faster. Generally it
is easier to record media files at home
This software is free and may be downloaded with Microsoft Movie from the Microsoft website. Producer is simple and easy to use. This makes it useful in Economics as your students can use it quickly and easily. They are many superior video-editing programs around. The advantage of Producer is that it works well with Power point and builds on your student's ability to use that program. The disadvantage of producer is that it does not have the same editing power as many other programs.
